(With
grateful thanks to Bernhard who originally provided key information for this
article and Lyn Millner of the Florida Gulf Coast University for the leads on
Koreshanity and Pittsburgh in her entertaining book: The Allure of
Immortality – An American Cult, a Florida Swamp, and a Renegade Prophet.
Expanded from an article published elsewhere, with permission.)
During the times of CTR’s ministry
and the founding of the Watch Tower Society there were individuals once in
association who then left for pastures new. The reasons were many. Some, like
John Paton took the “ransom for all” doctrine to an extra level and became a
Universalist. Some had personal issues as discussed in A Conspiracy
Exposed (1894). There was a split with Ernest Henninges in Australia
1909 (see Yearbook 1983).
In nearly all cases, while a modern
reader may not agree with what they did, they can at least understand what
happened. But the oddest defections occurred in a little known scenario from
the latter half of the 1890s – the move of three men, James Augustus Weimar,
Ulysses Grant Morrow and Henry Nicholas Rahn to join a fairly new religious
movement called The Koreshan Unity.
The Koreshan Unity was founded by
Cyrus Reed Teed (1839-1908). Teed studied medicine and practiced what today
would be viewed as fringe therapies including alchemy and medical electricity.
An encounter with electricity in 1869 rendered him unconscious and when he came
around he believed he’d had a vision telling him he was the Messiah. He now had
a mission to redeem mankind through his scientific knowledge. As part of his
new calling he changed his name to the Hebrew version of Cyrus, namely Koresh.
(Around a hundred years later another prophet called Vernon Howell would
rebrand himself as one David Koresh and die at Waco). The original Koresh,
Cyrus Teed, promoted a unique theology that included reincarnation, celebacy for
certain levels of hierarchy and a version of communism. Perhaps his most
unusual teaching was that the earth is hollow and humans live inside it with
the sun like a giant battery in the middle. (One wonders if Edgar Rice
Burroughs, author of the Tarzan books, got his idea for his Pellucidar series
from reading Koresh.)
The new movement with its Messiah
formed several small communes that eventually came together as a collective
version of New Jerusalem in the Florida town of Estero around 1894. At its peak
the community had around 250 inhabitants, and was well organized and
self-sufficient. They published a magazine called The Flaming Sword.
They also got involved in local politics with their own political party,
although not very successfully.
Teed
aka Koresh died in 1908, as a possible result of injuries sustained in a 1906 fight
between his commune and outsiders. Having claimed he would be raised to heaven,
his followers kept vigil over his body until the public health people stepped
in and insisted on burial. His tomb was then destroyed in a hurricane in 1921
and his coffin, a zinc bath, washed out to sea and lost. A few fragments of Teed were found in a search of the beach, which were stored in the Estero Post Office - which then burned down in 1938. Words like bizarre come to mind.
After Teed’s death, the Koreshan
Unity slowly declined. Their magazine ran until 1949, when a fire at their
printing works ended production. The last official member of the commune died
in 1981. The historical remains of the venture are now a State Park.
Quite how any Watch Tower adherents
became involved is not known, nor can we be sure who was first and who followed.
But they included a Society director and also someone mentioned in fairly
recent Watchtower literature.
The key year was 1895. Teed/Koresh
increasingly entered the consciousness of Pittsburgh residents in the
newspapers of that year. The Pittsburgh Press for 14 March 1895 carried a
satirical cartoon (not attempting a likeness) and poked fun at Koreshan belief.
The next month, Teed/Koresh visited the area in
person and a local group of supporters was formed. From the Pittsburgh
Post-Gazette for 23 April 1895:
Teed’s spokesman on this occasion
was a Mr. Morrow (to whom we will return later). The New Jerusalem in Estero
was described and Morrow explained Koreshan theology for the reporter,
including that “none but celebates could become part of the elect sons of God.”
Unsurprisingly the reporter sounded out Mrs. Morrow. When interviewed, she
confessed she “hoped in time to become perfect enough to live a celebate life.”
