William Hilton Burr was born in 1870 to William A. and Georgiana Hilton Burr in Steuben, New York. He was the youngest of their four children, having two older sisters and an older brother, Franklin. William lost his father when he was only ten years old but was able to graduate from Alfred University and Cornell Law School.
William married Mabel Winifred Adams in 1901, and they moved to Rochester New York, where he practiced law and they ran a boarding house. He worked as an attorney for the Grocer’s Association in the early 1900s and was a member of the Monroe County Progressives Organization. For many years he was prominent in the Prohibition Movement and was chairman of the New York State Committee of the Prohibition Party in 1920. He also started the first credit rating bureau in New York.
In his book, Photographic Copies of Written Messages from the Spirit World (1918), William states, “For many years I was an agnostic. As such I did not deny nor yet believe in a future life. The evidences commonly accepted were not satisfactory to me. I wandered through the paths of unrest, earnestly desiring to know the truth. Years of investigation have changed my opinions. I am no longer agnostic.”
William’s brother Franklin, a graduate of Buffalo Medical College, died when William was a young man in 1898. It was through a medium and slate writing that William first received s communication from Franklin in 1908 in Rochester. Being a skeptic at the time, William brought his own slates to the session. He watched the medium closely as they placed a short pencil lead between the slates and tied them shut. After sitting in the sunny room, conversing for about 30 minutes, they opened the slates and found the following message: “Will. I am here. I did not die. You never will die. Franklin Burr.”
William was obviously impressed with his first slate writing session. Because of that, we continued with the procedure. William saved 34 slates between 1908 and 1917 which were later published in his book. He also became involved with Spiritualism. In 1923, he was President of the General Assembly of the State of New York Spiritualists, and in 1925, President of the Rochester Spiritual Association.
From the article in the Democrat and Chronicle, 18 April 1922, Rochester, New York. “‘Spiritualism, next to the almighty dollar, is commanding more attention than any other subject in the minds of thoughtful men and women,’ said William H. Burr, attorney, yesterday. Mr. Burr has been interested in spiritualism and has been an investigator for more than twenty years. He is active in the Plymouth Church, and he says that the large numbers attending services there show the increasing interest of the masses in spiritualism.
“He believed the mases of people would learn the difference between Christianity as taught by Jesus and the dogmatic theology that began a few hundred years before. He condemned the lack of Christian charity. For those who call Fraud, he said that they “scarcely one of them even investigate for themselves as did the Psychic Society of England and the societies in other places, and as have Crooks, Hyslop, Wallace, Lodge and thousands of others.
“Spiritualism like Christianity has been unfortunate in some of its adherents. There may be frauds professing both. But this does not alter the essential truths. It cannot fail to conquer, because its fundamental teachings are beautiful, essential and true. Its critics cannot endure, because they are essentially wrong.”
William gave several addresses, including one in Elmira, New York, entitled, “The effects of Joan of Arc on our present-day life at the odd fellows temple.” He was President of Geneva Assembly of Spiritualists, NY and Plymouth Spiritualists Church of Rochester, NY in 1927.
At the end of his book, William writes what he believes was proven by his slate collection. First-that all communications written upon slates that he published were made under conditions which could not be falsified. Second- there were at least 18 types of handwriting. Third- the signatures looked authentic. Fourth- That love and knowledge in this life continue on to the next world. Fifth- That communication between life in the body and life in the spirit is proved beyond doubt.
At the end he wrote, “It is my hope that the facts which I have presented may lead sorrowing hearts to cease mourning for their dead, and to know that the day is fast approaching when the broken heart ties of the flesh will be reunited in that beautiful home beyond the dark shadows of care and pain.”
William died in 1951 in Royalston, Massachusetts at the age of 80. His book has recently been reproduced so that it is available to all who are interested in slate writing and Spiritualism.