The Russell Family History

Charles Taze Russell (hereafter abbreviated as CTR) plays such a large role in early Watch Tower history it is not surprising that his family history is of interest. This article endeavours to fill in some of the gaps in the usual histories. It will also include links to other articles on this blog that provide further details.

Russell is a Protestant name. There were many Russells in what is now known as Northern Ireland at the start of the 19^th century. Other common names were Lytle (or Lytel) and Tay or Tays (possibly named after the Scottish river Tay). It was common for a former surname, perhaps of a mother, to be preserved as the middle name in the new generation. This helps explain names like Joseph Lytle Russell and Charles Tays (or Taze) Russell. This can also assist in tracing a family tree backwards. It was also common, as it is today, for forenames to be repeated down through the generations. Of course, when people had large families, they soon ran out of repeatable forenames.

We are told that the Russell family were of Scots-Irish ancestry; early records saying Scotch-Irish ancestry.

The pressure on Presbyterians to join the Church of England caused some from the Scottish lowlands and also Northern England to immigrate from the 17^th century onward. The Highland Clearances forced many others in Scotland to leave home, and the British Government was keen to encourage more to move to Ireland with land grants like the Plantations of Ulster. On the one hand it damped down tensions and poverty in Scotland and the borders, and on the other it helped dilute both the language and Catholic faith of the native Irish. The political consequences of those policies are still with us today.

The Protestant communities that then developed in Northern Ireland were predominantly Presbyterian from their Scottish roots. As conditions became difficult in this new home more and more went to America. The term Scots-Irish eventually came to be a term used in America to identify this wave of Protestant immigrants. It distinguished them from the large numbers who came from Ireland a little later due to the potato famine. The latter tended to be Roman Catholic.

So the Russell family may have literally come originally from Scotland, or they may just have been lumped into the catch-all title Scots-Irish. Either way, they were Protestants, Presbyterian, who lived in the region of County Donegal (from Charles Tays Russell’s grave marker) and Londonderry (from Joseph Lytle Russell’s newspaper obituary). Donegal and Londonderry border on each other. Today Donegal is the most northern county in the Republic of Ireland, and Londonderry (often shortened to Derry) is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland.

A key industry in Northern Ireland was making what is still called today, Irish linen. In the early part of the 19^th century Northern Ireland hand-spinning faced severe competition from machine-spinning as the industrial revolution trampled all before it. Even so, prior to the First World War, Belfast was the largest linen producing area in the world, and had the nickname, Linenopolis. But changing times in the early 19^th century would cause some in the industry to look to America. So we have Charles Tays Russell who reportedly came to America to work with Irish born Alexander Turney Stewart, who made his fortune importing Irish fabrics, before later cleaning up making uniforms for the Union side in the American Civil War. There will be more about Charles Tays later. One step further on we have Charles Tays’ one time business partner, his brother Joseph Lytle Russell, establishing a haberdashery store – a business that was expanded in due course with his son, CTR.

To establish the family tree of Charles Taze Russell, there are two key documents. First, there is a family tree prepared by one Robert Speel. Robert was a descendant of the Russells through CTR’s half sister, Mabel. Mabel, the daughter of Joseph Lytle Russell and his second wife Emma Ackley, married Richard Packard. One of their daughters, Mildred, married a Robert Speel. Their son was also called Robert and the family tree most readers here will have seen is credited to one of the Roberts.

It is a labor of love, prepared before the internet provided access to documents. Its main resource, apart from word of mouth of living relatives, was the Last Will and Testament of CTR’s Uncle, Charles Tays Russell. This uncle of CTR (after whom he was named) did not marry and left a number of bequests. His estate was divided out between surviving siblings and in some cases, their children. This document gives us names and also locations for these people in the 1870s.

Understandably the family tree is incomplete. It also contains one glaring error in the first section reproduced below.

2b is listed as Sarah Russell (1799-1846) one of children of Thomas and Fannie Russell.

This Sarah is not one of the Russell children, but was the wife of James Russell, who is listed as 2a. James bought the family cemetery plot in the Allegheny cemetery in 1846, shortly before she died, and she was the first to be buried there. He followed one year later. However, he bought the plot with his wife in mind, not his sister. Realistically that makes more sense. If Robert Speel examined the burial registers at the Allegheny Cemetery he would not have found the correct relationship, because it is not listed. The register only gives her name, and then date and cause of death. Only by visiting the grave site and checking the surviving grave marker can we see that Sarah was the wife of James.

