Churchgoers Astonished

The New York Herald for 15 August 1881 carried a column on page one, entitled CHURCHGOERS ASTONISHED.

(Transcription)

CHURCHGOERS ASTONISHED.

Fifty-four Thousand Copies of a Remarkable Pamphlet Distributed Among Them.

One week ago yesterday an attempt was made by persons then unknown to have several thousand copies of a pamphlet entitled “Food for Thinking Christians: Why Evil was Permitted, and Kindred Topics,” distributed at the doors of all the large churches in Newark. Men in carriages left packages containing 100 copies or more at the churches, with the request that they be given out to the people. At some churches they were distributed, but in most instances the sextons showed them to the ministers, and were told by the latter to keep them, which they did. At the Park Presbyterian Church the pamphlets were left on the stoop, and were then taken to the Second Precinct police station. No clergyman could find out from whom the pamphlets came.

Yesterday morning messenger boys appeared at all the churches where the books had been left, and said they were directed to obtain them and give them out to the people. The Rev. H. Goodwin of the House of Prayer (Episcopal) sent back word by the messenger that he would not give them up until ownership was proved. Mr. Goodwin had intended to burn the books but concluded he had no right to do so, and still holds them. From the pulpit yesterday morning he referred to the matter, and said that he admired the zeal of the owners of the books, and thought their impudence was grand.

The messenger boys reported that they were able to distribute only a few of the pamphlets. At several churches they were told that there were no books there, and when they undertook to give them out at other churches they were hustled away, or “booted off,” as some of them expressed it.

It was learned yesterday that the pamphlets at the police station had been claimed and taken away by some one signing his name as A. M. Bergner. Mr. Bergner was found at his house in Newark. He frankly said he had been engaged in circulating the pamphlets, and was willing to talk on the subject. Being ushered into the dining room, the reporter observed that a religious meeting was in progress in the parlor. Mr. Bergner is about 40 years old, with a fair face and light hair and beard. He is of medium height, and has clearly cut and rather handsome features.

“I belong,” he said, “to a company of Christians who have no common name. We are not Second Adventists, as has been inferred from the pamphlet, and we are not the ‘Holiness’ or ‘Higher Life’ sect. We have members all over America, England, Australia, I think, and probably in Germany. We commenced our meetings in Newark about nine months ago, and hold them every Sunday and during the week here and at Mr. Sturtevant’s house in Jenkins street. The meetings are for devotional and Bible study. We are opposed to the teachings of the churches on several points. What they teach about hell and immortality is nonsense. There is no hell. There will be eternal life for those who serve God; the wicked will also be resurrected and have a second probation during the millennium. But you can’t understand our doctrines unless you read the pamphlet about which so much fuss is made. It was written by C. T. Russell of Pittsburgh, and 500,000 copies are to be distributed in this country at an expense of $30,000. Six thousand copies were sent out here last Sunday, and only 20,000 copies are to be given out at church doors in New York. The ministers will say, ‘Burn them!’ and will be like the Romans who used to burn the Bible. This fuss caused an inquiry for the book. To-day I went to the Park Presbyterian Church and the Belleville Avenue Congregational with 120 copies, and the people eagerly took every one. I went to the Park Presbyterian because of the minister’s audacity in putting them out on the stoop last Sunday without first reading one. I can’t tell you how many books reached the people last Sunday. I am told that in the Sunday school of the Fifth Baptist Church the superintendent wrote on the blackboard: ‘Food for thinking Christians. Take one,’ and the children received them.”

Mr. C. T. Russell, a medium-sized, well-built, and shrewd-looking person dropped in upon the officers of the American District Telegraph Company in this city on Wednesday afternoon. He was turned over to Superintendent Jackson, of the Circuit Department. Mr. Russell said that he desired to have distributed 100,000 copies of the pamphlet. Mr. Russell said that he was going to different cities to engage people to distribute the pamphlets.

