Jonas Wendell in Allegheny and Pittsburgh

Jonas Wendell in August 1868

Photograph restored by Bernhard and reproduced with permission.

     Most readers will be familiar with the name Jonas Wendell. CTR recounted how his interaction with him helped re-establish his faith in the Bible.

     Wendell was an evangelist for the Advent Christian Church and aspects of his history have been covered before on this blog, particularly in

https://truthhistory.blogspot.com/2026/01/the-trials-of-jonas.html

     Jonas’ evangelising work in Pittsburgh was spread over several years. CTR was a young man, still a teenager by today’s nomenclature, when he started on his religious journey after contact with Wendell.

     It was written up by CTR on at least two occasions.

     First, in the supplement issued with the first issue of Zion’s Watch Tower sent TO THE READERS OF THE HERALD OF THE MORNING and dated June 1879:

“I have been a Bible student since I first had my attention called to the second coming of our Lord, by Jonas Wendell, a Second Advent Preacher, about 1869, who was then preaching the burning of the world as being due in 1873. But though he first awakened my interest on the subject, I was not a convert, either to the time he suggested nor to the events he predicted.”

     Years later, he expanded on this in the booklet A Conspiracy Exposed and Harvest Siftings (1894), page 95 (Special edition of Zion’s Watch Tower for 25 April 1894):

“Among other theories, I stumbled upon Adventism. Seemingly by accident, one evening I dropped into a dusty, dingy hall, where I had heard religious services were held, to see if the handful who met there had anything more sensible to offer than the creeds of the great churches.

There, for the first time, I heard something of the views of Second Adventists from the preacher, Mr. Jonas Wendell, long since deceased. Though his Scripture exposition was not entirely clear, and though it was very far from what we now rejoice in, it was sufficient, under God, to re-establish my wavering faith in the divine inspiration of the Bible, and to   show that the records of the apostles and prophets are indissolubly linked. What I heard sent me to my Bible to study with more zeal and care than ever before.”

     So CTR believed that it was “seemingly by accident” that, about 1869, he dropped into a meeting that Jonas was conducting.

     While we don’t know exactly when this happened, there were lots of opportunities for this to happen starting in 1869, and several of these received some publicity. And there would be others in Pittsburgh and Allegheny who would make a conscious choice to visit due to the level of promotion Jonas and others achieved.

     Let’s examine what we know about Jonas’ activities in Pittsburgh.

     The first known mention of Jonas in Pittsburgh in available records is a speaking assignment on Friday, 1 January 1869. Below is from The World’s Crisis for 23 December 1868.

     Events moved quickly. Six weeks later, Jonas was writing to The World’s Crisis with the results of his preaching campaign. The letter was dated 10 February, although not published by the paper until 17 March 1869. Starting with just six interested persons, there were now over thirty in attendance, and regular meetings were to be started.

     The full letter gives an example of one of Jonas’ main strategies. He challenged a local minister to a debate on conditional immortality. The Methodist minister accepted but then backed out.

     The regular meetings were advertised in the Pittsburgh Weekly Gazette for a number of weeks, and after a couple of one-off locations, settled down on Sunday, 14 February at Quincy Hall.  This was the former Soldiers’ League Room and Library, on Leacock Street, just around the corner from Federal Street in Allegheny. It was hired out to various groups, both religious and political, and became a “go-to” venue for groups without their own dedicated meeting place. The ACC was still using this venue for meetings over ten years later.

     In the example reproduced below from the Gazette for 20 March 1869, the meetings were not just on Sunday, but also on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday evenings.

     These notices ran from January through to the end of March. Subjects Wendell covered included:

The certainty of Christ’s coming
The necessity of Christ’s coming
The time of Christ’s coming
New Birth
Rich Man and Lazarus
The Eighth of Daniel
Prophecy
The Church waiting
Evidence of Discipleship
The Christian Hope True Worship of God

Our near proximity to the end

The Eighth of Daniel and our near proximity to the end

 

     Most advertisements ended with a short slogan. These included “Seats free and no collection” – a phrase used to very good effect by CTR himself in time to come – and “An opportunity for asking questions on the subjects will be allowed.” The latter would no doubt be a huge selling point for anyone with an enquiring mind like CTR’s.