Sarah, wife of Jas. G Russell, died Dec 14, 1846

Photograph by the author

We now know a little more about her. That brings us to the second key document. It is entitled “Descendants of Thomas Russell and Fanny Grier of Londonderry, Ireland, as dictated by Aunt Sarah Russell Morris, Oct. 1900.” This can be accessed on the “Family Search” website under the family of Alexander Russell.

It is a typewritten document with a few pencilled notations on it.It particularly concentrates on the family of Alexander Russell (2e in the Robert Speel chart). The compiler, who is called Aunt Sarah Russell Morris, was born in 1834, so would have met a number of relatives or at least known about them while they were still alive. She was one of Alexander Russell’s daughters, so a first cousin of CTR, although there is no indication that they ever met.

In researching the Russell family history I made contact with living descendants of this branch of the family, who gave permission for me to use the document. Nonetheless, they could supply no extra information on the early days. I checked back on what I could, using Ancestry, and was able to independently verify much of the information on Alexander and his descendants. However, the further back you went and the further afield you went from Alexander and his immediate family then it became far more difficult to find supporting witnesses. Still, there is no reason to assume that Aunt Sarah made it all up. The information she provided raises a question or two, but we will raise these issues as we now go through her testimony to provide the fullest account we can of CTR’s extended family.

The family tree starts with Thomas and Fannie Russell (according to Speel) and Thomas and Fanny Grier of Londonderry (according to Aunt Sarah). This information may well have come from the notice of someone’s birth or marriage. Stating they were “of Londonderry” suggests they never made the journey to the United States. Their last child, Fanny or Fannie (who we know never left Ireland), died in June 1867, aged 55, so she was born around 1812. Unfortunately, going back from around 1812 there are a lot of Thomas Russells with wives named Fanny or Fannie in Londonderry, and it has not been possible as yet to establish which couple produced our particular dynasty.

One point of possible note: there was a Rev Joseph Lytle who was Presbyterian Minister of the 1^st Letterkenny Presbyterian Church from 1803 to 1841. His Uncle, also a Rev Joseph Lytle, was the previous minister of this congregation but died in 1805 and had no family This Lytle family came from Desertoghill Parish in East Londonderry. The tithe maps show six men named Thomas Russell in the Letterkenny area, so some of them could have been members of that church. Of course, it could all just be coincidence.

Aunt Sarah notes, as we have already, that Russell is a Protestant name. She stated that Thomas and Fanny had thirteen children, three of whom died in infancy.

The surviving ten children in (we assume) order of birth were as follows:

1.      James

2.      William

3.      Charles

4.      Joseph

5.      Thomas

6.      George

7.      Alexander

8.      Ellen

9.      Mary Jane

10.  Fanny

Let’s review them one by one.

 

James

James was the oldest who survived to adulthood, and was born c.1796. His register of death from 1847 simply states that he came from Ireland. He may have been the first to go to America, paving the way for others. His history, as given by Aunt Sarah, suggests a possible trail-blazer, a patriarch of the family, but he ended up in Pittsburgh and died comparatively young, five years before CTR was born. Aunt Sarah tells us that James married Sarah Ann Risk. We learn elsewhere in the document that the Risk family were Episcopalians in Faun, Ireland (which is most likely Fahan in County Donegal), and father George Risk (married to a Sarah) was an excise officer. We also note from the history of Alexander (below), who married Sarah Ann’s sister, Margaret, that James and Sarah were already a married couple in America in Elmwood Hill, New York, by 1832.

James’ history gives us a question for future research. Quoting directly from Aunt Sarah: “James was educated at Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland, conducted his Collegiate and Commerical Institute at Elmwood Hill, Bloomingdale, N.Y. now included in Central Park near West 103^rd Street.”

The question? How did a poor Protestant boy (we assume) get his education at Trinity College, Dublin? The registers of intake at Trinity College are online, and a careful check reveals a number of Russells, but no Thomas. Of course, absense of evidence is not automatically evidence of absense, but it would be nice to track down his movements further if that is ever going to be possible.

