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These are a factor in the si vol 3 chapter I'm writing now. The document comes from the Eisenhower Presidential Library, originally a donation from the Abilene Congregation through a Circuit Servant.
I am not adding notations or explanations. Make of it what you will and comment.
Click on the images to see the entire scan.
Title
Next notation
Following notation
14 comments:
My transcription, followed by a comment:
1921
Dec 29 Regular annual meeting of ecclesia
Bro Thayer, chairman
On request, the secretary then read from records the names of those who had answered and passed the V.D.M. questions. These were as follows:
Bro. DJ Eisenhower
Sr. DJ Eisenhower
Bro. HN Engle
Sr. Naomi Engle
Next order of business was the election of elders. No further nominations being offered, the following were voted on and unanimously elected.
Bro. JL Thayer
Bro HL South[unclear]
Bro. HN Engle
Bro. JG Denison
[end of document]
This indicates that both Ida, Dwight's mother, AND his father, David Jacob, were active in the local Bible Student ecclesia, and both of them had passed the Verbi Dei Minister questionnaire.
Ike‘s father later became inactive
Bernard,
The claim is often made, but how do we know that? Is there a primary source for that, or does it come from the River Brethren trying to distance themselves from the Eisenhower's connection to Jehovah's Witnesses. "absence of evidence is not evidence of absence"
https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-mercury-david-jacob-eisenhower-obit/20566638/
When David J. Eisenhower died in 1942, J.L. Thayer officiated at his funeral. J.L. Thayer was also one of the elders of the Abilene ecclesia back in 1921.
According to Marley Cole, David Jacob Eisenhower “had requested that his funeral service be conducted by James L. Thayer. For more than twenty-five years Dr. Thayer had been serving as the appointed leader of the Abilene Bible class.” (Jehovah’s Witnesses - the New World Society)
Your document and Noah’s newspaper reference appear to corroborate Cole’s account.
To reinforce Gerry’s comment:
From Marley Cole’s autobiography THE HARVEST OF OUR LIVES (1996) pages 106-107:
HEADQUARTERS worked with me, page by page on every chapter
throughout the book, furnishing some of the material. The furnished part that stirred international interest was the correspondence between a young soldier, Richard Boekel, and Sister Ida Eisenhower, mother of President Eisenhower. In a letter to Richard she confirmed that she was a Witness of Jehovah. In 1897 her husband, David Jacob Eisenhower, and she had opened their home to a regular public study of The Watchtower. At that time son "Ike" was 7 years old. The study went on in the Eisenhower home for the next 20 years.
He actively served as an elder. But, unlike Ida who remained faithful
to Watchtower until her death, David’s commitment to Watchtower
waned by 1919, until he openly became an opposer of the religion.
He renounced the doctrine of Russell before his death in 1942. This
disillusionment was due to Russell’s failed prophecies of 1914 and
1915. Although David left the WTBTS, he continued to be a reader
of the bible.
He died, after a lingering illness and had a Jehovah’s Witness
funeral despite making it clear that he was no longer a follower.
Though he left the religion in 1915, he continued to accompany his
wife Ida to Watchtower activities primarily to to appease her.
Since the VDM questions are believed to have been devised in 1916 and taken by willing congregants certainly by 1917 onwards, and the meeting notes from late December 1921 show that Bro. DJ Eisenhower had taken these, for once I cannot agree with my friend Bernhard’s conclusion that “he left the religion in 1915.” His interest may have waned after December 1921, of course, and writers critical of the WT may be correct in saying that he played only a role supportive of his wife thereafter. But asking to be given a Witness funeral suggests a little more than this to me.
Bernard, as you can see from the date on this document, David was still associated in 1921. There is no known original document that details why he became inactive, or even if he really did. Evidence suggests that he requested Dr. Taylor handle his funeral. Ida did not choose a Witness funeral despite him no longer believing. I'm still 'running down' original documents. But that's how things stand now.
Stephen Benedict, papers 1952-1960, Box 9- maybe you can find this online. These are documents about the Dwights religion and that his mother Ida was a Jehovahs witness. So why doesn’t he mentioned his father? And why mentioned Marley Cole especially that his mother was a JW and not his father?
“These are documents about the Dwights religion and that his mother Ida was a Jehovahs witness. So why doesn’t he mentioned his father? And why mentioned Marley Cole especially that his mother was a JW and not his father?”
