Fretting

I've written and rewritten my introduction. I threw everything out and wrote this instead. Rough Draft follows:

My Turn: Rachael’s Comments

 

Bringing this volume to print isn’t exactly like giving birth, but there are similarities. Original research has its own set of pains, agonies, and irritations. And it has its joys.

 

****

 

            We knew error and fabrication colored how this story has most often been told. We did not appreciate the extent to which this is true. We expected a reasonable amount of competence among those who have tackled Watch Tower history, and we found some authors reliable. Most are not. Even among the most reliable, we found a tendency to turn presumption into “fact.”

            Many of those who preceded us were polemicists. This is true of some who presented themselves as credentialed historians or sociologists, and it is especially true of most clergy who’ve written on the subject. It amazes me that these writers are taken seriously merely because they were published.

            We do not fault anyone for having a point of view. We have our own, and privately we debate issues ranging from our personal theologies to interpretation of historical evidence. However, a point of view should not lead one to turn presumption into ‘fact.” It should not lead one to fabricate.

            The works of some are characterized by logic flaws. An anonymous writer substitutes capital letters for reason, presuming that capitalizing random words proves a point. This reflects a seriously defective education on his part and on the part of those gullible enough to find this convincing. He also withholds from his readers documentation. If the antiquated psychological descriptor “anal retentive” has any validity, it applies here.

We reject this approach. We tell you what our sources are, and though that results in copious footnotes, it leaves no doubt about the trail we followed. Occasionally we tell you where to find rare or otherwise hard to find sources. Don’t ignore the footnotes. We adopted the dictum “the story is in the details,” probing and poking at original sources, following hunches and hints where ever they led.

After reading rough drafts of some of our chapters, another writer suggested that this book is destined to be the classic presentation of Watch Tower history. I appreciated the kind comment, but we see this work as preliminary, as the first step in research that should have been undertaken decades ago. We look for more and better research from others more competent than ourselves or who are willing to follow trails we could not. Where we reached “dead ends,” others may find a trail to follow.

A major flaw in previous research is willingness to parrot unfounded assertions of others. If you take up the themes we’ve opened in this volume, ask this critical question of each writer you consult: “How do you know that?” Check their sources; probe for detail.

The story we tell here is, as Mr. Schulz observed in his introductory essay, different from what we presumed it would be. We presumed a “unity of belief” among Russell and his associates that did not exist. In volume two we will detail the divisions and separations and early controversies that resulted in ecclesiastical unity, a separate religion. Our premise as it finally developed is that a group exploration of Bible teaching resulted in a settled doctrine developed out of debate, difference and controversy. The doctrinal set finally settled on created a new religious unity. It peeled off dissenters who went their own ways.

In this volume we examine the historical and theological roots of Zion’s Watch Tower. That the story is more complex and often different than usually presented should surprise no one. One largely accurate history presents this entire period in six paragraphs. We presume the author told us everything he knew or thought important. The fault isn’t in what he wrote. It is in what he omitted.

Theologically I’m a skeptical believer. I approach historical research in the same way, which means I question everything including commonly believed “facts.” Many of those proved absolutely true. Some proved false. As you explore this first volume, you will encounter the familiar and the new.

The men and women in this story, long dead though they are, produced an emotional response. I came to like some of them. Some of them are remarkably distasteful, mean spirited and delusional. No historian writes an impartial history. But we have written to the full measure of our ability an accurate one. Despite our best efforts, we have probably made some errors of fact. We hope not, but given the depth and complexity of this research – and the newness of some of it – it seems inevitable that we got something wrong. It won’t hurt my feelings if someone points out the flaw, but I expect proof, not mere opinion. I expect critics to be as competent as we are, and I hold them to the same standards of historical research we manifest here.

A number of people have taken an interest in our research, assisting in various ways. We cannot name them all, and some wish to remain anonymous.

            Institutions that were especially helpful included the Methodist archive at Wofford College through Dr. R. Philip Stone; the State University of New York at Plattsburg; Franklin County Ohio through archivist Sandy Eckhart; the Archives of the Episcopal Church at Austin, Texas, through archivist Laura Kata; Ohio State Historical Society through Elizabeth Plummer; Almont District Library though its librarian, Kay Hurd; Junita College through librarian Janice Hartman. I’ve probably left out others equally helpful. I apologize to those I’ve omitted.

            Some institutions were distinctly un-helpful, even hostile. We’re still waiting on replies to emails and letters sent to some several years ago. The Library of Congress was hostile and unhelpful. The National Archives of the United States of America sent us key documents connected to one of Russell’s early associates. They refused to help when we requested other documentation that may hold the Department of Justice in a bad light, even though the material is about a hundred years old. The archivist at Boston University refused to provide photocopies of key material based on her reading of the papers. One of the friends of this research traveled there and made the copies in person.

            Though the Watch Tower Society declined access to a key document, they forwarded nine pages of photocopy, four of which we did not have. They are, of course, not responsible for our research or our conclusions. Given the opportunity to review volume one, they made no comment. They did not sponsor this work.

            Some individuals were exceptionally helpful. This would be a significantly diminished work without their help. Some names that should appear in this list do not because of privacy concerns.

            ** and his wife took time from a business trip to photocopy archival material at an archive that was reluctant to help. This provided key documentation.

            ** provided photocopies of rare material.

            An individual we’ll leave unnamed visited the New York Public Library to view and copy documents we would otherwise not have seen.

            ** of the Netherlands provided significant research assistance, forwarding his “finds” on a regular basis. Key documentation came from his efforts.

            ** of the United Kingdom gave us access to much of the material we used to develop our profile of George Storrs. He helped us analyze a mass of One Faith material and he obtained in our behalf rare magazines and pamphlets. He carefully read our manuscript, challenging some statements and adding to our understanding of some issues. Our greatest debt is to ** and **.

