Barbour the Inventor

 The New York, New York Tribune, January 31, 1868.

National Labor Tribune

 A guest post by Liam C., an exceptional researcher and friend to this blog.

I've reorganized the paragraphing from the original article for ease of reading.

Russell History Rediscovered 

            N.E. Nelson's Pastor Russell and His Mission, published in the National Labor Tribune (February 1913), details the Bible Student movement's history up to that time. Expanded in Pastor Russell and His Mission Culminates in the Reformation (October 1913), it formed the basis for Nelson’s partially surviving manuscript, Pastor Russell’s Sphere in the Reformation. Widely read by Bible Students, possibly including Russell, it reflects some followers’ views on his mission, though its representation of the broader movement is debatable. Typos are corrected and formatting adjusted for readability, with transcription aided by Text Sniper. Thanks to Jeff M for accessing the National Labor Tribune archives. 

Pastor Russell and His Mission by N.E. Nelson, of Duquesne, PA. 

            Pastor Russell, the eminent Divine of Brooklyn Tabernacle, Author, Editor, Traveler and Lecturer of international fame, is occupying an important position in the limelight of publicity. He occupies a position which at first glance seems a revolutionary one, and dangerous in the sense that if what he advocates and teaches should become general, it would mean a general smash-up of creeds and sectarianism considered by some a necessary pillar in the structure of society. But a perusal of his writings will develop that he appreciates keenly that construction must precede dissolution, and his teachings are decidedly constructive.

            Yet the paradox exists that the system of theology of which he is, humanly speaking, the author, differs radically in its fundamental principles from both Heathendom and Christendom. The Millennial Dawn Theology is irreconcilable with the so-called Orthodox System. Pastor Russell espousing this theology has placed himself in opposition to the fundamental principles of all Christian Seminaries and Schools. At first glance it would seem strange to claim that he is right and the many wrong, yet history contains many similar instances: When Nature produces a thinker, everything in the nature of Philosophy is at stake. Many of the old theories formed by observing the wonders of Nature have been consigned to oblivion by the discovery of some new fact. When a theory has been exploded in one branch of human knowledge, the tremor is felt in all branches and many lines of thought have to be remodeled to suit the new discovery. Instances have been known where certain branches of inquiry have been entirely revolutionized through the persistency of some one Individual outside of the accepted school.

            Pastor Russell is like one of those comets that travel in the orbit of a hyperbole. He does not travel in the ellipses or known orbits of a decaying Medieval Theology. Pastor Russell is a Reformer! Pastor Russell is a product of our times as John Wesley was a product of the corruption of Oxford University-the idleness and dissipation of the inmates of that institution made of him one of the great reformers of history. Pastor Russell is best known to the world through his fearless and relentless attacks upon the doctrine of Endless Misery.

            He has made the discovery that the Hell of Dante and Milton is no part of the Divine Revelation and since the Clergy will not make the fact known to the world, he is doing it, Here is his apology for his mission: "If the Bible does teach that Eternal Torture is the fate of all except the Saints, it should be preached, yea thundered, weekly, daily, hourly. If it does not so teach, the fact should be known and the foul stain dishonouring God's holy name removed. "Pastor Russell's spiritual lineage traces to Henry Ward Beecher and John Wesley. It was Luther, Calvin and Knox that burst the seal which Papacy had placed upon the Bible during the Dark Ages.

            The Reformation started by these three contemporaries almost simultaneously in Germany, France and Scotland, was the undertow of the Italian Renaissance and gave birth to the Calvinistic branch of Protestantism. The spirit of the Reformation has since been kept alive by Wesley, Beecher and Russell.

            The black picture of Absolute Predestination served as a background for, the three leading lights of the Arminian branch, who approached the doctrine of the Atonement from the standpoint of Love (Free Grace) instead of Justice (Election.) Russell's system of Theology embraces harmoniously these two variant thoughts of the Calvanistic and Wesleyan branches—Election and Free Grace, which made the Bible appear as a fiddle upon which any tune could be played. These two conflicting doctrines find their place in the Divine Economy when received in the light of the “Divine Plan of the 'Ages" Pastor Russell’s first book. The doctrine of Election has been true in the past and present in which God has been training and schooling individuals in the principles of Righteousness to constitute an institution which God will use in the future in the dispensation of Free Grace in dispensing His blessings to all mankind.

            Henry Ward Beecher's Theology, like Wesley's, was of Arminian cast, but he has been classed with the Independent (whose theology is Calvinistic) on account of his church government. The Independent churches have the correct form of government but wrong doctrines. Like Paine and Jefferson, who made a specialty of Page of 1 6 politics and incidentally of religion, Beecher took a hand in assisting Lincoln against slavery in the South, but his vocation was in the religious sphere-his work is now crystallized into the Plymouth Church.

            Wesley and Beecher in turn have broken down creed fences, and shattered denominational errors. They have been scouts in the vanguard of the marching army of Christians, and, like Russell, they have been mistaken by their own forces for the enemy. The main army is now approaching and Russell is being recognized as the prophetic scout of True Christianity. His literature is resurrecting Primative Christianity from the rubbish of Paganism, Platonism and Nicomo Dogmatism, and is an offset to Modern Rationalism running amuck. This is being successfully accomplished by Pastor Russell amongst God-fearing people. Concerning the reformer John Wesley, Hubbard has remarked, "Philosophers with the, brains of Newton, Spencer, Hogel and Schoponhauer, could never have done the work of Wesley.

            Had Wesley known more he would have done less. He was a God-intoxicated man—his heart was aflame with Divine Love." In line with these remarks we have to say that knowledge is not the chief end of Life; it is only a means to an end, and that end is Service. We hail the man that will step forward and shoulder the responsibility. To lay down his life in the service of others, is the most noble and honorable of vocations. A man that does this must of necessity have a large heart. The Head and Heart should be trained for Service.

            Pastor Russell differs radically from Wesley in that the poetical and sentimental characteristics of the latter, are entirely foreign to his nature: he is calm, calculating and often severe. His personality is not revealed in his writings. He is decidedly entertaining in conversation, with a grey eye of slow movement sparkling with a streak of subtle Irish wit that cannot be traced in his literature. In conversation he is strangely open, with child-like simplicity, seeing the comic side of everything, whereas in his literature, he is serious abstruse and profound. He is not addicted to inventing new words, as is the case of many writers, to represent the delicate shades and tints of the subjects that he deals with, but clothes his lofty themes with common English colored with expressions borrowed from the Scripture.

            For this reason, he is often misunderstood by many of his colleagues and has learned from experience, the truthfulness of Emerson's remark- "It is a fault of our rhetoric that we cannot strongly state one fact without seeming to belie some other."