There was no mention of CTR and the
Bible Students at this stage, but that was soon to change. Teed was back in
town in June. The Pittsburgh Daily Post for 17 June 1895 reviewed his speech at
the Pittsburgh Opera House the night before, attended by about 500. It was on
the front page of the paper and Morrow was again much in evidence. The newspaper
byline dismissed this as “rather a small crowd,” but commended Teed’s skill:
“Dr Teed is rather an impressive
platform orator, He possesses a vigorous form, a strong, expressive face, and a
deep, powerful voice, all of which help wonderfully in the control of an
audience.”
Within just a few weeks the issue
between the teachings of Koresh and Zion’s Watch Tower became
very public. The Chicago Daily News for August 12, 1895, had a special report
from a correspondent in Pittsburgh, dated August 11, 1895. (Teed was still
based in Chicago at this point). In the best yellow journalism style, it
carried the heading: “Ready to Talk Two Hours or Weeks – Long-winded debates by
the Rival Messiahs of Pittsburgh.”
The text read:
“Pittsburgh, Pa., Aug. 11. (Special)
– A war has broken out between rival Messiahs. Dr. Cyrus R. Teed of Chicago,
the renowned Koresh, and C.T. Russell, leader of the Russellites of Allegheny
City, cannot agree, and the charges and countercharges that are made range all
the way from points on religion and science to accusations of indecent conduct.
Teed’s Florida colonization scheme
looks like a winner and the Russellites have been flocking to the banner of
Koresh in such numbers as to alarm their former chief. He issued a circular the
other day that brought Teed here today. Koresh made reply in the shape of a
challenge to Russell to debate the whole question of Messiahism. He is willing
to make it a debate of two hours or two weeks.”
No debate as such ever happened, but
the story was picked up in detail by the Pittsburgh Press for August 14, 1895.
CTR provided a lengthy written
statement for newspaper, which, apart from some theological arguments, they
appear to have printed in full. Much of it features the first of our three
defectors, Augustus Weimar, which the paper calls the Rev. Mr. Weimar.
Before considering the newspaper
account, first, a little background for James August Weimar (1855-1919).
James
August Weimar’s photograph from “The
Mysteries and Revelation”
Weimar came from Germany to the
States and became interested in the Watch Tower message in 1888. He was a
minister of the German Baptist congregation in Meriden, Connecticut at the
time. By 1889 he was a Watch Tower evangelist mentioned in the pages of Zion’s
Watch Tower. He continued to be mentioned in connection with his support
for CTR’s work up until 1895. During 1895 he was a director of the Watch Tower
Society, replacing J B Adamson on January 5, 1895, and being replaced by E C
Henninges on January 4, 1896.
At some point in 1895 Weimar found
his new spiritual home with the Koreshan Unity. The Flaming Sword published
an attack on CTR and Millennial Dawn in its July 1895 issue.
It started on the front page and ran to three pages in total. It attacked his
position on the ransom as a “corresponding price” and dismissed his theology as
“modern Christianity gone to seed.” This attack was followed by a reprint of a
Nelson Barbour article from Herald of the Morning for November
1891 in The Flaming Sword for September 1895, which sneered at
CTR’s ransom theology as that of a “commercial man” and “commercial gentleman.”
As noted above, there was already a branch of the Koreshan faith meeting
regularly in Allegheny.
It came to a head with what Weimar
called AN ALL-DAY CONFERENCE with CTR. We don’t know exactly when it happened,
but writing as “Augustus” Weimar reported on it in The Flaming Star for
April 1896. He called it “A dispute I had with the compiler of Millennial
Dawn, concerning Koresh (whom I believe to be the true Messiah of this age)
and his literature.” Weimar insisted that Koresh had wonderful widsom and
understanding, and could understand ancient languages fully, better than any
recognized lexicographer, even though he’d never had any lessons… He went on to
insist that Koresh understood all the prophecies of Old and New Testaments, and
(quote) “that to him all the mysteries of the physical and the anthropostic
microcosm were open secrets.” The
interview did not end well. According to Weimar, CTR said “THAT IS OF THE
DEVIL” and Weimar said “Goodbye Mr Russell” and left.
More detail of the split is found in
the aforementioned Pittsburgh Press for August 14, 1895. CTR’s letter to
the newspaper gave the following details as he saw them:
“It is true that J.A. Weimer has
been working in the office of “Zion’s Watch Tower” as a compositor for some
years, working piecework, at 40 cents per M., and averaging about $14 per week,
and I learn that it is true that Mr. Teed has offered him $18 per week of 36
hours.
