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.