The funeral of Charles Taze Russell

Anyone writing on Watch Tower history must of necessity cover the death of the first president of the Incorporated Society, Charles Taze Russell. He had been on speaking trip out West in the United States. The last speaking assignment he was able to fulfill was at Los Angeles on October 29 and his travelling companion, Menta Sturgeon, had to deputize for him several times on this occasion. Gravely ill he tried to get back to Brooklyn but died on the train on October 31, 1916.

This article is specifically about the actual funeral arrangements. There are newspaper accounts of the day of variable quality, but basically there are two primary sources for the details. One is the special issue of the Watch Tower for December 1, 1916. This was a memorial issue, which covered CTR’s life as well as his death and funeral. The other, probably more interesting today, is the Bible Students’ unofficial newspaper, The St Paul Enterprise. The editor, William Abbott, attended the whole funeral, first in New York at the New York City Temple on November 5; then after an overnight train journey, in Pittsburgh on November 6. In Pittsburgh, Abbott was at both Carnegie Hall in the afternoon and then at the cemetery at dusk. He wrote a series of extremely candid and personal letters back to his wife, May Laura Abbott, about events and personal difficulties he faced. He had disagreements with certain well-known names in New York and felt he was being pressured not to publish funeral details before the Watch Tower did. Whether he originally meant his letters for publication is debateable, but his wife published them anyway, starting in the November 7, 1916, issue, and thus stole a march on the special Memorial issue of the Watch Tower.

 

Most newspapers said CTR died of “heart failure” which is a bit of a catch-all. Everybody dies of “heart failure,” but what caused it? He had been failing in health for a while, and according to an article John Adam Bohnet wrote in the Enterprise for November 14, 1916, for some time had been unable to deliver a lecture without medication first. The same article commented that CTR’s father, Joseph Lytle, looked younger and fitter at the age of 84 than CTR did at 64. Bohnet could make such an observation because he’d known Joseph personally. Although Bohnet didn’t elaborate, chronic cystitis was a major factor in the death; a very painful condition that can sometimes lead to renal failure and sepsis. A letter in the November 21 St Paul Enterprise from a Samuel Pearson, Congregational Pastor in Waynoka, Oklahoma where the death was certified noted:

This was confirmed by the Enterprise editor in the November 14 paper, when he borrowed Bohnet’s desk to write home and “could not fail to see on the burial permit that the cause of death was given as “Cystitis.”” Returning to Bohnet’s article, he concluded his description of CTR: “He literally wore himself out in the interest and service of truth and righteousness.”

CTR’s last will and testament was written back in 1907. In it he wrote: “I desire to be buried in the plot of ground owned by our Society, in the Rosemont United Cemetery.” Whether the exact spot was already mapped out at that early date is not known, but it would not include the grave of William Morris Wright, a former Watch Tower Society director, who had been buried there a year earlier in 1906. The area was further down the hill from Wright’s obelisk, and various plans subsequently took shape. In 1912 a Memorial pyramid was mooted for the center of the special site, and then came the first burial in 1914 at one of the corners. Then of course, CTR died and was buried there in 1916. Finally, the pyramid monument was completed in early 1920.

It was reported that CTR had chosen his own burial spot, in the middle of the top row of the site. There was speculation as to who might eventually be buried next to him. Ultimately, his sister Margaretta Russell Land was interred alongside him.

A number of photographs were taken on the day of the funeral and just before.

The first photograph is looking down the hill over the site of the grave. The superintendant’s office (the old Weibel farmhouse), where Bohnet lived at the time, is clearly seen. Two small grave markers can be seen in the grass. These were for Bible Students Arabella Mann and Mary Jane Whitehouse and their graves mark the bottom edge of the special Society plot in the cemetery. The three large headstones in front of the house are not marking actual graves, but were there for dispay and purchase.

 

The next picture is very poor quality because it is taken from the front page of the St Paul Enterprise newspaper for November 21, 1916. It is captioned: Grave of Pastor Russell, Showing House of Bro. Bohnet.

Then the picture below was dated November 6, the day of the funeral, but obviously was taken quite early in the day.

 

There is a grave to the right of the picture, actually from the row in front. This would be the grave for John Perry, who died in December 1915. His grave marks the side edge of the Watch Tower’s special section in the cemetery. 

Another photograph shows, amongst others, John Adam Bohnet, the main cemetery supervisior in its history and Andrew Pierson who looked after the floral arrangements.

 

Bohnet is on the right, his familiar bald head covered by a hat, and Pierson is second from the left with the goatie beard. John Perry’s grave can again be seen in the right of the picture.

Several photographs were then taken of the final stages of the funeral, which happened as dusk approached. First, there is the actual grave in readiness. The figure facing the camera is most likely John Adam Bohnet again.

 

Second is a photograph of some of the crowd of people as they waited for the coffin to approach.

Finally we have the coffin arriving. The light was now fading. There is only a short time between the previous photograph and this one.

 

A key point to note about the above photograph is that it appears to include CTR’s estranged wife, Maria.

