J. C. Sunderlin - Newspaper extracts

 From The Manchester, Vermont, Journal, June 22, 1876

The Rutland, Vermont, Weekly Herald, December 18, 1862.

The Lambertville, New Jersey, Record, December 22, 1886.

George Butterfield - A Forgotten Benefactor

 

     This is the story of an almost forgotten donor to the Watch Tower Society, whose financial contributions played an important part in its history. Two of his donations in the second decade of the twentieth century totalled around $15,000. If we allow for over a century of inflation this would not be far short of $400,000 in today’s values.

     His full name was George Augustis Butterfield. He lived until 1959.  Much of his life story comes from an obituary in The Bismarck Tribune, North Dakota for April 7, 1959.

     The reproduction of the cutting is quite poor, but we will quote from this as needed in the rest of this article. His early days are described as follows:

“He was born in Garrison, Iowa. He grew to manhood in that state and in 1900 drove a covered wagon to a site near Haxtun, where he homesteaded and began farming.”

     The obituary noted that George had been married three times and outlived all three wives. His first wife was Allie (Alice) Rice, born c.1872. They were married in 1894. There is no record of any children in the 1900 census and they divorced in 1901. His second wife was Ethylin Addie Woods (1878-1947). They married in 1903 and had three children, but divorced in 1910.

     When George eventually started his interest in the Bible Student message is not known. Two newspaper accounts have been found in that part of the United States linking the name George Butterfield with religion, but they may refer to a different person or persons. The name is a surprisingly well-used one in newspaper and genealogical records of the day.

     The first account comes from two Iowa newspapers. The Daily Times for April 8, 1913 and The Gazette (Iowa) for April 4, 1913.

     The Times has an unfortunate combination of terms – linking George Butterfield, religion and demented.

     

Whereas The Gazette (Iowa) adds a crucial detail:

    

 According to The Gazette this disturbed George Butterfield was “a young man.” Our George would have been 45 years old at this time.

     The other reference to a George Butterfield comes from the Bible Student newspaper the St Paul Enterprise.  In its issue for November 5, 1915 the St Paul Enterprise mentioned a colporteur of his name losing his voice.

     If this one is our George he obviously got his voice back later, but the account as it stands does not suggest a person of means.

     On perhaps firmer ground, genealogical records show that OUR George’s parents, Edgar and Sarah, died within a few weeks of each other in April/May 1915. Edgar was both a farmer and a landlord, so George may have inherited some of his assets. George’s own death certificate described him as farmer (retired) in both grain and cattle. Farming in Colorado was very profitable at that time (see Boulder County’s Agricultural Heritage by Deon Wolfenbarger, 2006) which may have allowed George to build up a reasonable fortune on his own account. 

     Where we can be more positive about the story is when George started making donations. The first example is found in the transcript of the Rutherford vs United States trial. He made a contribution that was used towards the publication of The Finished Mystery. The transcript below has Joseph F Rutherford being cross-examined by the prosecution:

.

    

 A few pages later in the trial transcript, the “certain sum of money” was specified:

    

 It was clarified that George had not just made a loan, this was a straight donation and in line with existing arrangements he received Watch Tower Society voting shares in return.

     The trial resulted in eight defendants being found guilty and sentenced to long years in prison. The Brooklyn properties were either sold off or closed down and operations returned to Pittsburgh. However, once the eight were released in early 1919 the decision to move back to Brooklyn on a permanent basis happened very quickly. It was another donation from George that helped make that possible. The account was given by A H MacMillan in his book Faith on the March in 1957.

     Over pages 110-111 MacMillan describes how he had a visitor at the temporary headquarters in Pittsburgh. A man walked in “who had been associated with the work for many years and whom I knew well. He was a man of considerable means from one of the Southern states.”

     They went to a private room and MacMillan continued: ”He began to take his shirt off as I talked to him. I thought he had gone crazy. He looked a little dirty and travel-worn, whereas ordinarily he was a tidy and well-kept man. When he got down to his undershirt he wanted a knife. Then he cut out a little patch he had on there and took out a bundle of money. It was about $10,000 in bills.”

     The visitor had sat up all night in a train sleeper guarding the money. Seeing people he knew and trusted at the headquarters he gave MacMillan the money.

     MacMillan quoted him as saying “I didn’t know who was in charge of the work, but now that I see you brothers here whom I know and I trust, I am glad that I came!’’ MacMillan responded: “We’re certainly glad that you came too.”