Yesterday morning 54,000 copies of the pamphlet were distributed among the different branch offices of the American District Telegraph Co. below Twenty-third street. Four boys, each carrying a heavy package and dressed in the uniform of the Messenger Company, stopped at the front gates of each of the churches below Twenty-third street and proceeded to tear off its coverings. It made no difference whether the church was opened for services or not, they stayed and distributed the pamphlet. Every churchgoer got one if he or she would take it. Every pedestrian was given two or three. Persons in carriages got a larger number. The boys cheered as they passed that their boss wasn’t mean. If they wanted more copies, all they had to do was write to him. No attempt was made to stop the distribution by the police officials.

Footnote on A M Bergner from Separate Identity volume 2 page 398.

Agustus M. Bergner was born in Stockholm about 1839, according to the 1880 Census. He is listed as a “cutlery dealer” in the census and in a 1900 Newark City Directory. He was briefly president of the Women’s and Children’s Mutual Benefit Association, which offered inexpensive life insurance. It failed to meet New Jersey State requirements and was closed by order of the New Jersey Secretary of State. (City and Suburban News, The New York Times, May 20, 1884.) He seems not to be mentioned in Zion’s Watch Tower, but his wife Jennie Bergner is. [See the article “Out of Darkness and into His Marvelous Light,” Zion’s Watch Tower, August 1, 1893, page 238.] Bergner served in the Navy during the Civil War, as Mate on the Natasuket. The name Agustus M. Bergner appears in a list of “soldiers and sailors” whose address was sought. The last known address for him in the list was Brooklyn, New York. (See The Washington, D. C., National Tribune, March 30, April 6, 13, 20, 27, 1899.) He was a mate on the American Navy’s screw frigate USS Wampanoag during its first sea trials. – Naval Intelligence, New York Herald, April 18, 1868. He died January 22, 1890, in New Jersey.

The Curious Case of the Errant Envelope

Many documents written by or signed by well-known people from the past circulate among collectors of Watchtower memorabilia. In this post, we'll look at a personal letter Charles Taze Russell wrote to his wife in 1882. The letter, along with its envelope, is reproduced with permission.

The envelope suggests several stories. It appears below.

The letter was written from New York, and the postmark shows it was mailed on 12 October 1882.

The official return address shows this stationery came from the office of Zion’s Day Star, 1159 Broadway, New York. The official notepaper used for the actual letter gave this address and added that A. D. Jones was the editor and publisher.

Jones had been one of the original contributors to Zion’s Watch Tower. He’d worked at one of CTR’s stores, and the two men had been close friends. When Jones was married (for the first time out of several) CTR attended the wedding in Pittsburgh and was an usher. The event was written up in The Portsmouth Times (Ohio) on 9 January 1878:

With a little help from AI:

The two men shared a theological bond and also had business interests together. Jones moved to New York and opened a shirt store, and also started a companion magazine to ZWT. Jones’ paper was called Zion’s Day Star. It started with CTR’s blessing, and in the October/November 1881 issue of ZWT CTR gave Jones’ venture his “best wishes.”

The date on the envelope is significant because by this time CTR and Jones were falling out theologically. After the initial good wishes, the March 1882 ZWT printed a friendly “word from Bro. A.D. Jones of Zion’s Day Star.” But then the September 1882 ZWT showed a rift appearing. In the article THE BODY, THE BRIDE OF CHRIST, CTR mentioned the Day Star by name and wrote: “This is out of harmony with the views presented by our brethren.”

The next month CTR was in New York and obviously met with Jones because he used his business notepaper to write to Maria. Whatever discussions they had didn’t resolve the issues, and in the December ZWT CTR formally warned his readers about Jones in the article AN UNPLEASANT DUTY. It started:

“Less than a year ago, and frequently since, we warmly commended to our readers a publication called Zion’s Day Star. This we now regret.”

Returning to the envelope, underneath the official address for ZION’S DAY STAR, CTR wrote by hand his own return address:

101 Fifth Ave
Pittsburgh, Pa.

Newspaper advertisements for 1881 show this as the official address for Russell’s Shirt House, but it was also now used as the official address for ZWT.

Underneath the return address, CTR wrote the details of the addressee.

