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Thursday, September 30, 2021

Addenda for Henry Weber


A recent post (September 21) reviewed the photograph of Henry Weber, who was a Society director for nearly 12 years and who died in 1904.

At least one of his children stayed with the Society. His daughter, Diana, lived to be 93, and her funeral notice from the Cumberland Evening Times of 3 April 1971 made the point that she was one of Jehovah’s Witnesses.




Thursday, September 23, 2021

From Zion's Watch Tower to The Watch Tower - Why?


    Guest post by Gary


     First produced in July 1879 as Zion’s Watch Tower and Herald of Christ’s Presence, on January 1, 1909, the magazine’s title was changed to The Watch Tower and Herald of Christ’s Presence. But why was this?


      The book Jehovah’s Witnesses – Proclaimers of God’s Kingdom explained that the name of the magazine changed “in order to focus attention more clearly on the objective of the magazine.”(1) But more can be added which it was not necessary for the passing mention in the Proclaimers book to include.


     Popular religious ideas in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century featured the thought, still held by many today, that the Jews who had become dispersed throughout the nations would eventually return to the Holy Land under the slogan of “Zionism.” Indeed, Pastor Russell shared such a belief which is apparent in his writings and perhaps reflected in the name originally chosen for the magazine he published. But it was not until the 1930s that Jehovah’s Witnesses adjusted their perspective from the natural nation of Israel to “Spiritual Israel.”(2) So why was it that reference to Zion was dropped from the name of the magazine as early as 1909? 


     The answer is provided in the magazine’s last issue of 1908 which explains that some members of the public were wrongly assuming the magazine was related to John Alexander Dowie, who in 1900 had founded the city of Zion, Illinois, 40 miles north of Chicago.  To quote:


     “With the New Year we expect to drop the word "Zion's" in the title of our Journal, because many of the friends inform us that the word is objectionable, having been so much used by Mr. Dowie and his followers. They report that our Journal is frequently cast aside under the supposition that it is published under Dowie's auspices, or in some manner affiliated with Zion City, which he founded. The new name, THE WATCH TOWER, is the one by which the Journal is usually mentioned.”(3)


     So who was Dowie and why did Russell see need to distance from him?  Dowie was a Scottish-Australian immigrant who, like Russell, believed in an end-times restoration of true worship. Unlike Russell, Dowie believed this restoration necessitated a return to apostolic gifts including faith healing. In contrast, Russell believed that “the necessity for miracles as introductions to the Gospel message is no longer manifest” and that, consequently, “We are inclined to look with suspicion upon miraculous healings of the present time, whether done by Mormons or by Christian Scientists or by Christian Alliance people or by Mr Dowie and his followers or others.”(4)


     A charismatic figure, Dowie had settled in Chicago and in 1893 gained considerable attention at the World’s Fair.  He launched his own publishing house, Zion Publishing, and started a weekly newsletter, Leaves of Healing which ran until 1909. Between 1894 and 1901 Dowie founded the Christian Catholic Apostolic Church which is said to have attracted some 6,000 adherents by the start of the twentieth century, some of whom were keen to invest money in Dowie’s new city, founded in 1901, and its Zion Bank which, of course, was controlled by Dowie. In 1899, Dowie claimed to be "God's Messenger" and, by 1901, was considered by followers to be Elijah the Restorer.  


     Dowie taught adherents to abstain from tobacco, alcohol, pork, doctors, medicines and “apostate churches.”


     Additionally he welcomed African-Americans into his new city which had only one church.  All seemed to be going well with this utopian city, but as it grew in size and prosperity, Dowie adopted an increasingly lavish lifestyle, building himself a 25-room mansion and adorning himself in ornate ecclesiastical robes modeled after those worn by Aaron, the high priest of Israel.



Dowie from Wikipedia

     Unsurprisingly perhaps, Dowie proved spiritually and financially untrustworthy as the entire structure of Zion soon fell into debt, and eventually crashed with Dowie becoming unable to handle his affairs. By 1905, he had suffered a stroke and left Zion to recuperate. While absent he was deposed from his business affairs and religious leadership by a colleague whose investigators claimed huge amounts of money were unaccounted for. A splinter group rejected the new leadership and left Zion with some embracing the budding Pentecostal movement.  Meanwhile Dowie attempted to recover his authority through litigation, but ultimately retired and accepted an allowance, which was paid until his death in 1907.