By 1832 James is married to Sarah and they are living in Elmwood Hill, New York. Aunt Sarah records that “James and Sarah having no children ‘adopted’ Thomas Russell, son of (his brother) Alexander.” This Thomas Russell was born in 1833.

At some point James and Sarah moved from New York to Pittsburgh. There is a James Russell in the 1840 Pittsburgh census, but no guarantee it is the right one. However, Pittsburgh became a settled home for them because in 1846 he bought one of the first grave plots to go on the market in the new Allegheny Cemetery. Two of his brothers, Charles and Joseph, were living in the same area, and all of them were eventually buried in the family plot. Dying as early as he did, and having no children, James was to be forgotten by later generations.

For the history of this cemetery and the Russell plot see:

https://jeromehistory.blogspot.com/2019/09/the-russells-and-allegheny-cemetery.html

 

William

The second child was William. All we learn from Aunt Sarah is that he had no children. This suggests that he may have been married, but we have no further information. He is not mentioned as a beneficiary in the Charles Tays Russell will of 1872 so had probably died by then.

 

Charles

All Aunt Sarah tells us about the third child (who we know as Charles Tays Russell) is that he never married. It would appear that the New York branch of the family (Alexander et al) and the Pittsburgh branch never kept in close touch, at least after James died. Nonetheless, Sarah Ann (aka Aunt Sarah) was named in Charles’ last will and testament.

However, we know quite a bit about Charles Tays because he merited an obituary in the Pittsburgh newspapers when he died and left a reasonable trail for much of his life. Obituaries are always a little suspect because the one person who can verify their accuracy is not there to do so, but this is how his life was reviewed in his obituary from the Pittsburgh Post for December 27, 1875.

The key facts are that he came to New York and took lessons in business from A.T. Stewart in 1822 or 1823. The newspaper appears to read 1822, but most sources have Alexander Turney Stewart opening his first dry goods store in New York in 1823. Charles Tays then started his own business in Pittsburgh in 1831, eventually switched to brokerage and insurance in 1867. To this we can add that he joined the Third Presbyterian Church in Pittsburgh in 1834, was in business with Joseph Lytle Russell for a while, and left a swathe of bequests when he died, which helps us establish a family tree. For further details and to also read his last will and testament in full, see:

https://jeromehistory.blogspot.com/2019/02/the-other-charles-t-russell.html

 

Joseph

Line drawing of Joseph Lytle Russell by AG and BK based on an original photograph

Joseph is our main interest in this generation of the family of course. Aunt Sarah only gave him a sentence or two: “Joseph lived in Pittsburgh, Pa. By his first wife had a son Charles who became famous as a leader of the Russellite sect. By his second wife, Miss Ackley, had a daughter, Mabel.”

This suggests that Aunt Sarah probably never met Joseph or his son Charles. It also indicates that by 1900 when she gave her account that the perjorative “Russellite” was in common use.

Joseph’s history, coming to America at the very latest by 1843, joining the Third Presbyterian Church in 1845, as had his brother Charles Tays and sister Ellen before him, then becoming a US citizen in 1848 and marrying Ann Eliza Birney in 1849, is all documented here:

https://jeromehistory.blogspot.com/2020/04/2-pittsburgh-presbyterians.html

 

Thomas

All we know about Thomas from Aunt Sarah is that he loved poetry and engaged in sheep raising. He is not mentioned in Charles Tays’ last will and testament, which strongly suggests he had died before 1872.

 

George

All we have from Aunt Sarah is a name and no other details.

 

Alexander

Aunt Sarah was Alexander’s daughter, so her account of his life and family is the most comprehensive. We reproduce her comments in full.