            Pastor Russell possesses more depth than brilliancy. He is more of a Seer and Teacher than a Philosopher and Logician. Although his genius consists pre-eminently in intuition, his writings are fused with a vein of logic that identifies him with the Apostle Paul, as his prototype. But his success is due more to his powers of concentration and faithfulness to principle, than his Phrenological endowment. He is not without deficiencies and faults; a well balanced man like David could not accomplish the work that is outlined for Russell. For a strong man to change the complexion of the spirit of an age, he must of necessity lean the other way. Russell is the man in the right place!

            Pastor Russell is a voluminous writer. His books consists of seven volumes (six of which are published and in circulation) with the serial title of "Millennial Dawn." He is the editor of "The Watch Tower," a semi monthly companion to the books and several auxiliary monthly and quarterly papers. Those have been appearing regularly since 1874.

            He is the Compiler, not Author, of most of the matter that appears in the first three volumes of the Millennial Dawn Series. The central idea set forth in the first of the series-"The Divine Plan of the Ages" harmonizes many seemingly conflicting passages of Scripture into a symphoneous whole. The view therein presented saved his own faith in the Bible as a Divine Revelation, from being swamped in the sea of infidelity that is flooding Christendom. The discovery of this central thought, the division of God's plan into times and seasons, is just as important to Theology as the discovery of Copernicus is to science-that the Sun is the center of the Solar System. In either case all seeming contradictions and confusions in Scripture or movements of the planets disappeared-order, system and harmony prevails.

            As a result of this discovery Pastor Russell absolutely refused to have anything to do with any line of thought that conflicted with the Cross of Christ, so prominently set forth in the Scriptures. At a time when the leading stars of the Ecclesiastical Heavens are teaching that the most important fact in Jesus' mission was, not his death, but his life and teachings, at this timely moment Russell's faithfulness to his convictions has been rewarded in his being the instrumentality of producing and presenting to the Christian world his masterpiece- "The -at-one-ment Between God and Man." The doctrine of the Atonement, the very foundation of the Christian religion, which seems so ridiculous as popularly understood in the light of present day advancement, has at last been placed on a rational and philosophic basis by being interpreted in the light of the "Divine Plan of the Ages." Christ's death is still more important to True Christianity than his life and teachings. Pastor Russell has done for the Cross of Christ, what Jesus himself did while on earth for the Mosaic Law, "He magnified it and made it honorable." The Christian World now has a Theology with the "Completeness of a Science and the precision of Algebra."

            Pastor Russell's mission is threefold (1) The first consists in erasing from the Bible the muddy stains that it received from its contact with Pagan and during the Dark Age, consisting principally of: (A) Endless Misery of the Non-elect. (B) The nonsensical conception of God represented by Trinitarians. (C) The literal phase of the Platonic Philosophy of Immortality or the Natural Inherent Immortality of the Soul, All these he has decidedly proven to be of human origin; that they are the products of the human mind in an outcast condition feeling after God with an untrained reason if haply they might find him.

            The second feature of his mission consists of his being at the head of the only systematic and effectual movement in the entire Christian field that is saving God's people from the wave of Atheism that is sweeping through every College and Seminary in civilized lands "The Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society," a business not a church organization. The movement is so effectual and systematic, with little or no parliamentary machinery in evidence and yet so thoroughly organized, that it has incited the wonder and admiration of those who are doing everything in their power to quell it.

            The Society's work is divided into three departments, (A) The Colporteur Department, (B) the Peoples Pulpit Association which manages a staff, consisting of qualified public lecturers, (C) The Newspaper Syndicate, which looks after the publication of Pastor Russell's sermons, advertising, etc., and which has his sermons in the leading news papers in the United States and England, numbering about two thousand. Barring the exceptions of those coming from the professional walks, the rank and file of these various departments are mustered from the "International Bible Students Association" or small Berean Bible Classes that are scattered throughout the two continents.

            These small groups use in connection with their Bible study, the publications of the Society, hence. it is worked on the “Seminary Extension" plan which develops the talents of all by the full liberty of expression granted, and the public speakers graduated from these Ecclessias do not have their individuality ironed out. They are mustered into service and sent out on tours like John Wesley, the circuit rider. But instead of the slow transit of horseback days the speakers of this new reform movement are carried by rapid transit over circuits that envelop the globe. They follow one right after another, visiting and stimulating the interest already awakened in Bible study and character building, and at the same time holding public meetings that have been advertised by the Society through the local representatives.

            According to the yearly requests of the small Berean Bible classes wherever they exist, these circuits are outlined from the Home office and its branches in England, Germany, Sweden, Australia, etc. The small Bible classes are started principally by the Colporteur Department which is self-supporting. The territory is mapped out for the army of self-sacrificing Christians consisting principally of those 'who are not encumbered with domestic ties, but in many instances the homes have been willingly broken up and the children placed in the hands of relatives in order that the parents may be of some assistance in spreading the "Good News of the Kingdom" and taking part in the "Harvest Work!" Can one beat this for religious zeal? This is done without being urged, merely a correct understanding of the movement is sufficient!

            The territory in which this army works, embraces all of the thickly populated sections of the United States, Canada, England, Germany, Sweden, Australia, in fact, everywhere that a sufficient number of sales can be made to pay expenses. After a given place has been covered, the ground is gone over again by the same parties with a view to stimulate sufficient interest to institute a Bible Class. The addresses of purchasers of the books are sent to the Home Office and from there they are reminded of the contents of the books they have purchased. Hence, the Bible Classes are made up of people from every imaginable cast of religion, and race, but mostly from the great common people, the middle classes. The secret of the immense amount of work accomplished, as shown in their annual reports, by such a small force and comparatively small amount of capital, of which positively not one cent is solicited, but all is obtained by voluntary contributions, lies in the fact that there is embodied into the Society the principles of the primitive church. Local Elders receive no financial compensation for service. The only ones who receive any financial remuneration are they who are directly connected with the movement by devoting their entire time to the work, and these consist principally of the office force and traveling lecturers. Merely living and traveling expenses are paid to each. From the president of the society down to the janitor in the office, each receives a like amount. Here we have the wage system of Edward Bellamy's “Looking Backwards," actually applied. The place works admirably and automatically sifts out drones from the large family of energetic and self-sacrificing Christians, who all dine at the Bethel Home, formerly the Brooklyn home of Henry Ward Beecher, the leading spirit of the Plymouth Church.