     Evidently therefore, the deletion of the word “Zion’s” shifted focus away from a disreputable competitor, as Russell was keen to distance his magazine from even the slightest semblance of Dowie.  In so doing, the magazine could “focus attention more clearly on its objective” as Herald of Christ’s Presence.  

 

References:


(1) Jehovah’s Witnesses - Proclaimers of God’s Kingdom p.724


(2) In discussing Jeremiah 31:31-34, for instance, the book Jehovah, published by Jehovah’s Witnesses in 1934, stated conclusively: “The new covenant has nothing to do with the natural descendants of Israel and with mankind in general, but . . . is limited to spiritual Israel.”


(3) Zion’s Watch Tower December 1908, p.372, R4294. Another concern, at the time, was that African churches and papers used the word ‘Zion’ extensively, which led some to inquire whether the magazine was written for black people when, in fact, the Watch Tower aimed for a multiracial audience.

 

(4) Zion’s Watch Tower January 1904 p.14, Reprints p. 3301.                               

(5) For further reading on Dowie, see From Sect to Cult to Sect: The Christian Catholic Church in Zion, Ph.D dissertation by Warren Jay Beaman, Iowa State University, 1990.


Tuesday, September 21, 2021

Henry Weber


A year or more ago there was a flurry of correspondence on this blog about a picture hanging on the wall of the Bible House parlor. Who was it? Was it perhaps an elderly Joseph Lytle Russell? After some skillful manipulation of the image it was established that it appeared to be Henry Weber, former vice-president of Zion’s Watch Tower Society, holding a copy of Millennial Dawn.

I have only just noticed that this same photograph – face on – has been in the Society’s historical exhibition. Earlier today I was watching the 2014 video of the exhibition that opened in Brooklyn, and there – on the wall – was Henry Weber.

Here is a screen grab from the film.


Below is a close up.

 


Obviously when visits to the new exhiition in Warwick are allowed one might be able to get a much clearer picture, and of course it may be in a different place in the current exhibition.

Henry was a director of the Society for nearly 12 years. He died in 1904. He was a horticulturist and his company H Weber and Sons, lasted until 1978. The records of the company were ultimately donated to the Smithsonian Institute by a descendant.


Wednesday, September 15, 2021

J F Rutherford talks 1914-1917


When what became World War 1 started J F Rutherford was in Hamburg, Germany. This wasn’t a problem as America didn’t enter the war until April 1917. JFR traveled back home and was soon giving the talk “Destiny of Men and Nations.” Below is a cutting from the Washington Times for November 19, 1914.



He took this same talk to his former home area of Versailles. Below is an advertisement for the talk on December 2. The year is not given, but it was likely 1914, which would have been a Wednesday evening. No newspaper reports have surfaced to confirm the date, but it was most probably in 1914. This talk was advertised in various places up to the middle of 1915. It could just possibly have been on December 1915 (which would have been a Thursday evening) but by December 1916 he would have been in Brooklyn prior to being elected as president of the Watch Tower Society.


By December 1917 America was in the war, and the IBSA was in difficulties. JFR’s main talk had also changed subject – slightly.

 


The date for this talk can only be 1917 and America had now entered the war. Below is the location for this talk. It is the building with the tall brick surround in the center of the photograph.


With grateful thanks to Tom who supplied the last two images.


J F Rutherford talks 1920-1921


On May 22, 1921, at the now historic Kismet Temple in Brooklyn, J F Rutherford gave his famous Millions talk. Below is an advertising leaflet.


The Kismet building is still standing and below are two photographs of the exterior.

 



(The one in color is taken from Wikipedia and dates from 2013)


The leaflet provided some interesting information. JFR had just returned from visiting Palestine and Egypt. There he had been involved in two of the Kinemo films which were eventually given general release in 1922. JFR did a kind of Alfred Hitchcock cameo appearance in both of them.


