by Jerome
Gertrude
Antonette Woodcock Seibert (sometimes spelled Antoinette) was born in 1864 and
died in 1928. A Woodcock family history written in 1912 briefly summed up her
history:
She
started writing verse at any early age. One of her collections contains a poem
written when she was nine years old, and her first published poem (not for
Watch Tower) was published in 1889.
She
became a well-known, high-profile Bible Student in the 1890s and soon became a
household name in the Bible Student community for her poetry. Her first known
poem published in the Watch Tower was in the December 1, 1899, issue, entitled
The Narrow Way. She soon replaced other poets like Rose Ball Henninges and Ophelia
Burroughs in the magazine columns. Several of her poems were later circulated
in booklet form by the Watch Tower Society. The Sweet-Briar Rose (1909) and In
the Garden of the Lord (1913) have been listed in by the Society as official
publications. Other collections such as The Heavenly Bridegroom (1918) were
published directly by her, but widely circulated amongst Bible Students.
Various editions of Poems of Dawn contained her works, as did various editions
of the hymn book Zion's Glad Songs where M L McPhail put her verses to music.
Her
husband never took to her religion, although it wasn’t for Gertrude’s want of
trying! In a letter to the Watch Tower when he died in 1913 she confessed that
“I had witnessed to him daily, hourly almost, for nearly twenty years, without
apparent effect.” However, long time friend and Bible Student, Clayton J
Woodworth officiated at his funeral. (see WT reprints page 5281).
Robert
Seibert left her very well provided for, and she was soon traveling with other
Bible Students on special trains to conventions, and continued writing poems
unabated. When CTR died, her quickly written memorial poem Gone Home (dated
November 1, 1916) was published in the St Paul Enterprise newspaper for
November 14, 1916, and a lengthy letter, interspersed with verses was published
in the Memorial issue of the Watch Tower for December 1, 1916.
However,
although we may think of her today as a writer of verse, her greater
contribution to Watch Tower literature was probably as a compiler. In 1905
Daily Heavenly Manna for the Household of Faith was published, with a daily
comment from past ZWTs or writings of CTR, compiled by Gertrude Seibert. In
1907 the second edition had extra pages for each date, so that Bible Students
could record birth dates and get autographs of their friends. If they wished,
they could even send a motto card on the day - and some of Gertrude's poems
turned up on those too.
And
then in 1907 came the Watch Tower Bible, a standard Common Version Bible but
with four appendices. Two were compiled by Clayton J Woodworth, and two by
Gertrude Seibert. As noted earlier, Woodworth would later conduct the funeral
service for Gertrude’s husband. This special Bible was reviewed in the Watch
Tower magazine for October 1, 1907, page 303. Gertrude produced what was called,
Instructors Guide - An Epitome of the Faith Once Delivered Unto the Saints,
which was a detailed subject index to the Dawns and Towers. Her second
contribution, Berean Topical Index, was a scripture index of subjects.
Woodworth’s main contribution was a one line explanation for every scripture
from Genesis to Revelation that had been used in Dawns and Towers. Both
compilers must have searched every page of the Watch Tower magazine and
Dawn/Studies volumes to that date to produce such a detailed work. (The whole
was then republished in its own separate volume in 1909, entitled Berean Bible
Teachers’ Manual.) This painstaking work of compilation and indexing would set
the scene for what proved to be a controversial publication and the main
subject of this article - The Finished Mystery published in 1917.
THE
FINISHED MYSTERY
The Finished Mystery was advertised as the 7th volume of the Studies in the Scriptures series. The consequences of its publication and circulation were far reaching. The book’s contents were a major factor in landing J F Rutherford and seven others in jail on charges of working against the American War effort in World War 1. And although Gertrude’s name was generally kept out of the subsequent legal proceedings, the evidence is quite clear that she was directly responsible for the volume's germination and fulfillment.
What
follows below is taken from information in the trial transcript RUTHERFORD et
al. v. UNITED STATES (1918). Anyone wishing to follow up further simply needs
to read the Examinations and Cross-Examinations of George H Fisher and Clayton
J Woodworth, and also check through the exhibits. (References will be given for
the latter). It might be noted at this point, that the reason why so much
detail of The Finished Mystery’s genesis was revealed in this trial was because
the defense needed to show the book was both planned and written before America
entered the war; and - if you included CTR’s intentions - some of it was
written a long time before the war.