            This brief sketch of this movement started in the seventies by N. H. Barbour, J. H. Paton and C. T. Russell in the city of Allegheny, Pa. (now Pittsburgh. North Side), which is so effectually accomplishing the "Harvest Work” which these men believed back there was the work of the hour, may afford an intelligent appreciation of how Pastor Russell's book "The Divine Plan of the Ages" has reached such an enormous circulation in so short a period.

            The following paragraphs are an editorial from the "Overland Monthly" for January, 1910: "During the past year the Overland Monthly has been running a very instructive series of articles by C. T. Russell, Pastor of Brooklyn Tabernacle, New York. These articles have created widespread attention, calling forth columns of newspaper comment in a manner most remarkable. Mr. Russell’s books have a larger circulation than any English work. Of his work entitled "Studies in the Scriptures," the average output is two thousand three hundred copies for each working day. In one year seven hundred and twenty-eight thousand, four hundred and seventy-four volumes were sold. Since publication over five million volumes have been circulated. In addition to these there were several hundred million pages of his tracts circulated. Of all literature the Bible is about the only book that has had a larger circulation. The Chinese Almanac printed by the Imperial Press has a circulation of eight million. The Bible is way ahead of this, one society alone having circulated over one hundred and seventy million copies. But in American literature, Mr. Russell stands first. In the literature of the world, the order would probably be as follows: The Bible, the Chinese Almanac, the "Studies in the Scripture," "Don Quixote," “Uncle Tom's Cabin" and Hubbard's “Message to Garcia.”

            The third feature of Pastor Russell's mission consists of infusing religious zeal into the Zionist Movement started back in the seventies by prominent Jews. This phase of his mission had its initial start in October, 1910, when he addressed a large mass meeting of Hebrews in New York City, The account of this incident was reported by the "New York American" on October 2 and 9, 1910. The account will serve to show the remarkable strides made by him since he started on the platform. Emanating from the commercial life of Pittsburgh, Pa., to the rostrum, he had no training as public speaker and yet this man accomplished the remarkable feat 'of swaying a Jewish audience that had absolutely no sympathy with Christianity. The account follows in part:- “The unusual spectacle of 4,000 Hebrews enthusiastically applauding a Gentile preacher after having listened to a sermon he addressed to them concerning their own religion, was presented at the Hippodrome yesterday afternoon, where Pastor Russell, the famous head of the Brooklyn Tabernacle, conducted a most unusual service.” “In his time the venerable pastor has done many unconventional things. His religion is bounded by no particular denomination. and encompasses, as he says, all mankind. His ways of teaching it are his own. But he never did a more unconventional thing than this nor a more successful one. He won over an audience that had come-some of it, at least-prepared to debate with him, to resent perhaps, what might have appeared like a possible intrusion. ‘Pastor Russell is going to try to convert the Jews to Christianity, was the word that many had received before the meeting. 'He wants to proselyte us.' " "In the crowd which filled the big showhouse were scores of rabbis and teachers, who had come to speak out in case the Christian attacked their religion or sought to win them from it. They had questions and criticisms ready for him. He was received at first in a dead silence.

            But the pastor did not seek to convert the Jews. To their unbounded delight, he pointed out the good things of their religion, agreed with them in their most important beliefs as to their salvation, and finally, after a warm advocacy of the plan of the Jews establishing a nation of their own, brought about a tumult of applause by leading a choir in the Zichist anthem: "Hatikva-Our Hope.” "A more interesting audience the Hippodrome never held, perhaps. From all parts of the city came serious-minded Hebrews to hear what it was an alien, a gentile, might have to say to them at a service, held during their week of feasting, Rosh Hoshana. They were quiet, well-dressed, thinking men and women. Among them were many prominent figures of the Hebrew literary world. Some of these escorted Pastor Russell to the Hippodrome in a motor car and then took places in the Auditorium.

            The literary men recognized the pastor as a writer and investigator of international fame on the subject of Judaism and Zionism. Some of those present were Dr. Jacobs, editor of the American Hebrew; W. J. Solomon, of the Hebrew Standard; J. Brosky, associate editor of the same: Louis Lipsky, editor of the Maccabean; A. B. Landau, of the Warheit; Leo Wolfson, president of the Federation of Romanian Societies; J. Pfeffer, of the Jewish Weekly; S. Diamont, editor of the Jewish Spirit; S. Goldberg, editor of the American Hebrew; J. Barrondess, of the Jewish Big Stick, and Goldman, editor of the H'Yom, the only Jewish daily."

            There were no preliminaries. Pastor Russell, tall, erect and white-bearded, walked across the stage without introduction, raised his hand, and his double quartette from the Brooklyn Tabernacle sang the hymn, “Zion's Glad Day." But still there seemed an air of aloofness about the audience. They did not applaud, but sat silently watching the stalwart figure of the Pastor. When he began to talk, however, they gave him respectful attention. With a powerful, yet charming voice, that filled the great playhouse, the unconventional clergyman made his every word audible to every hearer. His tones please their ears, his graceful gestures soon captivated their eyes, and in a few moments his apparently thorough knowledge of his subject appealed to their minds. Though still silent, the 4,000 were ‘warming up' to him.

            It was not long before all reserve, and all possible doubt of Pastor Russell's entire sincerity and friendliness were worn away. Then the mention of the name of a great Jewish leader-who, the speaker declared, had been raised by God for the cause-brought a burst of applause.” "From that moment on the audience was his. The Jews became as enthusiastic over him as though he had been a great rabbi or famous orator of their own religion. He hailed them as one of the bravest races of the earth – having kept their faith through the persecutions and cruelties of all other people for thousands of years. And he predicted that before very long they would be the greatest of the earth-not merely a people any longer, but a nation.

            By a system of deductions based upon the prophecies of old, the pastor declared that the return of the kingdom of the Jews might occur at so near a period as the year 1914. Persecution would be over and peace and universal happiness would triumph." "As he brought his address to a conclusion the pastor raised his hand again to his choir; this time they raised the quaint, foreign sounding strains of the Zion hymn, "Our Hope,’ one of the masterpieces of the eccentric East Side poet, Imber. The unprecedented incident of Christian voices singing the Jewish anthem came as a tremendous surprise. For a moment the Hebrew auditors could hardly believe their ears, Then, making sure it was their own hymn, they first cheered and clapped with such ardor that the music was drowned out, and then, with the second verse, joined in by hundreds.”

`           The business tactics of the Newspaper Syndicate employed in connection with advertising his lectures and travels throughout the world are not his personal preference. They are tolerated in the interest of the cause he represents. His popularity is due principally to this. The real message and man is not known to the public as they are to those who are identified with the movement. The poetic and perfective scouts-the vanguards of civilization-are never understood by their contemporaries, not until their death is the universal mind awakened and the people out of a stupor sit up and take notice.

