A repeated post ... sort of ...

Some time ago I wrote that we are open to well-researched articles considering Russell's newspaper sermons and the development of the Russell newspaper syndicate. We're still interested.

Some guideline:

1. Use Times New Roman font set at 12 pts.
2. Fully justify the text using one inch margins all around.
3. Footnotes not end notes. Blogger will convert them to end notes, but as we read your submission we will find this helpful.
4. No special background to your text. Check your settings.
5. In English. If that's not your first language write it anyway and we will work with you if your research is thorough and well documented.
6. Any illustrations should be sent as separate attachments. Illustrations are not required. In-depth research is.

Are you up to this?

Comments temporarily turned on ...

Have your say: Do you want blog comments restored? If so, why? Comment now ...

Bruce and I have decided to restore the comment function with the exception that you must have a google account to comment. Google accounts are free. This ends anonymous comments. Use your real name or a form of it. 

I want visits by the troll employed by the State of Idaho to stop, both to this blog and to my silly personal blog. That person should be aware that I have contacted Idaho State authorities asking for an IP block and an investigation. You, sir, are not welcome here.

Apparently ...

There's a link on a wikipedia site to this blog. If you put it up, take it down today.

Alexander E. Tharp

I need biography beyond what appears in Watchtower publications. Anyone? Contact me directly at rm de vienne [at] yahoo [dot] com

For a side project.

I need scans of some opposition booklets published in the 1950s. Please share if you have them. Among those I need are:

Oswald J. Smith: The Errors of Jehovah's Witnesses

Dorothy M. Brown: A Challenge to Jehovah's Witnesses

R. W. Maynard: Are Jehovah's Witnesses in Error

Midnight Cry Crusade: Witnessing to Jehovah's Witnesses

I'm told these are all four page tracts.

Then I need:

W. J. Schnell: The Jehovah's Witnesses preach another gospel.

I know there's some curiosity about my 'side project.' It's about the Knorr era. Please help if you can.

Also, anything at all from the 1940s and 50s will help. I don't need the common Watchtower publications. I have all those. But I can use letters, private correspondence, newspaper articles, almost anything else. If you enrolled in the Theocratic Ministry School in the 1940-50 era, your personal recollections would be helpful.

Nathan Knorr's parents

(with grateful thanks to Bernhard)

C. R. Cutting

C. R. Cutting, an evangelist, wrote an anti-Witness tract in the late 1950s claiming to have been one of Jehovah's Witnesses. I have that tract. For a separate project I need some sort of biography for this man. I think his first name was Charles, but cannot prove that. He may have been Charles R. Cutting, III. I'm not certain.

I can't find anything. Can you?

Bruce's answer to a recent email ...

We have had several offers to translate our books into Italian, Spanish, French. They all lack a detailed proposal. Write up a detailed proposal that explains how you intend to publish the Polish translation, royalties to me, and format. Then I'll consider it. I'm pleased you like our book. Thanks for contacting me.

B. W. Schulz

More on the Knorr family

It was interesting to see the marriage certificate for Nathan H’s parents. As to whether his father was Donal or Donald, most entries on Ancestry and also the Find a Grave site say the latter. The census returns for 1880 and 1910 also read Donald, but of course the enumerator could easily have misheard. I would agree with Rachael that we should try and go with original documentation. On Nathan’s sister’s birth certificate he is Donell, which is another variation. It is interesting that the “issue” is generally fudged. On the marriage certificate he is D Ellsworth Knorr. In trade directories he is D Ellsworth Knorr, and his death certificate reads the same. Maybe the query rumbled on during his lifetime, a bit like Malcom (or was it Malcolm?) Rutherford.

There are quite comprehensive details of the Knorr family on Ancestry. D Ellsworth Knorr was the son of Aaron Herb Knorr. His grandfather was Samuel Knorr. The line is traced back to Hans Knauer born 1720 in Airfeld, Bavaria. D’s mother was Mary Margaret Schmidt (1835-1900). I have no real opportunity of checking the accuracy of all the connections, but the details of siblings for various generations are very comprehensive and suggest that others have done their homework.

D married Estella Bloss as shown in Rachael’s last post and they had three children.

In addition to Nathan Homer Knorr, they had:

Daughter Isabel Estella Knorr, 20 June 1906 – 2 June 1999.

Robert Ellsworth Knorr, born 19 September 1903, died March 1972, married Alma Fry and had one son, also named Robert E Knorr (1932-2015).

Nathan married Audrey Mock (1921-2014) in 1953. After Nathan’s death she married Glen Hyde (1922-1988) c. 1978.