Mrs. C. T. Russell

Care  Mrs M A Fink

# 57 Macomb Ave

Detroit

Macomb Ave exists in Detroit, but there are no Finks there in the 1880 census. However, the name Mrs M A Fink does exist in the 1882 directory for Detroit. There we find Mary A Fink, widow of David Fink, living at 32 Macomb Street. (We will return to the discrepancy in the house number shortly).

Mary is listed as “h” = householder.

The same directory entry gives two other Finks at the same address as “bds” = boarders. They are:

Fink Leon C., chemist Parke, Davis & Co., bds 32 Macomb ave.

Fink, Wm., agt Union News Co., bds 32 Macomb ave

These are Mary’s two sons. They both had biographies in The Book of Detroiters, edited by Albert Nelson Marquis (1908). From this, we can reconstruct that Mrs M A Fink was originally Mary Ann Fitzsimmons (1837-1909). She married David Finck (1830-1864) in 1852 (note spelling of surname). David and Mary lived in Syracuse, NY, and had three children: William Muir (b.1854), a daughter, Luella (b.1857), and Leon Christian (b.1859).

William moved from New York to Detroit in 1876 and went into business with an Uncle Fitzsimmons. Widow Mary and son Leon moved to Detroit shortly after the 1880 census, and by 1882 she and the two boys were together at Macomb Avenue.

There is no indication found anywhere of how Mary entered the Bible Student fold, or how long she stayed there. CTR’s letter calls her “Sister Fink.” There are no references to Fink or Finck in the early ZWTs.

What is notable is that the street number on the envelope appears to be incorrect. The directory puts Mrs M A Fink at number 32 whereas CTR addresses her at number 67. She may, of course, have temporarily moved house along the same street, although it may simply be that 67 is a mistake. She is at number 32 Macomb Avenue in all the directories over 1881­-1884, before moving elsewhere in Detroit in 1885. The number 67 and the rest of the reference to “care (of) Mrs M A Fink” on the envelope appear to have lines struck through them. This might suggest “Return to Sender.” To coin a phrase from Elvis Presley:

Return to sender

Address unknown

No such number

No such zone

If this was the case, then the letter would have ended its journey at 101 Fifth Avenue, Pittsburgh.

 

After extracting the above from the envelope, the actual four-page letter it contained comes across as something of an anticlimax. It is reproduced below, followed by a transcript and comments.

Transcript – CTR’s underlining and strike-through corrections are preserved.

ZION'S DAY STAR,
ISSUED MONTHLY,
NO. 1159 BROADWAY,
Corner 27th Street.

A. D. JONES, Editor and Publisher.

New York, Oct 12th 1882

Mr. C. T. Russell
care

Mrs. M. A. Fink

My dear wife

Yours came promptly this morning (written Tuesday).

I am glad to know of your welfare but sorry that your head troubles you so much. I fear it results from your long fast & I now recommend that you put a light lunch in your pocket before starting on a journey.

I write now especially to propose that you stop on your way home at Mercer Pa. Bro. Adamson specially requested that you visit there. Also it might be advisable if possible to go to Titusville Pa. Both places are on your route.

You had better seek Sister Adamson at Mercer & brother Williams, a drayman, [?] at Titusville.

I have written to Sister Long to send you the lists of those two places and for her to write to prominent ones in each place Mercer announcing that you will visit them & be at Mercer & also at Titusville.

She will send the list of Mercer names to you at Mercer Mercer Co. Pa. so that on arrival you can go to P.O and get list, & then find the friends (mostly sisters.)

Regarding time of going, I leave that entirely with yourself. Saturday Monday I would think preferable.

You had perhaps better not visit Titusville unless an invitation comes to you from there at Mercer.

Buy your ticket in Detroit for Pittsburgh via "Lawrence junction". I think that the proper place to change cars for Mercer will be at "New Castle Pa." or "Lawrence junction.” I think the latter but Ticket agt. can tell you positively.

Do not get a limited ticket — as you may stop several days at Mercer and Titusville.

Should you conclude not to go to Mercer you may buy a limited ticket which will be cheaper.

Give my love to all the dear friends — especially Sister Fink.

Be of good courage & make full proof of the ministry and of a spirit of Christ.

God bless you richly & refresh you & cause you to refresh others.

