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.
In the 1880s, the North Wales Express, an English language newspaper for North Wales, UK, had a regular column called Varieties, full of excruciating puns and jokes that have not generally translated well for the present day. It is interesting to note their joke at the expense of Food for Thinking Christians in the issue for November 25, 1881, page 6.
The “joke” may have appeared first in the American humor magazine Puck for August 31, 1881, and then was repeated (with variations) in many other papers. However, for it to appear in a November British newspaper, and a Welsh newspaper at that, provides one key point of interest. For it to make any real sense to readers they would need to have heard of the publication's extensive distribution in the UK.
Guest post by Sam
Many readers will have seen the photograph of a Model T Ford being used to advertise the Photodrama of Creation as depicted below.
There is
also another view from the other side, which has been colorized.
It would
be nice to know where this scene was located and when it happened don’t you
think?
Zion’s
Watch Tower dated February 15, 1914 contains an article about the Photodrama
and where it was being exhibited. This included Cleveland, Ohio, at the Temple,
Prospect Avenue and E. 22nd Street. This is the address seen on
the side of the display.
Research
on the internet about churches allowed us to identify the actual building. It
was previously the Plymouth Congregational Church as shown in the postcard
below.
Comparing this picture with the drama advertisement we can see exactly where the car was placed.
Correspondent
Brian pointed out that, if you examine a high definition copy of the original
photograph, there is a poster advertising the Photodrama in the doorway behind
the car.
According
to Wikipedia the Plymouth Congregational Church owes its name to Henry Ward
Beecher. The Church disbanded in 1913 due to a loss of members and a lack of
money. The Bible Students obviously were using it as their Temple for
Photodrama showings in February 1914. Wikipedia suggests that the
Congregationalists got it back and reconstituted it as a Community Church in
1916.
Extra
note by Jerome:
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. So there was the New York City Temple, where the Photodrama was shown in New York. Probably 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. If you visited the Chicago Temple you would likely have been given a tour by Albert Franz, whose photograph is in the Temple brochure. As a link with more recent times, his younger brother, Fred Franz, was president of the Watchtower Society from 1977-1992.
In the 1870s there were numerous small Bible classes loosely affiliated with various papers, some Age to Come, some different strands of Adventism. People obtained papers from all manner of sources, and when ZWT started publication it was initially just one more to add to the list. Eventually, people started to choose which direction they viewed as “the truth,” and the Bible Student movement, with its separate identity, came into being.
However, many attending gatherings that became
“Bible Student” meetings continued to still read widely, even if, as time went by,
it may have been politic to keep quiet about it.
In the first few decades of ZWT’s publication, alternative
magazines were still being read by various Bible Students as well. This might
help us understand certain subject matter in early ZWTs. On occasion CTR would be
responding to the work of others which he knew his readers were receiving. The Tabernacle and its Teachings (later
rewritten into Tabernacle Shadows)
was originally written, at least in part, to combat the writings of Nelson
Barbour.
The
Herald of the Morning
In the 1890s Nelson Barbour’s paper The Herald of the Morning was obviously
still seen by a few. In the follow up to 1894’s Harvest Siftings (special issue
of ZWT for April 25, 1894) defector S D Rogers was accused of visiting ZWT
congregations with bad intent and
in Rochester, NY, introducing the faithful to Nelson Barbour, described as a
“bold and relentless enemy.” (See ZWT for June 11, 1894). There is no
other record of this and Barbour’s paper for this era is not available, but taking
the account at face value, three things can be noted.
First, Rogers knew who Barbour was and where Barbour
was, to go to him for support against CTR. Second, it was reported back to CTR
that this had actually happened. Third, Barbour was still sufficently well-known
to ZWT readers for CTR to mention the event as a warning. CTR’s comment would only
have real meaning if Barbour was still on selected Bible Students’ radar.
This is supported by what happened when a few Bible
Students, including a Watch Tower Society director, Augustus Weimar, left
fellowship and joined the Koreshan Unity in 1895. This was a strange group that
among other things believed the earth was hollow and mankind lived inside it.