            Dr. ** sent copies of key early booklets. This book would not be as accurate without access to them.

            William Buvinger allowed access to the Buvinger family archives and provided the relevant photos used in this book. Members of the Barbour, von Zech, Wendell, and J. A. Brown families forwarded important material, including wills, family papers and photos.

            Jan Stilson, editor and author of Biographical Encyclopedia, Chronicling the History of the Church of God Abrahamic Faith, 19th & 20th Centuries, shared her research with us and read a key section of this book. She helped us access material from the archives of Atlanta Bible College.

            ** of Italy transcribed the articles found in Appendix 2. He said nice things about us in the two books he edited, and he provided moral support that I found valuable.

            ** and ** helped us overcome copyright issues connected with two photographs. Additionally, we found ** research very helpful.

            ** of Austria provided key help with some of Russell’s earliest associates.

            I’m certain we’ve left off many who helped in various ways. To those not found in this list, I apologize. To those who wish to be anonymous but who helped in various ways, my thanks.

 

Rachael de Vienne

 If you should be on this list and don't see yourself here, email me. I didn't intentionally leave anyone off except those who should remain anonymous.

 

 

 

Essay

            Writing solid, well-researched history is a challenge. Success depends on persistence and serendipity. A narrow view of events will kill what may have been, given more attention to detail, an adequate history. Let me illustrate: Jehovah’s Witnesses: Proclamers of God’s Kingdom mentions Benjamin Wallace Keith once, saying: “Then, in 1864, Benjamin Wilson had published his Emphatic Diaglott with the interlinear reading “presence,” not “coming,” for pa·rou·si′a, and B. W. Keith, an associate of Barbour, had drawn it to the attention of Barbour and his associates.”

Keith was a contributor first to Herald of the Morning and then to Zion’s Watch Tower. He was one of their most prominent evangelists. But this is all the author chose to tell us, and it appears that this is all that he knew. When we wrote Nelson Barbour: The Millennium’s Forgotten Prophet we included Keith’s basic biography. We have enlarged it and new details will appear in A Separate Identity. Among the most basic facts is Keith’s statement that he entered the Barbourite movement in 1867. He gave the date only, no details.

Persistence and a willingness to see beyond Russell’s biography brought us solid details that help us reclaim Keith’s history and something of his personality. The latest detail is a single sentence article in a Philadelphia newspaper. It cited a New York newspapers report of a tent meeting held at Rochester, New York, in August 1867. While this only makes it to a footnote it adds detail we didn’t have. Can we place Keith at that tent meeting? No. But it was near Dansville, Keith’s residence. So while we cannot say with surety that Keith was converted at that tent meeting, we can present the likelihood.

Keith’s life was filled with accident and tragedy. He was a committed believer. He was a talented writer, but, unlike Sunderlin, he wasn’t educated for the ministry. He was a widely-read autodidact.

In another post, Rachael discusses myth busting. Detail trumps myth. The claim that various of Russell’s early associates were Millerites is the product of an imagination unrestrained by good judgment. Paton, Keith and most of the others were too young to have been Millerites. So what were they prior to their interest in Barbour’s speculations? We tell you. And to the extent we know, we tell you what attracted them to Barbour’s doctrines. We cannot penetrate the psyche of people long dead, leaving us dependent on what remains of their writing.

Another example of detail clarifying and enlarging the story is found in Russell’s association with the Plymouth Congregational Church. We’ve found fabricated details in an online encyclopedia, in dissertations, and in print. Zydeck made up details he couldn’t otherwise find. But with very little effort we found the name of the church, the names of the two pastors Russell knew, and its address. We found samples of the first pastor’s teaching. Knowing that Russell heard millennialist preaching as a young man furthers the story.

Not everything comes to us with ease. Some details resisted persistent and informed research. Uncovering Emeline Barbour’s basic biography came from a find by one of our blog readers. They sent us a link to a webpage. We contacted a librarian who in turn sent us a scan of a newspaper article. We exhausted all the New York papers we could search. We have what we have because of that assistance. It is detail we’ve probed for since 2005. Knowing what little of her biography we do places her in her proper light.

Unresolved is speculation that Barbour was previously married to a woman who died about 1870. The evidence is slight, almost non-existent. We do not mention our suspicion in Separate Identity. But we continue to look.

Recovering the biographies of the principal actors reconnects them to contemporary events. We see these details as key to a clear understanding of events and personalities. Those details that help us the most are those that explain an individual’s self-view. So there is Paton’s dream that he took for a vision; there’s Barbour’s fluffy cloud revelation, and there’s Russell’s plainly-stated self-view.

Such is historical research …

 

Now, if only people will read the book.

Update to the Updates

Mr. Schulz asked me to post an update. Except for the last chapter, the ebook version is formatted. We printed it out. We’ll make some changes, though not many.

Volume One of A Separate Identity has eight chapters. Before you read the main text, read the two introductory essays. Mr. Schulz’ is more important than mine, and you will find it first. Chapter one considers Russell’s family, his youth, religious experiences before meeting Wendell, and his business ventures. Obviously we don’t tell the usual story or this chapter would be a paragraph or two long. We name names. We detail events usually overlooked.

Chapter two considers his interactions with Wendell, Stetson and others. We take you into the lives of the Adventist and Age to Come evangelists we know he met. You will find characters you knew nothing about. We tell you what kind of men they were, what they taught and what they wrote. This chapter covers the years 1869-1873.

Chapter three continues this discussion. We focus on Storrs and others that appeared in the years 1874-1876. If you read the Wikipedia articles on Russell and Storrs, you will find that they are wrong. This isn’t surprising given the research standards adopted by those who’ve contributed to those articles.