     MacMillan’s account only called the visitor by his first name, George. But when the story was repeated word for word in the 1975 Yearbook on page 121 the account was prefaced: “One morning a Christian, George Butterfield, a person of considerable means, walked into the office.”

     George had still been alive, although very elderly, when MacMillan’s book first came out. However, by the time the same account was given in the Yearbook he had died, so now his full name was given.

     It was after these events that George was to marry for the third time.

     Wife number three was Nellie Krakel (1889-1957), and she came from a Bible Student background. At the time of the marriage there was a considerable disparity in their ages. George was 51 and Nellie was 29. From The Democrat, of Kearney, Nebraska, for January 16, 1919 – George and Nellie were planning to exchange single blessedness for married blessedness.

     Nellie had previously been listed in the 1917 St Paul Enterprise newspaper as eclessia secretary for Sterling, Colorado. Her family were Bible Students and when her father, Henry Krakel, died in Sterling, his Bible Student obituary in The New Era Enterprise for November 1926 listed Nellie Butterfield as one of his children.

     The 1920 census has George down as married to Nellie and working as a book agent. However, his obituary stated that “in 1925 George retired from farming and traveled throughout the mid west in connection with the Jehovah’s Witnesses.”

     George and Nellie were to have one child, Edgar Leland Butterfield (1921-2007).

     In the 1930 census the family of three are in Nebraska, and George’s occupation is given as colporteur, working on his own account as a distributor.

     Their one son Edgar grew up to work for the Watch Tower Society. In his Draft Registration document dated February 16, 1942, he gave his employer’s address as Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society, 124 Columbia Heights, Brooklyn and his next of kin as George Butterfield of Haxtun, Colorado. He also made the newspapers when he failed to report for the draft. From the Greely Daily Tribune for February 6, 1943:

    

 Edgar was to marry Antonetta Bradley (born 1928) and raise a family. In a 1952 Colorado trade directory they are running a sewing machine company.

     Returning to the previous generation, George’s wife Nellie died, seemingly quite suddenly, in 1957. The newspaper report from The Daily Sentinel (Grand Junction, Colorado) for June 25, 1957, noted that a “presiding minister for Jehovah’s Witnesses” conducted the funeral.

     

Returning to George’s own obituary, when this happened in 1957 he went to live with Edgar who was now based in North Dakota.

     So looking back on George’s life and the Watch Tower – as a grain farmer and rancher he donated very large sums of money to the cause when he could. Later when retired from business he represented the Watch Tower Society as a colporteur for virtually no renumeration. Both showed his serious level of commitment.

 

     (With grateful thanks to Gary who started me on this particular journey and Jeff who supplied some of the references)

J. C. Sunderlin

 Seriously wounded, he was removed from the front lines. A single letter and this are the only records other than official records and a newspaper article. Interesting, but not an important part of his 'story.'

Much better illustration of Pittsburgh High School, Maria Russell's alma mater.

 

Paton Debate

 This booklet is important because it contains the best explanation of  Paton's Universalism (in my opinion anyway) and shows that he eventually abandoned his Sibellianism, finally seeing Christ as a created being.

It is available online.

Way off topic

 I am close to publishing a middle grade / young adult novel. This was prompted by my experience teaching. My last ten years teaching were spent in a Parent Partnership K-12. I taught history and other classes including a literature class based on mid to late Twentieth Century YA novels. Many of my students came from ultra-conservative families that rejected stories with magical elements or paranormal creatures such as Dragons and Elves. As a Christian parent, I was not without sympathy. With those students in mind, I've written this story. 

It has subtle Christian elements.  We follow the main character through adventures and difficulties in a medieval-like setting. She encounters dilemmas through which she references her parents' instruction. She's an orphan girl, and we follow her from age eleven and fourteen. 

During one of my worst health collapses I wrote Falcon's Crown: Kidnapped. I will publish it using my Fluttering Wings Press imprint. I need a volunteer or two to proof read it. Any takers?

Since the World Began

     This postcard was sent from Boston, Mass. on 8 May 1907. It gives no space for a message, so the sender has written the words “Since the world began” wrapped around the portrait of CTR. There follows one last word: Auntie? Until? Any suggestions anyone?

