William Branham: Difference between revisions

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Charles Branham and Ella Harvey were both born in 1887. <ref> http://searchingforvindication.com/timeline.html  See Charles Branham’s World War 1 draft card for his birthday of January 2, 1887.  The Census record from 1900 shows Ella Harvey’s birthday as June 1887. </ref>.  They were 20 years old when William Branham was born on March 10, 1907 in Cumberland County, Kentucky. <ref>http://searchingforvindication.com/timeline.html  The 1910 Census lists William Branham as 3 years old.  William Branham also said on September 29, 1951, “Doctor Dowie, in his death, prophesied…he died on one day, and I was borned on the next.”</ref> They were 21 years old when William Branham was born on April 8, 1908. <ref>http://searchingforvindication.com/timeline.html April 8 ,1909 is written as William Branham's birthday on his marriage certificate to Hope Brumbach.  William Branham’s younger brother Edward was born in 1909 as the 2010 Census document show Edward Branham as being one year old. </ref>  But his father was eighteen and his mother was fifteen years old when William Branham was born on April 6, 1909 <ref> William Branham, April 27, 1964 in a sermon called “A Trial”.  April 6, 1909 is also recorded as William Branham’s birthday on his marriage certificate with Meda Broy as found at http://searchingforvindication.com/timeline.html</ref> when he was born under an alignment of stars <ref> William Branham, July 13, 1952 in a sermon called “Early Spiritual Experiences”</ref>, and that a pillar of light entered the shack and scared the midwife. <ref> William Branham, April 27, 1964 in a sermon called “A Trial” </ref>   

The Branham family moved from Kentucky to Indiana when William Branham was a young boy.  William Branham claimed this was his first fulfilled prophecy.  <ref> William Branham, November 10, 1963 in a sermon called “Souls that are in Prison” </ref>  Charles Branham was in trouble with the law at the time, which may explain why he used the name as “Brainon” on the 1910 census records. <ref> http://searchingforvindication.com/timeline.html</ref>  

Through his teenage years William Branham did not want to have anything to do with God, or church.  It was during this time that a fortune teller told him that he was born under a rare alignment of stars.  <ref> William Branham, January 17, 1955 in a sermon called “How the Angel came to me” </ref> In 1928, he told his mother he was going camping in Green’s Mill, Indiana, and left to work as a ranch-hand in Arizona. <ref>William Branham, June 7, 1953 in a sermon called “The Ministry of Christ”</ref>  He returned after he received news that his brother Edward had died on June 20, 1929 at the age of 19.  <ref> http://searchingforvindication.com/timeline.html</ref>  Edward's funeral was taken by a close family friend, Rev. McKinney, who made a salvation call that William Branham refused. <ref> From Julius Stadsklev's book, A Prophet Visits South Africa </ref>  

William Branham worked as a laborer digging ditches <ref>http://en.believethesign.com/index.php/Life_story_by_Julius_Stadsklev </ref> , and as a collector for the Public Works Company in Jeffersonville in the early 1930’s.  <ref> http://searchingforvindication.com/timeline.html as found in the Jeffersonville City Directory</ref>

One of the churches William Branham visited during his recovery was the First Pentecostal Baptist Church of Jeffersonville at 328 Watt Street, which was pastored by Rev. Roy Davis, a member of the Ku Klux Klan.  It was here that William Branham first met Hope Brumbach (born July 16, 1913), who was a youth leader and speaker at the church, and a seamstress at the shirt manufacturer M. Fine & Sons.  <ref> http://searchingforvindication.com/timeline.html as found in the Jeffersonville City Directory, http://en.believethesign.com/index.php/Life_story_by_Julius_Stadsklev</ref>

Hope’s parents Charles and Hazel Brumbach divorced on November 1, 1931.  Charles Brumbach quickly remarried to Grace Creigh February 15, 1932 and moved away from Jeffersonville to Fort Wayne, Indiana (a 3.5 hour drive from Jeffersonville on modern roads).    <ref> http://searchingforvindication.com/timeline.html for the marriage and divorce documents.</ref>  

Roy Davis preached strongly about the Pentecostal revival, advertised regularly in the Jeffersonville Evening News, and wrote that William Branham received the Holy Spirit in his front room.  <ref> http://en.believethesign.com/index.php/Roy_Davis#Letter_from_Roy_E._Davis  </ref> Even though William Branham said that he did not join a church, it was at this time that he became an elder in the First Pentecostal Baptist Church, and was president of the PBYPU (Pentecostal Baptist Young People) in March 1933. <ref> http://searchingforvindication.com/2013/06/22/The-Common-Peoples-Church/ </ref>

In June 1933, William Branham had his first evangelistic tent meetings, in which 14 people were converted.  William Branham received front page news coverage for these meetings in the Jeffersonville Evening News. <ref>http://searchingforvindication.com/2013/06/24/What-The-Newspapers-Said-About-The-1933-Baptism/ </ref>  William Branham distributed a tract saying that a light appeared in August 1933 when he was baptizing the 17th person on the Ohio River, while 3,000 people watched from the shore.  <ref> http://en.believethesign.com/index.php/Life_Story_Tract </ref>  [[Image:Bb1 v1.jpg|180px|thumb|William Branham at a baptism]]William Branham later said the newspapers reported that a light appeared while he was baptizing the 17th person on the Ohio River, while 10,000 people watched from the shore.  <ref> http://en.believethesign.com/index.php/1933_Ohio_River_Experience Sermon: August 13, 1950 </ref>  The population of Jeffersonville was only 12,000 people at the time. <ref> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeffersonville,_Indiana#Demographics </ref>  

