Gertrude Antonette Woodcock Seibert

Gertrude Antonette Woodcock Seibert is a familiar name to students of Watch Tower history. She was a poet, a compiler, and indefatigable letter writer for a good number of years. This series of three articles will review her history, especially her connection with certain famous Watch Tower publications.

         

The first article will cover her whole general history but will specifically focus on her involvement in the controversial volume The Finished Mystery (1917). This story has not been told before (other than earlier versions of this essay on other blogs). The second article will review her work on Poems of Dawn (1912). And the third article will review a time capsule she buried in 1910, that finally came to light during building work in 1948. Rather than rewrite these essays into one composite whole, it has been easier just to revise them slightly and republish them substantially as they originally appeared.

1.      Gertrude and The Finished Mystery

2.      Gertrude and Poems of Dawn

3.      Gertrude and the Time Capsule

1. Gertrude and The Finished Mystery

Gertrude Antonette Woodcock Seibert (sometimes spelled Antoinette) was born in 1864 and died in 1928. A Woodcock family history written in 1912 briefly summed up her history:

She started writing verse at any early age. One of her collections contains a poem written when she was nine years old, and her first published poem (not for Watch Tower) was published in 1889.

She became a well-known, high-profile Bible Student in the 1890s and soon became a household name in the Bible Student community for her poetry. Her first known poem published in the Watch Tower was in the December 1, 1899, issue, entitled The Narrow Way. She soon replaced other poets like Rose Ball Henninges and Ophelia Burroughs in the magazine columns. Several of her poems were later circulated in booklet form by the Watch Tower Society. The Sweet-Briar Rose (1909) and In the Garden of the Lord (1913) have been listed in by the Society as official publications. Other collections such as The Heavenly Bridegroom (1918) were published directly by her, but widely circulated amongst Bible Students. Various editions of Poems of Dawn contained her works (see following article), as did various editions of the hymn book Zion's Glad Songs where M L McPhail put her verses to music.

 Her husband never took to her religion, although it wasn’t for Gertrude’s want of trying! In a letter to the Watch Tower when he died in 1913 she confessed that “I had witnessed to him daily, hourly almost, for nearly twenty years, without apparent effect.” However, long time friend and Bible Student, Clayton J Woodworth officiated at his funeral. (see WT reprints page 5281).

Robert Seibert left her very well provided for, and she was soon traveling with other Bible Students on special trains to conventions, and continued writing poems unabated. When CTR died, her quickly written memorial poem Gone Home (dated November 1, 1916) was published in the St Paul Enterprise newspaper for November 14, 1916, and a lengthy letter, interspersed with verses was published in the Memorial issue of the Watch Tower for December 1, 1916.

However, although we may think of her today as a writer of verse, her greater contribution to Watch Tower literature was probably as a compiler. In 1905 Daily Heavenly Manna for the Household of Faith was published, with a daily comment from past ZWTs or writings of CTR, compiled by Gertrude Seibert, reportedly with help from two other ladies, Hattie L Woodward and Henriqueta A ("Hettie") Varro. In 1907 the second edition had extra pages for each date, so that Bible Students could record birth dates and get autographs of their friends. If they wished, they could even send a motto card on the day - and some of Gertrude's poems turned up on those too.

And then in 1907 came the Watch Tower Bible, a standard Common Version Bible but with four appendices. Two were compiled by Clayton J Woodworth, and two by Gertrude Seibert. As noted earlier, Woodworth would later conduct the funeral service for Gertrude’s husband. This special Bible was reviewed in the Watch Tower magazine for October 1, 1907, page 303. Gertrude produced what was called, Instructors Guide - An Epitome of the Faith Once Delivered Unto the Saints, which was a detailed subject index to the Dawns and Towers. Her second contribution, Berean Topical Index, was a scripture index of subjects. Woodworth’s main contribution was a one line explanation for every scripture from Genesis to Revelation that had been used in Dawns and Towers. Both compilers must have searched every page of the Watch Tower magazine and Dawn/Studies volumes to that date to produce such a detailed work. (The whole was then republished in its own separate volume in 1909, entitled Berean Bible Teachers’ Manual.) This painstaking work of compilation and indexing would set the scene for what proved to be a controversial publication and the main subject of this article - The Finished Mystery published in 1917.

THE FINISHED MYSTERY

The Finished Mystery was advertised as the 7th volume of the Studies in the Scriptures series. The consequences of its publication and circulation were far reaching. The book’s contents were a major factor in landing J F Rutherford and seven others in prison on charges of working against the American War effort in World War 1. And although Gertrude’s name was generally kept out of the subsequent legal proceedings, the evidence is quite clear that she was directly responsible for the volume's germination and fulfilment.