Photographs of Nathan’s parents and also a photo from his high school yearbook are on Ancestry. Also photographs of Audrey Mock and her parents. I’m not reproducing them here because I’m unsure of copyright issues.

Nathan Knorr's parents

Jerome suggested that his father's name was Donald instead of the Donal as written by N. H. Knorr on an immigration document. Donal is the name that appears on US government records. Donald is used elsewhere. At this point I believe Donal is accurate, solely because of how it appears on official records.   Herewith is Nathan's parent's marriage certificate.

And I found Nathan's sisters obituary:

Isabel Estella Knorr

The Morning Call | June 5, 1999

Isabel Estella Knorr, 92, of 29th Street SW, Allentown, died Wednesday, June 2, in Sacred Heart Hospital. She was a receptionist for the former A&B Meat Packing Co., Allentown, for many years before retiring in 1968. Born in Bethlehem, she was a daughter of the late D. Ellsworth and Estella B. (Bloss) Knorr. She was a member of Kingdom Hall of Jehovah's Witnesses, Parkway Congregation, Macungie. Survivors: Nieces and nephews. Memorial services: 7 p.m. Friday in Kingdom Hall.

and this:

FOR THE RECORD - (Published Wednesday, March 24, 1999) A headline Sunday gave an incorrect year of actress Sarah Bernhardt's Lehigh Valley performance. It was in 1910.

Bernhardt's private train, "The Bernhardt Special," made up of two Pullman cars, a day coach and four baggage cars, arrived from Rochester, N.Y., at the Lehigh Valley Railroad Station at 10 a.m. While her touring company headed up the hill to the Hotel Allen, the actress remained in her car, waving to the crowd along the rail siding near Gordon Street.

That afternoon, Bernhardt donned her full-length coat of Russian sable, pinned on two faded silk roses and climbed into an automobile for a tour of the Lehigh Valley. Later, she told The Morning Call she had seen "many fine homes and fine people." From her train she had observed cement mills. "And I hear you make silk and have a big fair, too."

One of Bernhardt's stops in Allentown was at the Pergola movie theater at 903 Hamilton St., where the PP&L building is today. Its owner, James Bowen, recently had installed a new color movie process and Bernhardt expressed an interest in seeing it. Theater manager D. Ellsworth Knorr, who escorted Bernhardt to her seat, was still in awe when he told Morning Call Sunday editor John Y. Kohl about it 51 years later.

Bernhardt's performance that evening at the Lyric consisted of scenes from three of her best-known works, "L'Aiglon," a drama based around an attempted rescue of the young son of Napoleon Bonaparte (Bernhardt played the male lead); a tragic melodrama "La Dame aux Camelias," better known as Camille, and "Joan of Arc," a play based on the life of France's patron saint.

And from another newspaper article:

The Pergola had been built about 1907 as a combination penny arcade, bowling alley and billiard parlor. By 1910 the penny arcade had been transformed to a 50-seat movie theater. Admission was a nickel, a reserved seat cost 10 cents, and the average length of a film was an hour.

Before long the movie business grew so popular the Pergola's bowling and billiard table space was transformed into an even bigger theater. The arcade space was renovated into the lobby. Added at the same time was an organ that was played along with the silent movies to provide mood music or move the film's action along. According to Kohl was the first organ put into an Allentown theater.

Among the most popular films at the Pergola were westerns. As films were shown continuously on Saturday boys would often spend hours there. The Pergola's manager, D. Ellsworth Knorr, received telephone calls from worried mothers looking for their children. The cliffhanger serials, which debuted in the decade of 1910-1919, were very popular.

A typical bill of fare at The Pergola in fall 1913 included a two-reeler, "Broken Threads United," said to be "a stirring melodrama of country and city life with excellent character portrayals," and four shorter films.

Reposted from 2009

Because of the actions of someone using the State of Idaho IP address we will no longer post large segments of work in progress. I really wish the bad actors would go away. The next step, if this continues, is to abandon this blog. Other issues mean it is time to restate:

 

 

The Rules

Calling me at home to "discuss" my book is a no-no. This blog exists as a forum for you to ask your questions and make your comments. I will not engage with you over the phone; I will not debate the merits of your theology or mine via the phone either. You most certainly may not call me or Miss de Vienne. There is nothing you have to say that can't be said in an email or blog post.

If you have comments or questions, you may post them here or use the email given on this blog. We will not respond to questions about our personal life. Our religious beliefs are not the subject of this forum. Watchtower history is. That this blog is named "truth history" should give you enough of a clue as to where I stand on most issues.