     The card was sent to:

     Mrs Ethel Fairfield

     North Isleboro

     Maine

     Ethel Bolton (1885-1976) was born in Massachusetts, but her family originally came from Scotland and Ireland. She married widower Lllewellyn Fairfield on 25 December 1906. That might suggest a working class background, where the groom chose to use holiday time to get married. (Ethel’s obituary incorrectly gives the year as 1907). But she was not long married when she received this postcard. Her obituary also says she made her home in Isleboro in 1915, but she and Llewellyn are living there in the 1910 census.

     The paper trail for Llewellyn and Ethel’s life is quite uneventful. They had no children. Although both could read and write the census returns state that neither attended school nor college, other than elementary school. In 1910 Llewellyn was a merchant seaman, in 1920 and 1930 a general laborer, in 1940 a caretaker and finally in 1950 (at a different address to Ethel) a caretaker of a number of small summer cottages. He was in his mid-70s by then and died aged 86 in 1960. Other than keeping house Ethel appears to have had no other occupation.  She lived to be 90 years old. Her obituary below gives no indication of any religious affiliation. We don’t know if she responded to the convention invitation.

 

Submissions

 

I am open to articles on any facet of Russell era Watch Tower history. Articles must be footnoted to original sources using the following formats:  

Books: Author, Title, publisher, place, date, page.

Magazine articles: Author if known, article title, name of magazine, date, page.

Newspaper articles: Author if known, article title, name of newspaper as The Austin, Texas, Times, date.

NO Exceptions. I will not publish something that does not follow the formats above. I'm too sick to reformat  your work. 

Articles MUST be in Times New Roman, 12 point, fully justified. 

Controversial is okay as long as you support your argument with proof. Speculation is not wanted. 

A million +

 As of today, the all time visits to this blog stand at about 1, 035, 000. 

1912 World Missionary Tour

 Thanks to a friend of this blog, the handbill for Russell's speech in Japan. Click on the image to see it entire. 

Grave number 2095

 

     In 1948 Jimmie Skinner wrote the song Doin’ my Time.

     The version I remember went:

     Doin’ my time

     With a ball and chain;

     They call you by your number

     Not your name.

     Someone to whom this ultimately applied was Albert Delmont Jones aka Albert Royal Delmont. His life story has been covered on this blog in the past (for example see -

https://truthhistory.blogspot.com/search?q=albert+delmont+jones 

– or use the search term Albert Delmont Jones). This material covers his work with Charles Taze Russell, his magazines, his marriages, his fraudulent schemes, and ultimately his death alone and in obscurity.

     But a little more original source material has to come to light. Hence, Albert’s number. When he died his grave marker had no name – just his number, 2095.

     Rewinding slightly – after all the publishing, marriages, scams and scandals, Albert disappears from the 1920 census, although if any other researcher can find him there please do so and enlighten us. Down on his luck with his heady days long behind him he turns up in the 1925 census for Buffalo, New York. A slight malfunction of a pen probably turned an entry for Albert R Delmont into Albert K Delmont, but the age is right.

     Albert is living with more than 25 other men as a roomer in three linked dwellings. The head of the family, one Geo Van Nese, calls himself a “hotel proprietor.” This appears to be a hostel for single men. Albert, who owns up to being 70 years old, is retired.

     At the end of February 1929 Albert moved into the New Castle County Hospital in Delaware. We know this from his death certificate which is now available on Find a Grave. He died there on May 15, 1930. He had been attended there by a doctor since February 28, 1929, for Chronic Diabetes. Insulin injections transformed the treatment of diabetes in the 1920s and Albert was quite fortunate to live as long as he did, especially after what we might assume as to his lifestyle.

     No family details are given on the certificate. Albert was survived by several ex-wives (by my reckoning four) and three adult children. But no-one knew where he was. And no-one cared.

     New Castle County Hospital started life as the New Castle County Almshouse in 1885.  It was designed to house people who were generally single, elderly or infirm, and crucially – poor. It was an effort of the state to care for people who had no family to help them, one suspects a bit akin to the British workhouse (Think Charles Dickens and Oliver Twist).

     A postcard exists showing the building.

   

     The caption reads: “New Castle County Hospital and Delaware State Hospital for Insane. Near Wilmington, Del.”

     The building housing Albert was the one on the left. Why anyone would choose to send such a miserable postcard to anyone else is open to question.

     If you lived there, then you could well die there, and unless relatives claimed your body you were buried in a nearby pauper’s cemetery today known as the New Castle County Hospital Cemetery (Farnhurst Potters Field).