What follows below is taken from information in the trial transcript RUTHERFORD et al. v. UNITED STATES (1918). Anyone wishing to follow up further simply needs to read the Examinations and Cross-Examinations of George H Fisher and Clayton J Woodworth, and also check through the exhibits. (References will be given for the latter). It might be noted at this point, that the reason why so much detail of The Finished Mystery’s genesis was revealed in this trial was because the defense needed to show the book was both planned and written before America entered the war; and - if you included CTR’s intentions - some of it was written a long time before the war.

In late 1916 expectations were huge. CTR had died, and the Society was in the temporary hands of an executive committee made up of J F Rutherford, A I Ritchie, and W E Van Amburgh. The war and hopes linked to what was understood as the end of the Gentile Times created an air of expectancy. And an informal conversation in a private home in Scranton, Pennsylvania, would have far reaching consequences.

The home belonged to George Fisher. The Fishers and Seiberts had been friends for some years. In 1910 Gertrude hid an old baking can as a time capsule for future generations during renovations on her home. It was discovered during further building work in 1948, and the contents mention George Fisher and his wife as visitors at the time it was concealed. (See the third article in this series.)

This time Gertrude was visiting the Fishers in Scranton in early December of 1916. And late one afternoon, the long-time family friend of both, Clayton J Woodworth, called in for a few minutes on his way home from work. Both he and Fisher worked at The International Correspondence School. Conversation turned to "the seventh volume". CTR had planned to produce it, but never had, and nearing death had declared that someone else would have to write it. Gertrude, who as noted above had already reviewed CTR's comments on scripture for her Instructors’ Guide, thought the time was ripe for the seventh volume. She suggested it could be called The Finished Mystery. She also opined that George Fisher could fill in the gaps on CTR's comments on Ezekiel and Clayton Woodworth could do the same for Revelation. 

Fired with enthusiasm and now apparently back at Bethel in Brooklyn, N.Y., Gertrude fired off a long letter to the executive committee. It has survived as Defendants’ Exhibit L. Her suggestions in Part III of her letter particularly relate to what became The Finished Mystery, but her letter is reproduced here in its entirety. It reads:

Brooklyn, N.Y.  Dec. 6, 1916

To

The Executive Committee

Watch Tower Bible & Tract Society

Brooklyn, N.Y.

Dear Friends:

Perhaps it may not be amiss for me to call to your attention a matter which has suggested itself to me, inasmuch as the Apostle exhorts us, saying, "Let him that is taught communicate unto him that teacheth." It is something along this line: A Memorial of Bro. Russell, published in book form, with board covers, and containing some or all of these subjects:

Part I.

a.       Biography of Bro. R. By Bro. Rutherford.

b.      Bro. Nelson’s articles on “Pastor Russell’s place in the Reformation,” as printed in Labor Tribune.

c.       Personal incidents, showing the social side of beloved Pastor’s character, composed of, suitable anecdotes contributed by various persons. (I have quite a number in my own memory, and doubtless many others have very interesting little touches to add to the penportrait of our dear Pastor.) And personal Poems.

Part II

a.       Details of the funeral service at N.Y. Temple.

b.      Details of the funeral service at Carnegie Hall, All’y

c.       Photographs of Floral display at N.Y. and Allegheny, also at the grave, and a later one to be taken after the stone is set up.

d.      Various photographs of Bro. Russell during different periods of his life. (Personally I would like to have all the friends of the Truth enjoy that beautiful one which hangs in the dining room behind Bro. R’s chair at present, which shows us the fatherly, sympathetic expression which almost all his other photographs lack.

Part III.

THE FINISHED MYSTERY

(This was the title Bro. R. permitted me to suggest for the Seventh Volume, once when we were discussing it, and he thought it was very appropriate.)

a.      The Book of Revelation. (A compilation by someone familiar with Bro. R's comments on this book. I would suggest Bro. Woodworth, as well fitted and in Bro. R's confidence for so many years.

b.      The Book of Ezekiel. Bro. Fisher of Scranton, named in Bro. R's will as an alternative for Board of Editors of Watch Tower, has what seems to me very good ideas on this book.

This book could be advertised or mentioned in the TOWER, and sold for $1.00 per copy, and it seems to me would be invaluable.

Respectfully submitted by 

Yours in His service,

(signed) G.W. SEIBERT.

The letter was likely passed by hand within the Bethel home, because there was an immediate reply that is preserved as Defendants’ Exhibit M:

December 7th, 1916

Mrs. G.W, Seibert

Bethel

Dear Sister:

Referring to your letter of December 6th, addressed to the Executive Committee, we beg to say that if the friends therein mentioned desire to prepare the copy mentioned and submit it to us for our consideration, we will consider it and give our opinion as to the advisability of publication.

