Des Res 1

When I visited Pittsburgh in 2014 I was taken to see these two neighboring properties in Cedar Avenue, overlooking the park. This is the photograph I took. Both homes were on the market, and the owner was offering to turn them into whatever you wanted for over $400,000 per plot.  Much of the interiors had to be gutted, because all new floors were needed. However, the aim was to restore the homes as sympathetically as possible. So the double spiral staircases on each side were to be fully restored.

By 2016 the restoration work was complete and here is a photograph from that year to show the new exteriors.

Readers can use Google Earth or similar to view a more recent photo. Simply search for 1006 Cedar Avenue, Pittsburgh.

For any new to this subject, these two houses were at one time owned by the Russell family. Joseph L Russell and his wife Emma owned the house on the left (originally number 80 but renumbered as 1006 at the turn of the 19^th century), and Charles T Russell and his wife Maria owned the one on the right (originally number 79 but renumbered as 1004).

CTR and Maria moved out of number 79 into accommodation at Bible House in Arch Street in the late 1880s and CTR let the property out.

Joseph L died in his property in December 1897. Shortly before that Maria left CTR at Bible House and went to stay with her brother in Chicago. When she came back to Allegheny she moved into her sister’s home at number 80 on the left, probably very soon after Joseph L died. As soon as the tenants moved out of the next door property (number 79) she moved in there. Other family members moved in with her. Her mother Selena died at this address in 1901.  She also rented out rooms to lodgers.

When CTR took back the property in 1903, he put it in the hands of his sister, Margaretta Land, and offered Maria a room there. Maria chose to move back in with Emma next door. The two women would then live together at various locations in Pittsburgh and later Florida until Emma died in 1929. Maria lived on until 1938.

So any collectors with too much money can forget about bidding on eBay for rare bits of paper and perhaps consider obtaining some historic real estate instead…

Des Res 2

This photograph was taken in 2014 and shows the house owned by the first Watch Tower president, William H Conley. At the time it was unoccupied and the current owner had gutted the interior. This meant it was not possible to check the size of Conley’s parlor that was used for the annual Memorial celebrations in 1880 and 1881, as recorded in ZWT. If any readers have an early photograph of the interior as it was in Conley’s day, it might give an indication of how many attended the Memorial celebration in those early days.

The property was renovated extensively and readers can see the current appearance of the exterior by checking on Google Earth or similar. The original address was 50 Fremont Street, Allegheny City, but it is now part of Brighton Place, Pittsburgh.

A visitor

A visitor to the grave of Joseph Lytle Russell in the Allegheny Cemetery. From Watch Tower of Allegheny Historical Tour book by James S Holmes (available through Amazon). Picture reproduced with kind permission of the author.

I personally did this tour with the author in 2014 and can recommend this book, now available in e-format as well as print edition.

Two book reviews (from 2014)

Image from Lulu books

Review for Lulu books and Amazon.co.uk

Histories of the early Watch Tower movement tend to fall into two extremes, hagiography and polemic. This is because they are usually written from a range of widely differing theological perspectives, not that of a strict historian. Additionally, they tend to concentrate on the figure of Charles Taze Russell to the virtual exclusion of his contemporaries.

This volume redresses that balance, written by two historians with an almost fanatical attention to deal as demonstrated by the voluminous footnotes. They strive hard to keep any personal views out of the picture and go where the evidence takes them. The result is a detailed, even-handed history of Russell and his contemporaries - crucially in the context of their times. Many writers on this subject seem to try and graft 21^st century attitudes onto 19^th century people, not recognising that the beliefs of Russell and others in the second half of the nineteenth century were often far more mainstream than a modern reader might imagine.

Even if one has no direct interest in Russell and what came later from his ministry, several groups today count people like Henry Grew, George Storrs, and John Thomas in their antecedents. These men all feature in this book and, certainly in the case of Storrs, you are unlikely to find as much detailed information on his life and work anywhere else.

The writers have previously published a volume on Nelson Barbour: The Millennium’s Forgotten Prophet. That too is well worth reading, although the present volume (that takes history up to 1879) is a stand-alone book.

Review for Google books and Amazon.com

This is the history or rather the pre-history of the Bible Student movement associated with Charles Taze Russell. He founded a magazine (still published today) originally called Zion’s Watch Tower and Herald of Christ’s Presence. It started in 1879, and yet this first lengthy volume only takes the reader up to that year. There is a massive untold story before that year, and this is the only volume to my knowledge that really does that justice.