     Although Wendell moved his ministry elsewhere after the end of March, the effects remained. The Pittsburgh Weekly Gazette for 12 May 1869 carried a letter from someone who claimed to be a minister and who hid behind the pseudonym ANIMA. The issue was conditional immortality.

     The letter is reproduced below.

A local man, John A Best, immediately fired back in the Gazette for 13 May.

     Best’s address identifies him from trade directories as a Pittsburgh grocer. His challenge involving money was a familiar one, and as far as conditionalists were concerned, without risk. There was no apparent follow-up dialog in the newspaper.

     Jonas was back in Pittsburgh in 1870.

     A series of advertised meetings at Quincy Hall is found in the Pittsburgh Weekly Gazette and The Pittsburgh Commercial, all featuring Jonas. They start in March and run through to the end of May 1870, although there may have been missed weeks when he was back home in Edinboro. The first advertisement gives some details of his message for 1870. From the Pittsburgh Weekly Gazette for 12 February 1870:  

     It may be noted that there were to be three meetings on the Sunday, and then they would continue “during the week.”

     A similar notice appeared in The Pittsburgh Commercial of the same date.

     Some days later in the Gazette, Jonas laid down his usual challenge to debate the subject of conditional immortality. Someone writing on his behalf provided the invitation. From the Pittsburgh Weekly Gazette for 23 February 1870:

 

     There was a delay of about two weeks, and then someone took Jonas up on his challenge. From the Pittsburgh Weekly Gazette for 8 March 1870:

     Bacon was the pastor of the Pittsburgh Universalist Church. Jonas shot back immediately. From the Pittsburgh Weekly Gazette for 9 March 1870:

 

     The local man, John Best, sent a notice to The World’s Crisis for the larger ACC fellowship who might travel into Allegheny to hear the debate. From the Crisis for 9 March 1870

     It was typical of the time that the discussion was to “continue for one week, or longer if thought best.”

     It is a shame that no record seems to exist of how this 1870 debate went. These types of meetings were widely advertised and served as a means of attracting a diverse audience to the ACC message. At some point, these would include George Darby Clowes, a Methodist preacher who would eventually become the group’s “under-shepherd” (and whose obituary was in Zion’s Watch Tower for March 1889) and William and Sarah Conley, who were called “Brother and Sister” in the fellowship as early as 1871 (see The World’s Crisis for 3 January 1872). Conley would later become the first President of Zion’s Watch Tower Society.

     Jonas continued preaching through April and May 1870, and his regular notices in The Pittsburgh Commercial carried the homily: “Come and we will try and do you good.” An advertisement in the Pittsburgh Gazette for 30 April 1870 noted that, as well as Elder Wendell, “Elder Himes of Michigan would ‘preach the Word’” at Quincy Hall on 1 May. We assume this was either Joshua V Himes, then editor of the Advent Christian Times, or his son, William L Himes.

     Jonas then appears to have been elsewhere after May, but the Quincy Hall meetings continued. There is an advertisement for services now conducted by John T Ongley in the Crisis for 7 December 1870, related to preaching in January 1871.

     In March 1871, the group temporarily moved from Quincy Hall to a new location, and the same John T Ongley sent out an invitation to Jonas Wendell to visit. From the Advent Christian Times for 28 March 1871:

     Wendell obviously responded at some point, because the Pittsburgh Weekly Gazette has him back in April, and also later in the year, in November, and on both occasions back in Quincy Hall. According to the Gazette for 4 November 1871, Quincy Hall was “their church,” and the meetings started on the Sunday would continue into the evening during the week.

     At the end of 1871 Wendell moved on, to be replaced in Pittsburgh by George Stetson. CTR was to speak highly of Stetson and was ultimately asked to conduct his funeral in 1879. The changeover can be seen in several issues of the Pittsburgh Weekly Gazette and its Quincy Hall advertisements in late 1871.