Yours in His Service,

EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE

The suggestions in Parts I and II of Gertrude’s letter would wait until the Society published a brochure entitled The Messenger of Laodicea; and a private individual, W H Wisdom, produced his Memoirs of Pastor Russell in 1923, which received negative comment in the WT of September 15, 1923. But the proposed volume on Ezekiel and Revelation was acted on immediately, and there was a flurry of correspondence to get the project in place.

One of Clayton Woodworth's letters has survived as a Defendants’ Exhibit E. It is worth reading carefully because it shows in how much regard Gertrude Seibert was held.

Scranton, Pa

December 11th, 1916

Dear Sister Seibert:

Behold the hand of the Lord! For more than twenty years I have had in mind that the only proper title for the Seventh Volume would be "The Mystery Finished" and now you come along and suggest the identical title, with merely a transposition of the words. You are a grammarian and a logician. Think it over and tell me which is the best form of this title. Is our thought chiefly of the mystery, or is it chiefly of the Finish of that mystery? You shall decide, but my present thought continues as before. We have been considering and studying the mystery all the harvest time; and now has come the finish. Is it not so?

I have read your letters to Brother Fisher over the telephone and he is glad to enter the open door, and I, Oh Glory be to the Name of the dear Lord, I am so happy I can hardly wait the finish of this day to begin the work on which my heart is set. I will mail the letters to Brother Fisher at once.

Nothing was enclosed with my transmission of those letters. I seemed to me I ought not to do more at that time. I merely thought it would strengthen your heart to read them and to feel that you could not be far astray from the blessing of the Lord in doing what you have done. And how wisely you have done it! What a mind you have, and how fully it is in the handmaid of the Lord! How happy you must be that the continued faithfulness you have all along shown, is continually recognized by the Lord of the Harvest and there ere long you, too, shall have your desire fulfilled and be folded to the heart of the Lord, as His Bride, even as Brother Russell has already been thus received. 

Dear Sister, nothing has ever given me such joy before, for I know the hand of the Lord will be with us all. And the work will really be yours, for it must go to you, and be fully approved by you before it ever goes to the committee. On that I insist. If you can help me with the summary, which I shall put in as the Seven Plagues, do so, but if not they go in anyway, and come before you for review and edit.

Now can I ask a favor? Do you see your way clear to insert an advertisement in the Labor Tribune, something like the following:

(Woodworth then inserted a suggested advertisement. It encouraged those with thoughts on the subject to send them in with their name and address to the executive committee at Columbia Heights.)

If this appeals to you, ask the Executive Committee if they will receive and hand to you any mail thus addressed, and you can then send to me such as you think I should have. Does this appeal to you? I hope so.

Your loving Brother,

(signed) C.J. WOODWORTH

As noted above, this letter shows us in how much regard Woodworth held Seibert. Woodworth enthuses that the finished product will really be hers, because she is going to vet his work before it goes to the committee. And she is going to have the final say on the title.

Gertrude's position in the genesis of The Finished Mystery is further shown by the advertisement that eventually appeared in the National Labor Tribune. Woodworth’s letter suggested that other Bible Students could send in their views and comments on Ezekiel and Revelation to the executive committee, and hoped they could then be filtered through Gertrude and back to him and Fisher. However, the final advertisement asked prospective contributors to send them direct to Gertrude.

It read:

It is not known in which issue or issues of the National Labor Tribune the announcement appeared. The graphic above for Defendant's Exhibit C comes from the trial transcript but does not give a date of publication.

The announcement mentioned a committee, and there was also a trial transcript reference to an “association” that worked on the project. It was established in court that both were composed of Woodworth, Fisher and Seibert alone. It was planned that Fisher should send his copy to Woodworth, and Woodworth would then send both his and Fisher’s copy to Gertrude acting as coordinator and secretary. Whether this arrangement existed for long is not known because the original forward of the published volume tells it somewhat differently. “While both residing in the same city, they have worked separately and apart from each other, not even comparing notes.”

The executive committee that gave the green light to the project was dissolved in January 1917 when J F Rutherford became the second president of the incorporated Society. Fisher and Woodworth completed their work - with or without input from others - by June 1917, and the book was published in July.  It contained a brief biography of CTR in the introduction.

So what Gertrude’s ultimate contribution was is unknown. The forward (above) credited Fisher and Woodworth alone (plus “the Lord”) and certainly when the book led to divisions and legal problems, Fisher and Woodworth took full responsibility for what had been written, both the new comments and selections from the works of CTR. When it came to the arrests and criminal trial in 1918, this author gets the feeling that they gallantly tried hard to keep Gertrude Seibert out of it. She might have edited, she might have proof-read - a bit like Maria Russell in another disputed literary endeavour - but they were the authors. She was the "third person" when the idea was first discussed, but it was the finished product that caused the dispute with the government and they claimed full responsibility for that.