William Branham claimed to have started construction on the 'Pentecostal Tabernacle’ in Jeffersonville  in 1933 before he was married (this later became known as the 'Branham Tabernacle'). <ref>William Branham, April 7, 1957 in a sermon “God keeps his Word”</ref>  However, the last advertisement for Roy Davis church in the Jeffersonville Evening News was on February 10, 1934, <ref> http://searchingforvindication.com/2013/06/29/History-Of-Roy-Davis-Church/ </ref> and William Branham said he was the assistant pastor of Roy Davis’ church at the time it burned down. <ref> William Branham, April 27, 1964 in a sermon called “A Trial”, “And the Missionary Baptist Church burned down, which I was assistant pastor, at the time. And Mr. Davis come back to Texas.” </ref>    Roy Davis then moved back to Texas, and William Branham started construction on his own church.  The first advertisement for William Branham’s church, The Pentecostal Tabernacle, appeared in the Jeffersonville Evening News appeared on August 17, 1935.  <ref> http://searchingforvindication.com/2013/06/30/First-Appearances-Of-The-Pentecostal-Tabernacle/ </ref>

William Branham continued to work and preach, and married Hope Brumbach on June 22, 1934 in Fort Wayne, Indiana.  <ref> http://searchingforvindication.com/timeline.html for the marriage license.</ref>

William Branham’s brother Charles died in an accident on August 5, 1935.  Then Hope Branham’s mother remarried to John Cardwell on August 22, 1935.  Soon after, Billy Paul Branham was born to William and Hope on September 13, 1935.  The 1935 and 1937 city directory listed William Branham is pastor of the Pentecostal Tabernacle, and residing with his wife Hope at 430 Graham Street in Jeffersonville.  <ref> http://searchingforvindication.com/timeline.html </ref>

In 1936 William Branham said he was pressured by his mother-in-law not to accept invitations from Pentecostal Churches.  How William Branham agreed to follow his mother-in-law’s advice is a mystery, because he was the pastor of a Pentecostal church at the time.  What he did do was begin to refuse invitations from Oneness, colored and mixed-race Pentecostal Churches.  <ref> http://searchingforvindication.com/2013/06/20/Preaching-At-Pentecostal-Churches/ </ref>  

In the fall of 1936, William Branham claimed to have a vision that the Ohio River would flood, and reach 22 feet over Spring Street in Jeffersonville. <ref>William Branham, July 17 ,1951 in a sermon called “The Manifestation of The Spirit” </ref> A daughter named Sharon Rose Branham was born to William and Hope Branham on October 27, 1936.  A month later, William Branham’s father Charles passed away for real on November 30, 1936. <ref> http://searchingforvindication.com/timeline.html </ref> William Branham later said that he had terrible grammar because of his father’s early death.  <ref> http://en.believethesign.com/index.php/Was_William_Branham_Honest#Problems_with_William_Branham.27s_Credibility </ref>

The Ohio River flood lasted from January 5 to February 5, 1937.  William Branham tells a story of how he left his Bible on the pulpit during the flood, and when he came back they found out that the pulpit had floated up during the flood, and rested on the same spot with the Bible still open and dry.  <ref> William Branham, September 1, 1957 in a sermon called “Hebrews, Chapter Three” </ref> The newspapers, however, packed a story of the pews and pulpit rising and falling to a crest of 15 feet during the Ohio River flood in the First Presbyterian Church in Jeffersonville, because the wooden floor had loosed from the side walls.  <ref> http://searchingforvindication.com/2013/04/02/Church-Escapes-In-Freak-Stunt/ </ref>   

William Branham tells how he lost contact with Hope during the flood, and found her dying in a hospital with a hole in her side to collapse her lungs.  Hope's nurse was also a personal friend of the Branham family, and William Branham identified her as Hilda Juanita Evelyn Louise Cook Hale. <ref> http://en.believethesign.com/index.php/Hope_Branham%27s_Nurse </ref>  He ties the story of Hope’s death so closely to the flood, that he makes is sound as if she died in February of 1937.  <ref>William Branham,  April 15, 1951 in a sermon called “Life Story”</ref>  But Hope fought pneumonia for a number of months before passing away on July 21, 1937.  Sharon Rose Branham also passed away from disease a few days later on July 26, 1937. <ref> http://searchingforvindication.com/timeline.html </ref> William Branham blamed the death of Hope and Sharon Rose on his decision to respect his mother-in-law’s request not to associate with Pentecostals.  <ref> http://searchingforvindication.com/2013/06/19/Where-My-Sorrow-Started/ </ref>

The hard times soon faded and William Branham married Meda Broy on October 23, 1941.  (Meda was the daughter of Frank and Emma Broy, and was born on April 16, 1919.  Emma Broy had divorced her first husband Daniel Lawton in 1907 before marrying Frank, who she divorced on April 3, 1929.)  William Branham was then once again listed as the pastor of the Pentecostal Tabernacle in the 1943 Jeffersonville City Directory. <ref> http://searchingforvindication.com/timeline.html </ref>

Meda Branham gave birth to a girl, Rebekah, on March 21, 1946. <ref> http://searchingforvindication.com/timeline.html </ref>

A daughter Sarah was born to Meda and William Branham on March 19, 1951 followed by a son Joseph who was born on May 19, 1955. <ref> http://searchingforvindication.com/timeline.html </ref>

William Branham’s mother Ella Harvey (Branham) died October 27, 1961. <ref> http://searchingforvindication.com/timeline.html </ref>  Just over a year later, William Branham moved his family to Tucson, Arizona.  As he left, he told his congregation in Jeffersonville that he was leaving to fulfill a vision of hunting in the Mountains with his son Joseph, and that five angels would appear to him.  <ref> William Branham, December 23, 1962 in a sermon called “Reproach for the cause of the Word” </ref>