Pyramids

     The examination of Egyptian pyramids caused massive speculation in the 19^th century. Reflecting the religious beliefs of the Egyptians, with their concept of the afterlife, mixed in with astrology and the shape of the sun’s rays, the structures soon inspired theories as to their construction and purpose. In particular this applied to the Great Pyramid of Giza.

     The founding father of what came to be commonly known as pyramidology was John Taylor who published The Great Pyramid: Why was it Built? And Who Built it? in 1859. He greatly influenced Charles Piazzi Smyth, Astronomer Royal of Scotland, who followed with Our Inheritance in the Great Pyramid in 1864. Smyth visited Egypt – something Taylor never did – and as a respected astronomer gained considerable attention. Moved by his beliefs, when he died in 1900, his monument in the graveyard of St. John’s Church, Sharow, near Ripon, was a pyramid.

Smyth’s pyramid – photo credit Julia & Keld

     After Smyth’s book, the baton was taken up by an American Lutheran minister, Joseph Augustus Seiss, in 1877, with the publication of The Great Pyramid of Egypt, Miracle in Stone. As a result, in the last few decades of the 19^th century many religious groups believed that the Giza pyramid was not a tomb, but had been constructed to reveal God’s plan for mankind to future generations. The measurements of certain features would equate to time periods, and would tie in with scripture.

     The concept was widely accepted, although the interpretations of the “evidence” varied from writer to writer. It also changed as different surveyors re-measured the edifice and came up with revised figures from those accepted by Seiss and early writers. Today it is often associated with Anglo-Israelites, those who believe that the ten lost tribes of Israel can be traced down to the British nation.

     Charles Taze Russell would be one of many who mentioned the pyramid. In his 1916 forward to Volume 3 of Studies, he wrote: “We have never attempted to place the Great Pyramid, sometimes called the Bible in Stone, on a parallel or equality with the Word of God as represented by the Old and New Testament Scriptures – the latter stand pre-eminent always as the authority.”

     However, he did view the Great Pyramid to be a corroborative witness.

     Certain other Bible Students focused on the pyramid far more extensively. William Wright corresponded with Piazzi Smyth (the correspondence is in Studies volume 3) and two brothers, John and Morton Edgar of Glasgow, wrote several books on the subject, including Great Pyramid Passages volumes 1 and 2.

     When the Watch Tower Society arranged for its own burial plot at United Cemeteries, Ross Township, a central memorial for the plot was designed by John Adam Bohnet in the shape of a pyramid. However, this was not a special sign or even a grave marker for any individual, but rather a communal monument designed to record the names of those buried on site in four quadrants around it, linked to the four pyramid sides. As it happened, only nine names were ever recorded before the idea was abandoned. The structure was eventually removed for safety reasons.

Pyramid (L) and CTR’s grave marker (R) c. 1921

     As time passed, general interest in pyramid theories waned in the mainstream. Finally, in 1928, after little comment for several years, the Watch Tower magazine produced two articles on the subject in the November 15 and December 1, 1928, issues. The gist of their arguments, which were against the Giza pyramid being of God, were reproduced in more recent times, in The Watchtower for May 15, 1956.

     The correspondence columns of the Watch Tower had various responses after the 1928 articles, best summed up by a future president of the Watch Tower Society (issue of July 1, 1929):

     The Golden Age magazine (January 23, 1929) had some fun naming certain individuals who no longer associated with the I.B.S.A. and who had made new predictions based on the pyramid. One was Morton Edgar.

     Of course, those who did not agree with the Watch Tower’s new position continued to believe in pyramidology, and in at least one case, tried to emulate Smyth. From a Yeovil (Somerset, UK) cemetery is this example.

     The last inscription on its sides was for Clara Hallett, who died in 1938.

     Her husband, Bible Student William Henry Hallett, had died in 1921.

     Perhaps surprisingly, the family who had done so much to promote the concept, the Edgars, did not go for a pyramid monument themselves. Most of the Edgars, including writers John and Morton, are buried in a family plot in the Eastwood (Old) Cemetery, Glasgow, and chose to have no monuments or headstones at all.

     With thanks to the Glasgow and West of Scotland Family History Society volunteer who checked the printed records and then took the photograph. There are sixteen Edgar graves (four plots, four deep) on either side of the tree in the middle of the picture. One wonders what size the tree was when the plots were sold originally,

     Perhaps to end on a really bizarre note:  London could today have had the largest pyramid in the world if the plans of architect Thomas Willson (1781-1866) had been realised. Detailed plans were drawn up and investors invited for what would be called The Metropolitan Sepulchre.