“It is true, also, that I had a far
better opinion of his education, his reasoning facilities and his heart than to
suppose that he would have the slightest interest in the vagaries and
absurdities of Koreshanity.
“It is true, also, that for some
time Mr. Weimer has been holding some meetings in some nearby towns along lines
which I believe to be biblical. But it is not true that he was either appointed
or paid for such service. His car-fare only was supplied from a volunteer fund
to which he with others contributed.
“From this it will be seen that “The
Post” was misinformed by the Koreshans when told that I had given Mr. Weimer
the “option” of ceasing his investigation into Koreshanity or “leaving the
service in which he was employed as a speaker for several out-of-town
congregations,” for his was neither paid nor employed, and was in no sense in
my service, but voluntarily in the Lord’s service. Nor has there been one
unkind word between us, nor one word with reference to his job as a compositor.
He, however, settled that by failing to report for work on Monday.
Weimar
Saw the Letter
“As for the ‘printed matter
attacking Teed most bitterly;’ about which Teed wanted his people ‘not to be
angry’ if they were ‘persecuted,’ it was a ‘typewritten letter, a copy of which
was handed to Mr. Weimar more than a week before it was sent, that he might
know exactly what we counseled the friends to do respecting his preaching; and
I requested Mr. Weimar to indicate any items not considered true, or for any
reason objectionable to him.
“In this letter I assume no control
over Teed, Weimar or the gatherings of God’s people. The most offered is
reasonable advice, and that in kind and courteous language.
“It is reported that I declined to
discuss differences with Mr. Teed, but this is not the case; for I have never
been ‘approached’ on the subject. I surmise, however, that no good could be
accomplished for Teed, nor for any as blinded as to consider him greater than
Christ. But should it ever become evident to me that any of the Lord’s true
sheep need help, I shall not hesitate to show up the hollowness of the
blasphemous claims of Koreshanity….
“…These blasphemous claims are all
the proofs that I need that the entire theory is of the devil. I care not for
the legerdemain of sophistry by which they were entrapped, and by which they
claim to prove God’s word a lie. It is sufficient to me that this is the faith
and teachings of Koreshans, who receive it from Koresh, whom they call “The
Master,” and before whom they bow…”
“On the one hand we have all the
exceeding great and precious promises of God’s word and our Christian
experiences and growth in grace and knowledge for many years, and our
realization of our Lord’s presence, and feasting with Him upon the things old
and new which He has furnished to His household during the past years of His
presence. On the other hand, we have the bombastic claims of a poor fellow
being of certainly no more than average ability, who has claimed to be able to
make gold for £3 per ton, but who has done nothing but twist a few passages of
scripture fulfilled twenty-four hundred years ago by King Cyrus the Mede, whose
decree let Israel go free from Babylon, so as to make himself ‘somebody,’ and
to practically deny or make void all the remainder of God’s word.
“I learned of Brother Weimar’s
interest in Koreshanity and of his affiliation with its advocates at their
homes. Brother Weimar was present; but declares that he is not committed to
Koreshanity, but says he is trying it, investigating it, proving it. I showed
him in most kindly manner and word some of the absurdities of such a view, and
that there was nothing to prove or weigh. It seems to me, and I believe it will
seem to some of you all, and to Brother Weimar, when you consider it, that he
is at present in no condition to teach others respecting matters of which he is
himself in doubt – not yet decided. I advise, therefore, that any appointments
already out for Brother Weimar be filled by someone else, and that for the
present you excuse Brother Weimar. If desired, I will endeavor to send you
someone else for any meetings already appointed or for others.”
The break between CTR and Weimar was
final, and the latter’s connection with Koreshanity would not be just as
an observer.
When Teed died in 1908 it was Weimar
who led a vigil over the corpse for several days. He was now viewed as Teed’s
doctor, although his speciality was in the fairly new-fangled and unconventional
field of osteopathy.
He stayed a Koreshan believer for
the rest of his life. As the three pictures below from 1914 show, Weimar became
part of The Flaming Sword editorial committee and also
translator of their works into German.