Firstly, these documents are from the 1950s. Few if any of them are primary documents. Your questions are a basis for research, but they are not a basis for a firm conclusion. A scientific aphorism is, “The absence of evidence is not evidence of absence.”
Let me illustrate. I’ve been a Witness since the 1950s, holding various ‘servant’ positions. I’ve been a frequent assembly and convention speaker. Yet, if you went looking for me online, you might find my Royal Historical Society Fellowship; that I was a teacher. You may find, though it would be difficult, a mention of a lecture in Wyoming, but not a reference to religion. It was about pioneer era archaeology with a focus on commercial glassware. The only reference to my place in Witness life you would possibly find is a brief newspaper reference from 1967. If you ignore our aphorism, you could conclude that I had a brief connection to the Witnesses but it didn’t endure.
As to your first question, why did he mention only his mother? His mother was the issue because of prior news articles. His father was not. Cole does say Davis Eisenhower was a long-serving class leader. That is, he led the Studies in the Scriptures discussions, using the question booklets. He shared that with Thayer and Henry Nissley Engle. Answering the VDM questions was a prerequisite to serving as an Elder or a colporteur.
Both Thayer and Engle are well-known within Watch Tower history persisting until their deaths. Yet, if we applied the standard that absence of record was proof that they abandoned the faith, we would have to say the left ‘the truth.’
C. E. Jones wrote: “That Dave and his wife, Ida, should later join Henry Engle, editor of the Evangelical Visitor, 1896-1899, in studying and spreading Russellite teachings anathema to them, served only to enhance the attractiveness to River Brethren in Kansas of the Wesleyan-Holiness, conviction-driven piety of the Hephzibah Faith Missionary Association of Tabor, Iowa.” To my eye, the focus is on evangelism, not congregation office.
Ultimately, I cannot prove David persisted or left the fellowship. The evidence, distorted by political motive, is that he persisted as an evangelist well past 1922. Do I have anything like proof? Not that satisfies me. But I have enough to say that what is usually claimed is false or based on tertiary documentation, always highly doubtful.
“The absence of evidence is not evidence of absence.”
I should add that I'm just accumulating documentation from the era. That is from the 1920-40s. I won't post writing yet because I do not have the 'full story.' I'm working on it. But what I have is enough to say much of what's written is nonsense.
Adding to Bruce’s recent comments I would state:
Bernhard asks why references tend to mention only Ida being a Jehovah’s Witness and not David J? In relation to WT references these mentioning specifically Ida being a Witness, tend to come from the Consolation/Awake! magazines of the period 1943 -1946 after David had died. Why would they mention him as if he were still alive?
As regards non-Witness sources, evidence suggests that the Eisenhower sons, none of which became Bible Students or Witnesses, were irritated and hid their parent’s Witness connections in the 1940s. Writers have suggested, rightly or otherwise, that Witnesses gained unwarranted publicity from the support of Ida Eisenhower, Dwight’s mother, in particular. Indeed, ultimately it was likely the desire to avoid this was that caused her family to be give Ida a non-Witness funeral she would never have wanted.
In some instances the son’s irritations involved their dropping mention of Witnesses when asked and highlighting instead their parent’s earlier River Brethren adherence. One can easily see why detachment would have been preferably to Dwight as this could have adversely affected his career when he transitioned from that of a military general to a candidate to become the President of the United States. Brethren sources would also likely want to stress their connections, while later reviewers may too uncritically have accepted the words of earlier ‘primed’ writers. Further, ex Witness writers, sometimes apostate, will inevitably present their histories with a negative spin.
As regards David J. Eisenhower, is it not possible that he remained a Bible Student/JW at heart while his association and involvement may have waned at some point? To illustrate, my father in law was baptised in the early 1950s and not too long after served as an elder. But later he had problems reconciling some beliefs, became inactive and detached and, later still, fell into smoking. Meanwhile, to her credit his wife remained a fully committed and reliable Witness. But throughout he supported his wife, and toward the end of his life he started studying again, gave up smoking and returned to meetings, even becoming engaged in the field ministry again, to the extent his health allowed. Consequently, he received a Witness funeral as was his wish. For the years between his leaving the truth and his return in old age he could not have been considered a Witness however, had anyone written a family history then. Might something similar have been the case with David J. Eisenhower?
I look forward to Bruce’s further investigations.
All good wishes,
Gerry
The Awake! magazine of October 22, 1946, page 7, speaking of the recently deceased Ida Eisenhower, stated that “In 1942 her husband, also one of Jehovah’s witnesses, died.”
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