     Here is where the numbering system came in. Each grave had a small stone marker about 5 inches square. Each stone had a number. If it had been a bad week for deaths, then once a grave was dug it could have multiple occupants.

     The hospital closed down in 1933. The building was eventually destroyed by fire, and some records thought lost. However, in recent years the Death Book for 1926–1933 was rediscovered and painstakingly recorded in a database by Dr. Katherine A. Dettwyler. The original register gives us the entry for Albert. Below, courtesy of the Delaware Public Archives is his entry. It goes right across a double page.

   

  The right hand page reads:

   

     That this is the right Albert is made clear from the census held earlier in 1930 where Albert was still sufficiently lucid to give his place of birth.

     Albert’s stone is not visible today. In the early 1960s the bulk of the cemetery was just covered over to make a ramp for an approach road to the Delaware Memorial Bridge. No records were then extant for those buried there and there was scant concern for the graveyard. Below is a modern photograph showing part of the site where a few stones can still be seen, but the numbers in the photograph show these are quite early ones. Albert is definitely buried under the bulk of the site that disappeared in the 1960s.

Photograph by Hal G. Brown, reproduced with permission.

    

     There is one quirk of fate to complete this tale. After editing his religious paper Zion’s Day Star in the 1880s, Albert tried his hand again with a political journal in 1900. It was called American Progress.

   

  I make no attempt to understand American politics of this era, and Albert no doubt was a product of his times. However, a clear tenet of his paper was that Negroes should be banned from government.

    

Careful work by Kathy Dettwyler and Hal Brown sifted through the entries in the New Castle Death Book and thousands of on-line Certificates of Death for New Castle County, and revealed that Albert was not alone in grave number 2095. You can now check out the details on Find a Grave.

     Here is Albert’s entry.

   

  But in the same grave, plot number 2095, there is also a child.

       

    

No sex was recorded, and Baby Crompton was stillborn. But the original entry for grave 2095 shows that Baby Crompton, forever sharing Albert’s final resting place under the freeway, is African-American.

     There is a certain irony there.

Your input wanted.

UPDATED

I'm reluctant to point my readers to poorly researched, often opposition, web sites. Yet, the most pointed complaint form academics was that I failed to footnote comments about defective web pages. So there is this, but I'm conflicted. I may not keep any of this, or I may keep it as is. What do you think?

3 Albert Delmont Jones and William Conley

 

 

            Albert Royal Delmont Jones played a significant though until now unexplored role in Watch Tower history. One finds brief mentions of him in the relevant books and articles, usually never giving us more that a reiteration of Russell’s 1890 biographical article. With the exception of two blogs devoted to Watch Tower history in the Russell era, no one has returned to the original documents. A Catholic web site devoted to apologetics has a more extensive article devoted to Jones and J. H. Paton. It is built primarily from secondary sources and contains errors of fact. It is meant to portray Russell in as poor light was possible. It is neither consistently factual nor balanced.[1]

            Worse is a web site devoted to anti-Watchtower and anti-Russell polemics. Its anonymous author is given to speculation, especially when he is unable to find a factual basis for criticism. Billed as “The Internet’s Best Financial Biography of Charles Taze Russell,” its writer suggests that Russell’s financial history is purposely hidden by the modern Watch Tower Society. His intention is to suggest that there is a hidden scandal. In fact, the Watch Tower is simply disinterested. Their interest is in their doctrinal and spiritual antecedents.

            Apparently reluctant to disclose his name or contact information, the writer presents what he saw as his best effort to disclose A. D. Jones’ history.[2] Without doubt Jones is, as one writer described him, “the bad boy” of Watch Tower history. But this writer’s attempt to connect Jones’ thefts to Russell falls into wild speculation. Speculation may lead to a research trail, but presenting it as probable is unethical. While considering the events connected with a failed investor’s suicide, he writes:

 

How do we know that russell had not given those worthless notes to Jones for whatever reason, or how do we know that russell had not directed Jones to use those three worthless notes to pay debts accrued while Jones acted as russell’s agent? Or better yet, considering Creighton’s known “insolvency”, russell could have directed Jones to attempt to pawn off the known worthless notes to whatever local NYC sucker would accept them (who would take or buy them in Pittsburgh?), so as to recoup some or all of russell’s already obvious losses. Interestingly, one of the two Plaintiffs was a large Paper Distributor. Another thought, if A. D. Jones had also defrauded russell  out of $10,500.00 ($350,000.00 in 2016 dollars – HALFHILL), then why did russell not later pursue criminal charges, or even a civil lawsuit, against Jones?