Chapters two and three takes one into the complex world of One Faith belief as contrasted with Adventism. You will find that Russell’s doctrinal set is One Faith, not Adventist. We continue that theme in chapter four.

Chapter four details the formation and growth of the original Allegheny Bible Study Group. We tell you to the extent we know it who participated. We tell you what they read and discussed. We uncover their doctrinal development. We tell you that the group was not unified. We tell you the story usually told about this group is a myth, and we show you why that is so.

Chapter five discusses Russell’s entry into the Barbourite movement. We provide significant biographies of the principals with photos. You will see John Paton in a new light. This chapter introduces our readers to Benjamin Wallace Keith, Samuel Howe Withington, Ira Allen and his daughter Lizzie, and Avis Hamlin. Some of these are important to the story told in volume one; some come to prominence in volume two.

Chapter six tells the story of Barbour, Russell, and Paton’s early ministry. We tell this from Barbour and Russell’s own words and from newspaper articles that haven’t seen the light of day in 150 years. Payton G. Bowman makes a brief appearance. We address some persistent mythology in this chapter.

Chapter seven profiles their principal converts. These include Caleb Davies and wife, William I Mann (we can’t find his photo), Charles and Emma Buvinger, Joshua Tavender, John Corbin Sunderlin, A. P. Adams, and Emeline Bigelow-Jobes who became Mrs. Barbour. Some of these names will be familiar to our readers and some not. They’re all important to this history, though most of them come to prominence in volume two. We present their biographies frankly and in some detail. We tell about Sunderlin’s opium addition, Adam’s intimidating manner, Tavender’s generosity, Mann’s reputation among his contemporary. This story is told from original letters, papers from the Methodist Archives, newspaper articles, and from the Watch Tower and Herald of the Morning.

Chapter eight examines the collapse of their expectations for 1878 and the aftermath as it played out in the Atonement controversy. This takes us up to the first issue of Zion's Watch Tower. We tell you who H. B. Rice really was. We dissect the claims made by all the parties, putting some things in the trash bin and introducing events new to most of our readers.

A short article follows. It tells our readers what to expect in volume two. An appendix considers Russell’s relationship to the Masons. Another reproduces the Atonement articles from the Herald of the Morning.

 

We don't have a firm release date yet ... but soon.

 

Original research entails significant expense. Several have helped, but there is always something else to buy and our funds are very limited. Clothing and putting shoes on the feet of my five daughters comes first.

We have a limited time opportunity to purchase part sets of two key 19^th Century magazines. We’re focusing on the older of these, a magazine published in the 1830s that stands in the background of the One Faith movement. If we return to the earlier years (I’d like to), and write the history of Watch Tower antecedents, we will need this. The problem is lack of money. We anticipate that the entire collection (both magazines; one with three bound volumes and the other with five) will cost about two hundred and fifty dollars. We don’t have that. I doubt we can raise the total amount.

So, now you know. If you want to donate (any amount is welcome) you may do so through the donation button on the invitation only blog or contact me at rmdevienne at yahoo dot com and I’ll tell you how.

We need ...

We need a clear, readable scan of pages 46-47 of the October 1881 Herald of the Morning. We needed it yesterday ....

In May 1881 Barbour issued a revised edition of Three Worlds. A few hundred paperback copies were printed. We've never seen this and we really need to see one. Anyone?

Obituaries and H B Rice again

by “Jerome”

Obituaries are a good source of information, although when it comes to accuracy they can leave a lot to be desired. The events involving the subject are often a long time in the past, and memory can let people down or cause them to even embroider the story; much as funeral orations tends to (in the words of a popular song) “accentuate the positive, and eliminate the negative...”

So we have the obituary of Joseph L Russell, which states he came to America “about 1845.” The word of hesitation – “about” – has since been turned into a more definite statement in some writings, and also in the commentary of a history DVD. However, Joseph’s naturalisation papers, completed in 1848 show that he needed to have been in the United States for at least five years prior to signing the document.

Then there is also some detail in the obituary of Hugh Brown Rice, the main subject of this article.

Rice died in 1905, and his obituary in the Los Angeles Herald for November 3, 1905, highlighted that he was a religious man, but concentrated on his business success as a travel agent for Steamship Lines. His pallbearers were all business associates, not religious associates. There is no mention of his passing in the Restitution, a paper that once carried letter after letter from him. Anyone can check the full obituary on the Find a Grave site.

But there was another obituary published in the Obituary Record of Graduates of Amherst College, for the Academical Year Ending June 27, 1906, Amherst, Massachusetts, 1906, page 158.

This adds some more detail, and it is here that the memory of surviving relatives lets the side down. It states: “During the last twenty-five years of his life he regularly taught a large and enthusiastic Bible class in Los Angeles. He was a frequent contributor to religious publications, and for several years published a small monthly paper called The Last Trump.”

Let’s do the math here. He regularly taught a large and enthusiastic Bible class in Los Angeles for twenty-five years? That would take us back to around 1880, the time he had a brief association with CTR and Nelson Barbour. Was his Bible class large and enthusiastic and continuous? In the latter part of the 1880s many letters from Rice were published in the Restitution newspaper. They showed Rice struggling to makes ends meet as an unsuccessful farmer, and storekeeper, and bemoaning his isolation from those of like faith. They repeatedly ask for financial help so he can go preaching. On one documented occasion he leaves his family in near penury, goes preaching far away and runs out of money and has great difficulty getting home. For more details of Rice’s continuing tales of woe, see an earlier article on this blog from July 1, 2012, H B RICE - AN IMPECUNIOUS MAN.  There is also a typical letter from the period reproduced at the end of this article, which stresses both his isolation and lack of funds.