     It was designed to work a bit like a modern multi-storey car park and was to be built on top of Primrose Hill. Had it been approved it would have been four times the height of St Paul’s Cathedral, and would hold an estimated five million dead Londoners.

     What a landmark that would have become, towering far higher than the Great Pyramid of Giza if put side by side. The plans were first put before parliament in 1830, and later at the Crystal Palace Great Exhibition of 1851 for another proposed location. But ultimately garden cemeteries (out of town with help from new-fangled railways) and later crematoria were more practical solutions.

     Can you imagine the problems Willson’s pyramid would have caused for future generations when it was full? And what a useful landmark it could have been for German bombers in World War 2. One clear strike and there could have been five million extra cadavers spread across London. Now there’s an alternative history for you.

Let's Go Rob a Pyramid!

by Jerome

(Photographs supplied by AW, BK, CG and DB with thanks)

The Pyramids of Egypt were all looted in antiquity, and no doubt originally contained treasures that made the risk appear worthwhile. This article is about a far more prosaic event, the breaking into and robbing an approximately seven feet high pyramid-shaped memorial in United Cemeteries, Ross Township, Pittsburgh.

In early 1921 the United Cemeteries pyramid was completed. It was in the center of four sections of the cemetery reserved for Bible Students who had worked along with Charles Taze Russell. He was buried there in 1916, slightly uphill from the pyramid which was designed as a memorial for all those on site. As people died their names were to be inscribed on the four sides of the pyramid on carved pages of open books. However, only nine names were ever recorded on the monument before the idea was abandoned.

This pyramid was hollow. It was constructed from four triangular shaped sides that were angled together with a capstone holding it all in place. Cement grouting ensured it was designed to last. And it did, for a little over 70 years.

What attracted attention, which ultimately proved most unwelcome, was the news that the hollow interior contained “treasure.” This was mentioned in the 1919 IBSA convention report, while the pyramid was being constructed.  The relevant paragraph was a statement of intent: “Within the structure, incased (sic) in a block of granite, will be a sealed metal box in which is a complete set of Karatol Scripture Studies, the Memorial Tower, and one of every tract, photographs of Pastor Russell, a copy of the Society’s charter, and many other things to interest the people who at some future date may open the pyramid and find them.”

When the monument was completed and the event covered in the New Era Enterprise for February 10, 1920, the plan had not changed. The Enterprise reported:  “Within the monument is a hollowed stone which contains a copy of all the Society’s literature, photographs of the Pastor, a copy of the Society’s charter and other data which some day in the not far distant future may perchance come to light, now effectually sealed up.”

Years later, when George Swetnam wrote the article A Man and His Monument for the Pittsburgh Press in its Family Magazine section for June 25, 1967, page 7, he wrote about this cache of material, “hermetically sealed to await the end of time.”

Well, it didn’t quite wait until the end of time, but it as noted above, it did survive a little over 70 years.

The photograph below dates from November 1991. The visitor who took the photograph found the pyramid still intact, although noted that the grouting was failing in places and water was seeping in. No doubt its integrity was increasingly compromised, and the structural weaknesses may have given the thief or thieves their incentive.

By the fall of 1993 or 1994 the deed was done. The pyramid was opened and its contents disappeared.

The photograph below dates from that period and purports to show the break-in taking place.

In fairness to the subjects, this was a photograph taken by young tourists visiting the site, who found the damaged artefact and posed beside it. As you do. Their faces have been obscured in this picture, because no doubt they are now middle aged highly respectable individuals. There would have to be at least three of them, because someone took the photograph. Unsurprisingly, they found the pyramid empty.

What stands out for me is how heavy the sides were. It would have taken some effort to move the one section, but once moved there was a real danger to life had it toppled over. The damage would obviously need to be repaired as soon as possible.

We travel forward to the second known break-in.  This was around the year 2000. Again, and no doubt for reasons of safety as much as anything, the pyramid was repaired very quickly. But this time someone took photographs of the interior.

Obviously there wasn’t any casket of publications there, just a few granite shards that may have come from it. The person who took these photographs searched near the site in case someone had discarded parts of the “hollowed stone” the historic documents had been in. Nothing was found. He wasn’t to know that the cupboard had been bare for several years.

So we are left with the question – who vandalized the pyramid originally and stole its contents and where are they now?

I obviously have no idea, but as commented in earlier articles, the contents were unlikely to have been unique.  They could only put inside the pyramid what was available in 1920, and the Society’s own library at that time was incomplete. Whatever was inside was probably available elsewhere. The only thing that made it special was that it came from inside the pyramid. But whoever stole the contents could hardly advertise this on eBay. Can you imagine the wording?