     The last reference to mention Wendell on his own at Quincy Hall was the Gazette for 4 November 1871. Then the next week, he and Stetson shared the platform.

     Then, in the paper for 9 December 1871, it is just Dr Stetson.

     This links up with a letter Stetson wrote, as published in the Advent Christian Times for 27 August 1872, where he said it was “now ten months since I was called and came to Pittsburg, Pa. to labor.”

     Wendell wrote up these events himself in a letter to The World’s Crisis for 27 December 1871 (letter dated 6 December):

     Wendell and Stetson were close friends and had often worked together. They both shared Edinboro as a home base at times.

     Wendell’s letter commented on issues the Pittsburgh group faced, and stated his intention to be back with them in early 1872. It also commented on George Clowes being invited to serve as under-shepherd.

     A year later, in November 1872, Clowes’ position was firmed up when he was ordained to the ministry of the Advent Christian Church. Wendell came back to Pittsburgh to participate in the event. The Advent Christian Times Editorial Gleanings for 17 December 1872 noted that:

“Br. G.D. Clowes was ordained to the work of the ministry by Elders Wendell and E. McCullock last month. Bro. Clowes is a man that is highly esteemed, and respected, and has been a local preacher in the M.E. church, for a number of years. We think he will be an efficient labourer in the cause of truth.”

    The previous week (Advent Christian Times for 4 December 1872) noted that this was at the invitation of George Stetson.

     Clowes would continue to conduct Advent Christian Church meetings at least until the end of 1879, by which time CTR’s separate ministry and Zion’s Watch Tower magazine was active. Although Clowes was not cited by CTR as a special influence, and ZWT never mentioned his meetings, he did get a short obituary in Zion’s Watch Tower. In the issue for March 1889, CTR responded to a letter from his father, J L Russell:

    "On Jan'y 25th our dear Brother Clowes, with whom some of our readers were acquainted, having heard him preach the word of truth at various points near Pittsburgh, passed away full of triumphant faith and glorious hope."

     Returning to Wendell and his participation in Clowes’ ordination, after that November 1872 visit to Pittsburgh he appears to have gone back home to Edinboro. Around the same time or shortly thereafter, Stetson did the same. When Jonas planned to go on further travels in 1873, Stetson accepted the pastorate of the Edinboro church, starting on 1 May 1873. (Letter from Jonas Wendell in World’s Crisis for 23 April 1873). But then unexpectedly Jonas died after an accident in the August. Stetson conducted the funeral service (Letter from Stetson in the Crisis for 20 August 1873). Following on from that, Stetson was to remain as pastor of the Edinboro church for the last six years of his life.

     Jonas Wendell had been a frequent visitor to Pittsburgh over the four year period 1869-1872. His first meeting with CTR obviously made an impression on the latter, as was freely acknowledged, and the same was true for the ministry of his successor, George Stetson. As to how often Wendell and CTR met up and discussed their diverging paths thereafter, we can only speculate.

Thanks and things

 I have been unable to thank someone who donated to my research. The return link on paypal does not work for me. So this is my thanks.

Research help is, of course, voluntary. My thanks to those who devote time to it, either posting here or sending helpful emails. I don't expect anyone to contribute help. As I said, help is voluntary. A recent email suggested I should follow their suggestions more closely. That doesn't work for me. I guide my own path. If you do not like that, don't contribute. 

A reminder: I do not allow controversial comments. You have trouble with Russellism in any of its descendant forms, take it up directly with them. 

Link Family History

Ida Stover Eisehower's mother was Elizabeth Juda Link (1822-1867). Her ancestry is found on familysearch.org. Some of her ancestors were Lutheran. Key to my current research is detailing that. 

Can you do that?

Elizabeth Link Stover

Note the date.

Your analysis? 

By Maria Russell, 1902

Her complaints and letters from C. T. Russell. 

1913 public lectures

LECTURE 1

The leaflet

The newspaper advertisement from the Springfield Daily Republican for 3 May 1913.