            The only popular books are those that tell you what you already knew, but could not express. They see little who see only what is palpable to sense and sight, and should a writer say more than you can understand. Congratulate yourself on being out-witted. Keep your poise and if you are worthy you will understand. The serenest view is obtained when no personal interest is involved.

            We supplement this article with the following biographic sketch from a phamplet by the Pastor Russell Lecture Bureau, gleaned from an article in the National Encyclopedia of American Biography, Vol. 12:-

            Charles Taze, second son of Joseph L. and Ann. Eliza (Birney) Russell, was born in Pittsburgh, Pa., in 1852. At the age of three the Russell children began to receive their "first impressions" on religion, some of which have since been shattered, notably those relating to the supposed literal lake of fire as a place of eternal torment for the unsaved. Up to the age of fifteen Russell believed, as gospel truth, all and only such doctrines as his sectarian ministers had taught him. To learn to understand doctrines at that period was very difficult, as the clergy usually discouraged individual Bible research and the asking of questions on doctrines was then considered equivalent to doubting, and "to doubt was to be damned." The dissipation of this superstitious reverence and fear awaited only such time as he should attempt to defend by the Scriptures his particular sectarian views, and subsequent events justify the thought that Providence had decreed that just at this juncture young Russell should attempt to reclaim an infidel acquaintance to Christianity. By skilfull questions, which were unanswerable by either minister or laymen from their sectarian standpoints, and by the maneuvering of many seemingly paradoxical Scriptures, the infidel completely routed young Russell, who within a few months became an admitted skeptic. Here, as in nearly every similar case, the Bible was discarded together with the doctrines' of the creed. Few, indeed, under such circumstances, study the Scriptures to see whether they had been properly interpreted, and Charles Taze Russell was no exception. As he desired to learn the truth regarding the hereafter, the next few years were devoted to the investigation of the claims of the leading Oriental religions, all of which he found to be unworthy of credence, hence we see him arriving at manhood's estate with a mind unsatisfied, and a mind which, despite all efforts to the contrary, was still subject to its occasional bad hours on account of its "first impression" on the eternal torment theology. At twenty-one Mr. Russell was possessed of much knowledge and voluminous data on "religion" as believed in and practiced in all parts of the world. Apparently these were to become of no value to himself or others because of large business responsibilities that were placed on him at this time. Days grew into weeks and weeks into months and he found less and less time to devote to the theological research, and the solace for heart and head so diligently sought for seemed as remote to him as ever. The question that here confronted him was, "Shall I try longer to find the truth on religion? Or shall I smother the hope of finding it and strive for fame and fortune among the financial and commercial captains of the time?" The latter he was about to do, but fortunately he decided to search first the Scriptures from a skeptic's standpoint, for its own answer on hell-fire and brimstone. Amazed at the harmonious testimony, providing an unexpected but satisfactory answer, he undertook systematic Bible research, and was brought to a complete confidence in the Bible as being inspired by an all-wise, powerful, just and loving Creator, worthy of adoration and worship. Thus a sure anchor for a fainting hope was found, and an honest truth seeking heart was made glad. To gladden the hearts of others was his new ambition, and the question then was, "What should he do and how should he do it? Determining, if possible, to reach every truth seeker, whether Catholic, Protestant, Jew or Freethinker, he found it necessary to stand free from all sectarian bonds and to inaugurate an independent work. His first work was the preparation and free distribution of over one million copies of a booklet, “Food for Thinking Christians." Thirty-five years as a public and private teacher on Bible topics has served to prove that he can best reach and teach the public from an unsectarian standpoint, therefore he has remained "independent." In a remarkably short time, as a result of the publication of the booklet, "Food for Thinking Christians," appeals began to be received from Bible Students far and near, calling upon Mr. Russell to defend his position by either lectures or debates. This he did to a remarkable degree, including a long series of regular sermons in Pittsburgh, Pa., eventuating in Mr. Russell accepting the pastorate of an “Independent' congregation of six hundred, meeting regularly in Page of 5 6 Carnegie hall, Pastor Russell relinquishing this charge at the time of his removal East to accept the pastorate of Brooklyn Tabernacle, which he still retains. As the years passed by invitations to deliver undenominational Bible lectures increased. Large halls in the foremost cities of Great Britain, Norway and Sweden, Germany and America are tendered, with seats free to the public. As many as possible of these invitations are accepted by Pastor Russell, thus annually enabling hundreds of thousands of Christians in and out of all denominations, and skeptics, Jews and Gentiles, believers and unbelievers, to assemble together in a neutral place to hear free of cost the discussion of Bible topics by an "Independent." In harmony with this principle, Pastor Russell accepts no fee for speaking and accepts no invitation to speak when an admission is to be charged or when a collection is to be taken. Sufficient invitations are now on file to fill every date available for two years. These invitations, when accepted, are assigned dates, and arranged in such a manner as to make tours or circuits whereby train parties of Bible Students are enabled to attend from ten to thirty district Bible Students Conventions on one tour. The biography of this interesting character in brief: At the age of fifteen, an enthusiastic Sunday school worker; at seventeen, a skeptic, made so by the arguments of an infidel acquaintance; at twenty, an earnest Bible student, which led to a restoration to full confidence in the Scriptures as the inspired word of God; at twenty-five, a public speaker on Bible doctrines; at thirty, the editor of a religious journal and pastor of a congregation in Pennsylvania; at thirty five, the author of a book which has reached the three million mark;-at forty, well known throughout the United States and Canada as a public speaker; at forty-five, prominent as a writer on Jewish topics, after having thoroughly studied the special divine promises to Israel as respects their restoration as a people in Palestine; at fifty, president of the Watch Tower Bible and Tract society; at fifty-five, the writer of five additional works on Biblical research, pastor of the Brooklyn Tabernacle and president of the New York Peoples' Pulpit Association. In this, his sixtieth year, he finds himself charged with the duties incumbent upon the holder of the foregoing position, and also the pastor of the London Tabernacle, which henceforth is to have a liberal share of his time. During the past year Pastor Russell has delivered addresses to many Jewish audiences on the prospects of their race in Palestine.

Canada Tracts

 I need scans of these, as many as can be found:

An oops moment...

This letter was noticed in the Bible Students' unofficial newspaper, the St Paul Enterprise, for August 16, 1916.

A contemporary view of Russell

 

There is much of interest in Lizzie Avirett [editor]: P. G. S. Watson: A Memory Review of Prophetic Interpretation, Texas, 1917. 