 

We may never know!!! The full facts of this case were never developed because Creighton was found dead of assumed suicide – a drug overdose – the day before the three court opinions were filed. But-for that suicide, the following trial would have publicly exposed the specifics of the ongoing business relationship between A. D. Jones and Charles Taze Russell to Russell’s religious constituency. As it was, Creighton’s death, and apparent insolvency, ended the matter.[3]

 

            All of this is unfounded, and it is based on haphazard research. The details he claims are lacking are easily found, and we consider them later in this chapter. This anonymous web site stands for many similar which are plagued by logic and research flaws. He raises questions that lack concrete evidence or reasoning to support his implied claims. Phrases such as how do we know and we may never know suggest that the author recognizes that his arguments are speculative. He shifts blame without justification, a polemicist’s argument of choice but unprincipled. He leaves the connection between Russell, Creighton and Jones undefined. The claim that Creighton’s suicide prevented the exposure of Russell’s business relationship with Jones is speculative and dramatic; it ignores more probable reasons why Russell failed to sue Jones. The assumptions made regarding the relationship between Jones, Russell, and the legal system are overly generalized and oversimplified. Bolded capitals and misuse of explanation marks do not prove anything. Finally, some claims are factually incorrect. His argument has no foundation. Now, let’s replace disreputable polemic with solid fact.

---

[1]               https://www.apologetyka.info/swiadkowie-jehowy/a-d-jones-i-j-h-paton-poczatkowi-wspopracownicy-c-t-russella-i-pierwsi-porzucajacy-go,1634.htm

[2]               My research assistant used the web site’s contact form to ask the author’s name. There was no response.

[3]               http://jwdivorces.bravehost.com/russell.html

I've revised this (as rough draft) to read as follows. Input still wanted.

Albert Royal Delmont Jones played a significant though until now unexplored role in Watch Tower history. One finds brief mentions of him in the relevant books and articles, usually never giving us more that a reiteration of Russell’s 1890 biographical article. With the exception of two blogs devoted to Watch Tower history in the Russell era, no one has returned to the original documents.[1] A Catholic web site devoted to apologetics has a more extensive article devoted to Jones and J. H. Paton. It is built primarily from secondary sources and contains errors of fact. It is meant to portray Russell in as poor light was possible. It is neither consistently factual nor balanced.[2]

            Worse is a web site devoted to anti-Watchtower and anti-Russell polemics. Its anonymous author is given to speculation, especially when he is unable to find a factual basis for criticism.[3]  Billed as the best among many internet web pages, its writer suggests that Russell’s financial history is purposely hidden by the modern Watch Tower Society. His intention is to suggest that there is a hidden financial scandal. In fact, the Watch Tower is simply disinterested. Their interest is in their doctrinal and spiritual antecedents.

            Without doubt Jones is, as one writer described him, “the bad boy” of Watch Tower history. But this writer’s attempt to connect Jones’ thefts to Russell falls into wild speculation based on haphazard research or imagination. He raises questions that lack concrete evidence or reasoning to support his implied claims, using phrases such as how do we know and we may never know which suggest that the author knows that his arguments are speculative. He shifts blame without justification, a polemicist’s argument of choice but unprincipled. He leaves the connection between Russell and others. The claim that a suicide prevented the exposure of Russell’s business relationship with Jones is speculative and dramatic; it ignores more the more probable. The assumptions made are overly generalized and oversimplified. He uses bolded, capitalized words and misuses explanation marks as if that alone proves a point. Now, let’s replace disreputable, unethical polemic with solid fact.

---

[1]               The blogs seeking in-depth, accurate articles are truthhistory.blogspot.com and jeromehistory.blogspot.com/.  I’m owner of the truthhistory blog. So, I’m ‘patting myself on the back’. Take that as you will.

[2]               https://www.apologetyka.info/swiadkowie-jehowy/a-d-jones-i-j-h-paton-poczatkowi-wspopracownicy-c-t-russella-i-pierwsi-porzucajacy-go,1634.htm

[3]               Using the web page’s contact form, my research assistant contacted him seeking his name. She received no reply.