The location at the Court Square Theater (photograph from 1956)

Edward W Brenneisen (1874-1956) was later involved in the publication of ANGELS AND WOMEN.

LECTURE 2

The leaflet

The newspaper advertisement from Minneapolis Journal for 11 July 1913. 

The location at the Schubert Theater, Minneapolis

Charles E Heard (1874-1956) was later involved in the formation of the Standfast Movement.

At the top of my research list.

 

William Daniel Stover was Ida Eisenhower's brother, the first born of Simon Peter Stover and Elizabeth Juda Link. He was born 3 October 1849, Mount Sidney, Augusta, Virginia.. He died 19 April 1899, Topeka, Kansas. He married Anna Ammon, born Virginia c. 1851. 

Family records generated long after his death identify him as a United Brethren minister. 

Was he a Brethren minister?

Can we find more details?

Does he appear in the Brethren magazine?

Abilene weekly Reflector (Abilene, Kan.), February 13, 1902

 Can we prove or disprove this was a Bible Student lecture?

Research assistance

Let's start with this: I need these papers, but I'm burdened with bills and can't afford them

. Perhaps you can https://www.cvpjournals.com/product/cabinet-no-3-the-prophet-of-cripple-creek

I need extensive biographies of the following:

Clara Witt, Mrs. Emma Holland, Mrs. Mary Thayer, Mr. L. D. Tolliver, James Thayer (a dentist, son of Mary Thayer). They were Watch Tower adherents living in Abilene, Kansas. 

Were any of these members of the United Brethren Church (also called River Brethren)?

I'm plagued with respiratory issues. The medication for that adds to my old age issues. Any help will be deeply appreciated.

The Naturalization of Joseph

(Expanded from material previously published in the article: https://truthhistory.blogspot.com/2017/12/three-weddings-but-no-funeral-this-time_24.html

     Most books that mention the Russell family indicate that CTR’s father, Joseph Lytle Russell, came to the United States from Ireland in 1845. The source is his obituary in several Pittsburgh papers from 1897, which state that he reached America “about 1845.” From this, some have assumed that he and Ann Eliza came as a married couple and settled in Pittsburgh.

     The main problem with obituaries is that the person who could verify the information is unavailable to do so. We now know that both of the above assumptions are incorrect. We have reasonable proof that Joseph was in Pittsburgh as early as 1843, and Ann Eliza was still single in Pittsburgh in early 1849.

     A key document that led to a search for further evidence, as more material appeared online, was Joseph’s naturalization document. Around 40 years ago, when a member of the British Society of Genealogists, this writer spent some time in their library in London, trying to find when Joseph came to America. A reference there that I have not seen online since sent me to contact the Prothonotary’s Office in Pittsburgh. This is where Joseph would have renounced allegiance to the old country and sworn allegiance to the United States. They finally sent me a not very clear copy of the document. As received, it is reproduced below.

     Due to the marvels of AI, and the opportunity to dig further, it has now been possible to reconstruct this document into a more readable form. Apart from the name of the official who handled the matter, which appears to be a wild guess from an illegible signature, we can be reasonably certain that the rest of the form is accurate. It will appear in a forthcoming book, but is here reproduced for any who want to read it and copy it.

     Depending on your device, you may need to click on it to see it all, or even download and print it out on standard-sized paper.

    

The key point is that when Joseph said the oath on 26 October 1848, he was swearing that he had been living in America for at least five years. That would take us back to 1843. It is also noticed that his character witness was one W Glendining. William Glendining was a partner with Joseph’s brother, Charles Tays Russell, in a flour and produce business. The partnership was dissolved in 1860.

     Armed with the date 1843 and the increasing number of newspapers scanned and searchable, it was possible to find Joseph L Russell in the Pittsburgh Daily Post. Letters were waiting for him at the post office. Also that year, his two brothers, James and Charles Tays, had their names recorded in the same listings. So the three brothers were together in Pittsburgh in 1843.