AFTER THE FINISHED MYSTERY

Gertrude did not disappear from Watch Tower history with The Finished Mystery. As is well known there was a division after CTR’s death, but she appears to have stayed in fellowship with the original organization. In the flurry of correspondence in the wake of the publication of Harvest Siftings (and responses to same) she had a letter published in the December 1, 1917, Watch Tower, supporting both the current management and The Finished Mystery volume. She mentioned that she had been almost daily at the Brooklyn Bethel Home for the last four years, which would be since her husband’s death. She advised the readership in general that she had personally suggested the Finished Mystery title to CTR and he had approved it as “very good.” That the title had been subsequently adopted by the Society strongly convinced her of its worth.

Around 1918 Gertude published a small volume of poems entitled The Heavenly Bridegroom, which included her tribute to CTR, Gone Home.

Then in early 1920 she published a larger collection as The Sweet Briar Rose and Other Poems. It ran to 50 pages. Advertisements in the New Era Enterprise gave her address as Florida, then Scranton, PA (home of Fisher and Woodworth) and finally in the New Era Enterprise for December 27, 1921 her address was c/o the Watch Tower Society, as “the Society is always kept informed of my whereabouts”.

So while a Seibert family history website gives her 1922 address as 124 Columbia Heights, it was probably just a poste restante address.

In September 1920 she obtained her first passport, and became an international traveller. At the turn of the new year she was in Australia, reporting to the New Era Enterprise about attending an IBSA convention there. While there, she wrote a defense of CTR and the chronology of the Gentile Times for an Australian newspaper.

Shortly afterwards she submitted an article to the New Era Enterprise defending the direction the Society had been taking since J F Rutherford became president. It was published in the issue for February 21, 1922.

By June 1922 she had visited the West Indies and was on a passenger list travelling from Kingston to Great Britain, giving her London address as c/o 34 Craven Terrace. That was the British Bethel address, next door to the London Tabernacle.                                                                                  

In September 1924, giving her permanent address as Brooklyn, New York, she applied to renew her passport, stating her intention to sail away from Los Angeles in October; her travels this time to include visiting Japan, China, India, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, and Great Britain. But she intended to return within twelve months. However, the following February, 1925, she was back in America, a patient in the Jackson Memorial Hospital, Miami, Florida, writing a poem in praise of nurses.

In 1925 she sent her old friend, Clayton Woodworth, a contribution for The Golden Age magazine, which he now edited. The article The Morning Star was published in the October 7, 1925 issue. Earlier that year another author had written an article entitled Rose Thoughts (GA March 25, 1925) which reprinted her Sweet Briar Rose poem in full.

Around 1926 she offered to update her old Daily Heavenly Manna for the Watch Tower Society’s use, to include all new material, but her offer was declined. Times had changed. The explanation given in the book Then is Finished the Mystery of God (1969) pages 145-146 was their application of 1 Timothy 2 v.12. Instead the Society now produced its own text book, changing texts and comments each year as part of an annual Yearbook.

In 1926 Gertrude published her final work, another expanded volume of Sweet Briar Rose and Other Poems. The 1926 edition now weighed in at 97 pages, and carried her photograph in the frontispiece. It was published by the Hefty Press, Miami, Florida, which sounds a bit like an in-joke to this writer.

The dedication page carried the message:

An original of this final edition is highly collectable, but a pdf can be found online if you search for it.

Gertrude appears to have suffered from ill-health in the last few years of her life. She needed an operation while in Australia in early 1922; there is the poem written from hospital in 1925 in praise of nurses which mentions post-operative care, and she died after an operation in 1928.

When she died, The Daily News, Huntingdon and Mount Union, PA, carried a brief notice. Headed “Obituary for Mrs Gertrude W Seibert” it read:

Mrs. Gertrude W. Seibert died in Miami, Florida Wednesday noon, June 12, 1928 following an operation. She is the widow of Robert S. Seibert, President of the East Broad Top Railroad and for a number of years resided at Rockhill. The body will be brought to Mt. Union Sunday afternoon. Funeral service will be held at the Methodist Church 2:30 o'clock standard time in charge of Rev. H. W. Hartsock. The sermon will be preached by Mr. McMillen of Brooklyn, New York. Interment in the I.O.O.F. Cemetery of Mt. Union.

There is probably a slight glitch in the above quotation taken from a family history website, as the Wednesday that week was actually June 13.

There was another brief notice in the paper after the funeral. Dated June 19, 1928

One can reasonably assume that the Mr McMillen of Brooklyn, New York, mentioned in the obituary was in reality A H Macmillan of the Brooklyn Bethel family.

The I.O.O.F. Cemetery (Independent Order of Oddfellows) is now generally known as the Mount Union Cemetery, Huntingdon County, PA, and is where her late husband was buried.

