The Joys of Old Documents

 One of the “joys” of historical research is deciphering old documents. Forget issues like Latin or ancient languages, just the vagaries of time on writing materials, coupled with a hit and miss approach by scanners, can create unwanted puzzles.

To illustrate, below is a document where the puzzle has been solved, but it still illustrates the problem when, for example, you don’t have newspaper confirmation of events.

This register of deaths from Washington State is from 1905.

Homing in on one entry, can you make out whose name this is?

To put you out of your misery, this is Barbour, Nelson H. Yes, it is THAT Nelson Barbour, dying away from home on August 30, 1905.

The date can be worked out from other more legible dates on the page.

Travelling along the line we find more information. So what do you make of this?

Deciphering the columns, Nelson was 81 when he died.

He was M – i.e. male

He was widowed.

Where did the death happen? Do – i.e. ditto from the name Tacoma higher up the page.

And Nelson died from?

By a comparison with other entries on the page, Nelson died from “exhaustion.”  The word is more clearly seen for other deceased persons on the page. It seems to be a fairly common event for the time and area. Its vagueness is similar to descriptions often given of people dying from “heart failure.” (CTR is an example of this). It is a sort of catch-all; everyone dies from heart failure, but the real question is, what caused it? What caused Nelson to die from “exhaustion?”

The continuing line goes onto the next page, asking where from, names of parents, etc. but this is all blank for Nelson. The information was not available or at least was not recorded, although they obviously knew where he was from because his body was sent nearly three thousand miles back home to be buried alongside his late wife, Emeline.

Headstone in Throopville Rural Cemetery, Auburn, New York.

Some you win, and some you don't.

 THE STORY OF THE EDGAR FAMILY'S LAST RESTING PLACE

This is a brief tale of a search that in some ways led to disappointment. Being based in the UK I was asked in 2019 if I could find the last resting place of the Edgar family. As well as their speciality of pyramidology three of the Edgars, John, Morton and Minna (two brothers and a sister) also wrote a series of little booklets. One of them by John “Where Are The Dead?” was instrumental in attracting the interest of a young man named Fred Franz before the First World War.

We knew from printed accounts that they were buried in a family plot in the Eastwood Cemetery, Glasgow. There are two cemeteries of this name, an Old and a New, but the date of the first interment identified the site as being in the Old.

Were there memorial headstones? Would there even be a pyramid? That is not as fanciful as it sounds. Here is the grave for Piazzi Smyth.

And here from a Bible Student publication is a grave marker in Yeovil, Somerset, for a Bible Student, William Hallett, who died in 1921.

The cemetery records in Glasgow had not been transcribed, let alone posted on the internet. But I was able to make contact with a Family History Society in Glasgow and a member very kindly did a search for me. Almost immediately the burial registers for the family were found.

John bought three adjoining plots and later a fourth was added, totalling plots numbered A-950-953. Sixteen members of the extended family were eventually buried here. The last interment was in 1968. Any modern generations of the family, if they still exist, obviously moved elsewhere.

The next step was a visit to the area and again a willing volunteer from the area visited the site and took the following photograph. The graves numbered A-950-953 are both sides of the tree in the foreground. One wonders what size the tree was when these plots were sold originally.

There are a few memorials standing, which at least enable one to fix the correct site, but alas, none for the Edgar family. In UK cemeteries vandalism and sheep with itchy bottoms have eliminated a lot of memorials, but it would appear from the photographs that the Edgars never did have a lasting memorial installed.

Realistically, had there been anything like a pyramid there, it would have been found and publicised long before now.

So this is a non-story really. But you never know until you follow everything up what may or may not be discovered.

Nelson Horatio

The name Nelson HORATIO Barbour for the editor of The Herald of the Morning comes from the patent of one of his inventions. His history is sketchy and what could be discovered at the time was published in Nelson Barbour: The Millennium’s Forgotten Prophet by Schulz and De Vienne in 2009.