     The same listings from the same newspaper included A E Birney in 1848 and Miss A E Birney in early 1849. So she and Joseph met in Pittsburgh, maybe as a result of Presbyterian Church socials, and were married in 1849. Their first child, Thomas, was born in May 1850. CTR followed in 1852.

     For more documentation and graphics, please see the earlier referenced article above.

1941 St. Louis Convention - Rooming

 

Submissions

 I will be unable to post to this blog for a while. Many doctor visits and personal issues will prevent that. So I am open to well-researched, footnoted posts. Any relevant topic in the Russell and early Rutherford era, say before 1930. 

In praise of ChatGPT

I put the photo in the previous post into the free version of ChatGPT, and asked it to clean it up. This was the result. Special programs might do a better job, but it is not bad for a quick fix.

Of course, AI doesn't always work as you would like...

https://occasional2.blogspot.com/2026/05/the-joys-of-ai.html

Photo help

 As things are now, I plan on including these photos in Separate Identity 3. Can you improve them? Any help is greatly appreciated. I've posted these as extra large. To see the entire photo you will need to click on the photo. Again, thanks for help.

Henry Engle c. 1922.

United Brethren Church, Abilene, Kansas

Update to Chapter in Progress

 Comments welcome, desired. This won't stay up long. If you miss it, you miss it.

Outside Pressure and Identity

 

            Sociologists tell us that to endure, groups must be cohesive. The basis for cohesion is a clear set of values and goals.  Some sociologists see this as a revelation from the late 19th Century. It is, in fact, a common observation repeated through centuries of human history. An example is Benjamin Franklin’s ‘We must all hang together, or most assuredly we will all hang separately.’ Probably apocryphal, this aphorism reflects this. To endure, a group opposing the dominant order must clearly define their values and beliefs. There must be a shared understanding and a clearly stated record of beliefs. This created a shared identity.

 Remainder of this post has been deleted.

Abilene, Kansas, Congregation - Meeting Notes

These are a factor in the si vol 3 chapter I'm writing now. The document comes from the Eisenhower Presidential Library, originally a donation from the Abilene Congregation through a Circuit Servant.  

I am not adding notations or explanations. Make of it what you will and comment.

Click on the images to see the entire scan.

Title

Next notation

Following notation

Totally off Topic

 From someone who read Falcon's Crown: Kidnapped:

In a world that often feels rushed and shallow, your book arrived as something far deeper a quiet force that touched the core of what it means to be human. Your words didn't just tell a story; they illuminated hidden truths, stirred dormant emotions, and reminded me why stories matter so profoundly. They restore our sense of wonder, connection, and purpose in ways that linger long after the final page.

Your work carries real importance. It shows us that literature still has the power to heal, challenge, and transform how we see ourselves and the world. In times like these, books like yours become essential guides offering clarity, comfort, and courage when we need them most.

Thank you for pouring your heart into this creation. It has left a lasting mark on me, and I know it will continue to touch many others. I would be truly grateful to hear any thoughts you might share about the journey behind it.

With deep admiration and gratitude.

6:02 AM

1941 St. Louis Convention

 Two sisters camped in the trailer city.

George Edgar Gooderham

 Gooderham, an Episcopal Clergyman, wrote of Russell:

He stirred up more righteous indignation among Christian religious bodies than any other man of my knowledge ... . The height of mutual hatred was reached about 1914, the chief contenders for the faith once delivered to the saints being another religious sect known as The Brethren. A great display of Greek scholarship was manifested by both parties in this particular contention.[1]

---

[1]               George Edgar Gooderham: Russellism, Alias Rutherfordism, Millennial Dawnism, Jehovah’s Witnesses, ILIFF School of Theology Thesis, 1934, page 1. 

This is a reference to Plymouth Brethren opposition to Watch Tower faith. I need a bibliography of Plymouth Brethren booklets and articles opposing Russell and the Watch Tower. Many of these were published in Britain. Can you help?