“Alexander came to the U.S. as a young man and married Margaret Risk, who was visiting her sister Sarah Ann Russell, wife of James, at Elmwood Hill; they were married June 21^st 1832 by Rev. Mr. Alburtis at Bloomingdale, N.Y. They lived in a cottage near Elmwood Hill where their son Thomas Grier was born in 1833; they then moved to Patterson, N.J., and lived there seven years where they kept a grocery store. The following childten were born in Patterson; Sarah Ann in 1834, George in 1836, who died in 1843, and Francis Grier in 1839. The family then moved back to New York, living at first at Elmwood Hill, Bloomingdale, where Cornelia Stewart, named for Mrs A.T. Stewart, was born in 1840. Alexander Russell after his return to New York became a contractor in painting houses and churches. The family moved to 26^th Street, near Sixth Avenue and lived in the house of lawyer Holt, a batchelor who boarded with them; they later move (sic) to Broadway very near St. James Hotel; they attended the Dutch Reformed Church on Fifth Ave and Twenty-First Street where Alexander Russell was an elder for fourteen years.

Another son, George Alexander, was born in New York in 1845, he died in 1848. Margaret Risk Russell died May 30, 1853, aged 45 years.”

As yet we have not traced a record of his death, but he appears to have died some time between 1872 and 1878. He is mentioned in the Charles Tays will written in 1872, but by 1878 the bequest is being divided between his surviving children.

Here is Alexander’s photograph. His full name was Alexander Grier Russell.

Ellen

Aunt Sarah’s summary of Ellen’s life reads: “Ellen was governess in the family of Rev. Dr. Riddle of Pittsburgh, Pa.; she moved with them to New Jersey and died in New York City, in Alex’r’s house.” It noted that Ellen never married.

From the mid-1830s through to the 1850s a Rev Dr Riddle was very active with the Third Presbyterian Church in Pittsburgh, but then later moved to New Jersey. An obituary for David H Riddle (1803-1888) in the Public Weekly Opinion (Chambersburg, Pennsylvania) for 20 July 1888, stated: “Dr Riddle was pastor of the Third Presbyterian church of Pittsburgh for more than twenty years, and afterwards of the Presbyterian church in Jersey City.”

We have already noted that Charles Tays Russell joined the Third Presbyterian Church in Pittsburgh in 1834, the year it was founded. The same registers show that a Miss Ellen Russell joined this church on November 17, 1937, by certificate. This means she came from another church with a letter of recommendation. There is a pencilled note in the register that she died in 1860.

 

Mary Jane

Mary Jane Russell was obviously not Aunt Sarah’s favorite person. Her summary of Mary Jane’s life states: “(her) “hobby” was cats; she kept house for her brother Alexander after his wife’s death; later she lived alone in Pittsburgh and died there. She was peculiar and very strict; she though much of pedigree, etc.”

Alexander’s wife died in 1853. As noted above, Alexander himself died sometime in the mid-1870s. A trust fund was set up for Mary Jane’s support from the estate of Charles Tays Russell, but it ran short and in 1886 there was a need for a family decision to dip into the capital. At this point Joseph Lytle Russell in Pittsburgh took responsibility for managing her affairs, but almost immediately thereafter Mary Jane died. She was buried in the family plot in the Allegheny cemetery, but no grave marker was provided.

For further documentation see the link below:

https://jeromehistory.blogspot.com/2019/03/mary-jane-russell.html

 

Fanny

All Aunt Sarah can tell us is that Fanny married a Mr Harper.

Fanny never left Ireland. When she died in 1867, her death certificate gave her age as 55, so her approximate year of birth would be 1812. Her husband, Alexander Harper, was a farmer and they were then living at Castlefinn, Co. Donegal. Alexander was illiterate and had to sign he was present at the death by making his mark.

Charles Tays’ will in 1872 noted that Fanny had already died and made bequests to six surviving children. It also noted where the six were in 1872, to the best of Charles Tays’ knowledge. Four had gone to America and two remained in Co. Donegal.

See again:

https://jeromehistory.blogspot.com/search?q=the+other+charles

 

In 1891, CTR, our main subject, visited Ireland for the first time. However, there is no indication that he met any extended family members, assuming he even knew who they were by this time.

The Finished Mystery

The March 1, 1918, Watch Tower was a special printing of The Finished Mystery, with a number of illustrations that remind one of the later Golden Age magazine. In the pictures that follow, note the special message printed (over-printed?) on the front cover of the magazine, to get the contents into the hands of those at the front.