We know that he was a gold prospector in Australia and came back to American via Britain around 1859/1860. I spent some considerable time trying to find anyone resembling Nelson Horatio Barbour on ships lists and the UK census for 1861.  Eventually I found a Nelson Horatio Barber in the UK – born in same decade, but this man was married with a child. I traced his life story sufficiently to establish there was no connection. A secret marriage and an abandoned family would have been a real find! But why would two men of similar age be named Nelson Horatio Barber/Barbour? And then it clicked. The British commander at the Battle of Trafalgar, with a huge column in London to this day was Admiral Nelson - full name Horatio Nelson. The two names would just naturally go together in public consciousness.

J F Rutherford talks 1914-1917

When what became World War 1 started J F Rutherford was in Hamburg, Germany. This wasn’t a problem as America didn’t enter the war until April 1917. JFR traveled back home and was soon giving the talk “Destiny of Men and Nations.” Below is a cutting from the Washington Times for November 19, 1914.

He took this same talk to his former home area of Versailles. Below is an advertisement for the talk on December 2. The year is not given, but it was likely 1914, which would have been a Wednesday evening. No newspaper reports have surfaced to confirm the date, but it was most probably in 1914. This talk was advertised in various places up to the middle of 1915. It could just possibly have been on December 1915 (which would have been a Thursday evening) but by December 1916 he would have been in Brooklyn prior to being elected as president of the Watch Tower Society.

By December 1917 America was in the war, and the IBSA was in difficulties. JFR’s main talk had also changed subject – slightly.

 

The date for this talk (which has appeared on this blog before) can only be 1917 and America had now entered the war. Below is the location for this talk. It is the building with the tall brick surround in the center of the photograph.

With grateful thanks to Tom who supplied the last two images.

J F Rutherford talks 1920-1921

 On May 22, 1921, at the now historic Kismet Temple in Brooklyn, J F Rutherford gave his famous Millions talk. Below is an advertising leaflet.

 

The Kismet building is still standing and below are two photographs of the exterior.

 

(The one in color is taken from Wikipedia and dates from 2013)

The leaflet provided some interesting informtion. JFR had just returned from visiting Palestine and Egypt. There he had been involved in two of the Kinemo films which were eventually given general release in 1922. JFR did a kind of Alfred Hitchcock cameo appearance in both of them.

The leaflet also mentions events the previous year (1920) when the same subject had been presented at the New York Hippodrome, and where the crowds had been so large some could not gain admittance.

Below is a postcard showing the exterior.

 

The Hippodrome was demolished in 1939. The reverse of the postcard describes its original capacity.

 

A photograph exists of the interior during JFR’s”standing room only” lecture.

 

All photographs and ephemera came from Tom’s collection.  With grateful thanks for sharing.

J F Rutherford - Schoolteacher?

From the Franklin County Tribune (Union, Missouri) for 15 August 1941, page 1.

In case the cutting does not reproduce well on all devices, this is the transcript.

UNION BUSINESS MAN PUPIL JEHOVAH LEADER - December 28, 1887 – “Lee strive to reach the top. Apply yourself closely to the reading of good books, and you will succeed. Your Teacher, J.F. Rutherford.” This is the inscription written in a class or memory book belonging to Lee Rapp of this city by the present leader of Jehovah’s witnesses, Judge Rutherford. Mr. Rapp was 14 years of age when he attended the Big Buffalo School in Benton County. Judge Rutherford was the teacher of the four-months school which was held in a one room log home.

JFR would have been 18 years old at the time, and just two years later he went into law. The person interviewed, Lee Preston Rapp (1873-1958), had an obituary in the Franklin County Tribune when he died. It noted: “He received his education in Morgan County where he was born.” So the location fits where J F Rutherford was based at the time.

Editorial note

The title has a question mark because Lee Rapp’s story is unverified, although I have no reason to doubt it. When this material was first published (in part) elsewhere, I was asked how on earth I discovered this story. The answer is the way most “great discoveries” are made. It was by accident. I was looking for something else at the time…

It does help if you get the basic facts right...