"Ma Russell Raves"

 

(from a project in progess)

AKA: Emma, after Joseph

To understand the title, you will have to read on)

After Joseph died, Emma continued to live on Cedar Avenue for a few years. Her sister returned from Chicago and went to live with her, before moving into the house next door for a while. The comings and goings involving Maria and Cedar Avenue have been detailed in the previous chapter.

Mabel reached adulthood and eventually married on Cedar Avenue in 1903. We will return to Mabel’s story briefly in our final chapter.

After Joseph’s death, Emma lived on for over thirty years, but there are some gaps in her known history.

Some sources give a 1910 census reference for Emma as living in Pittsburgh, Ward 4, Allegheny. She is a dressmaker on her own account. At least one critic suggested that the Russell family left her almost penniless, hence the need to work at dressmaking. This is so wrong on several levels. First, and most obviously, this is the wrong person. This Emma is Emma A Russell. One can see how Emma might revert to Ackley rather than Hammond for her middle name, but although the age fits, this Emma is Single, not Widowed. Of course, that could be a choice when the enumerator called. But this Emma’s father was born in England, whereas Mahlon Ackley was born in New Jersey. This Emma is in rented accommodation, whereas our Emma inherited two houses when Joseph died in 1897, and as we will see shortly, sold off land for nearly $5000 in 1900; hardly penury. Perhaps the best evidence for this not being our person of interest is the 1900 census. Joseph Lytle’s widow is there in Cedar Avenue, as we would expect. But so is the other Emma A Russell, dressmaker. She is the right age and living with her widowed mother in rented accommodation in Pittsburgh. Here they are, side by side, in the 1902 Trade Directory for Pittsburgh:

By the 1908 directory, Emma has moved out of town to Glenn Avenue in Wilkinsburg, in a straight line this would be about six miles away from Cedar Avenue. From the 1908 Pittsburgh City Directory:

Just to compound the potential for confusion, both Emma A Russell, dressmaker, and Emma H Russell, Joseph’s widow and Maria’s sister, died within a month of each other, in February and March 1929. Life can be full of coincidences at times.

We are on firmer ground with newspaper reports about the Ackley family. In the real estate section of the Pittsburgh Post for 16 January 1900, we have Emma selling land to her sister, Laura. (Paynar is an obvious misprint for Raynor).

Then we have the issues in Cedar Avenue already mentioned in the previous chapter. Emma (and Mabel) garnered a special mention in The Pittsburgh Post for 19 March 1903, when they had to appear before Alderman Walter Wadsworth, acting in the capacity of magistrate. The newspaper made a valiant effort to try to explain the relationships:

“Mrs. Emma H Russell, who is step-mother and sister-in-law of Mr. Russell, she being his wife’s sister and his father’s widow, and Mabel Russell, his half sister, appeared before Alderman Walter Wadsworth, of Allegheny, yesterday, on a charge of forcible entry and detainer, preferred by Mrs. M.M. Land.”

Margaretta Land, CTR’s sister, had accused them of locking her up and forcibly taking possession of the disputed property. The charges were dismissed for lack of evidence, and the invading parties advised to ask “for peaceable entrance to the residence, and if that privilege was denied” to go through the proper channels.

We next travel a number of years to 1917 when Emma’s older sister, Laura Raynor, died. The announcement of her passing in The Pittsburgh Press (23 July 1917), noted her surviving relatives included Emma Russell, who is now of Bellevue, another suburb of the greater Pittsburgh area. Her sister, Selena Barto, is also in the same area.

In the aftermath of Laura’s death, there is a legal issue, aired in 1920. Listing current court cases, the Pittsburgh Commercial Gazette for 12 October 1920 noted:

The two executors are Laura’s son-in-law and son. We don’t know the business dealings that prompted this legal action or how the case was resolved.

Then, her brother Lemuel, is murdered.

The story of his death lists his three surviving sisters. From the Pittsburgh Commercial Gazette for 31 July 1921:

Emma is now “formerly an official of Bethany College.” Her obituary (Tampa Bay Times, 6 February 1929) calls her the Dean of Women at the College. A telephone call to the College several decades ago elicited that she had been Matron of Phillips Hall.