Yours truly — Your husband

C. T. Russell

[written diagonally across the lower right]

Excuse hasty scribble

 

In addition to “Sister Fink” the letter mentions Bro and Sis Adamson, Bro Williams and Sis Long. Adamson’s ministry in Mercer is noted in ZWT May 1882 (reprints page 346):

“Bro. Adamson is holding some very successful, and we trust profitable meetings in Mercer county, Pa.”

As already noted, we do not know how Mary came into the Bible Student fold or how long she stayed there.

It is quite remarkable that the letter, along with its original envelope, has somehow survived for well over 140 years.

Jonas Wendell in Pittsburgh

Jonas Wendell in August 1868

Photograph restored by Bernhard and reproduced with permission.

Most readers will be familiar with the name Jonas Wendell. CTR recounted how his interaction with him helped re-establish his faith in the Bible.

Wendell was an evangelist for the Advent Christian Church and aspects of his history have been covered before on this blog, particularly in

https://jeromehistory.blogspot.com/2025/12/the-trials-of-jonas.html

Jonas’ evangelising work in Pittsburgh was spread over several years. CTR was a young man, still a teenager by to-day’s nomenclature, when he started on his religious journey after contact with Wendell.

It was written up by CTR on at least two occasions.

First, in the supplement issued with the first issue of Zion’s Watch Tower sent TO THE READERS OF THE HERALD OF THE MORNING and dated June 1879:

“I have been a Bible student since I first had my attention called to the second coming of our Lord, by Jonas Wendell, a Second Advent Preacher, about 1869, who was then preaching the burning of the world as being due in 1873. But though he first awakened my interest on the subject, I was not a convert, either to the time he suggested nor to the events he predicted.”

Years later, he expanded on this in the booklet A Conspiracy Exposed and Harvest Siftings (1894), page 95 (Special edition of Zion’s Watch Tower for 25 April 1894):

“Among other theories, I stumbled upon Adventism. Seemingly by accident, one evening I dropped into a dusty, dingy hall, where I had heard religious services were held, to see if the handful who met there had anything more sensible to offer than the creeds of the great churches.

There, for the first time, I heard something of the views of Second Adventists from the preacher, Mr. Jonas Wendell, long since deceased. Though his Scripture exposition was not entirely clear, and though it was very far from what we now rejoice in, it was sufficient, under God, to re-establish my wavering faith in the divine inspiration of the Bible, and to show that the records of the apostles and prophets are indissolubly linked. What I heard sent me to my Bible to study with more zeal and care than ever before.”

So CTR believed that it was “seemingly by accident” that, about 1869, he dropped into a meeting that Jonas was conducting.

While we don’t know exactly when this happened, there were lots of opportunities for this to happen starting in 1869, and several of these received some publicity. And there would be others in Pittsburgh and Allegheny who would make a conscious choice to visit due to the level of promotion Jonas and others achieved.

Let’s examine what we know about Jonas’ activities in Pittsburgh.

The first known mention of Jonas in Pittsburgh in available records is a speaking assignment on Friday, 1 January 1869. Below is from The World’s Crisis for 23 December 1868.

Events moved quickly. Six weeks later, Jonas was writing to The World’s Crisis with the results of his preaching campaign. The letter was dated 10 February, although not published by the paper until 17 March 1869. Starting with just six interested persons, there were now over thirty in attendance, and regular meetings were to be started.

The full letter gives an example of one of Jonas’ main strategies. He challenged a local minister to a debate on conditional immortality. The Methodist minister accepted but then backed out.

The regular meetings were advertised in the Pittsburgh Weekly Gazette for a number of weeks, and after a couple of one-off locations, settled down on Sunday, 14 February at Quincy Hall.  This was the former Soldiers’ League Room and Library, on Leacock Street, just around the corner from Federal Street in Allegheny. It was hired out to various groups, both religious and political, and became a “go-to” venue for groups without their own dedicated meeting place. The ACC was still using this venue for meetings over ten years later.

In the example reproduced below from the Gazette for 20 March 1869, the meetings were not just on Sunday, but also on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday evenings.

