William Montgomery Brown was born on September 4, 1855, on a farm west of Orrville, Ohio, the son of a Joseph Morrison and Lucina Elzina Cary Brown. His father was a tenant farmer who moved the family to Michigan in 1858, and later enlisted in the Union Army during the Civil War. Joseph Brown served in Tennessee before becoming ill, and was sent home to recuperate. He died on August 1, 1862. His mother moved the family back to Ohio, and "Willy" was "hired out" to a farmer who did not treat the boy well and neglected to provide for his education. When Willy was 15, the county placed him with a farmer named Jacob Gardner, a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Gardner's piety greatly influenced young Brown. During this time he became seriously ill with typhoid fever. Years later Brown recalled making a bargain with God to devote his life to the ministry if his life would be spared. His health improved and he saved enough from the money his foster parents paid him to leave Ohio just after his 21st birthday. In 1876, Brown traveled to Omaha, Nebraska and got a job driving a carriage for a judge, who arranged for Brown to enter public school. Also in 1898, he received an honorary Doctor of Divinity from Kenyon College. His 1907 book
The Crucial Race Question, which supported the segregation of the church between whites and blacks, greatly angered the Northerners who usually contributed substantial sums to support his poor diocese. In the book, he writes that the only way for Black church members to raise in the church "ranks" was to have two separate churches. He denounced these views later in life. Brown created the Helen Dunlap School for Mountain Girls and a seminary to train a local ministry in Arkansas. From 1909 to 1910, he engaged in a sharp conflict with Trinity Cathedral in Little Rock (Pulaski County) over the issue of control over the cathedral and the refusal of the dean to read and compliment the bishop's new book,
The Level Plan of Church Union. This dispute further alienated many in Arkansas.
The Level Plan rejected many practices of the Episcopal Church and angered many supporters, who promptly insisted that he leave. In 1911, he returned to Galion, Ohio, and formally resigned as bishop of Arkansas in 1912, although he remained a bishop without a diocese, being nicknamed the "Wandering Bishop". Brown began reading
Charles Darwin,
Karl Marx and other authors promoting a materialistic view of the world. Two years later, Brown announced his "conversion to science" in July 1913. He wrote to Episcopal bishops informing them of his new position. He
rejected the historical Jesus, arguing that Jesus was "an idea" that was later turned into an historical person, echoing the views of
Arthur Drews in
The Christ Myth. Episcopal bishops reacted with indifference and strong hostility to his views. Repeated efforts to reinstate him were unsuccessful. However, while awaiting the final verdict on his deposition as bishop in October 1925, he was offered a place in both the
Russian Orthodox Church, which was heavily influenced by
Soviet authorities at the time, and the
Old Catholic Church. He opted for the latter and was consecrated an Old Catholic bishop in a ceremony conducted in his own study in Galion. Because Old Catholic orders were accepted as valid by the Episcopal Church in the United States, Bishop Brown's position as a bishop in
apostolic succession could not be challenged by his former church. Many Old Catholic churches count Bishop Brown in the line of succession of their bishops. Brown felt that his real ministry began at age 71 when he started lecturing to the working class and writing a wider variety of books. When he encountered difficulty in finding a publisher, he published himself under the Bradford Brown Educational Company, Inc. He continued to write until his death in 1937 at the age of 82. Bishop Brown is buried beside his wife in Galion's Fairview Cemetery. His will left bequests to the Galion hospital and to Kenyon College. ==Works==