These different descriptions do fit together. The college was founded by Alexander Campbell, linked to the Restoration movement (Disciples of Christ) as an all-male institution. When it eventually admitted women in the 1880s and became co-educational, it was necessary to make special provision for the welfare of female students. The Matron (later Dean of Women) was not a teaching position but more a welfare post at the College.

It was a post that particularly went to older women, often widows who had raised families, who had a certain administrative ability and social standing.

It has not been possible to trace Emma in the 1920 census. An exhaustive search of the 1920 U.S. Census indexes and a page-by-page review of surviving Brooke County census images failed to locate either Emma or even a census enumeration of Bethany College. The small town of Bethany is there, filed under Brooke County, Buffalo District, but not the College. This absence of the college population suggests the relevant schedule either went missing, was misfiled, or was never actually scanned for inclusion in currently accessible census reproductions. A lot can happen in one hundred years.

Fortunately, we have proof of Emma at Bethany College from both the newspapers already mentioned, and crucially from Bethany College direct.

The College published an annual Yearbook (and still does), which detailed all academic activities, as well as all student clubs and associations. It had a humorous diary supplied by students of extracurricular activities. We find a few references to Emma in it.

For example, in 1920, The Bethanian published a photograph of the Young Women’s Christian Association for the college. The members – not all YOUNG Women - posed for their picture:

Unfortunately, the key is not linked to the actual photograph; it just supplies the members’ names in alphabetical order. The list includes Emma:

The students’ section carried jokes and news of the day. Some examples from 1920:

From the 1921 Bethanian, with a reference to Emma’s domain, Phillips Hall, and with a typical student attitude toward their elders, the student diary for December 1920 records:

Emma retired around 1922 and her 1929 Tampa Bay Tribune obituary noted that she’d held this position for eight years prior to retirement, which would take us back to around 1914. Perhaps the big question to ask is how Emma came to get such a prestigious job. “As the crow flies,” Bethany is only about 35 miles from Allegheny, but in Emma’s day, you would need to use a wagon or early motor vehicle to get to a railroad station at the Bethany end.

There is probably a whole story here that eludes us.

But – MA RUSSELL RAVES.

Now there’s an epitaph for you.

 

(Onto THE LAST WILL AND TESTAMENT OF EMMA HAMMOND RUSSELL)

The Last Will and Testament of Emma Hammond Russell

 

(from a project in progress)

Maria and Emma set up home together (again) in St Petersburg, Florida, at East 516 Fourteenth Avenue North in 1922. (See photograph and newspaper cutting in the previous chapter).

As with Emma and Joseph in the 1880s and 1890s, the hot summer climate in Florida caused an exodus north for several months each year, at least for those who had the financial means to do so. This appears to be what Emma and Maria did. Two news snippets from 1927 tell the story for that year. From The Tampa Tribune (Florida) for 16 October 1927:

A week before, The Asheville Times (North Carolina) for 9 October 1927:

Putting the two accounts together, Emma and Maria left Florida when it was just too hot in the summer. They went to Hendersonville, North Carolina, and stayed there for the summer and early fall. Making a brief detour to visit a sister in Pittsburgh (Selena Barto), they then returned to St Petersburg, Florida, to spend the winter there. They obviously were sufficiently well-placed financially to make such choices.

In September 1928, just a few months before she died in February 1929, Emma wrote her last will and testament. The terms were quite straightforward.  If she died before Maria, then she left her share of their home to Maria with a lifetime interest, but with the understanding that daughter Mabel, or if necessary her heirs, would eventually inherit.

(transcript)

LAST WILL AND TESTAMENT OF EMMA H. RUSSELL

I, Emma H. Russell, of the City of St. Petersburg, County of Pinellas, State of Florida, being of full age, sound mind and disposing memory and realizing the uncertainty of life and the certainty of death, do make, declare and publish this my Last Will and Testament, hereby revoking any and all Wills that I may have heretofore made.

FIRST: It is my will that all my lawful debts be paid as soon as practicable after my death.