The Amherst obituary also mentions his paper The Last Trump running for several years. This would appear to be a “folk memory” on the part of his family. It ran for about three issues and then folded prior to the start of Zion’s Watch Tower. When a dramatic reversal occurred in Rice’s fortunes at the very end of the 80s, he disappears completely from the pages of extant One Faith/Age to Come publications.  For Rice to have published for several years would have meant his re-starting it when he finally got on his feet financially in the 1890s. While the old adage holds true that absence of evidence is not necessarily evidence of absence, it would seem extremely doubtful.

Once Rice finally gets his finances in order, his dreams of an active ministry disappear into the relief of actually making a reasonable living for a growing family. The Los Angeles Herald obituary mentions a N W J Straub, whose Bible class he attended, but Straub is not to be found in the Restitution.

Perhaps the main thing the Amherst obituary does for us is draw two diverse pictures together. On one hand we have the financial failure – the struggling letter writer regularly pleading year after year for financial help – and on the other we have the prosperous businessman with his own travel agency. The two are so disparate, you could be forgiven for wondering if these were two different men – both coincidentally named Hugh B Rice. At least the Amherst obituary shows this was the same man – even if the details have been blurred and distorted in the telling.

Basically, Rice’s obituary highlights the major flaw in all obituaries – the one person who could verify the information is unfortunately not there to do so.

Below is a typical letter from H B Rice, as published in The Restitution for November 7, 1888, page 4.

DELANO, Cal.

Dear Restitution:

Although far away from any church organization and having none of that “fellowship of kindred minds” which Christians so much need and which I so much covet, I must write to express my deep interest in the movement now being towards organization of our forces. Co-operation is certainly Scriptural and wise and needful in our work. How I would rejoice could I be present in Philadelphia at the General Conference. May God direct you all in your planning and may the much needed union of effort be well begun and enthusiastically carried out.

Since it has pleased God by the “foolishness of preaching” (not foolish preaching), to save those who believe, we canst preach if we save any. Now I am too much burdened by the cares of a large and helpless family, and poverty, brought on by sundry mistakes in business enterprise and consequent indebtedness, to hope to be able to give my whole time to this glorious work soon. Some who have heard me preach in years past urge that I ought to give my attention to that work. Surely I am not a Jonah! I would rather preach the gospel than any other work. Hardships and privations for myself I mind not at all. But when my honest debts state me in the face, and a wife and five children appeal to me for bread and clothing, how can I go forth among strangers, most of whom are not in the least interested in such things, with no brethren able to aid me, no organized or systematic methods among them to sustain me while my time and labor is given to gospel work?

I do preach, not often in public, for I have no opportunity for that, but by the wayside, on the path, on the road, in private houses, to individuals, to all who will listen anywhere and everywhere. I lend books and tracts, and can see some fruit of my labor. But after various wanderings in search of a home for my family, I am at least located here on a government claim, a homestead of 160 acres, two miles from Delano. One year has rapidly passed away. I have a plain but comfortable house of four rooms, and a fence enclosing less than an acre about the house, a few grape vines and a dozen fruit trees growing misely, a two-horse wagon, a two-horse buggy, a gang plow and seeder, eight or nine tons of hay, and four work animals.

It is too dry to slow saw. We have had no rain except a light shower not sufficient to lay the dust well, since the forepart of last March! Last season was too dry to raise a crop except on irrigated land. But water is only twelve to fourteen feet from the surface on my land, and windmills would enable me to put in and raise an orchard and vineyard and a few acres of alfalfa; if I could only get them. Two or three cheap mills would be needed for ten or fifteen acres. The soil and climate are exceedingly favorable if we only had water. Rabbit-proof fencing is also a necessity. But here I am, unable to get work, without means to make these needed improvements; among strangers, no brethren anywhere near me, and, at present, no work of any kind by which I can earn a dollar. As soon as it rains I can get all the plowing I can do at good prices, but that does not supply present needs. Well, perhaps I ought not to say so much of my present condition, but it just occurred to me it might serve as an example of how some who long to preach cannot.

No one is more ready and anxious to help himself than I am, and in fact, when one reflects that a year ago I had nearly nothing and had to borrow from an old San Francisco acquaintance the money to file on my land, I feel great gratitude to our Heavenly Father for the success attained. Educated and trained for the ministry in the Presbyterian Church, having seven or eight years of practical experience as a preacher, in that church first, and then in the Christian Church or among the Disciples, having been pastor of a church for two years at Rock Island, Illinois, and then in San Francisco, California, and preached in many other places acceptably while knowing only a meagre part of the truth as it is in Jesus, I feel certain that I could do good heralding forth the “glad tidings of great joy which shall be to all people” were it in my power. It is my purpose, if the Lord tarries so long, to give my whole time to preaching as soon as I can get my farm into a condition that will enable my family to support themselves thereon. I am trying to teach my children (for I cannot send them to school at present) and am not neglecting the word of the Lord. This work may be more important now than any other, but of course when I get work to do I must be busy at that and may be compelled to be away from home, when such teaching will be interrupted.

In the meantime were the Lord to open any door for me to engage in my chosen work, I would try to do that rather. I have threatened several times to write to THE RESTITUTION and announce myself ready to fill calls in California to preach if any were interested and would pay my expenses to reach the place and return home. But I have been so isolated and so busy I have hesitated. This letter is written on the impulse of the moment, in view of the notices I have read concerning the General Conference and its aims. The thought came, unless the brethren know of my condition and feelings they certainly can never help me to devise ways and means to do gospel work, and perhaps, if they knew, some might be able and willing to join hands with me and so the good news be sounded out in California.

Your brother in Christ

H.B.RICE

Now's the time ...

Any material you have relevant to the era from Grew to July 1879 that you wish to share should be sent now. Attach it to an email and send it to rmdevienne [at] yahoo [dot] com.