In the September 1895 issue of the Koreshan
magazine, The Flaming Sword, they
used one of Barbour’s articles from November 1891 to attack CTR’s theology. It
seems likely that the Koreshans got this from their new intake of ex-ZWT supporters.
However, this means that at least one of those supporters was still reading
Barbour’s Herald into the 1890s.
https://jeromehistory.blogspot.com/2021/02/the-watch-tower-and-koreshan-unity.html
The
World’s Hope
John Paton left fellowship with CTR around 1882 and started his own paper The World’s Hope, promoting Universalist views. Looking at extant copies of this paper, a number of well-known ZWT names were also readers. It was Paton who reported on the death of the first ZWT president, W H Conley, and obviously knew and was in contact with him. The account about Conley’s death in The World’s Hope for August 1, 1897 was supplied by W I Mann, who up to April 1892 had been a ZWT director.
For the history of individuals, Paton’s magazine is
valuable because in keeping with his views on universal salvation he tried to
keep in touch with or at least report on everyone. The interest was not
generally reciprocated. From an historical sense it is a pity that his
paper folded in August 1916. A few more
months and he would have no doubt reported on CTR’s life and death as he saw
it.
https://jeromehistory.blogspot.com/2019/07/john-patons-farewell.html
The
Spirit of the Word
Another associate, Arthur P Adams, initially
supported Barbour when the split came, but then started a small circulation
paper in 1885 called The Spirit of the
Word.
Adams was a Methodist minister who met CTR in 1877
and became associated with both him and John Paton and Nelson Barbour. As a
result of unrepentantly expounding Age to Come views he was expelled from the
Methodist ministry in 1878. CTR chose to mention Adams in the
first version of Harvest Siftings published in 1890.
It
was after this, while on a tour of the New England States, that I met Mr. A. P.
Adams, then a young Methodist minister, who became deeply interested and
accepted the message heartily during the week that I preached to his
congregation. Subsequently, I introduced him to little gatherings of interested
ones in neighboring towns, and assisted otherwise, as I could, rejoicing in
another one who, with study, would soon be a co-laborer in the harvest field.
It
wasn’t to last. Later in the reprinted Harvest Siftings (1894):
Mr. Adams espoused
the views of Mr. Barbour and likewise forsook the doctrine of the ransom. And,
true to our interpretation of the parable of the wedding garment as given at
the time, Mr. Barbour and Mr. Adams, having cast off the wedding garment of
Christ's righteousness, went out of the light into the outer darkness of the
world on the subjects once so clearly seen.
CTR obviosuly felt it necessary to mention Adams because
some ZWT readers would also know of his ministry. One example of this was
Ophelia Burroughs. Ophelia wrote letters to ZWT, organized a Dawn Circle in the
absence of suitable males to step up to the mark, and wrote hymns and poems which
the Society published throughout the 1890s and into the 1900s. It can be
confusing because she wrote under several names, including Browning (her maiden
name) and Burroughs (the name of her first husband).
But Ophelia knew Adams. Very well. In April 1905 she
went as far as marrying him!
The Herald of the Morning (originally entitled The Midnight Cry and Herald of the Morning) started publication at the end of 1873. Shortly after CTR came across the paper its publication was suspended, after the death of Daniel Cogswell as reported in the February 1876 paper (Volume 4, number 2).
It is known that during 1877, while Barbour, Paton and Russell were preaching in various areas that Barbour’s Three Worlds was sent out in lieu of Herald subscriptions as a part-work. It was once thought that the actual paper was suspended until Volume 7 began in July 1878. Barbour changed the volume number every six months and Volumes 7 and 8 (with CTR as associate editor until May 1878) are readily available from various internet sources.
However, it can now be established that the paper ran as a semi-monthly publication for the second half of 1877 and the first half of 1878.
For 1877
we have the testimony of George N H Peters whose mammoth work The Theocratic
Kingdom (1884 and partly sponsored by W H Conley) quotes from the Herald for
August 1, 1877 and September 15, 1877. One quote is from an article written by
Patton (sic). We must assume this was Volume 5. Some years ago I contacted the
repository for Peters’ papers, but alas, there were no Heralds among them.