I cannot believe any active JW or Bible Student would do such a thing. We are left with perhaps a rogue collector of some sort.

So someone somewhere out there may have a cache of materials; however, nothing that could not have been obtained from elsewhere. But as I write, there may be some sad individual out there still gloating over their hoard. If perchance they are reading this, all I can suggest is that they might consider seeking medical help.

Who built the pyramid?

 

Edmund Kohler from 1927 newspaper

So who built the pyramid?

No it wasn’t Djoser or Khufu or other ancient Egyptians. We are talking about the pyramid monument that stood for a little over one hundred years on the Watch Tower Society’s plot in United Cemeteries, Ross Township, near Pittsburgh, PA.

From 1905 to 1917 the Watch Tower owned a cemetery company called United Cemeteries. Charles Taze Russell was buried there in November 1916. Most of the 90 acre site was sold at the end of 1917 to the Northside Catholic Cemetery, which adjoined their land. The Society just kept back certain small areas for their own use, the most notable one having a central monument in the middle of the plot. A seven foot high pyramid was erected in early 1920, designed to list the names of all those buried nearby.

When the Bible Students held a convention in Pittsburgh in 1919 some visited the grave and also visited the stoneworks “nearby” to see the pyramid under construction. It was natural that as well as new cemeteries springing up off what was now called Cemetery Lane, some companies would also provide monuments to order. One such company built the pyramid.

It was the Kohler Company, founded by Eugene Adrian Kohler (1865-1922). Eugene was born in Germany, came to America in 1892, was married in 1893, and was finally naturalised as an American citizen in 1917. He and his wife Lena had six children including Edmund Kohler (1894-1971), who joined the family business and eventually took it over. In the 1910 census Eugene is listed as Proprieter, Monumental Works.

Eugene died comparatively young from pulmonary tuberculosis, directly linked to his work as a stone cutter. He was buried in 1922 in the former Northside Catholic Cemetery, now known as the Christ Our Redeemer Catholic Cemetery. But it was Eugene who cut the stones for the pyramid. The monument was hollow, made up of four triangular sides leaning towards each other on a concrete base, with a capstone holding it all together. Originally it contained a casket full of books and documents and photgraphs as a kind of time capsule of Watch Tower progress and history. Ultimately, this “treasure” would cause the pyramid’s downfall.

While Eugene cut the stones for the pyramid, his son, Edmund, then sandblasted the sides to carve out the names of those buried nearby. When the pyramid was put together in early 1920 there were nine names inscribed over three of the four sides. As it happened, the idea was soon abandoned. More were buried there, in fact today one can safely say that the site is fully used, but no further names were ever added to the monument.

Edmund’s history is summed up in census returns from 1920 through to 1950. In 1920 he is stone cutter (monumental works), 1930 he is letter carver (monument), 1940 he is letter cutter (stone cutting company), and 1950 he is proprieter (monumental business).

On an undated business card the business is described as: Edmund Kohler, Modern Cemetery Memorials.

When he died, his obituary in the Tampa Tribune (Florida), 25 January 1971, stated the company’s title was Memorial Art Works.

In the mid-1960s, Edmund retired and the site was sold to Fred Donatelli Cemetery Memorials. They still operate there. The new company inherited some records from the Kohler business including those relating to the pyramid’s purchase and construction. However, in the early 1990s the Donatelli Company was visited by a representative of the Watch Tower Society, who was given the documents. We can be reasonably certain that the pyramid was broken into in early 1993 and the casket of memorabilia stolen. The edifice was left in a dangerous state, and it may be that the documents were needed to see how best to quickly repair it before a side fell on someone and killed them.

Move forward to recent times. The pyramid was broken into again on several occasions – probably because idiots didn’t realise the contents were long gone. It was patched up from time to time. But in 2020 the capstone disappeared (again) which held it all together. Also this time the cross and crown motifs were badly damaged on all four sides.

What was interesting this time is that someone took a photograph of the revealed space. Someone had written in the cement what appear to be the initials F K and the year 1919. Allowing for cement dust to encroach on this in part, we can reasonably assume that the Initials were E K.

Was that Eugene, or more likely Edmund? Yet again the whole structure was in a dangerous state, and the decision was ultimately taken that enough was enough and it was to be taken down and taken away.

It was taken down on September 1, 2021, and now lives on in photographs, as a time capsule of how things once were. What was nice to see is that the nine names on the pyramid sides - that disappeared with it - have been restored on simple stones now placed in the same area.

(With grateful thanks to Corky Donatelli who provided valuable information and sent me on my journey, and James S Holmes, Watch Tower of Allegheny Historical Tour, for the modern photographs)

How Many Graves?