Schulz and de Vienne try hard to be accurate and fair to all concerned. The problem with history is that we all tend to come at it with preconceptions. Perhaps the biggest error we make – even unconsciously - is to try and graft our modern sensibilities onto those of the 19^th century. Of course, people are people in any era, but only when you understand the background of the times can you appreciate some of the things they believed and did. And rather than swing between the extremes of adulation and criticism, to understand where they were coming from in all sincerity AT THE TIME. Also the ideas of Charles Taze Russell did not exist in a vacuum, and this volume brings back to life many of the people he associated with. At the time he willingly gave them credit, but this has tended to be lost as the years have rolled by and the focus has concentrated on one man – a focus distorted by incomplete data. This book has attempted to right that situation.

In recent years there have been several books covering this ground, generally far more sympathetic than past attempts with a specific religious agenda. But for sheer minutia of research, backed up by references of the time, this book is ground breaking. Don’t take my word for it, if you have any interest in this subject, or in the general ambience of those times, get it and read it for yourself. Whether your personal beliefs match or differ from these men of 150 years ago, it will complete many pieces of a jigsaw that you likely never knew existed.

Volume 2 in this series (around 600 pages) is due for publication in 2020.

When?

We are all familiar with CTR’s account of how he dropped into a dingy dusty hall to hear the preaching of Jonas Wendell, which rekindled his spiritual search. The dates given vary around the 1869 and 1870 mark.

Until recent years, the earliest we could place Wendell in Pittsburgh with certainty was in the latter part of 1871. He wrote a letter dated December 6, 1871 for The World’s Crisis for December 27, 1869 (hereafter abbreviated as Crisis) which mentioned that he had been in Pittsburgh for four weeks, starting at the beginning of November, and was subsequently joined by George Stetson. The church there had been like sheep without a shepherd, but now George Clowes was to be their under-shepherd. Clowes was a former M.E. minister who had been expelled from that church for heresy, but he could be left to care for this group when Wendell and Stetson moved on. It was actually a mixed group of both Adventist and Age to Come persuasion (quite common at this time) and both Adventist and Age to Come newspapers subsequently advertised meetings held by Clowes and Stetson in Allegheny, giving the address as Quincy Hall, Leacock Street. Clowes, like Stetson, was well-known to both CTR and his father Joseph Lytle – they both wrote brief tributes in ZWT when Clowes died (see reprints page 1110).

It is generally thought that Quincy Hall was the dusty, dingy meeting place, which CTR visited. In 1919 at the IBSA Pittsburgh convention, visitors were taken on a tour which included the original “dingy dusty hall” close by to Russell’s Old Quaker Store. One assumes that so soon after Russell’s demise, there were enough people around to have been told direct by him where the hall was, and Quincy Hall fits the bill geographically.

But when? 1869, 1870 or 1871 when we know both Wendell and Stetson were there?

In a sense it is not important, and CTR wrote up his life story many years later and could be understandably vague about precise dates. But we now know that Wendell visited Pittsburgh in 1869.

The Advent Christian Church’s Crisis published details of meetings, preaching tours and conferences. Most of their activity was around States like Connecticut, New Hampshire, Vermont, and New York, with only brief forays into Pennsylvania to places like Philadelphia and Edinboro (home to both Wendell and Stetson at times). Insofar as the Crisis could be checked, throughout 1868 Pittsburgh does not seem to be mentioned. But in the January 13, 1869 Crisis there appeared the following brief announcement in the list of speaker’s engagements:

For such a meeting to be arranged there would have to be some subscribers to Advent Christian literature there. This was the start of a series of meetings, which were written up by Wendell in a letter dated February 10. 1869, published in the Crisis for March 17, 1869.

We reproduce the letter as found in the Crisis:

Transcript of letter:

Letter from J. Wendell (dated February 10, 1869) as found in The World's Crisis for March 17, 1869.