If I have
deciphered the theology correctly, one of their beliefs was that hell was sort
of something inside a person. This allowed for a swipe at Pastor Russell. From
the same 1914 volume:
There is no author given for the
article in question. However, an article carrying Weimar’s name in this same
volume shows that he was one of the inner circle who practiced celibacy. It
should be noted that Weimar’s wife divorced him way back in 1898, citing
his membership as a reason.
At some point he published a book
entitled The Divine and Biblical Credentials of Dr. Cyrus R. Teed
(Koresh). It was republished as recently as 1971 as Koreshanity,
the New Age Religion. Weimer died in 1919 and was buried in the Koreshan
Unity Cemetery in Estero, Florida.
The second name with Watch Tower
connections is Ulysses Grant Morrow (1864-1950). In the above reproduction
from a 1914 Flaming Sword magazine, we can see that Dr. J. A.
Weimar translated into German a publication from the English by a Prof. Morrow.
Ulysses Grant Morrow was born in
Kentucky in 1864, and like many others was named after the Civil War General,
then a hero on the Union side. He married and had two children. He moved to
Iowa where he published and taught his own stenography system. Then at some
point he relocated to Allegheny.
Ulsusses Grant Morrow’s
photograph as used in Find a Grave
For the clue that links Morrow to Zion’s
Watch Tower, we must travel forward to March 1936 when The Flaming
Sword attacked him and accused him of plagiarism. The Koreshan Unity
and Morrow had parted company many years before. But the article in passing
takes us back to 1895. The writer (one Allen Andrews) states: “I have known
Ulysses G. Morrow for more than 40 years and for a considerable period was a
co-worker with him…Away back in 1895 Ulysses G. Morrow (then a member of the
C.T. Russell sect) was living in Allegheny, Pa.”
There is one mention of a Brother
Morrow in the pages of Zion’s Watch Tower, in the issue for November
1891. CTR had been away on a trip to Britain and on his return to Allegheny he
wrote: “Brother Bryan and Morrow, a delegation of welcome, met us at the
depot.” On getting to the actual Bible House, there was a service of welcome
conducted by Brother Weimar and Sister Ball read a poem. Brother Bryan would be
Elmer Bryan, soon to leave in the 1894 disagreements. Sister Ball would be Rose
Ball, later Ross Ball Henninges. Brother Weimar we have already met, and it is
probable that Brother Morrow was Ulysses G.
The 1936 attack on Morrow mentioned
he was associated with CTR back in 1895, but if so, he obviously had a foot in
two camps. In The Flaming Sword for May 1895, Morrow wrote a
letter stating he had a file of their magazines going back to 1892, and
addressed his letter to: KORESH, THE MESSENGER OF THE COVENANT – DEAR MASTER
AND SHEPHERD. The letter stated his conversion to “hollow earth” belief (from a
previous “flat earth” belief) and announced that his own magazine would
henceforth promote the Koreshan system.
So there in Allegheny, right under
the nose of The Bible House, Morrow went to work. As noted above he appears to
have been the spokesman for Teed in his April 1895 visit, and regular meetings
at Morrow’s Allegheny home for the “Branch Assembly of the Arch-Triumphant”
were announced in The Flaming Sword from July 1895 onward. He also produced a
new paper called Salvator – Scientist which started in
September that year.
Morrow did
not stay in Allegheny long. He soon relocated to the newly formed Koreshan
commune in Estero. He took over editorial duties for The Flaming Sword which
swallowed up the Salvator – Scientist. He also invented a special
piece of equipment called a Rectilineator that could be used in a straight line
on a beach to establish the curve of the earth. In 1897 at Naples Beach, not
far from the Estero commune, they conducted an experiment which convinced them
even more that the earth’s curve was concave, not convex – so yes, mankind
really was inside a hollow earth with the sun as a giant battery in the center.
It was blindingly obvious.
Morrow
lived until 1950 and his son lived on until 1988. One wonders how they coped
with “hollow earth” belief as the years went by, especially into the era of
rockets and space travel.
The third
member of our trinity of Watch Tower defectors was Henry Nicholas Rahn
(1858-1933) who has actually been mentioned by name in recent Watchtower
literature.