2. Gertrude and Poems of Dawn

The previous article on this blog about Gertrude Seibert mentioned her contributions in Poems of Dawn (1912) but did not credit her as the compiler. Unlike Daily Heavenly Manna for example, the various editions of Poems of Dawn do not actually state who the compiler was.

However, the entry from Woman’s Who’s Who of America for 1914-1915, which is reproduced below, credits Gertrude with this project.

Gertrude’s entry plainly attributes the compiling of Poems of Dawn to her, and crucially this was all published while she was still alive. The interesting comment in the entry “Opposed to woman suffrage on Scriptural grounds” could only have come from Gertrude herself; so as is common with such works, she contributed her own entry. It would make perfect sense for her to compile Poems of Dawn because it contains so much of her work.

The original Poems of Dawn was part of a volume with Hymns of Dawn and an acknowledged editor then was Maria Russell. CTR specifically mentioned her in the forward of earlier editions.

But by the time Poems of Dawn was issued as a separate volume in 1912, Maria’s association with ZWT was long severed, and Gertrude Seibert had become a sort of unofficial poet laureate for the Bible Students. The 1912 first edition has 286 pages and contains 39 of Gertrude’s poems. In 1915 the book was reissued (still with the 1912 copyright page) with 318 pages and Gertrude’s contribution now ran to 61 poems. There is also a 1919 reissue, but this appears to be identical with that from 1915. The extended version of the book is the one that usually appears in modern reprints or electronic versions of this work.

One curiosity - all editions of Poems of Dawn contain a poem by F C Browning and also one from Mrs F G Burroughs. This is actually the same person. By 1912 she had yet another name, Mrs Ophelia G Adams, having married one of CTR’s theological rivals, Arthur Prince Adams. For further details check out the earlier article Ophelia on this blog.

3. Gertrude and the Time Capsule

From: The Daily News (Huntingdon, Pennsylvania) for Saturday, June 19, 1948, page 6.

Old can found in porch

In fulfilling a promise to recount some incidents not included in a previous contribution, “An Early Spring Journey Along Pioneer Trail” (April 17 and 24), we will now tell of the contents of an old baking powder can which was found at the American Legion Post Home in Rockhill Furnace. This large can - probably of 10 pounds capacity - was found while tearing out an old porch during recent alterations to the post home. The can, with its contents, was evidently placed there by Mrs Gertrude W. Seibert, wife of R.S. Seibert, then president and general manager of the East Broad Top Railroad.

Mrs. Seibert doubtless believed the can would remain in obscurity until a far-later period, as a communication she had written was found therein, dated August 25, 1910, and continued: “To Future Generations, from Gertrude W. Seibert, Orbisonia, Pa. - This house was opened as a Hotel in 1876 and converted to a residence in January 1905, for Officials of the Rockhill Iron and Coal Co., and the East Broad Top Railroad and Coal Co. This porch was built in August 1910; carpenters employed: Joseph N. Stevens, foreman, John Steward, Elmer Foster, Frank Smyers, Z James Reed - Persons at present residing in this building are R.S. Seibert and Wife; C.D. Jones, Wife and child (Dorothy); Roberts D, Royer T and Wife; Byron Woodcock. VISITORS - George H. Fisher and Wife, of Scranton, Pa., Harry A. Guefricae and Wife of Robertsdale; Charles H. Jones, 20 Broad Street, New York City; John S. Etnier, Wife, Son and Daughter, Mill Creek, Pa.  EMPLOYEES - Lulu Hollabaugh, Rockhill; Grace Dieffey, Love Valley.

Articles in Can

Listed among other articles in the can were an East Broad Top Railroad timetable No. 29, effective June 27, 1910, and these publications; two copies of Watch Tower, July 16 and August 21, 1910; National Labor Tribune, August 25, 1910; The North American (Philadelphia) of the same date and a copy of the Mount Union Times of August 21, 1908.

The writer is grateful to Murray Slaughter, manager of the post home, for the privilege of examining the contents of the old can, as well as other kindly courtesies extended by him during my visit to the beautiful home of the American Legion in Rockhill Furnace.

Author note:

This is not quite the contents of the United Cemeteries pyramid, but interesting nonetheless. Sadly, we do not know what Gertrude's full message to future generations actually was, or where the baking can and contents eventually ended up. Note that George Fisher, co-writer/compiler of The Finished Mystery, was a house visitor at the time.

A nice play on words

Menta Sturgeon was CTR's traveling companion on his last journey. There is no mention of CTR in this cutting from the Sheboyean Press (Wisconsin) for February 14, 1914, but the play on words is an adroit piece of publicity.

Menta was to leave association with the IBSA after the death of CTR and eventually became a Universalist, supporting the Concordant Bible Society.

