Information on this page is extracted from a program/booklet provided by Stewart Funeral Home on the occasion of the 170th anniversary of the church in 1993.
The Baptist denomination was the pioneer church in Indiana. The preachers of the Baptist faith were among the first to come to look after the spiritual needs of the settlers. These preachers traveled from area to area preachings and having conversation and prayer with the new settlers. Some of these early settlers were Baptist and they organized into churches as soon as was practical as the law of the church was used to control the moral conduct of its members. Foot washing was as scared an event as communion and it was observed twice a year.
There were at least three churches, Hebron, Zion and New Providence, in the area in 1823 when fifteen people met at the schoolhouse at Ox Fork with the intention of forming a new church. They sent to the three churches for ministerial help. On February 18, 1823 they were "found to be of the same faith and gospel order as the regular Baptist of the Silvercreek Association." Their articles of faith were adopted as the faith upon which they were constituted into a church. On March 22, 1823 they voted to adopt the name of Ox Fork Church. The first notice of the church in the minutes of the Silver Creek Baptist Association is on August 4, 1823. In a meeting held at the White River Meeting house (now Kent, Jefferson County) the 5th order of business was to receive into the association "the church at Oxe's Fork, and the brethren invited to seats."
The first officers of the church were Jonathan D. Stark, Minister, Charles Stark and Hector Sparks, Messengers. These same men were previously connected with the Pigeon Roost Baptist Church. There were 81 members listed on the rolls for 1823.
A log church was built on land owned by James Stark, one of the founding members. In October of 1824, James entered the 160 acres of land (NE Quarter, T.2N, R. 6E) where his home and the church stood. On February 27, 1827, James and his wife Mary deeded to Hector Sparks, Eli Stark and Samuel McClung, Trustees of the Baptist Church on Ox's Fork, Vienna Township, one and one-half acres including the graveyard, spring and meeting house.
Hezikiah Applegate Sally Applegate Thomas Jefferson Applegate
Sarah Applegate Rachel Applegate Samuel Applegate
Elizabeth Applegate Alexander Ardery Susannah Ardery
Sally Broady Rebecca Caldwell Phillip Cooley
Radd DeenRhody Lydia Dewit Steven Dunlap
Patsy Dunlap John Dunlap Jemima Dunlap
John Dunlap Sr. Mary Dunlap Janny M. Gane
Henry Garret Polly Garret Elizabeth Gray
Mary Gray Levina Gray Lyda Haws
Jesson Haws Gally M. Hobbs Hannah Hosea
Ester Hubbard John Hubbart Eliza Jones
Margarit Johnson Nancy Johnson John Kelly
Nancy Kelly Phillip Langdon Nancy Leatherland
Ruth McCelland Anny McClary Samuel McClary
Rachel McClary John Mount Nancy Mount
Rebecca Rawlings Janny Retherford Elizabeth Richey
Sintha Richey John Robbins Hugh Sanders
Sally Sanders Jacob Sawdars Sarah Sawdars
Hector Sparks Polly Sparks Zachariah Sparks
Charles Stark Elizabeth Stark James Stark
Eli Stark Polly Stark Daniel Stark
Rebecca Stark Moses Stark Elizabeth Stark
Sally Stark Jonathan Stark Barby Stark
Elizabeth Stark Yuna Stark Susanna Sutton
Sally Sutton Zacheus Sutton Catherine Tucker
John Tucker Polly Tucker