George Darby Clowes

George Darby Clowes (1818-1889).

Photograph reproduced by kind permission of his great-great-grandson, William J. 3^rd.

 

In the March 1889 issue of Zion’s Watch Tower, in response to a letter from his father, Joseph Lytle, Charles Taze Russell wrote a brief obituary for George Darby Clowes (1818-1889). It shows that George had a part to play in the very early history and pre-history of the Watch Tower movement. CTR’s comment is below:

George had previously appeared in the pages of Zion’s Watch Tower in May 1886 (page 1) when the annual Memorial celebration held in Pittsburgh was “adjourned with praper by Brother Clowes.”

This then is his story.

George Clowes was born in the British Isles on April 26, 1818. He was baptised into the established church (Birmingham, St Martin) on December 29, 1818. At the age of 19 he was married at the same church to Sarah Fearney on December 6, 1837. His occupation is given as “brass founder.” He would cast items in brass, which could be anything from shell cases to intricate parts for clocks and watches.

George and Sarah were to have nine known children over the next 24 years. The first two were born in Britain, Emma (b.1841) and James (1843-1916). After James’ birth the family moved to the United States, specifically Pennsylvania, because the remaining seven children were born there. These were Hepzebah (1845-1864), Israel William (1848-1915), Fredrick (b.1851), George Darby Jr. (1854-1932), Stephen (1858-1920), Sarah (b.1861) and Sumpter (b.c.1865).

The name George Clowes was to be carried on through at least three generations. As well as George Darby Jr. (1854-1932) who was the original George’s sixth child, the original George’s fourth child Israel also named a son George Darby Clowes (1877-1946). While it makes for complications in research it does allow one to track down through the ages, and in this case to make contact with a modern descendant a few years ago, who provided the photograph of our subject at the head of this article.

George did not apply for American naturalization until 1861, but the document with his signature has survived

George’s wife Sarah died in 1881. From the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette 14 March 1881 page 4:

George became a minister in the M(ethodist) E(piscopal) church. According to a letter he wrote to George Storrs, which we will come to later, this was “about 25 years before” the year 1871. That would take us to before the American Civil War.  But he was to change direction and become part of the small congregation that first attracted CTR when he dropped into a dusty dingy hall (Quincy Hall on Leacock Street) to hear Adventist Jonas Wendell preach.

The Adventists (specifically the Advent Christian Church) were keen to claim George as a prize. In their paper, The World’s Crisis for December 27, 1871, Wendell had a letter published about his recent travels. The letter dated December 6, 1871, showed that there had been problems of some sort in the Pittsburgh group. He had worked there, along with George Stetson, for a few weeks, but now there was a need for a local person to take over pastoral care.

Clowes’ expulsion from the Methodists, and his new role in the Pittsburgh Advent Christian Church, is remembered elsewhere. In The Advent Christian Story by Clarence Kearney (1968) he is mentioned in dispatches:

Although the Pittsburgh group was branded as Adventist in the Advent Christian press, in reality it had an eclectic mix. Advent Christians and Church of God (Age to Come) believers would often meet together at this time. They were united on a keen interest in the return of Christ and conditional immortality, while generally divided over such subjects as the destiny of natural Israel, how many would benefit from future probation through the resurrection, which key events yet to happen were timed for the start or the end of the millennium, and the advisability (or otherwise) of date setting.

As long as everyone remained tolerant and unofficial and generally disorganised the situation could continue. But while Age to Come believers were generally averse to organization, Second Adventists into the 1870s were increasingly anxious for recognition as an established religion. This required an official statement of belief covering not just vague generalities but specifics.

So people began to make choices, and Clowes embraced the Age to Come belief system. Up to 1873 we find references to Advent Christian meetings at Quincy Hall, Pittsburgh, but by 1874 Elder G. D. Clowes was billed at the same venue but now in the main paper of the Age to Come movement, The Restitution. From the November 5, 1874, issue:

This shift meant that independent mavericks like George Storrs, who edited Bible Examiner (and who increasingly detested the Advent Christian Church) would be more than happy to visit them. He did so in May 1874 and Clowes was subsequently mentioned several times in his paper.

In the June 1874 issue of Bible Examiner Storrs reviewed his recent visit. In the editorial, under the heading “Visit to Pittsburgh, PA” Storrs wrote: “The editor of this magazine spent the first and second Sundays in May in the above named city. He found there a small but noble band of friends who upheld with the full hearts the truths advocated by himself. Among them is a preacher who was formally of the Methodists.”

We must assume that the former Methodist preacher was George Clowes. In the same issue, Storrs lists the parcels he had just sent out to fill literature requests. These included several to Pittsburgh, the recipients including G. D. Clowes Sr., Wm. H. Conley, and J. L. Russell and son. (The latter was obviously a business address, but the “son” Charles Taze Russell would have his own letter acknowledged the next month, July, and would subsequently write articles for Storrs’ paper).