The leaflet also mentions events the previous year (1920) when the same subject had been presented at the New York Hippodrome, and where the crowds had been so large some could not gain admittance.


Below is a postcard showing the exterior.


 


The Hippodrome was demolished in 1939. The reverse of the postcard describes its original capacity.

 

A photograph exists of the interior during JFR’s”standing room only” lecture.

 

All photographs and ephemera came from Tom’s collection.  With grateful thanks for sharing.


Tuesday, September 7, 2021

Bruce

Bruce had his surgery today, the first of two. It went well, but he is experiencing significant pain. He will be away from his blog for some time.

- Anastasia d'isles-Stewart

The "joys" of old documents

 

One of the “joys” of historical research is deciphering old documents. Forget issues like Latin or ancient languages, just the vagaries of time on writing materials, coupled with a hit and miss approach by scanners, can create unwanted puzzles.

To illustrate, below is a document where the puzzle has been solved, but it still illustrates the problem when, for example, you don’t have newspaper confirmation of events.




This register of deaths from Washington State is from 1905. Homing in on one entry, can you make out whose name this is?




To put you out of your misery, this is Barbour, Nelson H. Yes, it is THAT Nelson Barbour, dying away from home on August 30, 1905.

The date can be worked out from other more legible dates on the page.

Travelling along the line we find more information. So what do you make of this?



Deciphering the columns, Nelson was 81 when he died.

He was M – i.e. male

He was widowed

Where did the death happen? Do – i.e. ditto from the name Tacoma hgher up the page.

And Nelson died from?




By a comparison with other entries on the page, Nelson died from “exhaustion.”  The word is more clearly seen for other deceased persons on the page. It seems to be a fairly common event for the time and area. Its vagueness is similar to descriptions often given of people dying from “heart failure.” (CTR is an example of this). It is a sort of catch-all; everyone dies from heart failure, but the real question is, what caused it? What caused Nelson to die from “exhaustion?”

The continuing line goes onto the next page, asking where from, names of parents, etc. but this is all blank for Nelson. The information was not available or at least was not recorded, although they obviously knew where he was from because his body was sent nearly three thousand miles back home to be buried alongside his late wife, Emeline.

Headstone in Throopville Rural Cemetery, Auburn, New York.

For some reason the Proclaimers book says he died in 1906, but the date as above was 1905.


Sunday, September 5, 2021

Some Reminders

 

We have strayed from this blog’s purpose. It is my fault, but I am with this post remedying the problem.

1. This is not a news site. I do not intend it as a forum for current news about Jehovah’s Witnesses or related groups. While I have allowed the posts on the Pyramid monument, doing so has led us away from this blog’s focus which is solely to present well-researched history of the Russell era. I will not allow news features in the future.

2. This is a history site, not a controversialist site. Accordingly, I do not accept links to videos that are polemic in nature. Don’t post any links to a youtube video. If you believe a video adds value to my blog, enquire.

3. Keep your feelings for or against the Watchtower to yourself. They have no place here. If you must express them, post them on a more appropriate site. This blog draws interest from academics, from Witnesses, from former Witnesses and from the merely curious. It is not, however, a place for you to express your pro- or anti-Witness beliefs. We’ve had too much of that lately. I’m not taking down articles or comments that cross that line, but I will not allow them in the future.

4. DO NOT LINK TO THIS BLOG VIA FACEBOOK. EVER

Saturday, September 4, 2021

Handbills

 I need scans of handbills from the 1940s and 1950s. Anyone?

Friday, September 3, 2021

More on the United Cemeteries' Pyramid


WHAT PYRAMID?



 

The pyramid was removed very carefully on September 1. These photographs are from September 2. On top of the CTR grave stone is a small piece of granite salvaged from the pyramid site. 

For the background as to what led up to this, see the post from August 22.


Thursday, September 2, 2021

Usher Instructions

 Usher Instructions was a four page instruction sheet for convention administration in the 1930-40s. I need a good pdf scan of it. Anyone?