February 15, 2018
We have all heard of book burning throughout history as a way to eliminate ideas people don’t agree with.
I was surprised to learn that book burning was encouraged by one of my ancestors, William Kemp.
I have already written about how involved my 2nd-great-grandfather was with the Methodist Church in Stamford, Connecticut.
The Maple Avenue Methodist Church, that William was instrumental in building, was built across the street from his home.
It was front page news in the Daily Advocate (Stamford, Connecticut) when religious book sellers stopped by William Kemp’s home in 1904, selling copies of the multivolume book Millennial Dawn by Charles T. Russell. According to the newspaper:
“Mr. Camp [correction: Kemp] read only a few pages when he decided to burn it.”
The local Methodist minister came to the same conclusion:
“Rev. W. J. Cady, the pastor of the Maple Avenue Methodist Protestant Church, has burned four volumes which came into his hands, and denounced it in his pulpit yesterday morning and evening.”
Clearly religion was taken very seriously in Stamford, Connecticut, in 1904!
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