(Advance warning: this is an article written by Jerome - a pedant writing for pedants)

All readers of this blog will be familiar with the burial plot at United Cemeteries where CTR was buried, and where, in its center, is a pyramid monument erected in 1919-1920. The idea originally was to provide burial plots for Bethel workers and Pilgrims and their families.

When the site was first mooted, the total number of graves given was more than 275. The 1919 convention report on page 7, comments that: “the Watch Tower Society burial lots in Rosemont United Cemeteries...contain ample grave spaces for all the members of the Bethel family, and the Pilgrims and their wives – in all more than 275 adults graves.”

Perhaps the key word for this large number is lots (plural). There is more than one lot owned by the Watch Tower Society on the site, although most attention naturally focuses on the lot with the pyramid at its center.

However, if you examine modern cemetery records, the total number of graves surrounding the pyramid monument is only 128. They comprise four sections: T-33, 34, 46 and 47, with 48 grave spaces in each.

This article details some history of the site to explain the discrepancy.

Initially, when the Society owned the whole cemetery, any area assigned for Bible Student burials did not matter too much because it could likely be adjusted as necessary. But once they sold off the bulk of the cemetery lands it was necessary to specify which parts were to be retained for their own use.

Much of the land was sold off to the North Side Catholic Cemetery around 1917, which already owned adjoining property. The North Side Catholic Cemetery became part of the Catholic Cemeteries Association in 1952, and this body sold a large swathe of land to the Masonic Fund Society for the County of Allegheny in 1994. Credulous polemicists who see the grave of CTR and the pyramid with the Masonic building in the background should note this progression of sale which has nothing whatsoever to do with the Watchtower Society, ancient or modern. But for our purposes, when these transfers took place it was necessary to specify which bits of land were being held back and never belonged to either Catholics or Masons.

It appears there were three parcels of land retained by the Watch Tower Society. One small tract is a bit of a mystery and has never been used for burials, but the other two are grave sites today. These were mentioned when the pyramid monument was installed and the event marked with a front page article in The New Era Enterprise, published St Paul, Minnesota, Tuesday, February 10, 1920, and entitled: “The Pyramid Monument on the Bethel Burial Lots.”

The article mentioned that “the Society has the entire control of this plot of ground. It was not included in the sale of the farm and cemetery property.” Also “the Bethel lot has space for 192 graves, and in another lot just across the upper roadway the Society has a lot of 64 grave spaces.”

This would total 256 spaces – just a little under the original 275 figure – but is an accurate statement of intent for these sites. The upper site is quite near the obelisk for William Morris Wright, one of the original trustees of the original cemetery company back in 1905. (You can read about Wright and see a photograph of his memorial on this blog if you scroll back to June 5 of this year).

That the main Bethel site with its pyramid was intended for 192 burials is clearly shown by the pyramid itself. On each of its four sides there is an open book and marked spaces for 48 names. Although somewhat worn, on a day when the sun shines in the right direction, you can see these numbers clearly. They are divided up into lots, A, B, C, etc. (up to H) and each lot has six numbers, allowing for six graves per lot. That is 48 numbers per side – making the grand total of 192 for all four sides. The plan was to inscribe the names in the appropriate spaces as plots were used. In reality, all the names that do exist on the pyramid (there are nine in total) were of people who died before the pyramid was completed.

So why do modern cemetery records only note 128 grave spaces?

The original plan for the cemetery was abandoned almost before it had started. Once the pyramid was erected, with the exception of CTR’s sister, Margaretta Land, who died in 1934, no other interments took place until the 1940s. When burials restarted, the ground plans were redrawn. Modern cemetery records show the total number of plots was reduced by increasing the size of graves. Current records show each lot to now have only 4 plots, rather than 6. So A has 4, B has 4, and so on. The size of the plots has been increased to eight feet by four feet. This was wise, because the site is on a hill, and not only a hill but a slightly curved hill, and it became difficult over time to keep exact track of locations. Even with the larger sizes for plots, some graves have reportedly been disturbed when new ones have been dug.

This reduces each section to 32 graves and the total number of spaces to 128.

There is one a further reduction. Four grave spaces (Lot 33, H4: Lot 34, E3; Lot 46, D2; and Lot 47, A1) can never be used because there is a rather large pyramid monument on top of them, complete with a five foot depth of concrete foundation, courtesy of J Adam Bohnet’s labors in 1919.

So the total number of grave spaces is down to 124. I have it on good authority that there is just one remaining grave space unsold, where doubt as to what might be beneath makes sale unwise; but apart from that, the remaining 123 have been sold, although not all have been used.