In the Golden Age magazine for September 13, 1922, three films were advertised for purchase by the Kinemo Film Corporation. If you punch the search term KINEMO into this blog you will find a series of three articles about the project and what ultimately happened to it. 

The three origional films were made over 1920-1921. There was one on Palestine, one on the Great Pyramid and one on Imperial Valley, California. The latter was seen as an example of what could be done to cultivate land and make an area into a paradise.

There is quite an amazing review of the Imperial Valley one by Paul Johnson in his paper for September 1925.

"BRO. RUTHERFORD TAKING A TRIP THROUGH IMPERIAL VALLEY, CALIFORNIA"

"The picture shows Bro. R. and party in an automobile, ready for the tour. Then it shows them driving to some of his friends, to ask them if they would allow their son to go with him through Imperial Valley to take pictures. The boy's parents readily consented to let him go with the judge, though they were all prepared to start on a trip of their own through the mountains. The boy kisses his family good-bye, jumps into Bro. R.'s car, and away they go. Then the pictures go on to show Bro. R. passing through the valley on foot, examining fruit, vegetables and many other things grown there. According to the pictures, everything certainly was in good condition. Of course, the picture shows Bro. R. walking through these gardens, which takes up quite a time. On one occasion he is pictured as looking around and laughing as he turns over a very large pumpkin, saying: `It reminds me of the pumpkin pies mother used to make.'

Then the picture changes. It shows Bro. Rutherford's party with a newspaper giving the picture of a terrible automobile accident. Then the auto is shown falling down the side of a steep mountain, the occupants falling out and all being killed—they were the boy's family. Thereupon Bro. R. is seen trying to comfort the boy. It also shows Bro. R. writing a letter and handing it to the boy, telling him not to open it until when in 1925 he would hear of Abraham being resurrected. Later, the pictures show the boy in 1925 reading a morning paper with large head lines: 'ABRAHAM RESURRECTED IN PALESTINE.' Suddenly it dawns on the boy to read the letter the judge had given him. He looks at the calendar, which shows 1925; then he opens the letter, which tells him to telegraph Abraham and ask him that his famliy might be resurrected and restored to him. Finally, the boy is shown very happy as he telegraphs Abraham in Palestine in 1925."

This would be a fascinating film to see with JFR in such a prominent acting role. It’s a shame the Oscars didn’t start until 1929. There is only one slight problem with all of this – the description and review is FALSE FROM START TO FINISH.                                                               

We can see the actual film today because a copy has survived, although missing a little footage at the end of the reel. At the time of writing this is the link:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-zIClU8TQtM  but if it disappears just use the search term KINEMO again on YouTube,

It can quickly be seen that the Imperial Valley film is just a travelog, taking you around the area, showing roads being built, ditches beng dug and produce being harvested, as an illustration of what could be possible for the earth in the future. That is about it. JFR appears briefly in some scenes, a bit like an Alfred Hitchcock cameo.

There is one where he is looking over a field.

 

And another has him holding a tall sheaf of grain, probably sarghum from the surrounding subtitles.

When you read the small print in Johnson’s article, he tries to excuse himself:

“The Editor never saw these moving pictures, but sometime ago one of the brethren sent him a brief description of them.”

So that’s all right then. It’s someone else’s responsibility. One of the “brethren” must have been just daydreaming or playing a joke. And none of Johnson’s readers apparently noticed.

The joke still continues it seems. When this material was published elsewhere, I backtracked on blog entry sources and came across a Polish message board, where, allowing for the quirks of Google translate, someone was arguing that Johnson's "review" was accurate. It appears there had been a secret cover-up to censor all existing prints after 1925... (In reality, Kinemo was a commercial flop and people who bought projectors and films in the obsolete 17.5 mm gauge were trying to sell them cheap in the pages of the New Era Enterprise by 1925. So the market was awash with prints in private hands).

But it is an interesting and unexpected take on the subject. Oh yes, and Elvis was abducted by aliens...

1917 Public Talk

The date can only be 1917. Below is the location for this talk. It is the building with the tall brick surround in the center of the photograph.

With grateful thanks to Tom who supplied the images.