Two extracts:

And in Mark 9:38-40 we read that John said: “Master, we saw one casting out devils in thy name, and we forbade him because he followeth not us. But Jesus said: Forbid him not, for there is no man which shall do a miracle in my name that can lightly speak evil of me. For he that is not against us is on our part." (See also Luke 9:49-51. ) 

And notwithstanding all these commands and admonitions every great reformer or teacher who has dared to lay stress on any lesson he has learned from the scriptures, apart from the "Traditions of the elders" or of modern orthodoxy, from Luther and Whitefield down to Mrs. Eddy and Pastor Russell, have either been persecuted to death, or at least to the limit of their ability, by many who are leaders in the churches; for human nature is the same in all ages. – Page 64.

I heard the latter [Russell] in two lectures of over one hour each, and do not remember to have heard one word of criticism except of creeds. I have also heard some of our most noted Bible lecturers Dr. Talmage, and Prof. John Kohne among others, and so far as I'm a judge, Pastor Russell was not less proficient in his subject than they were in theirs ...” – Page 110. 

A somewhat defective but still readable scan is on goggle books.

Cigar Smoking?

 This is from an anti-Witness publication. Is there any evidence that Rutherford ever smoked a cigar?

Spirit of the Word

 I'm 'desperate' for issues of A. P. Adam's magazine, Spirit of the Word. Care to undertake the hunt?

Maria Russell and Millennial Dawn

      

     On March 14, 1938, The Tampa Bay Times (Florida) carried the obituary of Maria Frances (Ackley) Russell, the wife of CTR, who had outlived him by over 20 years. Several other Florida newspapers carried the same story. The surviving relatives included some Packards (descendants of her sister Emma), the Raynors (descendants of her sister Laura) and the Ackleys (descendants of her brother Lemuel). There were no living descendants of her other sister, Selena Barto. Maria was the final survivor of her generation of Ackleys.

     The obituary specifically claimed that Maria had been co-author of the early editions of Millennial Dawn with her husband Charles T (Deacon?) Russell. This article will examine that claim. But first we need to cover quite a bit of background.

     Maria had married CTR (Charles Taze Russell) back in March 1879. Well over a year later, her younger sister, Emma, married CTR’s widowed father, Joseph Lytle Russell. Maria was to assist her husband in his religious work, although the extent and nature of that help was to be disputed later on.

     Writing in 1906, after a lengthy separation had been put on a legal footing, CTR described his marriage as he saw it. In Zion’s Watch Tower (ZWT) for July 15, 1906, he wrote under the heading: THIRTEEN BLISSFUL YEARS:

“The starting of the paper (ZWT) was delayed until July, 1879, and this left me for several months continuously at Allegheny, where, in addition to the usual meetings, I conducted several series of meetings in the interest of the public in this vicinity.

Considerable numbers were brought in contact with the Truth at this time. Amongst others was a Maria Frances Ackley, who became my wife within three months of her first attendance at these meetings, which was the beginning of our acquaintance. The Truth seemingly appealed to her heart, and she assured me it was what she had been seeking for many years --the solution of perplexities of long standing. For thirteen years she was a most devoted and loyal wife in every sense of the word.”

     This would take us through to the first half of the 1890s. During this time, CTR gave Maria a number of roles. He made her a director and secretary-treasurer of the incorporated Zion’s Watch Tower Tract Society in 1884.  She wrote articles for ZWT. She managed correspondence for the paper until Rose Ball was trained to take over. And in 1894 he sent her out as a speaker to represent him in concerns discussed in A Conspiracy Exposed (1894). This speaking tour was reported to be highly successful. When they were in harmony CTR rightly called her (as above) “a most devoted and loyal wife in every sense of the word.”

     Maria could be a feisty character by all accounts, used to handling responsibility from her long years of keeping order in the classroom. In her school career in the 1870s there had been at least one issue. The Pittsburgh Daily Post for 19 January 1878 relates how she was accused of assaulting a pupil. When CTR’s sister Margaretta and her four children were given shelter by CTR in 1887-1888 there was friction between the two women (See Russell vs Russell 1906 page 229 – all references hereafter taken from the typed transcript rather than the Paper Book of Appellant for 1906 and then the typed transcript for 1907). When Rose Ball became a member of the Russell household there was a suggestion that Maria sometimes worked Rose rather hard and made her cry (1906 – page 134).

     The implications may be unfair, but Maria comes over as strong-willed, and as the perceived roles of women and wives evolved in society in general, one can start to understand the issues that would affect the Russells’ marriage in the 1890s.

     As CTR saw it, in the 1890s Maria started to change. Influenced by two of her sisters Emma and Laura, she increasingly espoused newer views on women’s rights.

     The issue of women’s rights was featured prominently in a series of articles in the July 1893 double issue of Zion’s Watch Tower. The title of the series was ‘Man and Woman in God’s Order.’

     There is no author given, but it is hard to imagine that Maria did not have some hand in this series. It started by stating that Paul’s words had often been misunderstood and “fostered a spirit of doubt as to his divine inspiration, and thus proved a stepping stone to Infidelity. Such doubts having once gotten control of the mind are apt to lead to the extreme of so-called Woman’s Rights – forcing some to an extreme on that side of the question as others have gone to an extreme on the opposite side: making women mere slaves, drudges or entertainers for men – or erroneously supposing that the apostle so taught.”

     The series endeavored to steer a balanced course between the two extremes in society.

     In this era, the legal system along with cultural norms of the day had long disadvantaged women, but the times they were a’changing.  Maria’s stance on women’s rights hardened and problems arose as a result. In 1906, at the time she was embroiled in legal action against CTR, she crystallized her views in a small book The Twain One (based on the “twain becoming one flesh” in the KJV rendering of Mark 10 v.8).

     The Twain One quoted liberally from John Stewart Mills’ The Subjection of Women. For an assumed Christian readership it had a strong message – wives were in subjection to their husbands but only if they judged them “fit.” The Bible’s counsel about women not being teachers and remaining silent in the congregation did not apply to the church in general. And a favorite role model in the book for Maria was Sarah who had no compunction about telling Abraham what she thought. When Maria lived out this conviction in practice, as CTR saw it, there were problems. For example, he related how on one occasion in the 1890s she took over his study and prevented him from working for a whole morning while insisting that she read to him then and there three articles she’d just written on Solomon (1906 – page 162). Then after the midday meal she continued the dialog by following him into another office in Bible House where they now lived.  Maria’s attorney did not challenge this description. In the 1880s they lived in a large house on Clifton Avenue, but according to a history marker near the site in Pittsburgh they moved into Bible House in 1894. In Clifton Avenue there was room to breathe and for issues to dissipate, but in the confined living quarters of Bible House such a scenario was far less manageable. 