We're formatting the ARC now. (Advanced reading copy). Its in ebook format first. An afterward and the last three or four pages of the last chapter remain to be written. Last chapter of volume one will need a good edit.

I'm typing up my introductory essay today. I'm compiling a list of people to thank. I have very bad memory, so if you helped at all and think you should be mentioned, refresh my memory. Do that soon.

Two Newly Found Newspaper Articles

This one was a poke in Barbour's eye and explains some things Barbour wrote in this period:

 

This one is S. O. Blunden's death notice. Notice that he had a non-Bible Student funeral.



cover

progress ...

There will be roughly 350-370 pages in volume one. It will contain about 100 photos, either of individuals or of original documents. While it will have a table of contents (of course), we’ll wait on an index until volume two is complete. There are eight chapters and two appendices. Appendix one considers Russell and the Masons. Appendix two reproduces the pertinent Atonement articles. 

Each of us has written an introductory essay. We’re still tinkering with those. There will be an afterward, telling some of what is to come in volume two.

The ebook version is being formatted first.  

We’re getting there … be patient.

A volunteer

 

We need a volunteer who can merge the several chapters into one document. We need the formatting of each chapter, including the footnote numbering to stay as is. We don’t want changes to the font, the alignment, the footnote format or anything else in the text. We just want the separate documents merged.

We need this in two formats. The first is as is with one inch margins. This will be the ebook format. The second is print as book format with variable margins. Word has a template. It must be set to lulu.com’s standard. 

This is a huge chore. I thought I could do this using wordperfect, but the images are distorted by wp. Wordperfect has the advantage of a footnote continued message. 

Can you help?

Problem solved. So we don't need a volunteer after all.

From Bruciolis and Roberto

A personal post

by "Jerome"

Blogs are funny things, and there is no accounting for what appeals to readers out there.

I am very pleased to have been granted an outlet for writing on Society history on this blog for nearly four years now – plus more on the restricted blog - although I corresponded with Bruce for some time before that, and contributed to other forums in the past.

This post is really a personal one, but also raises a question that puzzles me. In the scheme of things, there is a list for blog administrators of the most accessed posts of all time. It lists the top nine (why nine and not ten I have no idea). Six of mine have made it, which is very gratifying, although that is probably because I generally write articles rather than requests for information. The latter are staple fare for this blog, and will be far more useful for the overall project, but by their very nature, tend to date quickly.

In the given list, first by a long way is a post from Bruce entitled Millennial Dawn from 22 April 2008. This was a very early post that discussed the amount of assistance Maria may or may not have given CTR in writing Millennial Dawn: The Plan of the Ages. No doubt this material has been incorporated into later re-writes, and will see the proper light of day in Volume 2 of the project.

Then two of my articles come second and third. For several years, the second highest was Guest Post - Review of Charles Taze Russell – His Life and Times – The Man, The Millennium and The Message. This was published on 18 February 2010.

This was my very first post on this blog, sent originally to Bruce and posted by him. I had read Zydek’s book, found him to be very readable and very sympathetic to CTR, but – alas - with many details incorrect. One only wishes the author had checked with a few more “historians” before going to press – it would have been quite easy to rectify the more obvious errors, based on hearsay statements and “folk tales” rather than primary sources. It was a shame, because the overall ambience of the book was fine by me. However, on reading subsequent comments, it appears my friendly criticism did not go down too well with all readers. Readers today can still access this article if they wade back through the blog to 18 February 2010 or just punch the relevant search terms into Google or similar.

But in recent months, another article has been gaining on this in overall readership, and this week forged ahead to second place. This was an article entitled The Emphatic Diaglott and the Watch Tower Society and first published on 20 November 2011.  The article was later expanded as a result of further research, and the more recent version can be found on 23 July 2013.

If this post encourages anyone to read back, the more recent version will give a fuller picture.

But I do find it hard to understand how this article became so widely read – and is still being read. Is there some link from a site other than Society-related?

At the time, I viewed it as a “fringe” article – when I was at a loose end research-wise, and could find nothing more direct to write about. It was prompted by the discovery of who really was the anonymous donor of the Diaglott plates to the WT Society – an acquisition that no doubt annoyed the Church of God/One Faith movement no end at the time. However, anybody who reads through the transcription of the 1907 hearing between CTR and Maria would discover that information. I have come to the conclusion that while many people have copies of historical documents, far fewer take the time to actually read them. I am sure there is much key information out there already in our collections just waiting for someone to actually read the bits that matter today.

So, on a personal level I guess it is keep reading, searching and keep writing, and hopefully we will all soon have the promised volume one from Bruce and Rachael to add to our essential reading list.

 

Can you help?

This notice appeared in the June 1879 Herald of the Morning:

 

Can we document this meeting from newspaper reports?

A familiar name

 

 

When the Talkies Came to Hucknall – Philip Torkard

Republished by permission of the author ....

A night out at the cinema is still considered a treat today, but in 1915, when film making was in its infancy it would be the highlight of everyone's week - if you could afford it! This particular evening, as the audience began to settle in their seats there was an air of expectation. For the past week there had been an advertising campaign with posters, leaflets and a promotion in the Dispatch for what they were about to see.

As the lights began to dim and a hush descended on all those seated, the unmis­takable sound of the projector beginning to turn and a flickering picture appeared on the screen: a white-haired man in a frock coat appears, and, without a note in hand, he begins to speak; there were no auto cues back then. This is no ordinary silent movie. It is something special, both technically and in the message it conveys. Who is this man? He is Charles Taze Russell. What is the production? It is the Photo-Drama of Creation.

The audience did not know it but history was in the making and they were about to witness it! Everyone was used to watching silent films at the local picture houses, such as the “Scala” picture house on Annesley Road or the ”Empire” on Vine Terrace. And, no doubt, were not surprised to see a sign asking Ladies to remove their hats so as not to block the view of others!