Thomas Birney

Thomas Birney is of interest to Watch Tower historians in that he was Charles Taze Russell’s Uncle. Thomas’ sister was Ann Eliza, CTR’s mother. CTR’s older brother, who only lived to be five years old, was named after Uncle Thomas. Below is his obituary published in 1899. It is a bit garbled; it says that Thomas Birney came to America in 1821, but that was actually the year he was born. He belonged to the 2^nd Presbyterian Church, as did Joseph Lytle Russell, his brother in law, for a time.

When Thomas died he was buried in the Allegheny cemetery, the same cemetery, albeit in a different area, as CTR’s immediately family. Below is his headstone.

 

This gravestone is reproduced from the Find a Grave site for the Allegheny cemetery with thanks to WB and GH. The cemetery records show this to be Section 24, lot 46. In the same grave (grave 1) is buried Mary Ann Birney (1832-1906), so we must assume she was Thomas’s wife, and in the same lot are buried Eva Birney, died 1950 (no birthdate and grave 3) and Mary Birney, died 1953 (no birthdate and grave 4). Gravestones for these others are also found on the Find a Grave site. The stones give birth years for Thomas and Mary Ann, but the cemetery records only record the year or date of death for Eva and Mary. They apparently died unmarried, so their name never changed, which is probably why they are buried in the family plot.

It shows that descendants of the Birneys were in the area at least until the 1950s. One wonders if there are any relatives still there who could be contacted.

Joseph F Rutherford's date of birth

Official records for births, marriages and deaths are somewhat hit and miss in 19^th century America, depending where you lived. This resulted in Joseph F Rutherford having to supply an extra document for a 1920 passport application. This was a letter signed by his 77 year old mother to give his true date of birth, since it had not been officially registered at the time. The recognized date came from the family Bible.

Previous surviving passport applications for JFR for 1910 and 1913 had not required this “proof.”

Ernest, Rose and William, c.1900

Ernest Charles Henninges, Rose Ball Henninges, and William E Van Amburgh in c.1900

W E Van Amburgh

W E Van Amburgh is the very tall man standing at the back. The back of this photograph reads June 2, 1904, Millennial Dawn Bible ­C­lass, Huron, SD (South Dakota), It states that the photograph was sent by Van Amburgh much later in time to a Henry Schlatter of Iowa.

Van Amburgh's role as Secretary-Treasurer of the Society spanned the eras of both Russell, Rutherford, and Knorr.

Ernest Charles Henninges

Ernest Charles Henninges was born on 12 July, 1871. He became a Bible Student c. 1891. He married Rose Ball on 11 September 1897. He died on 2 February 1939.

He was a Society director from 4 January 1896 to 2 January 1909. During this time he was the secretary/treasurer of the Society on two occasions.

The first occasion was from 13 May 1898 to 12 February 1900. He then travelled to the United Kingdom to organize a branch there. He was in Britain from April 1900 to November 1901 (and can be found in the British census for 1901). Back in the States he again became secretary/treasurer from 2 February 1902 to 24 March 1903. He was then on his travels again, first to organize matters in Elberfeld, Germany, from June to October 1903, and then in Australia, arriving in Melbourne on 10 January 1904. His replacement as a director in January 1909 officially severed his relationship with CTR.

(With grateful thanks to Bernhard who supplied the picture and most of the dates)

Rose and Ernest

Introduction to Russell family history

Back in 2012 I spent a considerable amount of time trying to establish when CTR’s father, Joseph L Russell married Ann Eliza Birney and then later Emma Hammond Ackley. Several articles resulted which included research into the Russell family’s Presbyterian connections. The final research came together in 2019.

What follows is a rewrite of all the relevant material into three articles.

1.      Three weddings (but no funeral this time)

2.      Pittsburgh Presbyterians

3.      Following the Trail

1. Three Weddings (but no funeral this time)

Genealogical researchers in Britain are well and truly spoiled for resources when compared with other countries. Civil registration (where the State took over officially from the Church) was introduced in 1837. Theoretically, all births, marriages and deaths (hatched, matched and dispatched) have been centrally recorded and readily available in Britain since 1837. As for marriages, Hardwick’s marriage act of 1753 laid down a legal framework for marriages in England and Wales (sending some couples scurrying to Scotland) which at least gave standardisation and a better preservation of records.

In such a new and diverse country as the United States, this level of record keeping was not achieved in some places until the start of the 20^th century. This can make research difficult. Once you go back into the 19^th century (and beyond) in America you are generally at the mercy of ecclesiastical records. This presumes that scribes of yesteryear were both literate and conscientious, that damp and mice didn’t then destroy their handiwork, and when the churches in question disappeared that their records didn’t just disappear with them due to incompetence or disinterest. We have the Latter Day Saints (Mormons) and their teaching of vicarious baptism to thank for so many records being scanned and preserved for the benefit of all researchers. But even so, there are so many gaps. Maybe more records will be discovered and scanned. Maybe. But the further back in history you go, if we haven’t already got the material on sites like Family Search and Ancestry, then the chances are that the records – assuming they even properly existed originally – have gone for good.