In
late 1916 expectations were huge. CTR had died, and the Society was in the
temporary hands of an executive committee made up of J F Rutherford, A I
Ritchie, and W E Van Amburgh. The war and hopes linked to what was understood
as the end of the Gentile Times created an air of expectancy. And an informal
conversation in a private home in Scranton, Pennsylvania, would have far
reaching consequences.
The
home belonged to George Fisher. The Fishers and Seiberts had been friends for
some years. In 1910 Gertrude hid an old baking can as a time capsule for future
generations during renovations on her home. It was discovered during further
building work in 1948, and the contents mention George Fisher and his wife as
visitors at the time it was concealed.
This
time Gertrude was visiting the Fishers in Scranton in early December of 1916.
And late one afternoon, the long-time family friend of both, Clayton J
Woodworth, called in for a few minutes on his way home from work. Both he and
Fisher worked at The International Correspondence School. Conversation turned
to "the seventh volume". CTR had planned to produce it, but never
had, and nearing death had declared that someone else would have to write it.
Gertrude, who as noted above had already reviewed CTR's comments on scripture
for her Instructors’ Guide, thought the time was ripe for the seventh volume.
She suggested it could be called The Finished Mystery. She also opined that
George Fisher could fill in the gaps on CTR's comments on Ezekiel and Clayton
Woodworth could do the same for Revelation.
Fired
with enthusiasm and now apparently back at Bethel in Brooklyn, N.Y., Gertrude
fired off a long letter to the executive committee. It has survived as
Defendants’ Exhibit L. Her suggestions in Part III of her letter particularly
relate to what became The Finished Mystery, but her letter is reproduced here
in its entirety. It reads:
Brooklyn,
N.Y. Dec. 6, 1916
To
The
Executive Committee
Watch
Tower Bible & Tract Society
Brooklyn,
N.Y.
Dear
Friends:
Perhaps
it may not be amiss for me to call to your attention a matter which has
suggested itself to me, inasmuch as the Apostle exhorts us, saying, "Let
him that is taught communicate unto him that teacheth." It is something
along this line: A Memorial of Bro. Russell, published in book form, with board
covers, and containing some or all of these subjects:
Part
I.
a.
Biography of Bro. R. By Bro. Rutherford.
b.
Bro. Nelson’s articles on “Pastor Russell’s place in the Reformation,” as
printed in Labor Tribune.
c.
Personal incidents, showing the social side of beloved Pastor’s character,
composed of, suitable anecdotes contributed by various persons. (I have quite a
number in my own memory, and doubtless many others have very interesting little
touches to add to the penportrait of our dear Pastor.) And personal Poems.
Part
II
a.
Details of the funeral service at N.Y. Temple.
b.
Details of the funeral service at Carnegie Hall, All’y
c.
Photographs of Floral display at N.Y. and Allegheny, also at the grave, and a
later one to be taken after the stone is set up.
d.
Various photographs of Bro. Russell during different periods of his life.
(Personally I would like to have all the friends of the Truth enjoy that
beautiful one which hangs in the dining room behind Bro. R’s chair at present,
which shows us the fatherly, sympathetic expression which almost all his other
photographs lack.
Part
III.
THE
FINISHED MYSTERY
(This
was the title Bro. R. permitted me to suggest for the Seventh Volume, once when
we were discussing it, and he thought it was very appropriate.)
a.
The Book of Revelation. (A compilation by someone familiar with Bro. R's
comments on this book. I would suggest Bro. Woodworth, as well fitted and in
Bro. R's confidence for so many years.
b.
The Book of Ezekiel. Bro. Fisher of Scranton, named in Bro. R's will as an
alternative for Board of Editors of Watch Tower, has what seems to me very good
ideas on this book.
This
book could be advertised or mentioned in the TOWER, and sold for $1.00 per
copy, and it seems to me would be invaluable.
Respectfully
submitted by
Yours
in His service,
(signed)
G.W. SEIBERT.
