The Ghogha Christian mission was initiated by the Reverend James McKee in 1844 and was a part of the Kathiawar and Gujarat mission establishment started and supported by the Irish Presbyterian Mission.[3][4]
About 1869, Wallacepur was founded on a tract of land near the village of Kareda about 11 mi (18 km) southwest of Ghogha by William Beatty, a missionary at Ghogha from 1867 to 1877. The village was laid out and most of the houses were built by Beatty. He also built a church with a bell in 1871. The village was named after James Wallace, who had been appointed a missionary at Ghogha in 1845 and later at Surat. Wallace had retranslated scriptures, and written an educational textbook and some Gujarati tracts.[4][3][5][6]
Additions to the village were made by the Reverend George T. Rea, who was in charge of the mission afterwards.[3] In 1871, a number of Christians came from Gujarat and settled. At the time, there were eight houses, a church with a bell, a resthouse, a missionaries house, a public well, and a cattle pond.[3]
The village has a population of around 500 people, all of whom are literate.[1][7] It is the only all-Christian village in Gujarat and all the residents are Protestants.[2][1] Most men are engaged in farming, while many women have taken up roles as nurses, teachers, and clerks in nearby villages and Bhavnagar.[7]
Disputes are settled internally and the village has been crime-free for years. Wallacepur has also been the recipient of the district council's cleanest village awards. The village has a reciprocal arrangement with the nearby village of Kareda, with residents of both attending each other's religious festivals.[2]
^ abBadley, B. H. (Brenton Hamline) (1886). "The Irish Presbyterian Mission". Indian Missionary Directory and Memorial Volume. Princeton Theological Seminary Library (3rd ed.). Calcutta: Methodist Publishing House. pp. 183–185.