It was stated in the 1975 Yearbook (page 68) and repeated in the Proclaimers book, that Maria Russell came to the funeral service at Carnegie Hall in Pittsburgh. Quoting from the 1975 Yearbook:

‘Anna K. Gardner, whose recollections are similar to those of others present, tells us this: “An incident occurred just before the services at Carnegie Hall that refuted lies told in the paper about Brother Russell. The hall was filled long before the time for the services to begin and it was very quiet, and then a veiled figure was seen to walk up the aisle to the casket and to lay something on it. Up front one could see what it was—a bunch of lilies of the valley, Brother Russell’s favorite flower. There was a ribbon attached, saying, ‘To My Beloved Husband.’ It was Mrs. Russell. They had never been divorced and this was a public acknowledgment.”’

A similar account can be found in the Watchtower magazine for October 1, 1994. In a life story account from someone else who attended the funeral, the author wrote:

“Sara Kaelin, a well-known colporteur in Pittsburgh, knew the Russells personally. At the funeral she saw Maria Russell place some flowers in the casket with the note, “To My Beloved Husband.” Though she had separated from him some years earlier, Maria still recognized him as her husband.”

The Russells’ marital difficulties are not the subject here, but it should be noted that they were never divorced in the sense of a complete dissolution of a marriage. Legally this is called a vinculo matrimonii (abbreviated to a.v.m.). This might help us understand Anna Gardner’s perception. The action taken by Maria was something different, officially called a mensa et thora (divorce from bed and board, or a.m.t.) which is defined as “a legal separation.” (See Grounds and Defenses to Divorce in Pennsylvania and by Robert A. Ebenstein, in the Villanova Law Revew Volume 15, issue 1 (1969) article 8.)

Newspapers loved the word “divorce” when linked to a religious figure, far more then than today, but using the word “divorce” for the Russells without qualifying what is meant could be misleading. The a.m.t. arrangement was far easier for a wife to achieve because it was very one-sided, her own conduct was not questioned, but it allowed neither party to ever remarry. CTR and Maria remained legally tied together. Extra support seems to have been Maria’s motivation. CTR continued to have financial responsibilities towards her, because an a.m.t. allowed her to seek permanent alimony. A “divorce” in the usual sense of the word would not have allowed Maria to pursue him for more money, which she continued to do even after his death if the Brooklyn Eagle newspaper is to be believed in its byeline for November 29, 1916.

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The Eagle characterizes “Mrs Russell” as the “wife” not the “ex-wife.” However, all we are really concerned with here is proof that Maria, perhaps with happier memories of times past, attended part of the funeral.

This testimony of the above witnesses at Carnegie Hall is also reinforced by William Abbott’s letters home to his wife. In the St Paul Enterprise for November 14 (page 3) he wrote:

“At the grave, two heavily veiled ladies followed the coffin, one on the arm of Brother Pyles of Washington, the other on the arm of another brother – I think it was Brother Driscoll. One of the ladies was Mrs Russell – a widow indeed and I shed a tear for her.”

 

This is supported by the last photograph. Although it was getting dark because of the time of day and time of year, one can make out the two veiled figures. They are identified with two arrows in this selective enlargement.

 

The second veiled figure was probably Maria’s sister Emma, the widow of Joseph Lytle Russell. The two women had lived together on and off since the turn of the century and would continue to do so until Emma’s death in 1929.

John Adam Bohnet supervised the lowering of the coffin into the grave. It was buried in its outer packing case, and the whole incased in cement. This was managed by Andrew Pierson who also supervised the extensive floral tributes.

The funeral took place in November 1916. It was to be nearly four years before a permanent marker for CTR was erected for his grave. A temporary marker was in place for a photograph in a 1919 convention report. In February 1920, The New Era Enterprise newspaper (the former St Paul Enterprise) reported that a permanent memorial stone was in production. It was certainly in place by 1921 because it was featured on the cover of the program of the Watch Tower Society’s annual meeting in Pittsburgh in late October of that year.

The picture that would eventually appear on the front of the grave marker was given away as a supplement to the Watch Tower magazine with its issue of November 1, 1918.

 

Visitors today will see a different picture on the gravestone. Vandals have chipped out the picture on more than one occasion over the years, and the current replacement photograph today is not the same as the original one.

Night photograph courtesy of WAHT Publishing Company 

Due to vandalism, the photograph on the rear of the stone has also been replaced on more than one occasion, but always with the same picture.

 This photograph had been taken by William Roy Mitchell on September 10, just seven weeks before the death. It was taken in the Mitchell Photographic Studio in Los Angeles when CTR was there at a convention chaired by J F Rutherford, part of a series with long distance trains organized by Dr. Leslie Jones. But no sooner had CTR returned to Brooklyn than he started out on his final tour which took him back to Los Angeles.

Addenda

I have been asked about the photographer, William Roy Mitchell. Mitchell (1867-1934) was a Bible Student whose business address was 619 S Broadway, Los Angeles. Below is a sticker from a Manna book for him.

The May 1902 date refers to his becoming a Bible Student. Mitchell produced a number of studio photographs of CTR at different times, and also at least one photograph of J F Rutherford.