For 1878 we have one issue for June 15, 1878. (It was found in the archives of Atlanta Bible College over twenty years ago.) It describes how the June 1 issue was not published due to the time Barbour was away at a conference, and so June 15 is Volume 6 number 11. It also announced how the paper would be a smaller sized 16 page monthly from July 1878, making it easier for binding. The fact that the magazine could be bound into volumes ensured the survival of the familiar years down to our day.
The June 15 issue has CTR as main publisher and an assistant editor. There are no articles from CTR’s pen in this particular issue, most of the contents appears to have been written by Barbour and Paton.
Here are a few frames from this paper.
The masthead
The publisher announcement
And finally, the list of those who had written in over the previous month. Can we see any familiar names here?
Following the booklet Object and Manner of Our Lord’s Return, CTR’s first major work was the small book Food for Thinking Christians published in 1881. It was the template for the later Divine Plan of the Ages.
Food for Thinking Christians was issued in more than one edition. The original was a special issue of ZWT for September 1881. Below is the cover of one of those originals.
The current owner
commented that this original was not in the best of condition “but it has been
lovingly read many times over in the past.”
When
the publication was reprinted in large numbers to be used in evangelising work,
the cover was changed in one respect. Here are two copies of the revised cover.
The
special issue for September 1881 ZWT has now become a Free Supplement to Zion’s
Watch Tower, 1881.
Any
readers who have access to Tower Archives can see this cover was originally a
greenish-blue color.
The
copy of the Food on the left in the picture has an extra paper strip and holes
near the spine, because this was originally bound with a copy of Tabernacle Teachings as described in the
article that follows this.
This particular copy had a brief inscription on the front end papers.
Homing
in for an enhanced close-up we can see this is from Sunderlin to McCormack.
This
would be J C Sunderlin who came to Britain in 1881 to circulate this
publication. The G L McCormack is probably the “Brother McCormack” who transferred
to Chicago in 1882 as described in ZWT for July 1882, page 1.
(With grateful thanks to Mike C and Brian K who supplied the images)
After publishing Food for Thinking Christians as a special ZWT supplement in September 1881, CTR followed it shortly thereafter with a large booklet called Tabernacle Teachings, first published as a special supplement to ZWT for February 1882. It was later expanded into the more well-known work Tabernacle Shadows.
There was certain logic in the two small books being presented together, and in fact, the second from last page of the original Tabernacle Teachings presented them as companions.
As noted in the previous article, there are reports of the two being actually bound together into one volume. However, the one copy that has been seen shows the two publications being printed separately and then just bound together without any additional title page. So the second title page comes after the end of the first book. There were just extra end sheets added to the combined item. On the inside end sheet of the one example that is known is the inscription “from J C Sunderlin to G L McCormick,” as reproduced in the previous article. So it may be that Sunderlin had this particular example hard bound or it may be that there are other examples out there still to be found.
The very end page of Tabernacle Teachings advertises Zion’s Watch Tower magazine.
There is no mention of price on Tabernacle Teachings as the booklet was free. The only mention of cost was in the advertisement for ZWT on the final page. The subscription price for ZWT was 50 cents per year in the United States and sixty-five cents in Britain. The Lord’s Poor could have it free on request.
(With grateful thanks to Mike C who supplied the
images)
The beauty of a wide readership of a blog is that sometimes someone can come up with a suggestion that may solve a mystery. This post (and the one that follows it) postulates a mystery and attempts to solve it. A new, and in hindsight, very obvious potential solution has been suggested. So please look at the end of the second article for this suggestion.
These two articles are about the problems of doing research, and how sometimes it is necessary to make a judgment on conflicting information from historical sources. The subject is the birth date of Thomas Russell, the older brother of CTR, who is pictured with him in that memorable picture in the original issue of the January 1, 1912 Watch Tower.