George Swetnam

George Swetnam (1904-1999) was a writer who led a full and eventful life. His obituary in the Pittsburgh Post Gazette (April 7, 1999) outlined how he was an author of a dozen books, mainly on history, and was also a Presbyterian clergyman. He had been a newspaper editor, a member of various historical societies, and for two years of his life, a hobo. His obituary states “he claimed to have ridden more freight trains than any other Ph.D alive.” He is probably best remembered today for co-authoring A Guidebook to Historic Western Pennsylvania.

He is of interest here because he wrote about Charles Taze Russell from time to time.

In 1958 he wrote Where Else but Pittsburgh, and part of one chapter has six pages on CTR. It is written in popularist style, and while one can easily nitpick some of the erroneous details, it could be called a tribute and a sympathetic portrait.

Swetnam became a columnist and feature writer for the Pittsburgh Press. At least two of his pieces featured CTR. The first in the Pittsburgh Press Sunday magazine for October 6, 1963, was about the demolition of the old Bible House as part of the North Side redevelopment scheme.

The second was an article, again in the Sunday magazine section of the Pittsburgh Press for January 25, 1967. This was about the Watch Tower Society’s burial site with a pyramid monument in the center.

Swetnam listed the names found on the pyramid, but was obviously struggling. The weathering of the stone and the way the light hit the monument could make decipherment difficult. He listed eight names, CTR himself and then seven others.

There were actually nine names inscribed. He missed out the name John Perry, and some of the names he recorded had glitches. Grace Mound was actually Grace Mundy, who died in a fire in 1914. Chester Elledge could only be a drastic misreading of John Coolidge, which is strange because his grave marker is the only one (other than CTR’s) to still survive today of those named. Swetnam said that the oldest who died was Miss Cole, aged 78. Flora Cole actually died aged 70, but it IS hard to decipher the lettering. But she wasn’t “Miss” she was “Mrs” – her son James Cole was the inventor of the Dawn-Mobile featured in a Watchtower article for February 15, 2012.

The other thing this article did was to remind the public that there was a treasure trove of old publications buried inside the pyramid. They appear to have survived until 1993 when the pyramid was finally broken into and the contents stolen.

Not by any reader here I would hope.

Further attacks on the pyramid and the ravages of time eventually made it unsafe, and it was finally taken down in 2021.

German Bible Students in World War 1

With grateful thanks to Bernhard who provided the graphics and nearly all the original information for this article on the situation faced by Bible Students in Germany during the First World War.

There are a number of articles and at least one book that deal with how Bible Students coped with conscription during World War 1. Prior to the war, their magazine had given this advice on joining the military. From The Watch Tower for August 1, 1898 (reprints page 2345) CTR wrote:

"If, therefore, we were drafted, and if the government refused to accept our conscientious scruples against warfare (as they have heretofore done with "Friends," called Quakers), we should request to be assigned to the hospital service or to the Commissary department or to some other non-combatant place of usefulness; and such requests would no doubt be granted. If not, and we ever got into battle, we might help to terrify the enemy, but need not shoot anybody."

How could you avoid shooting anyone? Perhaps you could do this by shooting over their heads? In The Watch Tower for July 15, 1915 (reprints page 5728) CTR expanded on this:
"In Volume Six of SCRIPTURE STUDIES, the friends are instructed to avoid taking life. If they were ever drafted into the army they should go. If they could be sent to the Quartermaster's Department to take care of the food, that would be desirable, or into the hospital work. They should endeavor to get such positions. They could not be expected to do service in the way of killing. If they were obliged to go on the firing line, they could shoot over the enemy's head, if they wished."

The problem for Bible Students dealing with this well-intentioned advice would only come to the forefront if and when conscription was introduced. So it came to the fore in Britain in 1916 and in America in 1917 when the draft was introduced. In Germany however, universal conscription was there from the start of the war.

There was a German Watch Tower magazine that gave some details of the situation and also gave the names of many of those involved. The two images below are from the issues for July and August 1915.

This explains that more than 200 brothers were now in the military and lists many of their names. They are on land, on sea, some in garrisons, some in hospitals. One of them was Max Freschel who we will come back to later.

The numbers increased as the months went by. From the November 1915 German Watch Tower:

Translated it reads:

From our brothers on the field (i.e. the battlefield)

“It is of interest to all brothers and sisters to know that there are currently about 350 of our brothers in the military. As a result of close correspondence with many of the loved ones, we receive many evidences of joyful faith and trust and patient perseverance in many difficulties. Some brothers wrote us that they feel strong knowing that so much is being thought of in prayer.”

