Watch Tower History

In 1877 Russell preached in the Boston area. He generated significant comment over his opposition to Hell-fire doctrine. We only have one so...

Updated: We really need to see the 1872 Bible Examiners. We simply cannot afford the photocopy charge from the lone source. Do any of you ha...

You said: I found the Church of God notice. It is in the Advent Christian Times:3/21/71 p. 2283/28/71 p. 243 4/3/71 p. 2514/11/71 p.259 John...

born about 1835. Perhaps once a methodist. One of the founding congregants of the Westfield MA Second Adventist church; later its pastor. Re...

We need a good scan of his picture from his book The Second Coming of Christ: Or the Impending Approach of “The Restitution of all Things”. ...

I am trying to find an article by Storrs in the Bible Examiner on Baptism. I've missplaced my note on it. Anyone know where it is? Found...

We have worked on J. J. Bender's identity for about four years. We belive that he is Joseph J. Bender, a traveling agent or salesman, wh...

We're still struggling to discover Adamson's first name. He was in business in Ohio in the late 1870's and perhaps as late as 18...

Zion's Temple, 261 Fulton Street, Brooklyn ... in operaton late 1880's early 1890's. Anything at all would help.

We need to see 1886-1888 if they exist. They may not exist. We're uncertain. Anyone?

Anyone? An article from 1898. Please. We probably only need this paragraph translated: Eine ähnliche Sekte, die sich in neuerer Zeit aus Ame...

We located a copy of the Saalfield & Fitch printing of the Plan of the Ages. I need a clear scan of the title page showing the Saalfield...

Does anyone have a better copy they can scan for me?

I have the 1903 Colporteur guide, Suggestive Hints to New Colporteurs. We need to see the 1887 edition. As far as I know, it does not exist....

Soul's Awakening. I remember very well the period of my soul awakening. It was when I was about 15 years of age, and I thought, as I lo...

We desperately need to see the April and May 1876 issues of Herald of the Morning. Anyone?

The Wikipedia article on Conley says, "Adventist minister George Stetson lived for a time with the Conleys during a prolonged period of...

also spelled macmillan, one of the first directors of the watch tower society .... any biographical information would help.

A song book sold through Zion's Watch Tower Tract Society into the 1890's. I'm afraid my copy is really ratty, but I'm happy...

We need proof that he practiced medicine in Ohio. Anyone have a contemporary reference? We need to see the Stetson-Thew letters. Anyone bot...

There was at least one believer in Guildford, England, in 1886. We can find no clue as to his name or any other details. Anyone out there ha...

We've been getting lots of helpful comments and private emails. This is great. Keep it up. Some things what would help us include: 1. If...

margaret russell said: “Later, about 1877, after attending a series of services held by my brother, a prominent Pittsburgh physician remarke...

... was expelled from the Methodist church in the summer of 1871. This was detailed in The World's Crisis. Anyone know the exact issue? ...

footnote in object and manner of our lord's return: Another brother, also of the M. E. church, and for several years a professor in one ...

This Indiana paper reviewed Object and Manner of Our Lord's Return.

We’re puzzling things through. Rachael is writing first rough draft of a chapter dealing with the Allegheny Bible Class between 1871 and 187...

In the June 1882 Watch Tower Russell announced that “Bros. Leigh and Spears have started on a trip down the Ohio river in a small boat belon...

A shill for a book keeps trying to post on this blog. They do not read this blog, only an earlier post revewing a book by Fredrick Zydek ent...

Starting at Rochester, New York, and ending a Louisville, Kentucky, what would have been the probable train rout in 1877? What would have be...

After Food for Thinking Christians was published a Church of God clergyman challenged Russell to debate throught he pages of the Dispatch.

Omnibus Leaving 6th Street Bridge on the Allegheny Side - 1876.

Russell in his study. Originally in Overland Monthly. Courtesy of a friend of this blog.

Photo courtesy a friend of this blog.

Photo courtesy of a friend of this blog.

I have an extra copy. It's clean looking outside, but the hinges are cracked. The cover is still attached and a bit of glue would fix th...

Major Daniel Webster Whittle blocked the Plan of the Ages from the Revel bookstore and wholesale lists.

It occurs to me that some of my blog readers don't understand that the real history of Zion's Watch Tower has never really been told...

We need a really clear digital scan of the photo of John H. Brown found in the 1908 Convention Report. Anyone?

While there may be exceptions, especially if the review comes from a regular contributor or a regular blog reader, I will not review books, ...