     As CTR told it, problems really came to the fore when as editor he made slight changes to her ZWT articles. He insisted he never changed the sense, but Maria disagreed. When she wrote material that he flatly disagreed with then he refused to publish it – as sole editor that was his prerogative. This was indicated in an exchange between Maria’s counsel and CTR in the 1906 hearing (page 161).

Q.  About the only trouble you had with your wife over the editorship of this paper was as stated by your wife, that she wanted the articles to go out as she had written them, and you wanted them changed to meet your views?

A.  No, sir; that wouldn’t be a proper statement. The proper statement would be this, that I never conceded that she had an editorship in the paper. I was the editor of the paper all the time. I never conceded anything else. But as long as she was in harmony with me I would read over – if she wrote an article I would read it, and if I found it satisfactory, or nearly so, I might make a change of a word or two, but it would not be my intention to make the article read the opposite of what it was written.

     The situation was never resolved and just got worse. He refused to accept her articles for the last six months they were together, and finally in November 1897 Maria left him and Bible House and never went back.

     She first went to Chicago to visit her brother, Lemuel, a lawyer who could no doubt provide legal advice. On returning to Pittsburgh she went to live with her sister Emma at 80 Cedar Avenue, in the house Emma inherited after her husband Joseph Lytle Russell died. When tenants moved out of the adjoining house in the duplex, Maria moved in next door to number 79. CTR paid the taxes on this property and supplied some furniture. He also visited her a few times but this soon ceased. They could just have continued quietly living at separate addresses. It was a large house with ten rooms and she let out rooms to boarders – one account suggests she had six living there at the time problems kicked off.

     The way events played out showed there were disagreements about money between the Russells (father and son) and the Ackley sisters. Maria and Emma had married into the Russell family and both had financial concerns. Emma was well provided for by her elderly husband Joseph Lytle Russell, but when he made a new will towards the end of his life, which included additional bequests to his surviving children there were difficulties. An attempt was made to claim that he was not of sound mind. In October 1897 the three witnesses to his last will and testament had to sign that Joseph was of “sound mind and memory” before he died in the December.

     In the case of Maria, she had gone from single schoolteacher on a modest salary to wife of a prosperous merchant. They lived well. We have already indicated that their house on Clifton Avenue was large enough to accommodate CTR’s sister and her four children in 1887-1888. Later Charles and Rose Ball came to stay. The Russells had staff, including a gardener and a live-in maid, Emily (1906 – page 178). But as more resources were put into the ministry work of Zion’s Watch Tower Society, Charles and Maria moved into quarters in Bible House in 1894. As already noted, this would have required considerable adjustment and it was around this time that troubles in the marriage really came to the surface.

     CTR’s assets were eventually donated to the Watch Tower Society, and as he stressed, this was something both he and Maria had agreed on originally. In exchange he received a small allowance, board, lodging and expenses, along with voting shares as president of the Society. This allowed him to both continue and defend his life’s work. For an estranged wife who no longer believed as he did, this was not going to end well. She would want a piece of the pie, and he would want to protect his religious work. He viewed some of Maria’s financial claims as a direct attack on what he held dear.

     In the 1900s it all got worse and spilled out into public view. In 1903 Maria put her financial concerns into print and circulated them. She now claimed in writing that she had been co-writer with CTR of the first few books in the Millennial Dawn series. She was owed.

     An article in Zion’s Watch Tower lit the fuse. It was in the 1 November 1902 issue and entitled “Insanity of the Doukhobors.” It discussed the Russian immigrants now in America and Canada and the issues of their assimilation. The key message was “conscience is a dangerous thing unless instructed by God’s Word and thus guided by the spirit of a sound mind.” A mix of targets followed the Doukhobors including militant vegetarians and Seventh Day Adventists. But then CTR wrote:

“As an illustration of a misguided conscience and its baneful effect in social affairs we mention the case of an editor's wife. She at one time took pleasure in assisting him in his work. By and by a deluded and misguided conscience told her that God wished her to be editor in chief and publish what she pleased. When the editor demurred that he dare not abandon his stewardship, the deluded conscience told its owner that she should no longer co-operate, but more, that she should break her marriage covenant in deserting her husband and home, and that she should say all manner of evil against him falsely, until such time as he would yield to her the liberties of the journal – which her conscience told her was God's will.

The moral of all such lessons is, "Be not wise above what is written." "Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed,--rightly dividing the Word of truth."

     CTR would later testify that this could apply to a dozen men he knew, but admitted he’d had Maria in mind. He’d mentioned no names but Maria took it very personally. She produced a 16 page booklet in response entitled Readers of Zion’s Watch Tower and Millennial Dawn: Attention! in which she certainly named HIM.  She sent it to everyone she could think of. In it, she stated that she was “not receiving a dollar…from the literary work so largely hers.” (bold print mine).

     In this booklet, Maria acknowledged that CTR’s message contained truth. Since she was claiming to be co-author of his books she could hardly do otherwise, but “the fact that some hold the truth in unrighteousness does not invalidate the truth now any more than of old. Though the scribes and pharisees whom Jesus described a whited sepulchres, full of all manner of uncleanness, held and taught the divine law, that law remains as pure today as if they had never touched it. And so it is of all truth that is God’s truth.”

     It was hardly conciliatory.

     This very personal attack was funded by Maria running a lodging house in the Cedar Avenue property. It prompted immediate action. CTR took the Cedar Avenue house back and put his sister, Margaretta, in charge of it. Maria could have stayed there on a proper legal basis; she was offered her own room and full board, but perhaps understandably she simply chose to move back next door with her sister, Emma. As noted above, Maria and Margaretta had lived under the same roof in earlier years but the two women just hadn’t got along. The change of control of the property was messy and reported on a daily basis by the Pittsburgh newspapers of the day. At one point one of Maria’s lodgers declared his wish to spend the rest of his life with her, and this all must have been the final nail in the coffin of any prospects of reconciliation between the parties.

     Maria then went to law to seek a legal separation and lawfully establlshed support. The case came for trial in 1906, and there was a subsequent hearing in 1907 to try and increase the alimony.

     It might be useful at this point to establish just exactly what Maria was after. It was not to end the marriage. A complete divorce would not have provided her with material support, and would probably have gone against her religious convictions. Maria likely believed the only scriptural grounds for divorce was adultery (Matthew 5 v.31) and she would specifically stress that this was not charged (1906 – page 10).