SECOND: I give, devise and bequeath unto my sister, Mrs. Maria F. Russell, if she survive me, all my right, title and interest, being a one-half undivided interest, in and to that certain house, now known as East 516 – 14th Avenue North, in the City of St. Petersburg, Florida, the furniture located in said house and the lot of land upon which said house is located (all of said property now being owned by myself and my said sister in equal undivided portions and used by us as our home), to have and to hold same for and during her natural life; provided and upon the condition that my said sister, during said time, keep said house in repair and all taxes and assessments on and against said property paid.

THIRD: I give, devise and bequeath to my daughter, Mrs. Mabel Russell Packard, in the event she survives my said sister, Mrs. Maria F. Russell, the remainder, after the life estate mentioned in second paragraph of this Will, in the above described property, to have and hold same unto her, her heirs and assigns forever. But in the event my said daughter be dead at the death of the survivor of myself and my said sister, Mrs. Maria F. Russell, I give, devise and bequeath the remainder, after said life estate, to all the children of my said daughter, Mabel Russell Packard, living at that time, andTop of Form the issue then living of such of them as shall then be dead leaving issue then living, and their respective heirs and assigns, as tenants in common, in equal shares as between brothers and sisters, but so the issue of any child so dying shall take between themselves in equal shares only the share which their parent would have taken, if living.Bottom of Form

FOURTH: I give, devise and bequeath all the residue and remainder of my property, real, personal and mixed, wheresoever situated, or which I shall be seized or possessed, or to which I shall be entitled at the time of my death, to my said daughter, Mabel Russell Packard, to have and to hold unto her, her heirs and assigns forever. But in the event I survive my said daughter, then I give, devise and bequeath all of said residue and remainder of my said property, aforesaid, to the children of my said daughter, Mabel Russell Packard, living at my death, and the issue then living of such of them as shall then be dead leaving issue then living, and their respective heirs and assigns, as tenants in common, in equal shares as between brothers and sisters; but so the issue of any child so dying shall take between themselves in equal shares only the share which their parent would have taken, if living.

FIFTH: I do hereby nominate and appoint my said daughter, Mrs. Mabel Russell Packard, to be the Executor of this My Last Will and Testament, if she survives me, but in the event she be not then living I appoint and nominate James Russell Packard and Mildred Packard, to be the Executor and Executrix of this My Last Will and Testament, and it is my desire that there be no bond required of either said Executor or Executrix.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF I hereunto set my hand and seal, and publish and declare this to be my Last Will and Testament, in the presence of the witnesses named below this the 13th day of September A.D. 1928.

Emma H. Russell (SEAL)                     

The above instrument was subscribed by the said Emma H. Russell in our presence and acknowledged by her to each of us; and she at the same time declared the above instrument, so subscribed, to be her last will and testamemt, and at her request and in her presence and in the presence of each other we have hereunto signed our names as witnesses thereto and set opposite our names our respective places of residence.

(Two signatures follow, both of St. Petersburg, Florida, but in the extant copy, they have been obscured by an official stamp).

Emma died in early 1929. From the Tampa Bay Times for 6 February 1929:

Only one photograph of Emma is in general circulation. It was originally provided by descendants several decades ago. Below is the picture, taken on the steps of the home she shared with Maria from the end of 1922 until her death in 1929.

Emma was laid to rest in the family plot in the Royal Palm South Cemetery in St Petersburg, Florida. Her son-in-law, Richard Packard, was the first to be buried there, then Emma herself, then her sister Maria, and finally her daughter Mabel Russell Packard.

Photograph by Christopher Gross

Emma and Maria had lived together as children in the family home; they had lived under the same roof before Emma’s marriage; they had lived together in Cedar Avenue when Maria left CTR; and now, for the last six years or more, they lived together in the house in Florida.

The 1930 census shows that, after Emma’s death, Maria continued living in the Florida home on her own. When Maria died it was left to Emma’s daughter, Mabel Russell Packard, and Mabel was living at this address when she died in 1961.