One of the more interesting hypotheses in my book I felt was that Bond Hill’s first church was trans-denominational, or perhaps even Swedenborgian, reflecting the progressive spiritual framework of Henry Watkin’s family. The degree to which Watkin was a Swedenborgian hasn’t been fully established. We know that Watkin’s father-in-law Henry Fry was a committed Swedenborgian and vegetarian. We also can surmise that Watkin’s wife, Laura Ann Fry Watkin, was also Swedenborgian. Until recently we didn’t have any additional evidence linking Swedenborgianism to Henry Watkin. But recently we discovered that certain articles, some of the first ever published of Lafcadio Hearn’s concerned Swedenborgianism, and these were written recently after Henry and Lafcadio first met each other! I’ll know more once I actually read the articles, and my findings will be incorporated into the last and hopefully final version of my Bond Hill<\/i> book.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"