These notices ran from January through to the end of March. Subjects Wendell covered included:

 

The certainty of Christ’s coming
The necessity of Christ’s coming
The time of Christ’s coming
New Birth
Rich Man and Lazarus
The Eighth of Daniel
Prophecy
The Church waiting
Evidence of Discipleship
The Christian Hope True Worship of God

Our near proximity to the end

 

Most advertisements ended with a short slogan. These included “Seats free and no collection” – a phrase used to very good effect by CTR himself in time to come – and “An opportunity for asking questions on the subjects will be allowed.” The latter would no doubt be a huge selling point for anyone with an enquiring mind like CTR’s.

Although Wendell moved his ministry elsewhere after the end of March, the effects remained. The Pittsburgh Weekly Gazette for 12 May 1869 carried a letter from someone who claimed to be a minister and who hid behind the pseudonym ANIMA. The issue was conditional immortality.

The letter is reproduced below.

A local man, John A Best, immediately fired back in the Gazette for 13 May.

Best’s address identifies him from trade directories as a Pittsburgh grocer. His challenge involving money was a familiar one, and as far as conditionalists were concerned, without risk. There was no apparent follow-up dialog in the newspaper.

Jonas was back in Pittsburgh in 1870.

A series of advertised meetings at Quincy Hall is found in the Pittsburgh Weekly Gazette and The Pittsburgh Commercial, all featuring Jonas. They start in March and run through to the end of May 1870, although there may have been missed weeks when he was back home in Edinboro. The first advertisement gives some details of his message for 1870. From the Pittsburgh Weekly Gazette for 12 February 1870

It may be noted that there were to be three meetings on the Sunday, and then they would continue “during the week.”

A similar notice appeared in The Pittsburgh Commercial of the same date.

Some days later in the Gazette, Jonas laid down his usual challenge to debate the subject of conditional immortality. Someone writing on his behalf provided the invitation. From the Pittsburgh Weekly Gazette for 23 February 1870:

 

There was a delay of about two weeks, and then someone took Jonas up on his challenge. From the Pittsburgh Weekly Gazette for 8 March 1870:

Bacon was the pastor of the Pittsburgh Universalist Church. Jonas shot back immediately. From the Pittsburgh Weekly Gazette for 9 March 1870:

 

The local man, John Best, sent a notice to The World’s Crisis for the larger ACC fellowship who might travel into Allegheny to hear the debate. From the Crisis for 9 March 1870:

It was typical of the time that the discussion was to “continue for one week, or longer if thought best.”

It is a shame that no record seems to exist of how this 1870 debate went. These types of meetings were widely advertised and served as a means of attracting a diverse audience to the ACC message. At some point, these would include George Darby Clowes, a Methodist preacher who would eventually become the group’s “under-shepherd” (and whose obituary was in Zion’s Watch Tower for March 1889) and William and Sarah Conley, who were called “Brother and Sister” in the fellowship as early as 1871 (see The World’s Crisis for 3 January 1872). Conley would later become the first President of Zion’s Watch Tower Society.

Jonas continued preaching through April and May 1870, and his regular notices in The Pittsburgh Commercial carried the homily: “Come and we will try and do you good.” An advertisement in the Pittsburgh Gazette for 30 April 1870 noted that, as well as Elder Wendell, “Elder Himes of Michigan would ‘preach the Word’” at Quincy Hall on 1 May. We assume this was either Joshua V Himes, then editor of the Advent Christian Times, or his son, William L Himes.

Jonas then appears to have been elsewhere after May, but the Quincy Hall meetings continued. There is an advertisement for services now conducted by John T Ongley in the Crisis for 7 December 1870, related to preaching in January 1871.

In March 1871, the group temporarily moved from Quincy Hall to a new location, and the same John T Ongley sent out an invitation to Jonas Wendell to visit. From the Advent Christian Times for 28 March 1871:

Wendell obviously responded at some point, because the Pittsburgh Weekly Gazette has him back in April, and also later in the year, in November, and on both occasions back in Quincy Hall. According to the Gazette for 4 November 1871, Quincy Hall was “their church,” and the meetings started on the Sunday would continue into the evening during the week.

