In referance to the First Baptist Church of Hopewell NJ. My 7times Grandparents are Benjamin Drake and Mary Drake-On April 23, 1715, a meeting was held at the home of Joseph Stout, at which time a church was constituted. There were twelve charter members, viz., Joseph Stout, Jonathan Stout, Thomas Curtis, Benjamin Drake, Hannah Stout, Ann Stout, Ruth Stout, Sarah Fitzrandolph, Rachel Hyde, Ann Curtis, Mary Drake, Sarah Smith. The presbytery was composed of Elder Abel Morgan (from Pennypack), Elder John Burrows (from Middletown), and brethren Griffin Miller, Joseph Todd, and Samuel Ogborn.     

After many years of meeting in homes and having problems securing a place to meet, it was decided to build a meeting house.  Twenty members were baptized from 1715 to 1728 and by 1747 there were 65 members.  A meeting was called on June 19, 1747, held at the home of Henry  Oxley in Hopewell (then known as Columbia) at which time David Stout, Benjamin Stout, and Henry Oxley were chosen managers to build a meeting house. After agreement to build a meeting house, a great revival took place in the church which put a stop to frolicking and gaming in the neighborhood.

The Old School Baptist Church and Cemetery
The Old School Baptist Church and Cemetery on West Broad Street stand on the site of the original Hopewell Baptist Meeting House. Built in 1822, the current brick structure is also known ads the First Baptist Church of Hopewell and the Old School Baptist Church. The Baptist Meeting constituted the center of the community in Hopewell's early history.

 The New EnglandMeetinghouse was the only municipal building in a town. Both worship and civil meetings were held there. It was customary for men and women to sit separately and the town chose a committee once a year to assign seats according to what was paid, age, and dignity.

Baptist churches were found in early colonial settlements and grew out of the English Separatist movement and the doctrine of John Smyth who rejected infant baptism.