There are further requests for literature from Clowes and the Russells, and then in the November 1875 Bible Examiner there is a full letter from Elder G. D. Clowes of Pittsburgh dated September 8, 1875. In it, Clowes expresses appreciation for Bible Examiner, and regrets the spirit manifest by “some of our brethren who do not see these precious truths.” It is in this letter, referred to earlier, that he reflects on how he “had been cast adrift a few years before by those he had labored with for a quarter century.” That would take his Methodist connections back 25 years before 1871. He also writes that a “Brother Owen is labouring with us.”

The next page of Storrs’ magazine has a letter of appreciation from Joseph Lytle Russell, CTR’s father. Joseph also mentions “Brother Owen” visiting, which shows that he and Clowes were involved with the same meetings.

Very soon the independent Bible study group linked to Charles Taze Russell would take center stage, and this would link up with Nelson Barbour. This is another chapter and in extant records George Clowes does not appear in it. But then, after Zion’s Watch Tower began publication we find him attending that 1886 Memorial celebration and then being remembered by both Joseph Lytle and Charles Taze when he died in early 1889.

 George never made his living from a paid ministry. He did various jobs but the most consistent was working at the Allegheny Arsenal in Lawrenceville for a number of years. In the 1860 census he is a “nail plate heater.” In the 1866-67 Directory of Pittsburgh and Alleghen Cities he is “assistant laboratory superintendent at the Arsenal.” In the 1870 census he is “master laboratory A” – the A probably standing for Arsenal. As late as 1875, from the US Register of Civil, Military and Naval Service, 1875 volume 1, dated September 30, 1875 we have George working as a Foreman at the Allegheny Arsenal for three dollars a day.

As noted above, his original occupation of “brass founder” could include making shell cases and that may have had some bearing on where he worked, and even why he relocated from England to Pittsburgh.

His close association with the Arsenal is shown by the aftermath of the September 17, 1862 disaster. There was an explosion in the Laboratory building where they were filling shells with gunpowder for Union forces in the Civil War. This caused a massive fire and 78 people – mainly young women – died. Loose powder on a roadway and a spark from an iron horseshoe was one possible cause. Another theory is that it was caused by static electricity from the women workers’ hoop skirts. It ended up being Pittsburgh’s worst industrial accident and the Civil War’s deadliest civilian disaster. 

Clowes was present on the day and initially was thought to be one of the casualties. From the preliminary list of the dead in the Pittsburgh Daily Post for September 18, 1862:

It gives his occupation as Superintendent of Cylinder Department and says that his daughter Emma died along with him. The Pittsburgh Gazette for the same date, September 18, only listed Emma and gave her age as 21, and listed her as “missing.” Daughter Emma was born in 1841, so this has to be the right family.

A day or two later it was clarified that George had survived, and had tried to calm down the girls in the chaos and panic to get out of the buildings. From the inquest report in the Pittsburgh Daily Post for September 23, 1862:

The reason for the confusion over casualties was that the explosion and fire meant many bodies could not be identified. The remains of over 40 unidentified people were buried in a mass grave in the Allegheny cemetery. The final list of these included Emma. Years later the Pittsburgh Dispatch for May 25, 1899, told the story and listed the names on the Allegheny Cemetery monument. You can see Emma’s name four lines up from the bottom of the clipping.

The monument was later replaced and the one you can now visit in the cemetery lists all 78 names of victims.

The memorial was the result of a special campaign, and understandably George Clowes was heavily involved in this project. From the Pittsburgh Daily Post for September 18, 1863:

George was linked to the Arsenal again in 1869 where the Pittsburgh Weekly Gazatte for January 29, 1869, carried a story about a new Library Association and Reading Room to be assisted financially by the Arsenal Lodge of Good Templars. The Vice President of the new association was G. D. Clowes.

He was also an officer of the Temple of Honor in Lawrenceville, PA, which was a fraternal order supporting the temperance movement. He also appeared on a list of names for the “Reform Republican Vigilance Committee” for his area.

Returning to his work history, while the above-noted US Register of Civil, Military and Naval Service 1875 still has him working at the Arsenal, the 1875-1876 Directory of Pittsburgh and Allegheny lists him as the Rev. George D. Clowes. He also appears to be in newspapers of the day as a clergyman. As an example, the report of the dedication services for a new M.E. Church near the Arsenal in the Pittsburgh Weekly Gazette for June 14, 1869, listed those present. There are no initials to confirm we have the right man, but the report included “Rev. Clowes and local preachers.”

When George died there was just a small notice in the paper. From the Pittsburgh Dispatch 26 January 1889, page 7,

He was George D. Clowes, Sr. His son, George D. Clowes, Jr. also lived and worked in Pittsburgh for nearly all his life in the iron and steel industry.

The records are incomplete, but George Sr. was probably buried in the Allegheny cemetery, where his wife and many other family members were laid to rest. This historic cemetery also contains the Arsenal memorial with Emma’s name, and the grave plots for nearly all of CTR’s immediate family.