The article then details the deaths in “the theater of war” of two Bible Students, Fritz Kownatzki from Zollernhöhe, East Prussia, and Johannes Finger from Barmen.  Fritz was 23 and Johannes was 33.

The article concludes: “Both brothers had written to us with expressions of love until shortly before their deaths, from which we could see that these dear ones sought to walk with Jesus ......”

Little is known about how individual Bible Students coped with being in the military while striving to adhere to their principles. One experience though is found in the German Watch Tower for June 1915.

In a letter August Kraftzig wrote: “I'm not directly at the front, but in the baggage (stores?) and consequently by God's grace not directly involved in the war.”

Years later in 1938 August became Branch overseer in Austria. He died in the Mauthausen concentration camp in 1940.

As noted above, one name in the lists of Bible Student conscripts was Max Freschel. Freschel was an Austrian of Jewish parentage. (The area is now part of Poland but was then Austria). At the outbreak of war his parents were in Switzerland while he was in the German Bethel. Max chose to stay in Germany, but this meant that, with universal conscription, he was called up for the German army.

In 1915 he wrote to CTR at least twice. We don’t know what he wrote but there is a letter in the German Watch Tower for October 1915 from Fred Leon Scheerer from Brooklyn. Friedrich Leonhardt Scheerer was a German Bible Student responsible for the German foreign work and he translated Max’s letters so that CTR could read them.

Max Freschel moved to America in 1926 and lived for the rest of his life in Brooklyn Bethel. He changed his name to Maxwell Friend. He would become heavily involved in radio dramas for the Society’s Station WBBR, and was one of the first instructors at Gilead School. When dramas were introduced to convention programs from the late 1960s onwards, many readers may remember his voice playing various patriarchs.

His life story appeared in The Watchtower in April 15, 1967, and is well worth reading. However, he does not cover the war years. All he basically says is that when everything was revived after the war in 1919, he was too.

Tom Hart and Jonathan Ling

Two of the stalwarts in the early history of Bible Students in Britain were Tom Hart and Jonathan Ling. Both were based in London and both worked for the railroads.

Both names are mentioned in the 1973 Yearbook history of Britain, and a photograph captioned with Hart’s name is in the 2000 Yearbook history. Using this material along with a reference from Tony Byatt’s book on the history of Bible Students/Witnesses in London, the following two paragraphs were put together in the book Separate Identity volume 2.

The combined information reads:

(quote) Thomas A Hart was born in Calcutta, India, in 1853. At the time of the 1881 Census he had moved his family from the Islington address to 5 Lavinia Grove, Middlesex, London. He was “a carman” for one of the railroads. In another place he called “a railroad shunter.” He and his wife had three children, two sons and one daughter, all under the age of four.

Jonathan Ling was born in Blaxhall, Suffolk, early in 1858. The 1891 census has him as a railway guard at Islington, an occupation he still had in 1901. He was married Elizabeth, maiden name unknown, and they have seven children, ranging in ages from one month to 17 years old. He died June 20, 1922. We lack an exact date for Ling’s conversion, but it appears to be early. Ling’s daughter Ruth remembered that their meetings were held in the common room of the King’s Cross hostel, a layover spot for railway workers. (end of quote)

As a result of contacts via Ancestry, I was eventually able to make contact with one of Ling’s great grand-daughters, Elizabeth. Although the census return referred to above gave Jonathan Ling seven children, it appears he eventually had ten. His wife, Elizabeth, was originally Elizabeth Moody and lived to be 100. The modern Elizabeth’s branch of the family did not remain with the Bible Students.

Great grand daughter Elizabeth (from the line through Jonathan’s son, Lewis Charles Ling) kindly supplied the two photographs below, and gave permission for them to be reproduced.

This leaves one question. The picture of Tom Hart in the 2000 Yearbook (and elsewhere) looks very much like Jonathan Ling. Putting the younger Tom next to the older Jonathan, this is the result.

The reader may come to a different conclusion. Perhaps Tom and Jonathan looked quite alike. Or maybe an old file with both their names on it contained a photograph that somewhere back in history has been miscaptioned.

