Woman of the Century/Marion Babcock Baxter

MARION BABCOCK BAXTER. BAXTER, Mrs. Marion Babcock, lecturer and author, born on a farm in Litchfield. Hillsdale county, Mich., 12th April, 1850. Her father, Abel E. Babcock, was an Adventist minister in the times when it required courage to preach an unpopular doctrine. Her mother, Mary Balxrock, was a gracious woman, to whose love and tender teaching Mrs. Baxter owes all that she is. Mrs. Baxter tract’s her lineage hack to the Reformation in England. Her early childhood was spent in poverty and self-denial, and she was familiar with work, for which she has ever been thankful. In childhood she had few companions, for the Adventist doctrine was so unpopular and the persecution so pointed that even the children caught the spirit and were accustomed to tease her. Many a time she has climbed a tree to avoid their persecution. In her girlhood she developed a very fine voice and was much in demand for concert singing, but she lost her voice suddenly, and turned to the lecture platform. Her first lecture was given in Jonesville, Mich., where she had lived since she was five years old. Her subject was "The Follies of Fashion," quite appropriate for one whose life had been spent in comparative poverty. On that occasion the opera-house was packed, a band furnished music, and all the world of Jonesville was there. Her first effort was a success in every way, and she eventually became widely known as a lecturer. She was married at the age of twenty-two years to C. K. K. Baxter, a son of Levi Baxter, the head of one of the oldest and most respected families in the state. She is at present the State president of the White Rose League. She has been a member of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union since its organization and has for years been a member of the Congregational church.