BRO. GRANT: -- The battle goes well. The attendance at our meetings is large. There were only about a half a dozen in the faith of man's nature and destiny, and the speedy coming of our dear Savior; now, I think there are over thirty, and they still come. Brethren have hired a hall, and intend to have meetings regularly. A week ago last Lord's day evening, there were three ministers present, and at the close I gave liberty for remarks. A minister arose and said he had been informed that I would discuss the subject, and that he would like to break swords with me. I replied that I had said I would discuss the question, and that if he was a minister, in good standing, I would meet him; and that with a sword that never breaks, which was the "word of God." The Methodist minister arose and endorsed my opponent, and stated he was in good standing in the Conference. I then proposed to meet him, if they would open their meeting-house. As none of the trustees were present, we did not enter into any definite arrangement that evening. The next day, the following notice appeared in the editorial of the Pittsburg Daily Dispatch: --

"IS THE SOUL IMMORTAL? -- The Rev. Mr. Wendell held religious services at Lafayette Hall on Sabbath evening last. At the close of the services quite a controversy arose as to the 'immortality of the soul,' 'the state of dead between death and the judgment,' etc. Mr. Wendell seems very anxious to have a public discussion on some of the above topics, if a church can be procured for the purpose, and any orthodox ministers of the city will take issue with him. The citizens of Pittsburg will certainly be interested in the discussion."

After the above notice appeared, and the gentleman who seemed so anxious to meet me in discussion had backed down, I gave the following notice in the "Dispatch," and two other daily papers; but thus far no response:

"IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. –  The clerical gentleman who manifested so much zeal at the close of our meeting on last Lord's day evening, called this morning and informed me, as there was no definite arrangement entered into on the evening aforesaid, he had dismissed the subject from his mind and declined to enter into a discussion of the question. I shall be happen to meet any minister of acknowledged reputation, and discuss this question with him, with the assurance that on my part the same shall be conducted in a courteous and Christian manner.

Pittsburg, Feb. 10th. J. WENDELL."

Wendell’s letter suggests he either started or re-started a congregation with his visit – going from half a dozen to thirty odd. Three ministers were present, including a Methodist minister, when Wendell spoke and debated at Lafayette Hall. Regular meetings were then started elsewhere. This could have been at Quincy Hall, or some interim location before Quincy Hall became the established meeting place.

Following Wendell’s letter Pittsburgh is conspicuous by its absence in the Crisis pages that could be examined for the rest of 1869. When Wendell is mentioned he is now in places like New York and Springwater.

This might fit Wendell’s 1871 comment about “sheep without a shepherd”. Did he visit thereafter, and one such occasion being the time CTR “dropped in”? As noted above, no documentary proof has so far been found in the Crisis, and the relevant Age to Come papers for the time in question are not extant. Unless there are researchers out there with hidden files of ancient newspapers, all we can reasonably do is quote the old adage: absence of evidence is not evidence of absence. Perhaps CTR first met Wendell before he left that first time in early 1869. Perhaps it was on a later visit. But it would not be unreasonable to assume that Wendell did return to Pittsburgh after his January 1869 visit but before his November 1871 one. Nearly two years is a long time for sheep to potentially be left without a shepherd.

Perhaps if the Clowes heresy trial and its aftermath can be found it might shed some more light on who visited and when. Clowes was kicked out of the Methodists for his conditional immortality views, and we know that it was featured in the Crisis paper – Wendell alludes to it in his December 1871 letter as occurring “last summer” although any Crisis reference remains undiscovered at this point.

If only the principals had left detailed diaries of their activities, how much simpler a researcher’s task would be!

An Historical Resource

Graphic taken from Amazon

In connection with research, I have had occasion to correspond with people from the Church of God General Conference. One very useful source for information was their Encyclopedia pictured above. Those who take an interest in Watch Tower history and pre-history will know that there are connections between the Church of God/Abrahamic Faith/One Faith groups of the nineteenth century and some of the Russell family. This encyclopedia contains articles on several people who have a link with the history this blog highlights. These include Benjamin Wilson, Henry Grew, George Storrs, and George Stetson. Even lesser known people (to Watch Tower historians) like Andrew Eychaner, Peyton Bowman, John Foore, George Myers and John Corbaley (who baptised Hugh B Rice) can be of interest.

Charles Taze Russell is mentioned a number of times. Obviously the slant of the encyclopedia is to draw attention to the theological differences between ZWT and their own beliefs. Originally their paper, The Restitution, carried advertising for Barbour’s Three Worlds and gave away to all readers a copy of CTR’s Object and Manner of our Lord’s Return (which was published at CTR’s expense). But within not many years they were publishing material highly critical of ZWT and warning their flock about this heresy as they saw it. Others who once had a link with them, like John Thomas and the Christadelphians, come in for similar treatment.

Some of these issues have been discussed in earlier articles on this blog. See for example the following articles:

Charles Taze Russell and “The Restitution”

H B Rice – An Impecunious Man

Charles Taze Russell and Andrew Eychaner

However – whatever the reader’s theological position - for well-researched, factual, historical material this book has proved to be a mine of information.