When
Zion’s Watch Tower Tract Society was incorporated in late 1884, there were
seven directors. This article is just a brief overview of the original seven. Grateful
thanks are due to Bernhard who has supplied much of the information here. And
in line with a past article on the indispensible Find a Grave site, as well as
giving their dates, this article shows where all these people ended up.
Literally.
But
first, here is the list of names from Zion’s Watch Tower for January 1885.
There
are, of course, only six names listed here. However, the original handwritten
record of the charter lists a seventh, Simon O Blunden. When the original articles
of incorporation were reproduced in the Watch Tower for November 1, 1917, all
original seven names were listed.
We
will take them in the order in which they appeared in the 1885 ZWT (adding
Blunden at the end) and simply document their births and deaths and when they
ceased to be Society directors. In many cases, ceasing to be directors
coincided with ceasing active association with Charles T Russell and Zion’s
Watch Tower. To illustrate, we will show their final resting places.
Charles Taze Russell (February
6, 1852 – October 31, 1916)
CTR
remained president until his death. He is buried in the plot owned by the
Watchtower Society in United Cemeteries, Pittsburgh. Visitors often photograph
the pyramid on the site, but this is not CTR’s grave marker which is a few
yards higher up the hill. The pyramid was originally designed to list all the
names of those buried on site. Only nine names were recorded before the idea
was abandoned. A future article will discuss the history of the “pyramid nine” as
well as the history of this cemetery.
William Imrie Mann
(January 4, 1844 - December 12, 1930)
Mann, the original vice-president, ceased to be a Society director on
April 11, 1892. He is buried in Grove Cemetery, Trumansburg, Tomkins County,
New York.
Maria Frances Russell
(April 10, 1850 – March 12, 1938)
Maria (née Ackley), the original secretary-treasurer ceased to be a
director on February 12, 1900, although she actually parted from CTR back in
1897. After
leaving CTR she made her home with her sister, Emma, until Emma’s death, and
lived the last years of her life in Florida. She is buried in the Royal Palm
South Cemetery, St Petersburg, Pinellas County, Florida.
John Bartlet Adamson
(1837 - January 22, 1904)
Adamson ceased to be a director on January 5, 1895. He is buried in
Mount Olive Cemetery, Chicago, Cook County, Illinois. There is no marker, he is
buried in a garden lot which is just an area of grassland.
William Cook McMillan
(October 10, 1849 - 1898)
McMillan ceased to be a director on May 13, 1898. He resigned because he
was serious ill and died shortly afterwards. He is buried in the Mechesneytown
Cemetery, Mechesneytown, Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania. (The spelling
McMillan occurs in the January 1885 ZWT, but MacMillan in the reprint of the
association’s articles in the November 1, 1917 WT, whereas the family memorial
spells the name MacMillen. All three forms can be found for him in the pages of
ZWT.)
Joseph Firth Smith
(October 28, 1849 – December 7, 1924)
Smith ceased to be a director on April 11, 1892, the same date as
William Imrie Mann. He is buried in the Allegheny Cemetery, the same location
where CTR’s parents and other family members were buried. For a history of this
cemetery and the Russell family’s connection with it, check back on this blog
for the article The Russells and the Allegheny Cemetery.
Simon Osborne Blunden
(September 1840 - November 13, 1915)
Blunden ceased to be a director on June 6, 1908. He is buried in the
family grave in Glendale Cemetery, Bloomfield, Essex County, New Jersey – not
to be confused with the more famous Glendale Cemetery of California (Forest
Lawn). The headstone reads Samuel Buchanan, who was Blunden’s son-in-law and
who died in 1906. Two other family members who died before Buchanan also had
their names on the marker. However, when Blunden died later, he was buried in
this family plot, but the headstone was never updated.
F. Zydek (1938-2016), author of the book Charles Taze Russell: His Life and Times. The Man, the Millennium, and the Message (2010) made a mistake. He quoted on page 444 about being buried in the grave of CTR, but cited the wrong source. Zydek reported on The Watch Tower December 1, 1916. However, this is another source, namely The Laodicean Messenger: Being the Memoirs of the Life, Works and Character of That Faithful and Wise Servant of the Most High God.
ReplyDelete„The casket was placed in a vault beneath the surface of the earth, inclosed in solid cement two feet thick, and carefully sealed. This in order that the ghouls might not “come by night and steal the body” for experimental purposes. Scientifically speaking, that skull would have a great value, so money might be supplied without stint to obtain it. The committee thought it best to not put temptation in the way of any of basely and curiously selfish, so they took proper precaution to prevent the grave being thus desecrated.” (The Laodicean Messenger: Being the Memoirs of the Life, Works and Character of That Faithful and Wise Servant of the Most High God W. N. Wisdom, L. W. Jones, 1923 p. 259).
The book was written by two associates of CTR. But their names were not mentioned.
It is interesting that this book is mentioned in some way by the Society (two articles:. PASTOR RUSSELL’S MEMOIRS; MEMOIRS OF PASTOR RUSSELL):
The Watchtower September 15, 1923 p 287.
The Watchtower November 15, 1926 p. 338.
Who christened the CTR?
ReplyDeleteThis text is known:
Sister Margaret Russell Land (Brother Russell’s sister) arose and said: (...) About 1874 the true mode of Baptism and its import was discerned by him, and he and father, together with a number of others, including myself, symbolized our baptism into Christ by water immersion. (Souvenir (Notes from) Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society’s Conventions 1907 II, p. 25).
One of the sources gives the following information, which I do not have how to verify:
“Brother Russell probably met George Stetson in 1871/72. This may be inferred from a letter that was published in Advent Christian Witness, in which Stetson wrote that he had been preaching in Pittsburgh for ten months. He also wrote that a small group of about ten or twelve brothers in Allegheny are making good progress and are very active in preaching the Truth. (Was Brother Russell one of them? It is quite possible.) Jonathan Ross, in his journal The Bible Student Movement, p. 2, writes that Brother Russell, his father, and his sister were baptized by immersion in 1874. Was it under the influence of Brother Stetson?".
The subject of baptism and the views of Stetson and Storrs and other contemporaries is dealt with in some detail in Separate Identity volume one, by Schulz and de Vienne. Ultimately, all we have is Margaret Land's testimony and do not know who performed the baptism.
ReplyDelete