You will not find your chances of engaging me in dialogue improved by using as a reference the name of a person whom I neither trust nor respect. It is very unwise to name drop. You may not like my reaction if you do.

I don't know how I can make my position clearer. I am only interested in an accurate presentation of Watch Tower history. Our research and writing forwards no agenda except a clear and accurate presentation of history as it can be known.

As heartless as it may sound, I'm not interested in your beliefs, complaints, or theological speculations. Both Rachael and I have our own. We share them in other contexts. This blog is about history -- accurately presented, well researched history. We are not interested in polemics and we're not interested in your theological views. All are welcome here as long as they behave. Consider it our “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy.

Unfortunately, I am not able to provide copies of the references we used, except on a very limited basis. I am - to put it bluntly - old. I'm in declining health, and I have limited funds. I do not have enough money to return long distance calls, and I find calls to my home to be rude and intrusive. As a young man, my long term goal was to grow up to be a cranky old man. I finally made it. I’m not going to spoil it by taking your uninvited telephone calls.

To recapitulate (because some people just don't get it the first dozen times): 1. Do not call my house. 2. Do not call Rachael's house. 3. If you have comments or questions, post them on this blog. 4. Do not presume that I agree with you. I probably don't. 5. If it isn't about 'truth history,' I don't want to hear it. 6. We're not a resource for your unfounded, poorly researched, ill considered polemics. Don’t ask. That’s not why we're here.

My resources and stamina are limited. I usually cannot make photocopies, even if you offer to pay. I tell my students that they must do their own research. If I make my students do that, guess what I’m going to tell you. ...

Posted by B. W. Schulz at Tuesday, September 29, 2009

Donal Ellsworth Knorr and Estella [Bloss] Knorr

We need more information than we have.

Donal Ellsworth Knorr [Alternate spelling is Elsworth] was born April 10, 1872. We do not know his father's name, though an online genealogy suggests his father's name was Aaron.  His mother's name was Mary, maiden name may have been Smith. In 1900 Donal was living with his mother and an aunt. His mother was born in February 1835. In 1900 Donal was a laundryman. The 1940 US Census lists his occupation as movie theater manager. He died April 9, 1964. In 1940 he and his family were living in Allentown PA.

Estella [also spelled Estela] Bloss Knorr was born May 11, 1882. She died November 1973. We know that she and her son Robert traveled to Bermuda in September 1923, presumably for a vacation, though we do not really know why. An online genealogy spells Bloss as Blose and says her parents names were John Blose and Selinda Ann Horn. We haven't been able to verify that to our satisfaction.

Donal and Estella had at least three children: 1. A daughter named Isabell [also spelled Isabel] Estella Knorr. She was born about 1907. She died June 2,1999. 2. Robert E. Knorr, born about 1904. 3. Nathan Homer Knorr.

If you can add to this story, please do so through the contact function at the side of the blog. You can, though I discourage it, use a fake email if you wish to be anonymous. Or you may email me directly at rm de vienne [at] yahoo [dot] com. Jerome, please use my other email if you have anything.

Plans

This blog will not disappear. What we used to call blog 2, long disused will. If you have access and wish to save anything there, do it now.

We are starting a new blog, and for a while that's where my focus will be. It will not replace this blog but will focus on our books. In time we will republish some historical material too. Ultimately we will have a regular web page as well. That's something for the distant future - maybe sometime next year.

If you use the Contact Form, be patient. I'll answer serious queries as I can. Blog Admins caln still leave comments on posts. Everyone else must use the Contact Form.

Posting by blog admins is now open, per Bruce. 

Blog comments are suspended ...

Except for the four blog admins, the comment function on this blog is disabled. If you wish to contact us, use the contact form.

Our near future ...

In time - soon I hope - we will replace the comment function with a 'contact us' button. We get few meaningful comments. Moderating comments is a royal pain, and while as princess of something or other I may be used to royal pains, I do not like them. There are other reasons to suspend the comment function permanently. I have no obligation to explain them. Those who wish to comment can do so through the comment button. I do not have a date for the transition, but I will update you as the need arises.

Faithful commenters have our thanks. Those who read but have not commented are welcome here, but the absence of comments indicates that they will not 'suffer' from that functionality's demise. Those who have something to contribute can do so through the contact us button. 

Per Bruce, this blog is in stasis until we make a final decision on its future. Blog editors please note. No more posts until you hear otherwise. 

For another project

I need Watchtower letters, printed, personal or anything else dated between 1940 and 1960 with an emphasis on the 1942-1953 period. Even if they seem inconsequential, please send them along ...

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Comments are now open

I'm still really sick. Be good. Do not stress me. Just do not.