As to how the site has been used over the last one hundred years, that will be dealt with in future articles.

 

Inside the Pyramid

The photographs that accompany this article may be somewhat disappointing if you were perhaps expecting the lost sarcophagus of Cheops.

However, the pyramid in question is one very applicable to this blog – namely the monument to the Watch Tower Society positioned quite close to the grave of Charles Taze Russell in the United Cemeteries, Pittsburgh.

These photographs were taken when the monument was vandalised and one whole section prized open. The structure is made up of four triangular sides, all balancing towards each other, with a capstone on top to hold it all together. It was therefore designed to be hollow, on a concrete base of about five feet in depth. The base is level, whereas the land on which it is built is sloping – hence part of the base can be seen at certain edges of the monument.

All readers should be familiar with this pyramid monument, with its open books on all four sides. It was designed to be in the center of the plot reserved for Bethel family members and WT Society pilgrims. Future articles will provide more detail of what was intended, and how thing ultimately worked out.

As originally planned, the monument was going to hold a special cache of WT Society publications relating to the era of Pastor Russell.

This was mentioned when the idea was first mooted in the 1919 convention report. The relevant paragraph was a statement of intent: “Within the structure, incased (sic) in a block of granite, will be a sealed metal box in which is a complete set of Karatol Scripture Studies, the Memorial Tower, and one of every tract, photographs of Pastor Russell, a copy of the Society’s charter, and many other things to interest the people who at some future date may open the pyramid and find them.”

When the monument was completed and the event covered in the New Era Enterprise for February 10, 1920, the plan had not changed. The Enterprise reported:  “Within the monument is a hollowed stone which contains a copy of all the Society’s literature, photographs of the Pastor, a copy of the Society’s charter and other data which some day in the not far distant future may perchance come to light, now effectually sealed up.”

Years later, when George Swetnam wrote an article A Man and His Monument for the Pittsburgh Press in its Family Magazine section for June 25, 1967, page 7, he wrote about this cache of material: “Near the top of the hill on Cemetery Lane, between Babcock Boulevard and U.S. 19 in Ross Township, is one of the strangest monuments to be seen in all the Pittsylvania County. It is a granite pyramid, perhaps ten feet square, and it is filled with books and magazines and other papers, hermetically sealed to await the end of time.”

For a certain type of person – and I must stress that I would not include either practicing JWs or Bible Students in this – it all proved to be a temptation too far.

The monument has had its share of difficulties, for example there are marks on one side which suggest a meeting of monument and sledgehammer at one point. But once someone worked out that it really was hollow, and that the four sides leaned in towards each other, it wasn’t rocket science to then prize open one side and topple it over, to reveal the hollow area and any contents.

The monument was very quickly repaired, but not before the above photographs were taken.

Shards of stonework were found in the area, suggesting that there had indeed been a container inside it, which had been broken open and the contents stolen.

Personally, in spite of all the accounts, I had always wondered whether or not the box of publications really had been placed inside the pyramid? Maybe at the last minute someone had thought better of it? Maybe they were entombed in the concrete base built by J Adam Bohnet originally? Having now visited the site in person, and seen the photographs of the interior, and also having spoken personally with those responsible for the pyramid’s repair and resealing, I am now convinced that, yes, there was a container of publications in there, and yes, they were stolen when the pyramid was vandalized.

What does this mean? Actually, on sober reflection, not a lot.

The cache of material was only added in 1920 when the monument was completed and sealed. It would therefore only contain material that could be obtained by conventional means at that time. Since the Society’s offices had moved to Brooklyn, then back to Pittsburgh, then back to Brooklyn in this era, and since attempts to complete the reprint volumes at this time involved pleading with the public to loan certain issues, it is unlikely that anything unique would have ended up entombed. In reality this means that any serious collector today would likely have all the material in duplicate form already. The only thing that made the material special was that it came from the pyramid. But you can’t exactly advertise that on eBay can you? You can imagine the advertisement - what will you bid for materials stolen by defacing and breaking into a cemetery monument? There are no doubt a couple of crimes there.

So someone somewhere may have a cache of materials. But nothing that couldn’t be obtained from elsewhere, with an illegal provenance – and even then, how do you prove that provenance? Of course, there may be some sad individual gloating over his hoard out there somewhere. If he is reading this, all I can suggest is that he might consider seeking medical help.

A SHORT HISTORY OF UNITED CEMETERIES

by Jerome

The pyramid monument on the United Cemeteries property, showing the names of Arabella Mann and Mary Jane Whitehouse.

