Title: Ernest and Elizabeth Baker Wampler Family Papers
Administrative/Biographical History
Elizabeth Baker Wampler, born October 9, 1891 in Baker, Ohio and Ernest M. Wampler, born October 23, 1885 in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia were both from strong Anabaptist families and dedicated much of their lives to missionary work in China for the Church of the Brethren. Elizabeth, after graduating from Manchester College in 1918 and completing nurse’s training at the Battle Creek Sanitarium in Michigan, first entered China around 1922, primarily working as a nurse. Ernest attended Bridgewater College before continuing his studies at Yale Divinity School in order to prepare for missionary work in China, which he started in 1918. The two met in China in 1927 and were quickly engaged to be married the next year. Elizabeth and Ernest had two children together: Joseph, born January 27, 1933, and Eugene, born July 24, 1935 both in Shanxi Province, China. Additionally, Ernest had a third child, Sara, in his prior marriage with Vida Miller. Some of the Wamplers' most active years of missionary work in China were 1928-1935, marked by community projects and the birth of their sons. A substantial amount of work also occurred amid the second Sino-Japanese War, which began in 1937. During this period, Elizabeth worked at a mission hospital which she was instrumental in reopening after the air raid that bombed the Wampler home in 1938 and devastated the surrounding areas. Joseph and Eugene spent the majority of their childhoods in China alongside their parents, while Sara remained in the United States once she was old enough to attend college. The Wamplers all left around 1950 to move to Virginia. Though this marked the end of the heavy involvement that Ernest and Elizabeth had in their missionary efforts, they persisted in their involvement with the Church of the Brethren, especially in Ernest’s role as a minister. He was also chaplain for Bridgewater Home for the Aging until 1972. Ernest died in 1978; Elizabeth died in 1984. Eugene Wampler compiled these materials and documents related to his family’s missionary work. He graduated from Bridgewater College, then got his PhD in Biochemistry from Michigan State University in 1965. His research work in vaccines resulted in his own return to China for a project on Hepatitis C vaccine development. He was also strongly involved with the Church of the Brethren for the remainder of his life. He died on April 24, 2019.