This preamble is necessary because we are going to look at three marriages involving Charles Taze Russell’s family in the 19^th century. As yet we have no official surviving official records for any of them. So this article presents some detective work using other resources to establish within a few months when each event happened. The methods used may be of assistance in others’ research.

Joseph Lytle (or Lytel) Russell and Ann Eliza Birney

CTR's parents both came from Ireland originally, and the Watchtower Society's history video Faith in Action part 1 (Out of Darkness) suggested that they came over as a couple in 1845. The commentary states "it was in 1845 that Joseph and Ann Eliza Russell emigrated from Ireland to Pennsylvania, USA."

This is likely based on Joseph Lytle’s 1897 obituary which indeed says he came to America “about 1845.” However, obituaries have one built-in problem when it comes to accurate information – the one person who can verify the details is not there to do so. Many years ago in the pre-Internet age I found Joseph L’s naturalization record in the Society of Genealogists’ library in London. It was dated 1848. Obtaining a copy of the original document from the Prothonotary’s office in Pittsburgh, it plainly showed that Joseph swore an oath to the effect that he had been in the country for at least five years. That pushes his immigration back to at least 1843. In the article that follows this, Pittsburgh Presbyterians, we present even more proof that he was living in Pittsburgh in 1843.

You may need to enlarge this graphic to read it properly. It is reproduced here, even though the quality is poor, because microfilmed rolls of naturalization records for Pennsylvania on the Ancestry website omit this document. It is not there with all the other swearings held on 26 October 1848 and neither does it show up in the Ancestry index. But it exists, because here it is.

As for Ann Eliza, the Birney family was in America in the 1840s, although her brother’s obituary in 1899 is somewhat garbled. It suggests that Thomas came to America in 1821, which is actually his birth year. It also states that he joined the 2^nd Presbyterian Church in Pittsburgh in 1845. A naturalization record exists for Thomas Birney in Allegheny Co., Penn. dated 8 October 1855, which likely ties in with the baptism of his children from 1857 onwards in 2^nd Presbyterian. Thomas Birney married Mary Ann Covell and they had six children baptised between 1857 and 1872, including one named after Ann Eliza.

The above facts about Joseph L Russell and Ann Eliza Birney would give a wide leeway for a marriage. However, we can fix the date down to just a couple of months due to other records, although some assumptions are made. The Pittsburgh Post carried a regular feature listing the names of people who should visit the post office to collect mail. A E Birney turns up in 1848. In the Pittsburgh Post for Saturday, July 1, 1848, page 2, there is a letter waiting for her.

It is reasonably safe to assume that this is Ann Eliza, single, in Pittsburgh in 1848. Even more conclusive is the entry the following year. The graphic below comes from the Pittsburgh Daily Post for Wednesday, April 4, 1849, page 2. This time we have a Ladies’ List and this time she is Miss A E Birney.

So Ann Eliza is in Pittsburgh and still single in March/April 1849, although this assumes her correspondent wasn’t someone ignorant of a marriage that had already taken place. But taking this at face value, Joseph L and Ann E travelled to America as singles and were not married until after March 1849.

Let’s now approach it from another angle. The 1850 census finds Joseph L and Ann E married with one child, T(homas), who is aged 5/12. Here is the entry below.

Some sources have transcribed Thomas’ age as 3/12 which would have made his birth around March of 1850, but this is an error. If we zoom in on this entry we can see clearly that the key number is a 5.

The rule for the 1850 census was that it should be a snapshot of how people were on June 1 that year. Assuming the enumerator followed this rule, if Thomas was five months old on June 1 then he was born either late December or early January. So he was conceived back in April/May, 1849, which was not long after Miss A E Birney was told to collect her mail from the post office. Maybe it related to an impending wedding.

It should be noted that there is conflicting information in the burial records for Thomas at the Allegheny cemetery. Thomas died on 11 August 1855 and the register says he was 5 years and 3 months when he died. If that were true, he would have been born in May 1850. That would mean that the census enumerator who recorded Joseph and Ann’s circumstances for June 1, 1850, mistook a new baby for a child of five months. That seems most unlikely. Since the burial register pages were copied up after the events any error would appear to be at that end of Thomas’ history – maybe confusing the numbers three and eight with the crabby handwriting of the day, which would take you back again to the January.

There is quite a bit of conjecture in the above calculations, but absent a baptism record it is the best we have.