     What she went for and eventually obtained was officially called a mensa et thora.

     For the details we have to go to the Villanova Law Revew Volume 15, issue 1 (1969) article 8, entitled Grounds and Defenses to Divorce in Pennsylvania and written by Robert A. Ebenstein.

     A mensa et thora means divorce from bed and board, and is normally abbreviated as a.m.t. This is in contrast to what would be understood as a complete dissolution of a marriage called a vinculo matrimonii (abbreviated to a.v.m.). Ebenstein wanted the law changed to remove a.m.t. from the statute books. He wrote on the limitations and problems with it. “Divorce a.m.t. is only available to the wife; and unlike the situation in divorce a.v.t. the libellant need not be an innocent and injured spouse. Also, the parties to divorce a.m.t. cannot remarry since they have been granted what is in effect a legal separation…The only reasons for choosing a legal separation would appear to be vindictiveness, a desire for alimony, and to encourage a later reconciliation.” It was also noted that some with religious objections to divorce might choose this route.

     This type of separation Maria went for could only be sought by the wife, not the husband; crucially she did not have to prove her own absense of fault, and if granted, neither party was free to re-marry. As acknowledged by Maria above, the scriptural grounds for a full divorce did not apply, so that just left the three possible reasons for the action, vindictiveness, alimony or potential reconcilliation. The way things went down indicates alimony as the main motivating factor.

     However, legally the terms of a mensa et thora are quite clear. Neither party could remarry. In that sense, they were still married to each other, and this is how Maria was presented to the world up to and including her own obituary. Ebenstein presents such a case as “in effect, a legal separation.”

     So Maria’s objectives were financial.

     There may have been a secondary concern, the desire to publish her own books, but that was hampered by monetary concerns. This exchange (1907 – page 138) explains:

Q.  Have you written for publication anything since you and Mr Russell separated?

A.  Yes, sir.

Q.  What was it?

A.  I have written one book, and I have others on the way, but I have not the means to publish it.

     Did Maria want to establish herself as an independent theological voice? Perhaps. But as discussed in Zion’s Watch Tower for 15 July 1906 (reproducing some of her correspondence) she’d previously suggested that CTR was the “faithful slave” of Matthew 24 v.45.  However, since the “twain (were) one” she too would be part of that “slave” – that is, until CTR disagreed with her. Then she revised her opinion and CTR became “the evil slave.” One wonders, theologically, where that left her.

     Nonetheless, looking at her statements and actions, her chief motivation still seems to be pecuniary, both to publish her own materials as well as live in reasonable comfort. The Dawn books were selling in the millions. She was entitled. This was shown by the wording of the complaint she put in writing in 1903.  Quoting again, she was “not receiving a dollar…from the literary work so largely hers.”

     The 1907 hearing was therefore all about money. What resources did CTR have personally as opposed to what was now donated to the Watch Tower Society and untouchable? What level of alimony could she claim? To maximise her petition, Maria tried to establish that first - CTR still had plenty of personal assets, and second - that she had been an integral contributor to his financial success – obviously not as a successful merchant, but as a writer. She said they had worked together on the Millennial Dawn series and her imput was at least equal to his and in some cases a lot greater. He said the ideas and theology was his alone, that “she had no knowledge of the subject, because it was new to her” (a quote we will return to later). But he recognized that she gave him valuable assistance.

     We can note his own acknowledgement of this in the original preface of The Plan of the Ages, which stayed in place for about the first ten years of publication from 1886.

     So Maria rendered valuable assistance which was readily acknowledged. He called her “his help-meet – to whom (he was) indebted for valuable assistance rendered in this connection.” However, the foreward – never disputed at the time - plainly describes one author, not two. Maria never disputed that at the time.

     As for the subject being “new” to her, we must remember that when they married after knowing each other for less than three months, Maria had come from a Methodist Episcopal background. CTR, however, had spent the previous ten years with his own Bible study group, and had been greatly influenced by the Age to Come and Advent Christian movements, including individuals like Jonas Wendell, George Stetson, George Storrs and Nelson Barbour. Maria never knew any of these men. Their influence in various ways fuelled the message in the fledgling Zion’s Watch Tower, as well as material like Object and Manner of Our Lord’s Return which pre-dated Maria, as did articles in magazines like Storrs’ Bible Examiner and Barbour’s Herald of the Morning. Maria’s contributions tended to be devotional rather than doctrinal. While CTR’s theology would continue to evolve in some of the details, he would seem justified in claiming authorship of the main IDEAS promoted in Millennial Dawn.

     To maximise her claim for alimony, Maria was to make four basic claims in court which at worst were patently false, or at the very least, showed a faulty memory of events.

     First: she claimed that the idea for Zion’s Watch Tower had been a joint venture between husband and wife from the very beginning, and even before they were married. Second: that generally only she and Charles had written for the paper. Third: that her name had been on the title page of the volumes originally. Then of course fourth: the claim that she had personally written at least half, and in some cases more, of the first few volumes of Millennial Dawn.

     In reality, on the first point, CTR had announced the proposed advent of his paper in Barbour’s Herald magazine in February 1879. Allowing for the time it would take to go from composition to print this could well have been written before CTR ever met Maria in the latter half of December 1878.  But it is true that they were in unison once the need for a new paper became apparent and a proposed companion paper soon became a rival.

     But then, the second point, describing the new title, Maria made the claim (1907 – page 119) that it was normally just she and CTR who wrote for the paper. Her actual words:

“Mr Russell and I were the only ones that ever wrote for it, except for a few who wrote occasionally…There were very few other articles except his and mine that were ever admitted to the paper.”

     Just one look at the early ZWTs shows this to be completely untrue. The masthead from the very first issue had CTR as the sole editor and listed the main regular contributors.

     This continued for some time, and Maria’s name is no-where to be seen. The regular contributors often signed off their articles with their initials, but the first appearance of any reference to “Sister Russell” or “Mrs C T Russell” is not until the January-February 1882 issue, although she may have provided anonymous copy before then. But so much for: “Mr Russell and I were the ony ones that ever wrote for it.”

     Continuing to over-egg the pudding (as the British might put it), the third claim Maria made was that her name had been on the title page of the Millennial Dawn volumes, the ones she maintained she had co-written. The exchange with her counsel (1907 – page 121) went as follows:

Q.  Did your name appear upon the title page of either of these publications?

A.  Of all of them, unless they have been taken off in recent years. I have not seen the recent editions.

     This can be easily checked and her name no-where appears on any title page of any edition of Millennial Dawn. Come to that, neither did CTR’s name appear on any title page, but only in the foreward reproduced above, which gave credit to Maria’s assistance.