Note: there have already been two articles on this blog about the Rosemont United Cemeteries site where CTR is buried. The first was on the mystery box of books once inside the pyramid and the second was harmonising the discrepancies in the numbers of recorded graves on site. Strictly speaking, this article should have been the first – giving an overview of the site.

In June 1907 Charles Taze Russell (hereafter abbreviated to CTR) made his last will and testament. In it he wrote:

“I desire to be buried in the plot of ground owned by our Society, in the Rosemont United Cemetery, and all the details of arrangements respecting the funeral service I leave in the care of my sister, Mrs. M. M. Land, and her daughters, Alice and May, or such of them as may survive me, with the assistance and advice and cooperation of the brethren, as they may request the same.”

The cemetery was obviously a going concern by this time. It was founded two years earlier, in April 1905 with a board of trustees and subscribers. The full name was the Rosemont Mount Hope and Evergreen United Cemeteries. CTR was originally down as one of the trustees. (See post on this blog dated July 16 for a reproduction of the relevant part of the original documentation.)

The full story of how the Watch Tower Society came to own a cemetery can be found by examining the trial transcripts of the Brooklyn Eagle “miracle wheat” trial and the 1907 Russell v. Russell hearing. The former is because “miracle wheat” was actually grown by John Adam Bohnet on the farm by the cemetery, and the latter because the hearing was endeavouring to establish CTR’s personal assets, as opposed to those of the Watch Tower Society.

CTR had continued to use personal assets to generate income for his religious work from the very start of Zion’s Watch Tower. Some of these dealing he described in the 1894 publication “A Conspiracy Exposed” when answering critics. He also explained why he preferred to keep his personal name out of such dealings “to avoid any unnecessary notoriety.” Investments were necessary because many donations were conditional – the contributor could claim his donation back at any time in case of need.

One way of keeping CTR’s name out of things was through what he described as “a little holding company” – the United States Investment Company, which he personally organised with his own money. Ultimately, CTR donated all these assets to the Watch Tower Society in return for voting shares – one vote for each $10 donated.

The reason for this preamble is that the Watch Tower Society obtained a cemetery as an investment by providing William E Van Amburg with the money to purchase the land. It was next door to an existing parish cemetery established in 1888 and owned by the Roman Catholic St Philomena Church, so the change of use was logical, and it contained a farm. Plat maps of the 1890s show the farm and land belonging to a Margaret Wible, with the St Philomena Cemetery to the south – putting paid to wild conjecture that it was originally a Russell family inheritance.

So Van Amburg ‘bought’ the land and then ‘sold’ it to the United States Investment Company. They in turn organised the cemetery company. But in reality, as a holding company for the Society, it was the Watch Tower Society that provided the money and really owned it. The deal was that half of the income generated would be used for the preservation and upkeep of the cemetery, and the other half to go to the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society.

A well-known Bible Student, Dr Walter E Spill, by profession an osteopath, was chairman of the cemetery company in 1913. As an amusing aside, in cross-examination during the Brooklyn Eagle trial he volunteered the comment that none of his patients had (as yet) been buried there.

There is conflicting testimony at different times as to how practical this investment really was and how successful a venture it proved to be, and in 1917 the Watch Tower Society decided to sell off most of the land, apart from sections kept back for their own use. What had by now been renamed the North Side Catholic Cemetery was the purchaser. Legal documents show the United States investment company transferred these assets to the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society on January 10, 1916, and the Society then transferred the same to the North Side Catholic Cemetery on December 13, 1917, as recorded January 18, 1918 in Deed Book Volume 1914, pages 273-274.

The main plot retained by the Society was the area where CTR was buried in November 1916.

The January 15, 1918 St. Paul Enterprise (hereafter abbreviated as SPE) reported on the Annual Convention held at Pittsburgh, January 2-6, 1918, and noted that “the special monument which has been ordered by the Society [for the cemetery], is not yet completed, so none had the privilege of viewing it.”

The special monument would be the pyramid in the center of the Society’s plot. By the time of the 1919 convention report (covering January 2-5, 1919) a five foot deep concrete foundation was in place, and visitors were taken to the nearby marble works to see the work in progress. An artist’s impression of the finished production showed a pyramid with open books on its four sides, the pages designed to receive the names of those buried there. These would be headquarters staff (from “Bethel”) and traveling ministers (“Pilgrims”) along with their families. A space for J F Rutherford was already earmarked.  It was acknowledged that this was a design from J Adam Bohnet, who according to advertisements in the SPE (see for example Jan 30 1917) had been cemetery manager since around 1907. However, it was claimed in The New Era Enterprise for February 10, 1920 (the re-named SPE, hereafter abbreviated to NEE) that CTR had approved this plan from a sketch Bohnet showed him back in 1912. The 1919 convention report suggests they had been trying to obtain the right material for about five years (or since 1914) and the pink granite eventually used came all the way from Marble Falls City in Texas.