At the end of 1871 Wendell moved on, to be replaced in Pittsburgh by George Stetson. CTR was to speak highly of Stetson and was ultimately asked to conduct his funeral in 1879. The changeover can be seen in several issues of the Pittsburgh Weekly Gazette and its Quincy Hall advertisements in late 1871.

The last reference to mention Wendell on his own at Quincy Hall was the Gazette for 4 November 1871. Then the next week, he and Stetson shared the platform.

Then, in the paper for 9 December 1871, it is just Dr Stetson.

This links up with a letter Stetson wrote, as published in the Advent Christian Times for 27 August 1872, where he said it was “now ten months since I was called and came to Pittsburg, Pa. to labor.”

Wendell wrote up these events himself in a letter to The World’s Crisis for 27 December 1871 (letter dated 6 December):

Wendell and Stetson were close friends and had often worked together. They both shared Edinboro as a home base at times.

Wendell’s letter commented on issues the Pittsburgh group faced, and stated his intention to be back with them in early 1872. It also commented on George Clowes being invited to serve as under-shepherd.

A year later, in November 1872, Clowes’ position was firmed up when he was ordained to the ministry of the Advent Christian Church. Wendell came back to Pittsburgh to participate in the event. The Advent Christian Times Editorial Gleanings for 17 December 1872 noted that:

“Br. G.D. Clowes was ordained to the work of the ministry by Elders Wendell and E. McCullock last month. Bro. Clowes is a man that is highly esteemed, and respected, and has been a local preacher in the M.E. church, for a number of years. We think he will be an efficient labourer in the cause of truth.”

The previous week (Advent Christian Times for 4 December 1872) noted that this was at the invitation of George Stetson.

Clowes would continue to conduct Advent Christian Church meetings at least until the end of 1879, by which time CTR’s separate ministry and Zion’s Watch Tower magazine was active. Although Clowes was not cited by CTR as a special influence, and ZWT never mentioned his meetings, he did get a short obituary in Zion’s Watch Tower. In the issue for March 1889, CTR responded to a letter from his father, J L Russell:

“On Jan’y 25th our dear Brother Clowes, with whom some of our readers were acquainted, having heard him preach the word of truth at various points near Pittsburgh, passed away full of triumphant faith and glorious hope. (“Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from henceforth.” Yea, saith the spirit, they shall rest from their labors, but their works follow with them.)

Returning to Wendell and his participation in Clowes’ ordination, after that November 1872 visit to Pittsburgh he appears to have gone back home to Edinboro. Around the same time or shortly thereafter, Stetson did the same. When Jonas planned to go on further travels in 1873, Stetson accepted the pastorate of the Edinboro church, starting on 1 May 1873. (Letter from Jonas Wendell in World’s Crisis for 23 April 1873). But then unexpectedly Jonas died after an accident in the August. Stetson conducted the funeral service (Letter from Stetson in the Crisis for 20 August 1873). Following on from that, Stetson was to remain as pastor of the Edinboro church for the last six years of his life.

Jonas Wendell had been a frequent visitor to Pittsburgh over the four year period 1869-1872. His first meeting with CTR obviously made an impression on the latter, as was freely acknowledged, and the same was true for the ministry of his successor, George Stetson. As to how often Wendell and CTR met up and discussed their diverging paths thereafter, we can only speculate.

The Naturalization of Joseph

(Expanded from material previously published in the article: https://jeromehistory.blogspot.com/2020/04/1-three-weddings-but-no-funeral-this.html

Most books that mention the Russell family indicate that CTR’s father, Joseph Lytle Russell, came to the United States from Ireland in 1845. The source is his obituary in several Pittsburgh papers from 1897, which state that he reached America “about 1845.” From this, some have assumed that he and Ann Eliza came as a married couple and settled in Pittsburgh.

The main problem with obituaries is that the person who could verify the information is unavailable to do so. We now know that both of the above assumptions are incorrect. We have reasonable proof that Joseph was in Pittsburgh as early as 1843, and Ann Eliza was still single in Pittsburgh in early 1849.