The Great Divide

A particularly distressing time in Watch Tower history was after Charles Taze Russell died and Joseph Franklyn Rutherford was elected as president of the Watch Tower Society. It resulted in splits in ecclesias and even families at times, as people had to decide whether to stay with the Watch Tower Society in the path it now trod, or stay with a view of the ministry of CTR that had now come to an end by his death. As detailed in all histories, some chose to cease association with the Watch Tower Society or International Bible Students Association (IBSA), from 1917 onward.

One can imagine the divided loyalties some individuals faced.  Did they hope for reconciliation between the Society and those who left it? No doubt. And no doubt some who left, later returned to the IBSA fold as is documented in the St Paul/New Era Enterprise newspaper.

An immediate problem facing those who left association with the IBSA was that people just couldn’t agree what to do. Fragmentation in various ways continued quite quickly.

The original split came from supporters of the four directors who were replaced in summer of 1917.  This resulted in a group called The Pastoral Bible Institute (PBI).

As well as gradual adjustments in theology, the Watch Tower Society was soon promoting vigorous evangelism for all. In the mind of one loyal Watch Tower Society adherent, John Adam Bohnet, this was a key difference in the mindset of the two groups. He gave his opinion on the differences in the New Era newspaper for August 21, 1921. His letter was headed “God Blessing the Society” which sort of nailed his colors to the wall:

But the Pastoral Bible Institute was to provide no united alternative to the Watch Tower Society.

Almost immediately after the PBI was formed in 1917-18, Paul Johnson’s group (later called the Layman’s Home Missionary Movement) broke away to emphasize his self-view, which others refused to accept. When he as his movement’s special “messenger” died, his group soon fragmented further. Then going back to 1918 the Standfast Movement also broke away from the IBSA. They set up communes, but then fragmented as these failed, leading to other groups like the Elijah Voice Society. As early as around 1920 the PBI began questioning the date 1914 for the end of the Gentile Times and started promoting a date in the 1930s. This led to further splits. There was a group called the Eagle Society that is mentioned in passing in the St Paul/New Era Enterprise. Then there was The Watchers of the Morning that later split from the PBI. When in 1929 an attempt was made to bring all seceding groups up to that time together at a Pittsburgh “reunion” convention, the introduction to their report mentioned yet other groups that then existed.

So did a “reunion convention” reunite them? The short answer was no. All that happened was that yet another group appeared as a result - the Dawn. They wanted to proselytize, whereas the PBI were not keen - hence attempt to unite the Dawn and PBI foundered. At one point there were two rival groups hiring space in the old Bible House Chapel in Allegheny in the late 1930s, and for good measure, they also welcomed a Universalist Concordant Bible Society speaker (who was himself a former IBSA adherent). So Concordant was yet another group that seceding Bible Students gravitated towards. Throw into the mix all those who had sided with Henninges, McPhail and others from the 1909 “new covenant” controversy, who were still very much around, and it is even more a tale of division. And as soon as any group tried to question or update CTR’s theology and chronology there would be yet more splits.  And that is just America!

When J F Rutherford presented a resolution for a new name “Jehovah’s Witnesses” in 1931 one of the reasons explained in the full resolution was to clearly show the difference between those supporting the Watch Tower Society and the groups who had chosen elsewhere who continued to split and split.

Obviously individuals could do whatever they chose. No doubt some shopped around, and as noted above, no doubt some ultimately returned to the Watchtower Society which, unlike its rivals, would prosper and grow.

A picture within a picture

Here is a photograph of C T Russell in his study at the Pittsburgh Bible House c. 1906. Notice the picture on the wall in the top left hand corner of this photograph.

If you look very closely, below is the photograph under discussion. It is a picture taken of the workers at the Bible House. I originally had two copies, one marked 1899 and the other 1902. Both came from a relative of W E Van Amburgh. As to which is the correct year, a lot would depend on when the Henninges were in America, between visits to Britain, then Germany, and finally Australia.

Bernhard researched the picture and provided the following information which clearly establishes the correct year as 1902 (or very shortly thereafter):

You see on the group photo brother William Van Amburgh and left brother George Garman. Both became members of the Bible House family in autumn 1900. So the photo couldn’t be taken before 1900.