The
letter was likely passed by hand within the Bethel home, because there was an
immediate reply that is preserved as Defendants’ Exhibit M:
December
7th, 1916
Mrs.
G.W, Seibert
Bethel
Dear
Sister:
Referring
to your letter of December 6th, addressed to the Executive Committee, we beg to
say that if the friends therein mentioned desire to prepare the copy mentioned
and submit it to us for our consideration, we will consider it and give our
opinion as to the advisability of publication.
Yours
in His Service,
EXECUTIVE
COMMITTEE
The
suggestions in Parts I and II of Gertrude’s letter would wait until the Society
published a brochure entitled The Messenger of Laodicea; and a private
individual, W H Wisdom, produced his Memoirs of Pastor Russell in 1923, which
received negative comment in the WT of September 15, 1023. But the proposed
volume on Ezekiel and Revelation was acted on immediately, and there was a flurry
of correspondence to get the project in place.
One
of Clayton Woodworth's letters has survived as a Defendants’ Exhibit E. It is
worth reading carefully because it shows in how much regard Gertrude Seibert
was held.
Scranton,
Pa
December
11th, 1916
Dear
Sister Seibert:
Behold
the hand of the Lord! For more than twenty years I have had in mind that the
only proper title for the Seventh Volume would be "The Mystery
Finished" and now you come along and suggest the identical title, with
merely a transposition of the words. You are a grammarian and a logician. Think
it over and tell me which is the best form of this title. Is our thought
chiefly of the mystery, or is it chiefly of the Finish of that mystery? You
shall decide, but my present thought continues as before. We have been
considering and studying the mystery all the harvest time; and now has come the
finish. Is it not so?
I
have read your letters to Brother Fisher over the telephone and he is glad to
enter the open door, and I, Oh Glory be to the Name of the dear Lord, I am so
happy I can hardly wait the finish of this day to begin the work on which my
heart is set. I will mail the letters to Brother Fisher at once.
Nothing
was enclosed with my transmission of those letters. I seemed to me I ought not
to do more at that time. I merely thought it would strengthen your heart to
read them and to feel that you could not be far astray from the blessing of the
Lord in doing what you have done. And how wisely you have done it! What a mind
you have, and how fully it is in the handmaid of the Lord! How happy you must
be that the continued faithfulness you have all along shown, is continually
recognized by the Lord of the Harvest and there ere long you, too, shall have
your desire fulfilled and be folded to the heart of the Lord, as His Bride,
even as Brother Russell has already been thus received.
Dear
Sister, nothing has ever given me such joy before, for I know the hand of the
Lord will be with us all. And the work will really be yours, for it must go to
you, and be fully approved by you before it ever goes to the committee. On that
I insist. If you can help me with the summary, which I shall put in as the
Seven Plagues, do so, but if not they go in anyway, and come before you for
review and edit.
Now
can I ask a favor? Do you see your way clear to insert an advertisement in the
Labor Tribune, something like the following:
(Woodworth
then inserted a suggested advertisement. It encouraged those with thoughts on
the subject to send them in with their name and address to the executive
committee at Columbia Heights.)
If
this appeals to you, ask the Executive Committee if they will receive and hand
to you any mail thus addressed, and you can then send to me such as you think I
should have. Does this appeal to you? I hope so.
Your
loving Brother,
(signed)
C.J. WOODWORTH
As
noted above, this letter shows us in how much regard Woodworth held Seibert.
Woodworth enthuses that the finished product will really be hers, because she
is going to vet his work before it goes to the committee. And she is going to
have the final say on the title.
Gertrude's
position in the genesis of The Finished Mystery is further shown by the
advertisement that eventually appeared in the National Labor Tribune. Woodworth’s
letter suggested that other Bible Students could send in their views and
comments on Ezekiel and Revelation to the executive committee, and hoped they
could then be filtered through Gertrude and back to him and Fisher. However,
the final advertisement asked prospective contributors to send them direct to
Gertrude.
It
read:
It
is not known in which issue or issues of the National Labor Tribune the
announcement appeared. The graphic above for Defendant's Exhibit C comes from
the trial transcript but does not give a date of publication.