A key document that led to a search for further evidence, as more material appeared online, was Joseph’s naturalization document. Around 40 years ago, when a member of the British Society of Genealogists, this writer spent some time in their library in London, trying to find when Joseph came to America. A reference there that I have not seen online since sent me to contact the Prothonotary’s Office in Pittsburgh. This is where Joseph would have renounced allegiance to the old country and sworn allegiance to the United States. They finally sent me a not very clear copy of the document. As received, it is reproduced below.

Due to the marvels of AI, and the opportunity to dig further, it has now been possible to reconstruct this document into a more readable form. Apart from the name of the official who handled the matter, which appears to be a wild guess from an illegible signature, we can be reasonably certain that the rest of the form is accurate. It will appear in a forthcoming book, but is reproduced here for anyone who wants to read and copy it.

Depending on your device, you may need to click on it to see it all, or even download and print it out on standard-sized paper.

The key point is that when Joseph said the oath on 26 October 1848, he was swearing that he had been living in America for at least five years. That would take us back to 1843. It is also noticed that his character witness was one W Glendining. William Glendining was a partner with Joseph’s brother, Charles Tays Russell, in a flour and produce business. The partnership was dissolved in 1860.

Armed with the date 1843 and the increasing number of newspapers scanned and searchable, it was possible to find Joseph L Russell in the Pittsburgh Daily Post. Letters were waiting for him at the post office. Also that year, his two brothers, James and Charles Tays, had their names recorded in the same listings. So the three brothers were together in Pittsburgh in 1843.

The same listings from the same newspaper included A E Birney in 1848 and Miss A E Birney in early 1849. So she and Joseph met in Pittsburgh, maybe as a result of Presbyterian Church socials, and were married in 1849. Their first child, Thomas, was born in May 1850. CTR followed in 1852.

For more documentation and graphics, please see the earlier referenced article above.

An Interview from 1879

 

Taken from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette for 11 August 1879.

THE FINAL DAY

The Millerites Say the World Will be Destroyed by Fire To-day – A Comforting Interview With an Alleged Second Adventist,

The first part of this article reviewed the history of Second Adventism and William Miller, not very sympathetically. One strand of Adventism had reportedly predicted the end of the world by fire for the day of the article, August 11, so a reporter was sent out to interview a Second Adventist for comments. He settled on CTR.

This is the transcript of that interview from the second part of the article.

 

A reporter of this journal started out last evening to look up a Millerite or Second Adventist, for the purpose of obtaining more definite information concerning the big conflagration. Among the persons sought out and interviewed was Mr. C. T. Russell, of Cedar avenue, Allegheny. That gentleman was informed as to the reporter’s mission, when he said:

“In the first place, I am not a Second Adventist; secondly, I don't believe the world will be burned to-morrow; and, thirdly, I don’t believe the world will ever be literally burned with fire. My expectation is that the present, or Gospel age, will end much the same as the Patriarchal and the Jewish age. The Jewish age, you know, ended with the death of Christ, when the Gospel age commenced, and this will be succeeded by the millennium, when Christ will reign on earth. The change will not be manifested by any such demonstration as the burning of the earth.”

 “That is certainly a comforting assurance,” said the reporter; “but where do you find anything in the scriptures to sustain your assertion?”

 “In Ecclesiastes, 1–4: ‘One generation passeth away and another generation cometh; but the earth abideth forever.’”

“Is it not stated somewhere in the Bible that the earth shall be devoured by fire?”

“It is, but I understand the word ‘fire’ to be used symbolically. We find in Zephaniah iii.—‘Wait ye upon me, saith the Lord, until the day that I rise up to the prey, for my determination is to gather the nations, that I may assemble the kingdoms, to pour upon them mine indignation, even all my fierce anger; for the earth shall be devoured with the fire of my jealousy. For then will I turn to the people a pure language, that they may call upon the name of the Lord, to serve Him with one consent.’ This describes the fire that is going to burn the earth; it is the fire of jealousy—symbolic fire—and while it destroys the kingdoms the masses of the people will be left alive, and they are to be blessed after their time of national trouble.”

“How are they to be blessed?”