So what made the Photo-Drama of Crea­tion a special and historic presentation? Pictorial slides and motion pictures were synchronized with phonograph records of talks and music. There had been various experiments with colour and sound movies, but years would pass before they would be commercially successful. Not until 1922 did an all-colour, feature-length motion picture make an appearance. And film audiences in general had to wait until 1927 to hear both dialogue and music combined in the commercial movie, yet the Photo-Drama of Creation was not without the colour, the spoken word and the music. It was years ahead of its time, and millions saw it free of charge!

 

 

 

An immense amount of work and effort had gone into its production. Over 2 miles of film was used. Choice musical recordings as well as 96 phonograph-record talks were prepared for the Photo-Drama. Stereopti­con slides were made of fine art pictures illustrating world history. It was also neces­sary to make hundreds of new paintings and sketches. Some of the colour slides and films were painstakingly hand painted. And this was done repeatedly, for before the age of quick means of copying was available much work by hand was required in producing 20 four-part sets. This made it possible to show a portion of the Photo-Drama in 80 differ­ent cities on any given day!

One of the astounding features was the use of time lapse photography, where viewers could watch as lilies opened in just a few seconds before their eyes. The presentation of the "Photo-Drama of Creation' had been produced by the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania under the direction of Charles Taze Russell, the found­er of the Bible Student movement. The film presented Russell's beliefs about God's plan from the creation of the earth through to the fulfillment of the Bible prayer, “Thy Kingdom Come.”

The Photo-Drama was mammoth in scale, lasting over 8 hours and designed to be watched in four 2 hour sessions over consec­utive days, what we might consider to be a mini docu-drama series.

Production began in 1912, and the presen­tation was introduced to audiences in the United States in 1914. It is estimated that the cost of production then was around $300,000 (now $ 6,922,000) By the end of its first year of release around eight million people in North America had seen it. In Britain, within 6 months of it first being shown, over 1.25 million people in 98 towns and cities had also seen the presen­tation. At showings in London there were overflow crowds at the Opera House and at the Royal Albert Hall, plus many more saw it across Europe, Australia and New Zea­land; no mean feat in a world being torn apart by the Great War.

What of the man that had pioneered its production? “Pastor” Charles Russell was no stranger to people back in 1914. He had become well known as a bible preach­er challenging religious beliefs of his day and saying almost 40 years in advance that 1914, would be a marked year in hu­man history. When World War I broke out in 1914, “The World,” then a leading news‑paper in New York City, stated in its maga­zine section: “The terrific war outbreak in Europe has fulfilled an extraordinary proph­ecy. ... ‘Look out for 1914! ’ has been the cry of the hundreds of travelling evange­lists, who, representing this strange creed [associated with Russell], have gone up and down the country enunciating the doc­trine that ‘the Kingdom of God is at hand.’”—“The World Magazine,” August 30, 1914.

(“Pastor” Russell sermons had also appeared in over 4000 newspapers around the world, including the Hucknall Dispatch. He was also known locally as the preacher who had corresponded with Aaron Riley, the first headmaster of Butler’s Hill school (see Aaron Riley, A Voice in the Wilderness, HT-Times December 2012).

The Dispatch of January 28 1915 had an article explaining in part the reason for the production. It stated: ‘The entertainment is part of a world-wide campaign to arouse an apathetic race to things religious. The instruction is non-sectarian. The endless story begins with the cosmic nebulae of pre-solar eras and dwells upon the salient events of biblical history from the Garden of Eden to Paradise restored. The progress of ancient and modern civilization down to this year of grace A.D 1915 is traced, and by the light of prophecy the glories ofg the future are pictured.

A lecture is given with each exhibition by a wonderful talking machine accurately geared to accompany the progress of the story on the screen. The apparatus sings and talks with such aptness to the varying scenes and figures that one might fancy it a human lecturer of unusual vocal gifts.

The teaching which the Photo-drama is designed to disseminate is that the Bible account of creation as well as its other records are not contradicted by modern science, but that in fact science proves the truth of the book’.

Like many of the other presentations around the world some may have come just out of curiosity, others because it was free, but doubtless many were impressed with what they witnessed, but whether it had the desired affect to awaken spiritual inter­est the record does not say.

It is quite probable that the turbulent times in which they lived soon eclipsed the mem­ory of that event as they came to know of the horrors of the western front and later for the world to be struck with the even worse devastation of the “Spanish Influen­za” which quickly followed on the heels of the Great War.

However, some who heard the message that Russell brought by means of the PhotoDrama of Creation may have been given the hope of a brighter future.

Regardless of the effect that the drama may have had, those who had the privilege of seeing the Photo-Drama of Creation witnessed the dawn of a new age in mass entertainment, one which we today take for granted!

 

Sources:

Hucknall Dispatch January 28^th 1915

http://wol.jw.org/en/wol/d/r 1 /lp-e/2001042?q =photo+drama http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Photo-Drama_of_Creation http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pastor_Russell

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a7cF0nw5S-g http://www.youtube.com/user/photodramaofcreation http://pastorrussell.blogspot.co.uk/2010/06/ 1914a-significant-year-in-bible.html

Emeline Barbour

This is what we have. Can you help us improve it:

Emeline Bigelow-Jobes

            Emeline Bigelow was born in September 1831 somewhere in New York. We know nothing about her early life. She married Samuel Jobes sometime in 1860 or 1861, probably in Monroe County, New York. Jobes was the son of Samuel Jobes and Aurellia Hastings. Emeline and Samuel moved to New London, Ohio, shortly after their marriage. There are two Samuel Jobes listed as privates in Ohio regiments. We can connect neither of them to Emeline, but it is likely that Emeline’s husband saw Civil War service. Her first husband died, according to a family genealogy, sometime before 1870. We cannot confirm a death date. We find Emeline living in Honeoye Falls, New York, in 1877. A newspaper report (dated October 1877) of her second marriage suggests that the move had been recent.