     Then fourth, there was the main claim that she had written over half of the first few volumes of Millennial Dawn. So as well as general alimony, maybe royalties could be added to the payoff.

     As one would expect there was quite a different viewpoint between Maria and Charles on this. In the first hearing of 1906, Maria had suggested her major role, but it was in the 1907 hearing that both parties expressed how they saw matters. Maria first (page 120-121):

Q.  Who wrote the Millennial Dawn?

A.  Well, the books were written by myself and Mr Russell, all that Mr Russell wrote was submitted to me for examination; I laid the plans for each of these volumes, and I can testify that at least one-half of the work, and I think more, is mine.

     CTR was quite adamant that the situation had been different (1907 – page 243):

Q.  Did she write any of the volumes?

A.  None of the volumes.

Q.  Did she write any of the chapters?

A.  She labored in connection with myself on some of the chapters, among other things, but she had no knowledge of the subject, because it was new to her….She co-labored in the arrangement, she read the proof and examined my manuscript, perhaps.

     When asked why he had not corrected Maria’s similar claims in the 1906 hearing he replied that he had not been asked anything about it.

     It should be noted that after Maria left, CTR continued writing: there were to be two more thick volumes of Millennial Dawn retitled as Studies in the Scriptures, a Photodrama of Creation scenario, nearly twenty more years’ worth of articles for Watch Tower and Bible Students Monthly, and innumerable newspaper sermons. He was highly prolific, without any input from Maria at all.

     There is just one line of argument left to perhaps try and establish the reality. What might an analysis of writing styles show as to authorship? Interestingly, it was CTR himself who suggested readers could check this out for themselves. Continuing in the above cross-examination he said (1907 – page 244):

“If anyone will compare Mrs Russell’s new book which she published a few years ago with the Dawn, they will see a very different style in every sense of the word.”

     CTR had bought a copy of Maria’s book The Twain One, and a 1906 review in the Pittsburgh Leader by “a minister” was based on an interview he had given about it.

     But, dismissing CTR’s suggestion, at least one critic has tried to make the comparison in Maria’s favor. Back in the early 1970s a detractor of CTR published his own analysis of the first four volumes. The conclusion reached was that the standard of writing in volume four showed a considerable drop in quality when compared with the first three. The writer came to the ‘obvious’ conclusion – without help from Maria, CTR really struggled with volume 4.

     There is one problem with this, and it is a BIG ONE.

     In the hearing Maria claimed that while she wrote over half of volumes 1-3 she actually wrote THE WHOLE of volume 4 by herself (apart from just one chapter).  From 1907 – page 121:

“Of the fourth volume I wrote the entire volume except one chapter, but when seven chapters of that had gone to the printer, Mr Russell took offense and never wrote the balance of it; he finished it himself, so that is the way the fourth volume ended.”

     So much for analysis.

     In fairness, CTR acknowledged this in part. Volume 4 was made up from many quotations and Maria had kept the cuttings files. But he, CTR, had made the final decision as to what was used. The numerous quotations from different sources would also give an uneven feel to this volume, no matter who compiled it. In commenting on Maria’s words (1907 – page 213-214) he responded:

“I heard Mrs Russell’s testimony and noted in particular her reference to the fourth volume of the Millennial Dawn, her remark that a considerable portion of it, probably one-half, was her work…I answer that Mrs Russell did do considerable of the forepart of the fourth volume, because this is nearly all of it, the collection of clippings which we had been collecting for some years, and the large part of it, the report of the congress of religions held in Chicago, at the World Fair. I have no desire to belittle in any manner the assistance rendered me by my wife, but could not agree with her statement. I would have preferred to have said nothing on the subject but since it seems necessary to answer her, I would say that much of her work is of a kind that is done in nearly any office, proof reading, and the work of an amanuensis…At the time of Mrs Russell’s association with me, she was very willing indeed, and in very full sympathy with me, especially during the time of the first three volumes, and I have no doubt she would have been glad to have done a great deal more than she did do.”

     We note that CTR gave Maria a certain amount of credit in this comment, while again explaining how he understood their previous working relationship. And in the 1906 hearing (page 112) he had been asked about her abilities:

Q.  Mrs Russell, I believe, is a very bright, intellectual woman, is she not?

A.  Yes, sir.

     So what are we to take from all of the above? Maria assisted in the preparation of the first few volumes of Millennial Dawn; that is not in dispute. As to how much she assisted, both she and CTR saw it differently. But the volumes were always presented as his work not a joint work, although she was given fulsome credit for the help she gave in the original foreward. When they were in harmony she never disputed how matters were presented. His key argument – which is still valid – was that he was responsible for the content, because, as quoted above: “she had no knowledge of the subject, because it was new to her.”

     After the hearings and the awarding of alimony, Maria could have just quietly got on with her life, but that was not to be. Sadly she continued to attack her husband on every possible occasion she could.  In the Russell vs. Brooklyn Eagle (Miracle Wheat) court case of 1913 she appeared for the Eagle, although her testimony was so inconsequential it can only have been designed to cause her husband embarrassment. In the Ross libel case which shortly followed it, she is described as contacting the Ross camp and offering to travel to Canada to volunteer her services. (See The Victoria Daily Times for 23 January 1913). When she was interviewed in the Brooklyn Eagle for 6 May 1914 about a local Bible Student convention she was asked about rumors of possible reconciliation. Her response was unequivocal: “To seek…reconciliation and live with him was out of the question.” And even though she attended CTR’s funeral as his wife, the Brooklyn Eagle newspaper showed she still hoped to get more from his estate. The Eagle for 29 November 29 1916, carried the byline:

     Note that she is clearly “the wife” who inherits a $200 bank account, but who also engages a lawyer to protect what she considers “her interests.” The text simply defines these as her “property rights.”

     In due course in 1907, Maria was awarded her alimony – which settled on $100 a month. But she never did get any “royalties.” It could be argued that as sales of volumes often made a loss in endevours to spread the message, and as all proceeds went back into the work of the Watch Tower Society, that CTR never gained personal royalties either.

     Maria’s subsequent history is detailed in the blog article Maria – The Later Years.

     At the end she owned a house in beautiful surroundings in Florida, and her last will and testament left substantial bequests to family members and friends. When the house last came on the market in the early 2020s it was valued at over one million dollars.

     Ultimately, Maria didn’t do too badly.

Note: This article is followed by two articles a little further down this blog. They are: The Twain One (Mrs Russell's Spicy Book) and Maria Russell - The Later Years. One is tempted to combine them with a title from The Sound of Music:

How do you solve a problem like Maria...?