Rev. Isaac C. Wynn

REV. ISAAC CALDWELL WYNN, D.D. was a much loved and much respected minister in Camden. He led the First Baptist Church for 19 years, from 1870 until his death in 1889.

The Reverend Wynn made his home from the 1870s through the late 1880s at 525 Linden Street. He passed away in Asheville, North Carolina on April 20, 1889, survived by his wife, Mary. His next door neighbor at 527 Linden was prominent attorney Martin V. Bergen.

After Rev. Wynn’s passing it was resolved to build a chapel on Spruce Street west of South 8th Street and name it in his honor. The Wynn Memorial Baptist Chapel was dedicated on February 23, 1890.

Rev. Wynn was buried at Evergreen Cemetery, in Camden, New Jersey. The inscription on his tombstone reads as follows:

His life was gentle, and the elements so mixed in him, that nature might stand up and say to all the world, this was a man.

“This stone was erected by his people of the First Baptist Church of Camden. In grateful memory of his loving service as their pastor for nearly nineteen years.

REV. ISAAC CALDWELL WYNN, D.D., the second son of Benjamin I. Wynn and Susan N. Ray Wynn, was born near Millville, Cumberland County, N. J., on a farm, February 22, 1835. His early education was principally obtained under the tutorship of his father, who, in the intervals of business, devoted his attention to the education of his children. He afterwards entered the university at Lewisburg, Pa., and was graduated in 1858. For ten years after his graduation he was engaged in teaching, a profession to which he had intended devoting his life and in which he was very successful. He occupied in this time the chair of natural sciences in the Upland Normal School and was the principal of the classical academies at Lewisburg and Danville, all in Pennsylvania. In 1868 he was regularly ordained a Baptist minister, and took charge as pastor of the Baptist Church at Hatboro, Montgomery County, Pa. He remained as pastor there until July 1, 1870, when he entered the pastorate of the Tabernacle Baptist Church in Camden, going with it in its union with the First Baptist Church. He received, in the year 1879, the degree of Doctor of Divinity from the university at Lewisburg. In 1885 the Legislature of New Jersey elected him one of the trustees of the State Normal School, which made him ex-officio a member of the State Board of Education. His services here have been greatly appreciated by his colleagues and by State officers. For his piety, his learning, his eloquence as a preacher and the fraternal affection with which he discharges the duties of his office as pastor, he has won the love of his entire church and the respect and esteem of the whole community. His pastorate is the longest continuous one in the West New Jersey Baptist Association. Dr. Wynn’s wife is a daughter of the Rev. William P. Maul. They have no children.

Rev. Isaac C. Wynn, D. D., the dead pastor of the First Baptist Church, of Camden, will be buried to-day.

The body of the Rev. Isaac C. Wynn, D. D., pastor of the First Baptist Church, Camden was laid to rest yesterday afternoon in Evergreen Cemetery. Fully two thousand persons attended the funeral. Near the right hand of the dead man was a miniature cross of white rose.

On the lid of the casket was “Rev. Isaac C. Wynn, D.D.. Born February 22, 1836. Died April 20, 1889.” At the foot of the casket was a single lily. Although this did not amount much in value, it was the striking esteem in which the pastor was held by the little one. It was the gift of youthful Charley Heisler, who worked all Monday to secure the money with which he purchased the small gift. The services were conducted by the Rev. Robert Henry Middleditch and the Rev. John Peddie, D.D., pastor of the Fifth Baptist Church, Philadelphia.

Letter to the Editor from George William Kirby