            In Honeoye Falls, she lived with or near her brother-in-law, Daniel Y. Jobes. She met and married Nelson Barbour. The New London, Ohio, Record reported that the marriage took place September 27, 1877 at the home of her brother in law, Daniel Y. Jobes, in Honeoye Falls, New York. The services were performed by a Rev. Mr. Eddy. While we do not know his first name, we know that Eddy was a Methodist Episcopal clergyman.

Update: We now know her parents' names. Rev. Eddy is Charles M. Eddy.

Emeline B. Jobes

We need biography for Emeline (sometimes spelled Emiline) B. Jobes who lived in Huron County, Ohio in the 1870s. Jobes is her married name. We do not know her maiden name, though we desire to know it. 

Emeline married N. H. Barbour in September 1877. Can you help?

Pittsburgh Press, June 8, 1905

 

 

We need as much biographical information as we can get on Mary Turner and her husband.

Can you help?

Thanks!

Several helped with the touch-up to the roller skate ad. Here is one of the cleaned up versions:

One of our constant (but shy) helpers found this:

Click the image to view.

And just to tatalize you, he also sent something that no-one knows about at all. If they do, they're keeping mum. I'm not posting it yet because I want to find an original. And experience shows that if we mention something here originals get bought up before we can raise the money. Now ... aren't you curious?

Bad boys at Charter Internet

My internet is not working right. Charter Internet is mostly broken at the moment. I'm trying to upload chapter two for one of our regular readers. You'll have to wait. Charter's upload speed this weekend is right at 0.

From one of our most faithful and talented helpers ...

A long-time blog reader feeds us a steady stream of research. Sometimes we already have what he sends, but often we don’t. He sends even the most minor details. Sometimes it’s a newspaper paragraph only a sentence or two long. Details matter. They can be story altering. He recently sent two newspaper articles about Payton Bowman, one of the key figures in Russell’s early ministry. We had copies of Bowman’s records found in a Methodist archive. The two short mentions of Bowman that Ton sent opened up new detail. We re-wrote the section on Bowman. Here is his essay.

The frustration and fun of research, by a fiend of the blog

In these Internet days doing research is made easier. Many data are made digitally available, like newspapers, genealogical data, photos and many many more. Google has digitized many books, and made them available on the net. Original Watchtower publications are scanned and made available by collectors.

OCR is the family of programs that is used to read phographed pages. If OCR was not used, you would have to read all those newspaper pages. But OCR is not perfect, though it gets better all the time.

Like the advertisement for skates by Russell’s uncle. It is not hard to find, but you have to use multiple searches like Birney & Co, Birney and Co, Burney and co, Thomas Birney, Birny, Th Birney, T Birney. That's the way to avoid all mistakes made by OCR.

Human indexing, like on the website Familysearch.com is also possible, but not perfect too.

The answer to the question: Who married first: Charles and Maria or Joseph and Emma? would have been answered a long time ago, if not the name "JL Russel" (sic) as it appeared in the census had been indexed as "Russel JL Russel."

Also the research can be hindered by multiple people having the same name. In Russells days there was also a Charles T Russell of Connecticut in Liverpool as an envy extraordinary. And a stemer of the same name. The magazine Zion's Say Star by A.D.Jones changed its name to Day Star. And ooooops in those days a horse with that name appears in the papers hundreds of times. Is there a reference to the Day Star we are looking for? The horse was more successful the the magazine......

So if you try to help the owners of this blog (what I encourage), be aware of the numerous possibilities of mistyping and other stumble-bocks.

If you have a bit of feeling for doing research you may be able to find many things for a blog like this. And if what you find is helpful it is real fun.

Of course it can be frustrating. No marriage of Joseph and Emma is on the net yet. Many historical websites want to be paid (which can pay itself out when they deliver a lot of the searched for material. Google stopped its newspaper collection, and it is not avilable any more (if someone knows how, please let me know).

But many are free. See

http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov ,

http://cdnc.ucr.edu/cgi-bin/cdnc?a=p&p=home ,

http://fultonhistory.com/Fulton.html ,

http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/search?adv=y ,

https://sites.google.com/site/onlinenewspapersite

for many free (and paid) historical newspaper sites

Please if you have a little time, do some research. I am sure Rachael and Bruce are willing to make a new entry next to this one where they will mention the items and persons they would like to know more about. Nothing more fun than a book in which you find that footnote to your discovery (without your name of course) which you can show your family and friends, telling them "I found this. Good, eh".

Needs and progress

We are maybe two weeks away from finishing the rough draft of chapter 8, the last chapter of volume one of the new book. It will need proof reading and revision. We have an afterward to write, and I haven’t written my introduction. Bruce is revising his.      We’re now looking ahead to volume two. It’s about half finished. We will need access to several items for it to represent “best research.” We have located a number of issues of Jones’ Day Star. The microfilm cost is over three hundred dollars. We don’t have that. Because they’re the last issues, we are not certain of relevance. If any of you live in the Washington, D.C., we could use your help. We need someone to turn the pages of the bound volume looking for relevant items.  

This is a poor solution. Most of you won’t really know what’s relevant unless it has Russell or Paton’s name on it. But many other things are relevant. Best solution would be for us to buy the microfilm and read it through ourselves. This is simply not possible.

We have a continuing need for letters by or to Russell no matter how irrelevant they may seem.

One of our blog readers asked for a list of what we need. I think the most pressing things right now are opposition booklets from 1910 and before. Most of these are on the “icky” side, but some contain relevant comments. Email me first. If we have something, it would waste your time to scan and send it.

