A visitor to the grave of Joseph Lytle Russell in the Allegheny Cemetery. Photo taken by James S. Holmes as found in his book Watch Tower of Allegheny Historical Tour. Picture reproduced by kind permission of the author.
I personally did this tour with the author in 2014.
This photograph came
from the Canadian government archives, from an internet link that no longer
seems to work. When it was published elsewhere, we tried to fix a date for it.
The Finished Mystery was published on July 17, 1917, and then banned in Canada
on February 12, 1918. However, this photograph appears to date from after the
ban was lifted, and there was no stopping the IBSA in its endeavors to
circulate the book. At the bottom of the
display the address for the IBSA was (?)0 Dundas Street, W Toronto, Ontario.
According to the 1978 Yearbook history of Canada, the Bible Students’
headquarters in Canada moved to 270 Dundas Street in 1920. That would tally
with the ban on the IBSA (and The Finished Mystery) being lifted on January 1,
1920.
So the photograph will date from 1920 or shortly thereafter.
Three members of the Franz family all had to complete draft registration cards over May-June in 1917.
The first was Albert Edward Franz (1889-1940), He
was drafted on May 24, 1917, at the age of 27. At the time he was a well-known
Bible Student, featuring in the Photodrama work in Chicago and regularly
writing for the St Paul Enterprise newspaper (later called the New Era
Enterprise).
In answer to question 12 on the card, Do you claim
exemption from the draft (specify grounds)? Albert wrote: “Yes, A Christian and
member of the International Bible Students Association, also physical.”
Two weeks later, two of Albert’s brothers were also
drafted, on the same day, on June 5, 1917.
The older of the two was Herman Franz (1891-1977).
He was 25. He also claimed exemption. His answer: “Yes, Student member of the
International Bible Students Association.”
On the same day, a third brother was drafted,
Frederic Franz (1893-1992). He was 23. He too claimed exemption. “Yes, Member
of International Bible Students Association.” He gave his present occupation as
“Ordained Minister and Stenographer.” He would spend most of his life in Bethel
and became vice-president of the Watch Tower Society from 1945-1977 and
president from 1977 to his death in 1992.
A fourth brother, Alvin Franz (1901-1978) appears to
have just missed the draft because of his age.
The draft cards for WW2 did not provide a section
for someone to claim exemption. However, the WW2 card for Fred Franz is of
interest. It gives his occupation as “Administer of the Gospel under the
direction of the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society.” His contact was Grant
Suiter, his residence was 124 Columbia Heights and his workplace was 117 Adams
Street, Brooklyn.
Following on from meeting places being called Tabernacles (e.g. Brooklyn Tabernacle, London Tabernacle) it was easy to see why some large halls would be called Temples in the Bible Student world. So there was the New York City Temple, where the Photodrama of Creation was shown in New York. However, probably the most famous of all was the Chicago City Temple (formerly the old Globe Theater), which again was used for the Photodrama.
The Chicago class
produced a special brochure entitled Our
Temple, which is highly collectable today. It shows how the Photodrama
presentation worked, and as a bonus had a photograph from the first Bible
Student convention held in Chicago in 1893. It also contained numerous portrait
photographs of men and women who were involved in the Photodrama work; in many
cases these are the only photographs that have survived of some of these
individuals. If you visited the Chicago Temple you would likely have been given
a tour by Albert Franz, whose photograph is in the brochure.
Albert Edward Franz (1889-1940)
As a link with more
recent times, his younger brother, Fred Franz, was president of the Watchtower
Sociery from 1977-1992.
The Temple was only
used by Bible Students for a short time. The Chicago class grew to about 600 in
1914. They first hired the Auditorium Theater in Chicago to show the Photodrama
in April-May of that year, while looking for a more permanent location. They
then obtained a lease on the Old Globe Theater (which was origionally built to
exhibit the Panorama of the Battle of Gettysburg) and after much work
redecorating opened for business as the Temple later in 1914. There is an
article in the St Paul Enterprise for
October 16, 1914, showing it to be up and running then. As well as a theater it
included a book room, library, dining room, and accommodation for the workers.
The address was 700 South Wabash Avenue, near 7th Street.
However, an internet
search shows that this building became the Strand Theater in May 1915, so it
wasn’t used by the Bible Students for very long at all. When a new film for
Bible Students called “Restitution” came to town in 1918, they were back in the
Auditorium Theater. The former Chicago Temple was demolished in 1921.
In that window of operation the Temple sold postcards, and one is reproduced below from Tom’s collection. It was mailed on November 13, 1914.
The writing on the
reverse gives no clue that the writer or recipient was ever an active Bible
Student. The message from “Auntie Emma” refers to the weather and a funeral of
someone both parties knew, but there is none of the usual scriptural references
you would expect in a Bible Student message of that nature. The recipient,
Isabelle Youle (1892-1971), appears to have never married. When she died her
obituary in the Eau Claire (Wisconsin)
Leader Telegram for May 8, 1971, said she was born in Chicago and that “she
was active in Christ Church, Order of the Eastern Star, White Shrine, Order of
the Amarenth, of which she was past Royal Matron and present secretary.”
Whatever connection
with the Bible Student movement there may have been with this particular
postcard is sadly lost in time.
On Sunday, April 24, 1910, a party of Bible Students who were on tour visited
the Mount of Olives and had a group photograph taken.