Joseph Moffitt of Newcastle on Tyne republished his 1884 Watch Tower article as a pamphlet. Does any one have, or can you find: Ransom and T...

from an 1886 Watch Tower article: Another similar effort to hand-truck Christian people into the great Omnibus of Spiritism, is a little pap...

Anyone with an ancestry.com account? Lived in Albany, New York in 1900. Meetings were held in his house? Data? Anyone?

I no longer have an ancestry.com account. If you have one, please send me the material on S. O. Blunden found there, including the city dire...

We've finally located some of the 1877 Pittsburgh newspapers we want to examine. The library that has them is willing to lend the microf...

Messenger boys such as this one distributed Food for Thinking Christians

S. T. Tackabury is listed in the ohio obituary index on acestry.com. Anyone have a membership? Can you email me the information? Or post it ...

It seems that all i'm posting lately is requests for help. Here is another: We need the exact details of a Advent and Sabbath Advocate a...

Myers is mentioned only by last name in Zion's Watch Tower. We need to see a booklet he wrote in the 1880's entitled "The Atone...

To answer an emailed question: This site contains more material than appears on the front page. Use the “older posts” button on the bottom o...

Stroud was editor of Eusebia: A Montly Journal for Bible STudents, published in Oakland, California in the 1880's and 90's. He was B...

Advertisement in the back of another Saalfield publication. Publishers' Weekly In 1892 the religious publishing house Saalfield &...

A significant archive related to A. P. Adams is in Boston. We need a volunteer interested enough in Watch Tower history to consult it, make ...

The Kingdom of God; The Covenant with David and David's Seed, by G. M. Myers - 1885 - 16 pages Controversial on the Nature of Man: A cor...

Albert D. Jones’ embezzlement of funds is discussed elsewhere on this blog. Thanks to research by Rachael de Vienne, we know more about the ...

In 1900 William C. Couch of the Disciples of Christ debated a brother Whitaker. The debate was printed, but we can't find a copy. Anyone...

With the January/February 1882 issue of Zion's Watch Tower, Russell sent as a supplement a combined pamphlet that included both Tabernac...

John Sunderlin's first wife died in 1899. She made her home in Glens Falls, New York, and was living apart from her husband. Does anyone...

There is a strong, contemporary assertion of the presence of believers in the UK before Food for Thinking Christians was circulated. Other t...

Our special thanks go to Ton, who's sent us a flood of documentation including key newspaper articles we had not seen. Among these is on...

A Church of God minister and pastor of Townsend Street Church of God in Pittsburgh challenged Russell to a debate when Food for Thinking Chr...

The Second Adventists Celebrated the Feast of the Pssover in Allegheny Yesterday. The Feast of the Passover was observed yesterday at a meet...

The claim is sometimes made in print that Russell exhibited at the Centenial Exhibition in 1876. We looked through every list of exhibitors ...

Starting in February 1877, Russell and Barbour went on a preaching tour that took them from Rochester, New York, to Louisville, Kentucky. Ru...

"no man ever lived, with any pretensions whatsoever to Biblical knowledge, who could crowd so much absurdity into so small a space"...

In 1892 Russell tried to engage members of the Christian Endeavor Societies to circulate tracts. He detailed the plan in a short newspaper a...

Thanks to Ton for the research ... As reported in the January 20, 1889, Pittsburgh Dispatch, Carried M. Jones filed for divorce on the groun...

Things you haven't seen or don't know ... Albert Delmont Jones was a principal stock holder in the Knickerbocker Bank of New York, ...

We need immediate help from someone in the Atlanta, Georgia, area. We need a volunteer to go to a university there and photo copy a booklet....

Rochester Daily Union and Advertiser. August 29, 1881 A Religious National Convention. The national convention of the “Church of the Kockles...

A brother and sister Burgner/bergner were active in Newark NJ in the 1880's and 1890's. Anyone know anything? A series of newspaper ...

Some time ago I posted about a controversy caused by the circulation of Food for Thinking Christians in Newark, NJ. I asked for help tracing...

We need someone with more talent than we seem to possess to scan the picture of Henry Smith Warleigh found in Froom's Conditionalist Fai...

Comments, please ... Day Dawn, while it addressed the need for a clear statement of their theology, did not fill the need for simple direct ...

Now this is new! Bible Student's Tract number six by Albert Delmont Jones: A call to "The marriage supper of the lamb." the h...

This is a fragment of the chapter we're currently writing. I'm posting it in very rough and incomplete draft. It's open for comm...