“In the book of Daniel it is written that ‘the kingdom of God will take the place of earthly kingdoms.’ In Revelation, also, is this text: ‘The kingdoms of this world become the kingdoms of our Lord, and He shall reign forever and ever.’ I hold that the survivors of the Gospel dispensation will be associated with Christ in the heavenly kingdom which is to take the place of the earthly kingdoms.”

“Will that kingdom be on this earth?”

“Yes. This passage from Daniel, vii.–27, shows it: ‘The kingdom and dominion under the whole heaven shall be given to the people of the saints of the Most High, whose kingdom is an everlasting kingdom.’”

“Will the ruler of this kingdom be visible on the earth?”

“No. ‘The kingdom of God cometh not with observation.’”

“How could the king rule and yet be invisible?”

“The same as Queen Victoria rules India. She is not in India, but she rules it.”

“You say you are not a Second Adventist, Mr. Russell. What do you call yourself?”

“People of my faith have no denominational name. We are simply Christians, and are opposed to denominational names.”

Thanking Mr. Russell for his cheering information that the world would not be burned to-day, the reporter hurried back to send out the gratifying intelligence to the people.

Selena Barto or Lena Guibert, Which?

Maria Frances Ackley Russell was one of five children who lived to adulthood. Her siblings included Laura Raynor, Emma Russell, Lemuel Ackley, and then a query raised in various writings – was the final name Selena Barto or Lena Guibert?

Did Selena or Lena change her name? Why the confusion? A close look at the records that now exist can clear this up.

First, the correct name of Maria’s sister WAS Selena Barto. Selena Ackley (1846-1929) married Baptist minister Charles Edward Barto (1841-1883). He was an agent of the American Tract Society, headquartered in Philadelphia, which specialised in evangelising Native Americans. He died of “apoplexy” in his early 40s, leaving Selena a widow with two small children. She never remarried. She spent much of her life in the Pittsburgh area, but did own property near Chicago where her brother, Lemuel, was a lawyer. It was in representing her in a Chicago court in a financial claim against a police officer that the officer drew a gun and killed Lemuel in 1921.

We know Selena Barto was the correct name because she is mentioned by that name in her mother’s obituary from 1901, and is also mentioned by name in her mother’s last will and testament. From the Pittsburgh Post for 4 October 1901:

There does not appear to be any evidence that Selena (here: Salina) had any specific interest in the affairs of the Bible Student movement, unlike her three sisters, Maria Russell, Emma Russell, and Laura Raynor.

As for the mysterious Lena Guibert, she appears just once in Zion’s Watch Tower in the special 15 July 1906 issue, where CTR explains the complexities of his conflict with Maria. Before they separated, there were various accusations, and at one point, CTR had a document prepared, which was signed by all those involved, retracting accusations made against him. This was read to the congregation as an apology and reprinted on pages 219-220.

The five signatories of the document are listed below:

It seems to have been assumed that since CTR mentioned his problems with Maria and “her sisters,” Lena Guibert must have been one of those sisters. However, when the background to the document is carefully checked, CTR plainly says on page 219:

(quote)

“Mrs Russell’s two sisters and one of the two persons who on the previous Sunday night had been convicted of slander and false witness signed it with us, and on Sunday afternoon I requested the consecrated ones to remain for a special service, and to them I read the said letter.”

Emma and Laura were the two sisters. So Lena would have to be one of the two other persons who had entered the controversy in the class.

So who was she?

Lena (or Lina) Guibert appears in records like street directories for Pittsburgh in this era, and was a member of the Allegheny class that met at Bible House. In 1917-1918, she is listed as the next of kin for her son Albert Daniel Guibert on his draft registration card. His address then was in Cedar Avenue, Pittsburgh, formerly Allegheny. Using his history as the reference, we find his mother’s maiden name was Marlina (Lena) Hartman. She had been married to a Civil War veteran, Peter Guibert, and had three children by him, including Albert Daniel. The marriage failed, and Peter (originally from France) married again and had a second family.

So Lena (Lina) Guibert was a member of the Allegheny Bible class, and was probably separated or even divorced from her husband Peter at the time, which may have made her sympathetic toward the accusations Maria made.

So we have two different people here. But the one who was Maria’s sister was Selina Barto.