Samuel Heaton was born into a Presbyterian home in Wrentham, Connecticut in 1711. When they became of age, he and three of his brothers moved to Morris County, New Jersey, where they began an ironworks business. Samuel married a good Baptist woman named Abby. When their first child was born, Samuel was anxious to have him christened, but Abby objected, saying, “If you will show me a single text of Scripture that warrants christening, I will take our child to your pastor for that purpose.” Mr. Heaton offered various texts to his wife, but Abby wouldn’t acknowledge that they taught infant baptism. Undeterred, Samuel went to his Presbyterian pastor, Rev. Sweesy, asking for Biblical proof for paedobaptism, but he said that while no text directly taught their doctrine, it was found between the lines and “suggested” by certain scriptures. This so upset Samuel that he vowed to go home and read his Bible until he found the proof for which he was looking. Of course he found nothing. Thus it was that Samuel Heaton made a trip to Kingwood, New Jersey and was immersed upon his profession of faith by Mr. Bonham, the Baptist pastor there.
Heaton then went home and ran an ad in the local newspaper offering a twenty-dollar reward to anyone who could produce a text of God’s Word to prove infant baptism. A paedobaptist named Samuel Harker, sued Bro. Heaton to obtain the reward, but a secular court ruled in favor of the Baptist. Then a friend of Bro. Heaton ran an ad doubling the reward, but no one accepted the challenge.
Samuel Heaton was ordained to the ministry in 1751. He moved to Konoloway, Pennsylvania and started a church, but was forced to move away by hostile Indians. Then in Schooly, New Jersey, he started a second church, calling it the Roxbury Baptist Church. On this day (March 15) in 1768, the Roxbury Baptist Church obtained property upon which to build a meeting house. Eventually Samuel, Abby and their ten children moved to Dividing Creek, New Jersey and organized a third church. It was there that Pastor Samuel Heaton passed into the presence of the Lord on September 26, 1777.