The picture dates from 1855 and shows Thomas (aged
about 5) on the left and Charles Taze (aged about 3) on the right. This was
published during CTR’s lifetime. When the magazine was reprinted after CTR had
died, the picture was cropped and only Charles was shown.
As to why this matters, it can help us narrow down
when Joseph Lytle Russell and Ann Eliza Birney were married. Marriage licences
were not required by law in Pennsylvania until 1885, so it is unlikely that any
documentation will ever surface now, assuming it ever existed. We know that Ann
Eliza was still single in March 1849, or at least there is a reference to a
Miss A E Birney in the Pittsburgh Daily Post for Wednesday, April 4, 1849. So,
to be pedantic, someone thought she was still single in March 1849.
Knowing when Thomas was born, we can make
assumptions about when he was conceived, which would narrow down the date of
the marriage.
So when was Thomas born? We have three conflicting
dates, January, March and May in 1850. Let’s look at the “evidence” for each.
If you examine information on the Ancestry website,
you will find Thomas’ birth date given as March 1850. But as often happens with
such sites, there is no reference given for the
information. Everyone seems to be copying everyone else on a
circular journey with no original source material provided. I suspect that the
March date comes from the 1850 census return for Pittsburgh. The entry for the
Russell family, father, mother and one son, is reproduced below.
The rules for the 1850 census were that entries
should reflect information as it existed on June 1st that year.
So we have Joseph L Russell, aged 32, merchant from Ireland, Ann E Russell,
aged 26, from Ireland, and then T Russell (Thomas) from Pennsylvania, who might
appear on first sight to be 3/12. Reading that as three months old would have
him born around March of that year.
The problem arises with the crabby handwriting of
the era, using scratchy pen and ink. Numerous enumerators’ hands are found in
these census returns, with varying degree of legibility. So let’s zoom in on
that entry for Thomas.
But then we have another source of information,
which could be viewed as a potential primary source that gives us yet another
month, this time May 1850. This is the burial details for the Russell family
plot on file at the Allegheny Cemetery.
This has been reproduced before on this blog in
articles about the cemetery and the Russell interments, but it is shown here
again.
You will notice on the right that it states very
clearly that Thomas Russell died on 11 August 1855, aged 5 years and 3 months –
which would give a birth date of May 1850.
The problem is that this is not actually a primary
source at all! The document was put together to show how many people were
buried in this family plot and where the graves were. This was useful since not
all had grave markers and some of those that existed had been worn by time. The
plot was sold for ten graves, but in the event there were only nine burials.
The plan shows that the plot was purchased by James
Russell, older brother of Joseph Lytle. A little over a year after James made
the purchase, his wife Sarah was buried there, and James followed not that long
after. The record has the burial of Sarah in one style of handwriting. But then
a later hand has added another seven names, not in order of interment, but
rather in order of the rows of graves. This handwriting includes Joseph Lytle
who was buried at the end of 1897. This is approaching fifty years after Thomas
was born. But whoever wrote out these seven names, omitted Thomas whose grave
started the bottom row from the right. So yet another later hand wrote in
the number 9, but then instead of adding to the existing list, wrote elsewhere
on the document that Thomas died 11 August 1855, aged 5 years and 3 months.
When was this done? Obviously it was after 1897.
How much longer after 1897? We don’t know, but decades after Thomas lived and
died.
So where did the information about 5 years and 3
months come from? The writer on this grave plan copied the information out from
somewhere. But why the discrepancy with the census returns from all those years
before? Joseph and Eliza would know when Thomas was born and how old he was
when he died.
I have a theory, and it goes back to the confusion
with the census returns. As the numbers three and five could look similar on
cursory examination, so could a three and an eight be confused, considering the
handwriting of the day and the fact that scratchy entries made in ink may fade
in places over time. On that basis maybe the final hand on the grave plan
document just made a mistake. Maybe Thomas died aged 5 years and 8 months
(rather than 3 months). If he did, then he would have been born in the
January, which now would tally perfectly with the 1850 census return.
There is more on this in the following article.