But comments are open again.

Blog comments are temporarily suspended

I am back in the hospital and expect to remain here for at least a week. Until I am discharged blog comments are turned off.

The reason for this is continuing abuse by posters. We've posted our rules and expectations frequently enough that in most cases the abuse is deliberate. We've had a Watchtower opponent try to repeat old calumnies. A Witness tried to foster his religion with false claims. This is a history site. We have no room for polemics. We had several companies and individuals try to sell their products or services through blog posts that try to seem relevant but are not. And we had a Russellite link to his discussion board with a thinly disguised comment on Jerome's post below.

While I am in the hospital I will not be able to monitor this blog to the degree I usually do. I'm tired of trolls and rule breakers. And I will consider extending the ban on comments after I am discharged. Most of those who visit this blog do not leave comments. That's disappointing but up to them. Most of those who do leave comments are helpful and interested. We have no room for the rest. IF YOU CAN'T RESPECT OUR RULES, DO NOT COME HERE.

Rachael has given me the O.K. to put this extra note up for while she is temporarily off the scene and unable to act as moderator. If you have something really relevant to the project that you want to say, then you can send it to me back-channel. Comments that say “well done” are nice, but we are really looking for material that adds details or questions that seek relevant information. And that keep firmly within the guidelines stated above. Thanks.

 - Jerome

William Morris Wright and Charles Piazzi Smyth

by Jerome

William Morris Wright (1848-1906) was one of many Bible Students well-known in his day, but now largely forgotten by readers. He is remembered, if at all, for correspondence found in Volume 3 of Millennial Dawn, Thy Kingdom Come, which has prompted this article. Many letters from him appear in ZWT from 1887. He worked in insurance and had the Allegheny Bible House as his base for the last few years of his life. He was a director of the Watch Tower Society from September 19, 1901 to his death on April 3, 1906 (thanks Bernhard).

Wright had a particular interest in pyramidology and when he learned that CTR was devoting a chapter of Volume 3 of Millennial Dawn to this subject, he asked permission to copy the manuscript pre-publication, to send to Charles Piazzi Smyth. Smyth, the former Astronomer Royal of Scotland, was one of the leading proponents of pyramidology. CTR agreed and Wright typed out the manuscript. Smyth received it and responded positively. CTR was so pleased with the response that an edited version of Smyth’s letter appeared in Volume 3 when published in 1891.

By one of those strange moments of serendipity, Smyth’s original letter has recently been rediscovered. A correspondent, Brad S., purchased it along with Wright’s copy of Smyth’s seminal work on the Great Pyramid. The book has Wright’s own name in the front. It is assumed that the collection originally came from one of Wright’s descendants, but as yet it has not been possible to trace the trail back.

Smyth’s original letter to Wright dated December 21, 1890, was on one piece of paper, folded in two, making a total four pages. The original envelope (to the insurance company where Wright worked) is reproduced below, followed by the complete original letter.

If you enlarge these photographs and examine them carefully you can see that the original letter has some subsequent notations on it. Some just extend what is written for the typesetter, for example ‘1st ass. pass.’ becomes ‘first ascending passage’ and another hand has added England at the top. ZWT readers might not recognise the address CLOVA, RIPON (also printed on the back of Smyth’s envelope above) as being in Britain. CLOVA was the name of Smyth’s house in RIPON in the West Riding of Yorkshire. Some are rough alterations and deletions made by Smyth himself as he scribbled away in those pre-word processor days. But the main one was a large cross on page two. This was an edit made in the ZWT office before the letter was published. (Wright was often in Pittsburgh where CTR was based – so either man could have made that decision and written on the original letter).  I am therefore copying the text of the entire letter below. Where a line is through the text, this appears to be Smyth’s own edits. Where the text is in red, this is what Smyth wrote originally that was then deleted before the letter saw publication. The remainder is exactly as was reproduced in Thy Kingdom Come on page 312 in most editions. It doesn’t add a lot to our understanding but is interesting now that the handwritten original has come to light after nearly 130 years. It makes you long for what else may still be out there – somewhere - to be re-discovered.

Clova, Ripon, England, Dec. 21, 1890

Wm. M. Wright, Esq.,

     Dear Sir: I have been rather longer than I could have wished in looking over the invaluable MS. so-called of your friend, C. T. Russell of Allegheny, Pa., but I have now completed a pretty careful examination, word by word. And that was the least I could do, when you so kindly took the pains to send it with such care between boards by registered parcel, with every page flat, and indited by the typewriter in place of the hand.