Some critics have queried Bohnet’s claim of CTR’s approval for his design. Personally, I have no reason to doubt Bohnet’s word as such – in his published writings over nearly 30 years he comes over as an honest, sincere man; although the actual size and scale of the project may have grown a bit since CTR’s demise. CTR had requested in his will that his funeral service be very simple and inexpensive; so the finished edifice, even if for all the Bethel family, may have evolved into something a little more elaborate than a passing rough sketch from 1912.

The idea of trying to source appropriate materials from back in 1914 has a ring of truth about it because the first Bible Student burial took place on site in December that year. The deceased, 25- year-old Grace Mundy, was buried in one of the four corners of the site. Subsequent burials (apart from CTR’s own) followed this pattern, almost as if they were marking out the extremities of the site and working from the outside inwards when using it.

The installation of the pyramid was completed in time to be given a full write-up in the February 20. 1920 issue of NEE. The front page article was entitled “The Pyramid Monument on the Bethel Burial Lots.” It concluded with a fanciful comment that probably reflected how many people felt at the time:

“The Bethel lot will be sacred in the future when other lots in the place will be forgotten. And who knows the Ancient Worthies may someday stand reverently before the monument with bowed heads and read the names traced thereon!”

Actually, the Ancient Worthies would have some difficulty. The years have not been kind to the pyramid. The weathering of the monument and the way the light hits it can make decipherment difficult. For example, a current internet search of memorial inscriptions for this cemetery only yields about three for the pyramid as recorded by volunteer transcribers. If you go back to 1967, George Swetnam’s article “A Man and His Monument” in the Family Magazine section of the Pittsburgh Press (June 25, 1967, page 7) lists eight. But he was obviously struggling. Grace Mundy, mentioned above, is transcribed by Swetnam as Grace Mound, and he mentions the name of Chester Ellidge. That can only be a drastic misreading of John Coolidge, which is surprising since a proper grave marker still survives on site for him.

If you go right back to the February 1920 NEE article, it also lists eight names, but with the expectation of many more to follow.

In reality, there were nine names in total, but that was all. Swetnam missed the name John Perry, and the NEE had an editorial glitch, because their missing name, Lorena Russell, was buried there back in December 1915.

Likely for reasons of space, some names on the pyramid sides were abbreviated with just surname and initials. However, the full names of the nine are:

North Face
Arabella Mann
Mary Jane Whitehouse

South Face
Charles Taze Russell
John Milton Coolidge
(name easily missed by visitors because it is nearly at ground level)

East Face

Grace Mundy
Laurena May Russell
John Perry
Henry Lawrence Addington
Flora Jane Cole

West Face

(no inscriptions)

A future article will discuss what is known about these people, and some have interesting histories and connections. For the moment though, perhaps we can dispel one potential for speculation - Laurena May Russell was no apparent relation of CTR.

But that was it. For all the hype in the 1919 convention report and the 1920 NEE article, all the names were of people who had actually died before the pyramid was erected. No further names were ever added; and apart from CTR’s sister, who owned the plot next to him, no further interments took place until the 1940s. The site basically was just left fallow. Bible Students who left the Watch Tower Society would hold memorial services at CTR’s grave in conjunction with annual reunion conventions in Pittsburgh, but other visitors would be few. As one dryly remarked in a 1929 convention report: “Either the friends have not been dying or the plan has been changed.”

The reason for the project’s abandonment is not difficult to see. When the construction of the monument really got underway, J F Rutherford was in prison. Once he was released, the headquarters that had temporarily transferred back to Pittsburgh returned to their proper home in Brooklyn. Pittsburgh may have been CTR’s original home, but it was no longer the Society’s home. Shipping bodies from Brooklyn all the way to Pittsburgh was expensive. Also, Pittsburgh was unlikely to be near surviving relatives. And in fact, apart from CTR’s sister, no surviving relatives were ever buried there. The Brooklyn Bethel family soon had another cemetery in New York on Staten Island, and it made far better sense for headquarters staff and their families who died to be buried there.

And the concept of a pyramid as a suitable symbol was to be dropped by the Society in 1928.