Two famous prints of this scene exist. The first is from The Watch Tower
for September 1, 1910.
The second is the photograph reproduced in the 1910 convention report, facing
page 45. There are several slight differences, the most obvious one being the
missing hat in the back row.
A third print is also known to exist where not only does the hat in the back row disappear, but so does the person wearing it.
It is thought that this may be the photographer. Delayed shutter timers started to be used in photography from around 1902. So it may be that after taking one picture, he then used a delayed timer so as to appear in it – once with a hat and once without.
The names of the party were given in the article in the convention report. Here are the opening two paragraphs.
Some are easier to identify than others. Obviously there's C T Russell with J F Rutherford in front of him. Just behind Rutherford is Andrew Pierson. The only child in the group belongs to "Brother and Sister Ward and son" and one assumes that is Sister Ward next to the boy. Mary Rutherford is not in the group because she had left the party when they reached Paris.
One famous face that is missing is Dr Leslie Jones, who produced the convention reports. He too had left the party when they reached Paris.
Bernhard has worked hard to identify all the people in the photograph as shown in the graphic below. We can be reasonably certain about all the men, but not so certain about all the women. We have all the names and we have the all figures and faces, but there has to be some guesswork here. Depending on your device you may have to click on the picture to see it complete.
The traveling group was:
1. Charles Taze
Russell
2. George Chester
Driscoll (leaves the group in Paris; went to London - not on photo)
3. Dr. Leslie Whitney
Jones (leaves the group in Paris; went to London - not on photo)
4. Joseph Franklin
Rutherford
5. Jacob Franklin
Davault
6. Hattie Davault
7. Charles Henry Ward
8. Anita Beatrice
McCormick Ward
9. Reginald McCormick
Ward
10. G. Charles Owens
11. Sis. Owens
12. Sis. Cobb
13. Blanche Noble
14. Josephine H. Frost
15. Emma Paschal
16. Betty Green Houston
17. Andrew Nils
Pierson
18. George F. Wilson
19. Samuel J. Young
20. Sis. Jackson
21. Mary Rutherford (leaves
the group in Paris; went to Barmen - not on photo)
22. Otto Albert
Koetitz (joined in Berne)
23. Bro. Hall (Interpreter
and Colporteur in Egypt; joined in Cairo)
24. Sis. Thompson (Colporteur
in Palestine; joined in Jerusalem)
26. Mr. Jamal (Tourguide from Syria,
Photographer?)
Much extra information about this tour, and other
similar ones, can be found in Bernhard’s illustrated book featured below.
The Amazon link is:
If this link ceases to work in the future then you can find the book by using the title or author name in a search box.
On another blog some time ago, I reproduced the letter below. It was in response to a debate that occurred in The Evening Journal (Wilmington) Deleware in its 7 December 1914 issue. The local Ministerial Union had tried unsuccessfully to get the paper to stop printing CTR’s sermons. The letter as printed in the 22 December issue was one of several commending the newspaper on its “open door” policy. The interesting point is that the writer, Mrs Birla A Kent, wrote from 124 Columbia Heights, Brooklyn – that is the Brooklyn Bethel.
So who was she? When
you start digging, there is always something of a story to tell.
Birla (sometimes Berla,
sometimes Burla) was the former Birla Morris and was born in Indiana c.1883. (Her
death certificate from 1951 gives the year 1881 but this is likely an error).
Birla’s father was George Morris and her mother, the former Rachael (Ray) McMillan.
In 1905 she married Rafael Arrillaga Urrutia and thus became Birla Morris Y
McMillan de Arrillaga. In 1910 the couple were living in Puerto Rico where
Rafael was born.
Shortly thereafter the
marriage must have failed because Rafael would marry again in 1912 and live on until
1933.
On 5 January 1914 in
Brooklyn, NY, Birla M De Arrillaga married Benjamin Ray Kent (1889-1964). There
is an R B Kent on a list of deacons for a New York class, which may or may not
be the same person. Benjamin Ray and Birla obviously lived at Bethel in 1914,
for her to use that address in her letter of December 1914.
On 5 June 1917 Benjamin Ray completed his draft registration card, and stated that his occupation was Ordained Minister and Stenographer. He was now living and working at Turner Springs, Florida. He also claimed exemption from the draft on account of being a member of the International Bible Students Association.
It is not known whether either Benjamin or Birla retained their interest in the Bble Student message.
In a 1924 city directory
Benjamin R and Birla A Kent are listed as a married couple in Fort Worth,
Texas. In the 1930 census for Sweetwater, Nolan, Texas they now have one child,
Alan Ray Kent, aged 2. Birla’s age is given as 46, so she would have had Alan
Ray quite late in life, at the age of 43-44.
Sadly Birla’s second
marriage did not last. In the 1940 census, she is now married to a Clair W. Lawson
(formerly Larsen from Sweden) and Alan Ray Kent is aged 12 and listed as a
step-son of the family head. The marriage took place in 1936. Benjamin Ray Kent
also married again in 1940 to a Jettye Kirkpatrick. You can trace some of the subsequent family
history through sites like Ancestry and Find a Grave.
One suspects that when
Birla wrote her letter in 1914 she would never have believed that someone would
be poring over her family history well over a hundred years later.