     At first I could only find slips of the said typewriter, a letter here or a letter there, so glaringly a mistake that it seemed a needless meddling on my part to take any notice of it. Yet exactly such little things often escape an author’s eye and enter into a very solemn book greatly to the prejudice of some particular part of it, as see on p. 4 line 5 ab imo a very terrible case of the perversion of the most cherished and sacred part of the meaning of the book and all its objects, by the introduction of the little word “of” where doubtless the author had with his own hand written “by”.

     Other little things I have noted in pencil but as I progressed through the pages, the powers, the specialties and the originalities of the Author came out magnificently; and there were not a few passages I should have been glad to take a copy of for quotation, with name, in the next possible edition of my own Pyramid book. But of course I did nothing of that sort, and shall wait with perfect patience and in most thankful mood of mind for when the author of Scripture Studies shall choose his own time for publishing. So I merely remark here that he is both good and new in much that he says on the chronology of various parts of the Pyramid,

especially the First Ascending Passage and its granite plug; on the Grand Gallery, as illustrating the Lord’s life; on the parallelisms between the King’s Chamber and its granite, against the Tabernacle and its gold; and generally on the confirmations or close agreements between Scripture and the Great Pyramid, well commented on in p. (15) 2.

     In the meanwhile, it seems that I am indebted to you for your kind gift of long ago of the first two volumes of Scripture Studies. I did not at the time get further than the first half of the first volume, finding the matter, as I thought, not quite so original and new as I had expected. But after having profited, as I hope, so much by a thorough reading of this advanced pyramid chapter of the third volume, I must take up the first two volumes again, de novo.

     The parcel will go back between its boards, registered. I remain, with many thanks,

     Yours respectfully,

     C. Piazzi Smyth

As noted in the letter, Smyth returned CTR’s manuscript. He made a few notes on it and CTR commented in Thy Kingdom Come on page 311 in most editions: “We thank Bro. Wright and Prof. Smyth for their kindness, and have followed the corrections indicated; which, however, only three in all, we were pleased to note were not of special importance. Only one of the criticisms was upon measurements, and it showed a variance of only one inch, which we gladly corrected.”

Smyth and Wright continued to write to each other. Two shorter letters from Smyth to Wright have survived from 1893. They refer to a serious accident Wright suffered. He was badly injured in a railroad accident in 1893 and in those pre-X ray days was never diagnosed or treated properly. He remained in considerable pain for the rest of his life.

Smyth died in 1900 and fittingly a pyramid monument was erected in the graveyard of St John’s Church, Sharow, near Ripon.

Photo credit Julia & Keld

Wright became one of the original trustees of the Rosemont Mount Hope and Evergreen United Cemeteries (as was CTR) established in Pittsburgh in April 1905. Sadly he was one of the first to require its services when he died on April 3, 1906. His funeral from the Bible House chapel was mentioned in ZWT for April 15, 1906 (reprints p. 3765).

His obelisk is just up the hill above the main Society plot where CTR is buried.

This photograph is looking up the hill to where the lesser known Watch Tower cemetery area is located. A closer look shows the Wright name and gives his dates.

The next photograph is looking at the monument from the other side, now looking down the hill.

Wright’s name is on the other side in this picture. You can see that this monument is alongside one of the narrow roads through the cemetery. Just out of shot to the right of this picture further down the hill is the Society’s section of graves with of course its own pyramid.

There is only one name on Wright’s obelisk. It was obviously intended for the whole family, but they would live elsewhere and were buried over a hundred and twenty miles away in Erie Cemetery, Pennsylvania. To confuse researchers there is a memorial stone for William there as well. However, his death certificate clearly shows United Cemeteries as his final resting place.

(When researching this article I contacted Bernhard to confirm Wright’s dates as a Watch Tower director. Bernhard sent so much biographical material on Wright that it deserves its own article, which hopefully will appear on this blog before not too long).

Books you should read - No. 2

These books, though they vary between flawed and boring, give you background to Russell era beliefs. As always, read with your mind turned on.

L. E. Froom: Prophetic Faith of Our Fathers, 4 vols. Slanted to give SDA belief a historic background it does not truly have, but it is complete enough to lead you to further research. Almost all of those Froom points to as prophetic expositors would have rejected SDA belief out of hand.

L. E. Froom: Conditionalist Faith of our Fathers, 2 vols.

Peters: Theocratic Kingdom, 3 vols. This is a lengthy theological discourse by a millennialist Lutheran. Its value lies in its many references to other writers, including Russell et. al., and to magazines and books that have disappeared or are nearly impossible to find. This is a primary source for the earliest Russell era. Conley and A. D. Jones financially supported Peters' research.