Ann Eliza’s brother, Thomas, was a member of the 2^nd Presbyterian Church in Pittsburgh (according to his obituary as noted above). It would be logical for the newly married Russells to be members there also.  A check of available church records has only one mention of Joseph L Russell – the sessions minutes have him being given a certificate of dismission on December 1, 1849. See the image below.

Deciphering the meaning with the help of the Presbyterian Historical Society shows this is our Joseph Lytle joining the 2nd Presbyterian Church around the time his first child was born in December 1849, having previously been a member of the 3rd Presbyterian Church. But there is no record of his marriage in surviving registers of either church. However, although Thomas Birney was a member of the 2^nd Presbyterian Church and had six children baptised there, the actual marriage of Thomas and Mary Ann is not in the register either. For more details of the Russell family’s religious history see the following article Pittsburgh Presbyterians.

But joining all the dots, Joseph L Russell likely married Ann Eliza Birney in the spring of 1849.

Charles Taze Russell and Maria Frances Ackley

Our second marriage is far easier to establish, in spite of an equal paucity of records. There is no register available with the details of CTR’s marriage to Maria Frances Ackley. However, on this occasion it was mentioned in the newspaper. From the Pittsburgh Daily Post for Saturday, March 15, 1879:

That meant the marriage took place on Thursday, March 13, 1879. The same announcement appeared in the Pittsburgh Gazette for Friday, March 14, 1879, which added the information that the wedding was conducted by Eld. J H Paton of Almont, Michigan.

Joseph Lytle Russell and Emma Hammond Ackley

CTR’s mother died in 1861. His father was to re-marry, and what would complicate family relations later, married CTR’s wife’s sister, Emma. Emma Ackley once she became Emma Russell was both CTR’s sister-in-law and step-mother.

In the late 1890s there was to be family estrangement when CTR advised his father on making his last will and testament, and provision was ultimately made for others, not just Emma. After Joseph’s death, Emma was to support Maria in her legal action against CTR, and the two women spent the rest of their lives together.

Although there are a few missing issues, a careful check of Pittsburgh newspapers did not yield any announcement of this union. And there are no known extant records giving a date. So again we have to narrow events down by other evidence.

The 1880 census was designed to provide a snapshot of events on June 1 that year. Below is the relevant entry for the Russell household, actually dated June 14, and well over a year after CTR and Maria were married.

It is not the clearest of writing but it shows four people living together in Cedar Avenue.

Russel (sic) C.T.          Aged 28                                 

Married           Occupation: merchant

Maria F                        Aged 29          Wife               

Married           Occupation: Keeps house

J L                               Aged 60          Father             

Widowed        Occupation: merchant

Ackley E.H.                Aged 26          Sister (*)         

Single              Occupation: at home

*This is difficult to read. It looks a bit like Sister (step) but the correct relationship to the head of the household, CTR, should be Sister (in law).

Joseph L has shaved a few years off his age. He was approaching 68 at this point, but only admits to 60.

According to this census return, at the beginning of June 1880 Joseph L and Emma are living at the same address but are still not married.  So their marriage would have to be after the date of the census.

Again let us approach it from another angle. Joseph L and Emma had one child named Mabel. Mabel ultimately married Richard Packard and they had three children. They are all found in the 1910 census where Mabel’s age is given as 31. The Family Search page for this census therefore gives her estimated birth year as 1879.

However, census returns are notoriously unreliable for dates. Before that Mabel had already specificied a birth year of 1881. When she married Richard Packard on June 30, 1903, she gave 1881 on the certificate and that is the date on her grave marker. (See Find a Grave and also her obituary in the St Petersburg Times for November 11, 1961).

What is interesting to note though is that her birth date on the marriage certificate is only partial. If you check the graphic below you can see what I mean.

Mabel does not give the day – just a line and then September 1881.

 A search on Ancestry gives the date September 16, 1881.  But on close checking everyone seems to be copying everyone else on this and no-one can provide a primary source for the information. It might just be on her death certificate (from 1962), but even then who is to say this is accurate, given that she appeared not to be sure when alive in 1903?

So personally, I would prefer to stick with the information we know Mabel supplied, “sometime” in September 1881. So let’s do the math again. If born in September 1881, she must have been conceived around December 1880. So we can assume her mother, Emma, was married sometime between the census of June 1880 and November/December 1880. With Joseph and Emma living under the same roof in the snapshot of June 1880, I would suspect that the marriage took place quite soon after that census was taken. As well as not knowing the exact date, we don’t know who conducted the wedding ceremony. John Paton was chosen to conduct CTR’s wedding in March 1879, so who was asked to conduct his father’s a little over a year later?

It would of course have been so much easier for researchers had they all got married in Britain or had just waited until the 20^th century in America.

However, that might have been a bit problematic for Joseph Lytle since he died in 1897…