The
announcement mentioned a committee, and there was also a trial transcript
reference to an “association” that worked on the project. It was established in
court that both were composed of Woodworth, Fisher and Seibert alone. It was
planned that Fisher should send his copy to Woodworth, and Woodworth would then
send both his and Fisher’s copy to Gertrude acting as coordinator and secretary.
Whether this arrangement existed for long is not known because the original
forward of the published volume tells it somewhat differently. “While both
residing in the same city, they have worked separately and apart from each
other, not even comparing notes.”
The
executive committee that gave the green light to the project was dissolved in
January 1917 when J F Rutherford became the second president of the
incorporated Society. Fisher and Woodworth completed their work - with or
without input from others - by June 1917, and the book was published in the
July. It contained a brief biography of
CTR in the introduction.
So
what Gertrude’s ultimate contribution was is unknown. The forward (above) credited
Fisher and Woodworth alone (plus “the Lord”) and certainly when the book led to
divisions and legal problems, Fisher and Woodworth took full responsibility for
what had been written, both the new comments and selections from the works of
CTR. When it came to the arrests and criminal trial in 1918, this author gets
the feeling that they gallantly tried hard to keep Gertrude Seibert out of it. She
might have edited, she might have proof-read - a bit like Maria Russell in
another disputed literary endeavour - but they were the authors. She was the "third
person" when the idea was first discussed, but it was the finished product
that caused the dispute with the government and they claimed full
responsibility for that.
AFTER
THE FINISHED MYSTERY
Gertrude
did not disappear from Watch Tower history with The Finished Mystery. As is
well known there was a division after CTR’s death, but she appears to have
stayed in fellowship with the original organization. In the flurry of
correspondence in the wake of the publication of Harvest Siftings (and
responses to same) she had a letter published in the December 1, 1917, Watch
Tower, supporting both the current management and The Finished Mystery volume. She
mentioned that she had been almost daily at the Brooklyn Bethel Home for the
last four years, which would be since her husband’s death. She advised the
readership in general that she had personally suggested the Finished Mystery
title to CTR and he had approved it as “very good”. That the title had been
subsequently adopted by the Society strongly convinced her of its worth.
Around
1918 Gertude published a small volume of poems entitled The Heavenly
Bridegroom, which included her tribute to CTR, Gone Home.
Then
in early 1920 she published a larger collection as The Sweet Briar Rose and
Other Poems. It ran to 50 pages. Advertisements in the New Era Enterprise gave
her address as Florida, then Scranton, PA (home of Fisher and Woodworth) and
finally in the New Era Enterprise for December 27, 1921 her address was c/o the
Watch Tower Society, as “the Society is always kept informed of my
whereabouts.”
So
while a Seibert family history website gives her 1922 address as 124 Columbia
Heights, it was probably just a poste restante address.
In
September 1920 she obtained her first passport, and became an international
traveller. At the turn of the new year she was in Australia, reporting to the
New Era Enterprise about attending an IBSA convention there. While there, she
wrote a defense of CTR and the chronology of the Gentile Times for an
Australian newspaper.
By June 1922 she had visited the West Indies and was on a passenger list traveling from Kingston to Great Britain, giving her London address as c/o 34 Craven Terrace. That was the British Bethel address, next door to the London Tabernacle.
In
September 1924, giving her permanent address as Brooklyn, New York, she applied
to renew her passport, stating her intention to sail away from Los Angeles in
October; her travels this time to include visiting Japan, China, India, South
Africa, Australia, New Zealand, and Great Britain. But she intended to return
within twelve months. However, the following February, 1925, she was back in
America, a patient in the Jackson Memorial Hospital, Miami, Florida, writing a
poem in praise of nurses.
In
1925 she sent her old friend, Clayton Woodworth, a contribution for The
Golden Age magazine, which he now edited. The article The Morning Star was
published in the October 7, 1925 issue. Earlier that year another author had
written an article entitled Rose Thoughts (GA March 25, 1925) which reprinted
her Sweet Briar Rose poem in full.
Around
1926 she offered to update her old Daily Heavenly Manna for the Watch
Tower Society’s use, to include all new material, but her offer was declined.
Times had changed. The explanation given in the book Then is Finished the
Mystery of God (1969) pages 145-146 was their application of 1 Timothy 2
v.12. Instead the Society now produced its own text book, changing texts and
comments each year as part of an annual Yearbook.