So, apart from Margaretta Land, the whole area remained unused for around 25 years. It may be that during this time some of the small headstones for others named on the pyramid disappeared – either through vandalism or wear and tear, or even just by having grass encroach over them. Whatever the reason, only one early stone (apart from CTR’s) survives today. As noted above, it was for John Coolidge. It is a curiosity, because the stated plan was for all the markers (apart from CTR’s) to be 12 inches across and 6 inch high, very close to the ground. Very early photographs of the markers for Arabella Mann and Mary Jane Whitehouse show this was done, whereas Coolidge’s marker is stuck upright in the ground. It stands out more, and maybe that is why it has survived.

Stones for Arabella Mann and Mary J Whitehouse

 

Stone for John Milton Coolidge

 

 

But then in the 1940s, it was decided to sell off the remaining graves and the plots were increased to a more realistic size of eight feet by four feet. Jehovah’s Witnesses in the greater Pittsburgh area had the opportunity to purchase plots. In my own visit to the area in 2014 I interviewed the descendants of several people who bought plots in the 1950s. Of course, most plots were not used until many years later, when the owners actually died. Some have still not been used, and others may never be used because ultimately the owners changed their minds and opted for cremation.
 

From interviews and a detailed examination of the site I was able to establish that, at this time of writing, 65 names are on stones. That is over half of those interred there. Just going by photographs or a casual quick visit, it might seem less than that, until you realise that some stones contain more than one name.

An earlier article established that there are a total of 123 plots sold on site. (The grand total was 128, but four were covered by the pyramid and one is so positioned as to make sale unwise). If we deduct the nine mentioned on the pyramid and Margaretta Land’s grave, that leaves 113 plots to be later sold off.

In my interviews with local people, I had confirmation that 94 plots out of 113 sold were to witnesses – or, families of witnesses. (To clarify the latter comment, a witness may have bought a couple of plots, but their wife or husband may not necessarily have shared their faith, even if sharing their final resting place.) There is no reason to believe that the remainder were not witnesses either; it is just that the people I interviewed didn’t know them – some having died before their time. Those known for certain to be witnesses included an old timer who it is claimed was a pallbearer at CTR’s funeral, and also a graduate of an early class of the Watchtower Missionary School called Gilead.

There is still another site higher up the hill over the roadway not far from the memorial obelisk to William Morris Wright where other witnesses are buried.

So it is perhaps fitting that all those buried in this special area have a connection of sorts with CTR who is buried there, and who of course was involved with the original establishment of the cemetery.
 

Addenda

In preparing this article I did a detailed search of available records to see if any other Bible Students were buried elsewhere in the United Cemeteries. This turned up the burial of William Morris Wright, with his impressive obelisk. You can read about Wright and see a photograph of his memorial on this blog if you scroll back to June 5 of this year. The only other Bible Student on site for certain is Edward Hollister.

According to FIND A GRAVE, Edward Hollister (1843-1920) was buried somewhere on the United Cemeteries site, but I have no grave number and there appears to be no headstone. Tracing forward through genealogical sites reveals Edward’s descendants, including one with the middle name McPhail (which should be a give-away) and connections with one of the groups who broke away from the Watch Tower Society after Rutherford became president.

 

There are quite a few Seiberts buried here, but I found Gertrude W Seibert buried elsewhere in the Mount Union, I.O.O.F. Cemetery in Huntingdon Country, PA, with her late husband.

 

The Pyramid

Please see addenda from August 24 and September 1, 2021 (below)

Visitors to Pittsburgh with an interest in Watch Tower history have often visited the United Cemeteries in Ross Township where CTR is buried. A famous landmark is in the center of the site, a 7 feet high pyramid which was designed as a memorial for all those buried on site. The idea was to have all the names engraved on the sides. In the event only nine names were ever recorded before the plan was dropped.

Below is a photograph of the pyramid taken by the author in 2014.

 and

This is the north face of the pyramid showing the inscriptions for Arabella Mann and Mary Jane Whitehouse.

Sadly in recent times this has been badly vandalized. Below are some current photographs.

Some months ago, the cross and crown motifs on each of the four sides were hacked out. The structure was built as four triangular pieces leaning towards each other, with a capstone holding it all together. But now the capstone has gone, and the sides appear to have been partly prized open.

It was put together in 1920 and unfortunately publicity was given to a treasure trove of memorabilia buried inside it. This was all stolen back in 1994, so there is no value to anyone getting inside it again.

The pyramid has now lasted a little over one hundred years. But now weakened, with its extremely heavy granite sides it may present a danger to the public. If not restored, it may be necessary to take the whole structure down.

Addenda from August 24

When this article first appeared, I received reports back-channel that the pyramid may have been taken down. I can confirm that the two photographs below were taken on August 23.

Ultimately, any issues of public safety may decide what happens to the monument.

Addenda from September 1

The pyramid was carefully taken down today. No doubt pictures will circulate in due course.