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  • The Trial and Deposal of Bishop William Montgomery Brown, 1921–1925
  • Ron Carden (bio)

William Montgomery Brown, Ohio native and Episcopal bishop of Arkansas from 1899 to 1912, was deposed for heresy in October 1925. He had become a materialist and Marxist, proclaiming, "Darwin is my Moses and Marx my Christ!" He put that theme into a 184-page book in 1920, Communism and Christianism: Banish Gods from Skies and Capitalists from Earth,1 a volume he self-published. During his widely publicized trial in Cleveland for heresy in 1924, was he "railroaded" out of the church because of his communism as he subsequently claimed? Did the church set out deliberately to remove him? He had irritated many in 1907 when he argued for a separate black Episcopal Church and in 1910 when he argued for acceptance of all other Protestants under the umbrella of the Episcopal Church, denying apostolic succession and priestly sacerdotalism. Subsequently, he became a Darwinist and Marxist.

Born on a farm west of Orrville, Ohio, in 1855, Brown was the son of a maid and a day laborer.2 His father died in the Civil War, and his mother farmed him out at the age of six to a harsh taskmaster, a German-speaking Dunkard.3 Neighbors noticed how badly he was treated and prevailed on authorities to help, and subsequently a kindly farmer and his wife, Jacob and Rachel Gardner, took the boy in. He was well treated and given work [End Page 132] he could easily do.4 He attended the Methodist Church in Orrville and sought to prove he was saved and hoped to become a minister but could not work up enough emotion to prove to the congregation he was among the elect.5 It was a bad start for a career as a Methodist preacher.

He left his foster family in 1873 for Omaha, Nebraska, where he worked for a local judge driving a carriage and entered school at the fourth grade and progressed to the eighth.6 Returning to Ohio in 1876, he sought to enter Mount Vernon College in Alliance, Ohio, a Methodist institution, but failed due to lack of money. His foster "brother," John Gardner, suggested he apply to Cleveland matron and wealthy heir Mary Scranton Bradford for a job driving her carriage and for aid in ministerial study. An enthusiastic convert to the Episcopal Church, she had a reputation of supporting young men for the Episcopal ministry. Gardner thought Brown would like a less emotional church.7 He got the job and became acquainted with Mrs. Bradford, the wealthy heir to property in Scranton Flats. She financed his studies at Bexley Hall at Kenyon College in Gambier, Ohio, from 1880 to 1883.8 Adept at his studies, usually rote memorization, he finished in record time and took charge of Grace Church at Galion.

Meanwhile, he married Mrs. Bradford's adopted daughter, Ella, and they settled down for the start of his ministerial career. His mother-in-law built a mansion for them in Galion and provided a generous allowance. He was successful in his clerical duties, and Ohio's bishop, William Andrew Leonard, appointed him archdeacon for missionary work for the diocese. Impressed by Brown's energy and his sermons, Leonard wanted him to deliver lectures at Bexley Hall on the beliefs of the Episcopal Church.9 Assisted by Professor David Davies of Bexley Hall, he wrote the lectures that became the basis for his first book, The Church for Americans, which extolled the Episcopal Church as best for the nation. Emphasizing the superiority of the Anglo-Saxon race and the Episcopal Church, it went through eighteen printings and was popular among Episcopalians. It also brought him to the attention of Bishop Henry Niles Pierce of Arkansas.10

Pierce, an elderly cleric, wanted a coadjutor to help him in Arkansas and ultimately take over the diocese, which was the whole state. Pierce engineered the election of Brown against the objections of Christ Church, a significant congregation in Little Rock. After [End Page 133] a stormy process to get confirmation of his election, Brown finally got the necessary approval. He was consecrated coadjutor in Cleveland in June 1898...

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