Henry Nicholas Rahn’s
photograph from Koreshan archives
Henry Rahn and Augustus Weimar
obviously had connections. Weimar came from Germany, and was previously a
Baptist and at one point was reported to have lived in Baltimore, Maryland.
Rahn also came from Germany, and had been a Baptist pastor, and also lived in
Baltimore. Both certainly knew each other. Baltimore Baptists and then Bible
Students at the same time, they both then became Koreshan Unity supporters at
around the same time. They both stayed with the new movement for the rest of
their lives.
Rahn
was a married man with at least six children. His oldest son was Claude who will
enter our story shortly. In the 1880 and 1900 census returns Henry’s
occupation was as a clerk.
The modern reference to Rahn in
Watchtower literature is found in the book God’s Kingdom Rules (published
2014) on page 174, in paragraph 13. Rahn is credited with the suggestion used
for group meetings that CTR endorsed. The relevant passage reads: “In
the mid-1890’s, after a number of volumes of Millennial Dawn had
been released, Brother H. N. Rahn, a Bible Student living in the city of
Baltimore, Maryland, U.S.A., suggested holding “Dawn Circles” for Bible study.”
The original reference comes from
the September 15, 1895 ZWT. It is part of an article by CTR recommending how to
conduct meetings, and states that Rahn’s suggestion for Dawn Circles dated back
to earlier in the decade. The reference reads: “Such meetings for the study of
the Word in the light of the now revealed plan of the ages have been termed Dawn
Circles. The plan originated with Brother Rahn, of Baltimore, several
years ago, and he and the other members of the class report much profit
therefrom.”
Rahn’s name had already occurred
several times in the ZWT’s pages by the time of the Sepember 1895 quote. He
probably became interested in the Bible Student message in the late 1880s,
around the same time as Augustus Weimar. His name occurs in ZWT for May 1892,
April 15, 1893, June 11, 1894, and March 15, 1895. Finally, there is the
aforementioned September 15, 1895 reference. However, immediately thereafter
Rahn disappeared from Watch Tower history. In that year, 1895, he left
association with the Bible Students and spent the rest of his life as an
advocate of the Koreshan Unity.
Henry Rahn died in 1933 and his
obituary was published in The Flaming Sword for August 1933,
page 13: "The sad news has been received from Baltimore of the death,
after a long illness, of Mr. Henry N. Rahn, father of Brothers Claude and Frank
Rahn, in his seventy-fifth year. Mr. Rahn was a staunch Koreshan and earnestly
endeavored to further the Cause in his native city of Baltimore since accepting
Koreshanity in 1895. Meetings were frequently held at his house to discuss the
doctrine; and whenever KORESH visited Baltimore he was a welcome guest at the
hospitable home of Mr. and Mrs. Rahn. Mr. Rahn is survived by his wife, five
sons and a daughter."
Rahn’s defection from Watch Tower therefore
occurred in the same year he was credited by CTR for suggesting Dawn Circles.
Rahn was to remain close to Koresh. On June 21st 1899, he
received the book The Cellular Cosmogony from him. Cyrus R
Teed wrote a dedication inside it, to: “H N Rahn, Pastor of the Church
Triumphant in Baltimore,” a name used for local meetings there. Teed identified
himself as the “Founder of the Koreshan Unity” and considerately added a new
alternative date, A.K. 60 – Anno Koresh. He was sixty years old at the time.
We have mentioned above that Teed
was seriously injured in a street fight in 1906 between his supporters and
local townspeople. Teed was actually at the depot to meet a train from
Baltimore that was bringing some of the Rahn family to visit. Both Henry and
son Claude were part of the ensuing fracas. Teed was pistol whipped by a town
marshall and Claude got himself arrested.
Although Henry Rahn lived most of
his life in Baltimore, son Claude was to live at the Estero commune for some
years and wrote a biography of Teed/Koresh. He was also briefly the Vice
President of the dwindling Koreshan association. He lived until 1973. Like
Morrow’s son, you wonder how he coped with the advancing knowledge of the space
age.
The above then is a story of three
men who ceased working with CTR and the Watch Tower and made what appear to be
off the wall choices of religious direction. All in all, when examining this
history, you get the impression that CTR may have breathed a big sigh of relief
when they parted company with the Watch Tower Society.
