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!