In
1926 Gertrude published her final work, another expanded volume of Sweet Briar Rose
and Other Poems. The 1926 edition now weighed in at 97 pages, and carried her
photograph in the frontispiece. It was published by the Hefty Press, Miami,
Florida, which sounds a bit like an in-joke to this writer.
The
dedication page carried the message:
An original of this final edition is highly collectible, but a pdf can be found online if you search for it.
Gertrude
appears to have suffered from ill-health in the last few years of her life. She
needed an operation while in Australia in early 1922; there is the poem written
from hospital in 1925 in praise of nurses which mentions post-operative care,
and she died after an operation in 1928.
When
she died, The Daily News, Huntingdon and Mount Union, PA, carried a brief
notice. Headed “Obituary for Mrs. Gertrude W Seibert” it read:
Mrs.
Gertrude W. Seibert died in Miami, Florida Wednesday noon, June 12, 1928
following an operation. She is the widow of Robert S. Seibert, President of the
East Broad Top Railroad and for a number of years resided at Rockhill. The body
will be brought to Mt. Union Sunday afternoon. Funeral service will be held at
the Methodist Church 2:30 o'clock standard time in charge of Rev. H. W. Hartsock.
The sermon will be preached by Mr. McMillen of Brooklyn, New York. Interment in
the I.O.O.F. Cemetery of Mt. Union.
There
is probably a slight glitch in the above quotation taken from a family history
website, as the Wednesday that week was actually June 13.
There
was another brief notice in the paper after the funeral. Dated June 19, 1928,
it read:
One can reasonably assume that the Mr McMillen of Brooklyn, New York, mentioned in the obituary was in reality A H Macmillan of the Brooklyn Bethel family.
The I.O.O.F. Cemetery (Independent Order of Oddfellows) is
now generally known as the Mount Union Cemetery, Huntingdon County, PA, and is
where her late husband was buried.
8 comments:
I love this site!!! I love learning about people who would have other wise been forgotten by time. Thank you guys so much. Best site ever.
However a great work and research! Many thanks Jerome
Thank you Jerome for this detailed article on the missing details of G. W. Seibert. It had not been clear to me if she stayed along w/ the official WTB&TS or allied w/ one of the opposing groups. But now we all know. Thank you for spending the time to research and thank you even more for sharing this wonderful insight.
Christopher Gross
I really love these articles!Please continue the good work!!!!
Excellent work, Jerome.
It would be also interesting to know if Seibert not only contributed with several of her poems to "Poems of Dawn" but if her role was also as compilator of this volume. I supposed this, but really I can not assure it.
That she was loyal to the official WTB&TS until here death is also an interesting info that modifies my suppositions.
Thanks!!
Thanks Miquel (and others) for their kind words.
Regarding Gertrude’s editing Poems of Dawn - I did not state this in my article because, although many sources make this claim, they were all secondary sources. The various editions of the actual book do not actually state who the compiler was.
However, Miquel has now kindly sent me back-channel the entry from the Women’s Who’s Who of America for 1914-1915. Gertrude’s entry plainly says she edited Poems of Dawn, and crucially this was published while she was still alive. So she probably contributed her own entry. So it would make perfect sense for her to edit this volume, which contains a number of her poems.
I will probably reproduce the actual entry on this blog in a couple of days’ time.
Perhaps these passages, if unknown, will be useful:
„In re the Seventh Volume: it was my privilege some years ago to suggest to Brother Russell the title, "The Finished Mystery," which he then approved as "very good." And the fact that this very title was selected and used by the SOCIETY is strongly convincing to my mind that our beloved Pastor beyond the veil has supervised the writing and publication of this work. So much for external evidence. (The Watchtower December 1, 1917 p. 6179, reprint).
„This work began in December, 1916; and by the latter part of March, 1917, the copy was almost complete.”(Watchtower April 15, 1919 p. 6419, reprint).
Interesting information about Seibert, or the misspelled Siebert, is given in this publication:
Souvenir Report of the Bible Student’s Convention Pittsburgh, Pa. January 2-5 1919 p. 56.
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