Ernest and Rosa (Rose) Henninges were in England from April 1900 till November 1901 and than he came back to Pittsburgh. They stayed there till June 1903; than they went to Germany. So the photo couldn’t be taken before November 1901.

Otto Koetitz and his wife Jennie succeeded Henninges in November 1903 in Germany. Otto was a coworker in Bethel from 1896 followed by his wife in 1900.

Albert Williamson became a member of the Bible House staff in 1899. Harriet Stark (who married him in 1905) and her mother Britee C. Stark began to work in the Bethel in 1900.

Laura Whitehouse lived also there since 1900.

Johannes Gotthold Kuehn came also in 1900 to the Bible House as a part-time worker. His wife Ottilie Friederike and son Alfred followed in 1902.

So this brings us to the date of 1902, maybe early 1903.

Subsequent to this article being written originally, Bernhard incorporated this material into his book on the Bible House.

CTR in color

With grateful thanks to Brian K.

The Hemery archive

 A couple of years ago I received a notification that my inbox was so full it would shortly not accept new mail unless I went through it all and deleted stuff. I did a reverse order shuffle to find emails from way back that never got deleted at the time. One that has now prompted this post was an email from a reliable source in India (!) from 2005, about a mouth watering cache of material that had apparently been recently sold on eBay.

The story as told to me was as follows:

Apparently the library of Jesse Hemery appeared on the market only a few months back. If I have the story correctly it was bought as part of a job lot of second hand clothes etc by a lady who deals in that sort of thing. It  seems Jesse Hemery's trunk was full of most interesting items including and original Three Worlds, about 115 letters from Russell, mostly handwritten, 50 or 60 from Rutherford and a few from Knorr, various photos and numerous other books including Horae Apocalypticae etc. Had a lot of interest, and it finally went for 34,000 GBP. There cannot be many who would pay that kind of money. Do you have any ideas? Apparently included were the following:

178 letters from Pastor C T Russell mostly written in hand from about 1900 to 1916 . Some are typed, paper very aged in some, some splitting where badly opened. Some deal with Bible Students Conventions in London, Glasgow, The new London Tabernacle, The London Opera House Photo Drama show, Travel to London by steam ship. Most are of practical rather than theological content.

74 letters from J F Rutherford, mainly typed and signed from a variety of locations. In NY, California, etc. Most again are practical. Bible Student Conventions at Alexander Palace, Royal Albert Hall, travel arrangements. Radio broadcasts from London. BBC monopoly etc.

12 letters from NH Knorr typed but signed - general admin at Craven Terrace post War.

200 Miscellaneous  copies of the Outlook for the London Company,  Judge Rutherford and ‘Empire news’, His Majesties Aliens Dept letter re deportation of American A Schroeder, letters from various UK Bible Students groups non WT Society enclosures. Letters from European Offices of Society 1920 – 1950. Letters from Scottish brethren Minna and John Edgar.

Maybe 60 Photos - various of Russell at conventions around UK?  With Hemery, similar with Rutherford. Photos of Craven Terrace inside and Elders.

Books, Booklets various Old Theology, Golden Age, Towers, Convention reports – random selection about 90 items, paperback Plan of the Ages – cream cover (signed as gift by Russell).

Audio Angelophone Hymn record – broken/cracked

Non Society material - Books by various authors: Elliot (Horae Apocalypticae), Barton (God’s Covenants), Barbour (Washed in his blood.), Henry Drummond (Dialogues on Prophecy), Morton Edgar (Prayer and the Bible, etc

Hemery books! – Revelation Unfolded, The Second coming of Jesus Christ - 1950’s. He seems to have left the Society by this time.

 (end of list)

The big question is where did it all go? Has any of it surfaced on the internet in the collecting world since then? Or has someone got this all lined up as part of their pension fund?

Extra family notes

Jesse Hemery (1864-1963), former vice-president of the IBSA, left association with the Watchtower Society around 1950. His wife, Mary, died when they were both in association back in 1937. They had one daughter Bertha who lived in London Bethel as a young person. She married Frederick William Crane. They had one son, Jack Hemery Crane, who died at El Alamein.