H. B. Rice’s Last Trump is important. We know of no copies. If you can locate one let me know.

We have copies of a few of J. H. Paton’s letters. They’re not very relevant. One comes from a major university. I’d tell you which, but I honestly can’t remember at the moment. Harvard, I think. We found it in an archive of someone else’s papers. All it tells us is that he wrote to that individual. It’s two short sentences long. But it’s important to us to know that he exchanged letters with someone. It fills in missing bits of the picture.

Mr. Schulz has written a letter re-requesting permission to publish two photos. This is a follow up to an email that went unanswered. If you have photos that you think may be helpful and want to share them (with permission to publish if we want), send them as an email attachment.

Another important issue is Watch Tower readers’ expectations for 1881. This was part of a larger speculation about that year driven by a widely believed but fake Mother Shipton prophecy and by something in one of Smyth’s pyramid books. We will need newspaper articles about prophetic expectations for that year, including comments on the great yellow day.

Watch Tower teaching entered several countries in the period before 1887. The Year Book histories are often wrong when they present “earliest date” information. We need someone to carefully read through the early issues of Zion’s Watch Tower for references to lands other than the United States, United Kingdom, and Canada. References up to 1900 are relevant. We also need references to early-days congregations, preferably that consider the years before 1900.

Thanks to Ton! Super illustration. We'll use it in the book ...

But I need help removing the red highlight from Thomas Birney's name ... [click on the image to view.]

 

 

Those of you who don't have access to the private blog might not know what this is about. Here is an extract (with footnotes) from chapter one:

 

 

Russell pursued business interests up to his death. Some of them were successful and some not. Sometimes the failures were spectacular. But for all the considerable record left by these ventures, no fraud exists. The worst that one can find is apparently evasive testimony during the Russell divorce trial, and even that is open to debate. More telling are Russell’s comments that go to motive. While Russell sought to “do good” with money, he found the opportunities limited: “Those who have money … will not find very much opportunity so far as the world is concerned. Even if we had millions of dollars the spirit of a sound mind should govern us in its expenditure. To give money to encourage anybody in wastefulness, slothfulness and idleness would be to misuse it, and not to do good.” He found by observation, or maybe experience, that wealthy people “cannot do even for [their] own families all that [they] would wish to do.” It is unclear if he meant his own relations or was speaking generally, though he concludes with “we could never do sufficient for them.” Many were made newly poor in the post Civil War depression. Knowing how to handle requests for money from family or friends was difficult. “Before we became Christians at all, we may have been under-balanced, or over balanced,” he wrote. “We may not have known how to deal properly with our families or our friends. Out of kindness and sympathy we may have been inclined to give them money, or to yield to their wishes in a way that was injurious to them; or we may have been too severe and unyielding.”[1] He may have been thinking of his Uncle Thomas Birney’s bankruptcy. Birney & Co., Thomas’s wholesale hardware store, was closed by the sheriff in January 1886 “on executions aggregating $25,000.” Some sources give an unpaid indebtedness of ninety-five thousand dollars.[2]  Whatever happened over his uncle’s bankruptcy, Russell was charitable, usually in quiet ways. During his 1907 court appearance questioning from the opposition attorney elicited this.[3] 

---

[1]               C. T. Russell: The Importance of Attaining Balance of Mind, The Watch Tower, March 1, 1914, page 77.

[2]               Birney had unwisely furnished roller skates to skating rinks on credit. Skating was a fad, and he saw dollar signs. Payment was not forth-coming and he could not maintain his business. Russell would not have had enough money to save the Birney business. We don’t even know if his uncle sought assistance. See Pith of the News, New York Herald-Tribune, January 7, 1886; Bankrupt by Roller Rinks, Pennsylvania Patriot, January 7, 1886.

[3]               Russell v. Russell Transcript of Record (1907), page 24: R: I usually gave my money away. Atty: You never gave it away, Mr. Russell, until after your wife left you? R: Yes, sir, lots of it.



Our thanks to those who helped

The collection of pamphlets mentioned below arrived in today’s mail. I’m very please, and I can see that these are indeed important to our research.  Some of the titles in this collection are:

Elements of Prophetical Interpretation. By the Rev. J. W. Brooks.

The Destinies of the British Empire, and the Duties of British Christians at the present Crisis. By William Thorp. From the Second London Edition.

Essays on the Advent and Kingdom of Christ, and the Events connected therewith. By the Rev. J. W. Brooks. Part II.

The Nature of the First Resurrection, and the Character and Privileges of those that shall Partake of it. A Sermon, with an Appendix, containing extracts from the Works of Bishop Newton, Mr. Mede, and other Writers. By a Spiritual Watchman. From the Fourth London Edition, with Corrections and Additions.

A Practical Guide to the Prophecies, with Reference to their Interpretation and Fulfilment, and to Personal Edification. By the Rev. Edward Bickersteth, Rector of Watton, Herts. From the Sixth London Edition, enlarged.

A Guide to the Study of Chronological Prophecy. Selected and abridged from a larger treatise by the same author, entitled “A Dissertation on the Prophetic Scriptures,” &c., &c. By M. Habershon.

A Cry from the Desert.

Thoughts on the Coming and Kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ. By John Cox, Minister of the Gospel, Woolwich. From the Second London Edition, Enlarged. Same imprint, 1842.

Essays on the Coming Kingdom of God. By Philo-Basilicus. 1842.  

Books and tracts such as these formed the backbone of Russell’s prophetic beliefs. It is, as we’ve noted elsewhere, a fallacy to connect Russell’s theology to Adventism. It derived from the Literalist belief represented in these books and pamphlets.

We are waiting on a second shipment of booklets, but I expect them to be of similar significance.

CTR in India