Lovely

Click on the youtube link to view it entire.

 

17 Years

Last May was this blog's seventeenth anniversary. It has, I believe, become a valuable resource for historians and the merely curious. What do you think?

Only known photo of Jonas Wendell

Our thanks to Bernhard for his hard work. He rescued this from the previously posted group photo, a truly significant contribution to preserving our history.

A. D. Jones writing as A[lbert] Royal Delmont

 Library of Congress files:

Rescue this photo?

 Anyone have the talent or equipment to clean this photo? [Click on image to see it entire.]

Topeka State Journal - November 21, 1903

 A. D. Jones using a pseudonym. A major life-crash. 

A temporary post

 This is in very rough draft, the introductory matter to chapter three, Separate Identity, vol. 3. This post will come down within the week. Comments are welcome. Fact checking is even more welcome.

3 Albert Delmont Jones and William Conley

 

Early Years

 

            Albert Royal Delmont Jones played a significant though until now unexplored role in Watch Tower history. He was the son of Albert Delmont Jones, Sr. (born c. 1835) and Martha McCleary. His father, “a well-known riverboat engineer,” most often used his middle name in place of his first. Albert Senior was a Civil War veteran, serving as an engineer on one of the Mississippi gunboats.[1] After the war he returned to riverboat service, serving on the famous Boaz and on a lesser-known boat. He was a staunch Republican until near his death when doubts over tariff policy led him to question party loyalty: “I’ve been a Republican, voting that ticket, thinking it was right, and thinking by doing so it was keeping up wages for the workingman, but I … have begun to think that we are only helping the capitalists and not benefiting the public and ourselves.”[2]

remainder of this post has been deleted.

J B Kepner revisted

      

     The discovery of the undertaker’s bill for Pastor Russell was behind a recent article on Josiah Bushy Kepner. This covered what happened when CTR died. If readers of this post have not read that previous article, it would be of benefit to first do so, and it can be found here:

     https://truthhistory.blogspot.com/2024/05/j-b-kepner-of-waynoka.html

     The position taken in that article was to give a bit of Kepner’s background and to defend him from harsh criticism of his work. While this writer still believes the basic premise behind that article, in the interest of completeness and accuracy we need to look at the criticism is more detail. I am very grateful to correspondent Freddy who provided additional material that needs to be considered.

     W H Wisdom made the criticism in his 1923 book Memoirs of Pastor Russell that “through some more bungling the body was removed from the train at the first small town, where it was very improperly cared for in the way of embalming.”

     From where did Wisdom get his information?

     There are two accounts from the early 1920s that likely provided Wisdom with his material.

     The first, and least compelling, is a letter found in the New Era Enterprise newspaper. This was the newspaper used by Bible Students at the time for news and views and much found in it cannot be found elsewhere.

      In the 27 December 1921 Enterprise, Joseph Greig while visiting Texas, including Pampa (where CTR actually died on the train), wrote a short column “Pastor Russell’s Death Route.” Recounting the story he said: "Orders were given to remove the body at Wynoka, Okla., where an old gentleman cared for the embalming. One who knew this person said while he was not expert in his profession by reason of poor eyesight, nevertheless, he was possibly the only embalmer who never extracted the blood, but used his fluid in connection with the blood as a preservative."

     

There are several problems with Greig’s account. “Old gentleman” has to be subjective – Kepner was slightly younger than CTR. Then the concept of embalming by just introducing embalming fluid without replacing cadaver blood does not make sense. The whole point of embalming was to replace the blood to preserve the body  temporarily and give a lifelike appearance for viewers. The procedure was quite straightforward for anyone with the basic training and equipment – with or without good eyesight. Embalming fluid was pumped into the body, generally through the carotid artery, and was able to displace the blood through an incision in a vein (often the jugular). It used the human circulatory system to work. Sometimes massage was applied to help the embalming fluid to circulate fully. The procedure was refined during the American Civil war and after the body of Abraham Lincoln was so treated became quite standard practice where a body needed preservation for transportation or a delayed funeral.

     This account came from someone touring Texas, who never visited Waynoka in the next State and never met Kepner, although he was still very much in business in Waynoka at the time. It was written several years after the event. It falls into the category of “an unnamed person told me…”

     Of greater weight is a talk given by A H MacMillan on The History of the Society from 1910-1920.  The talk was transcribed, as was a short question and answer session after it, and some of the material – almost word for word – was to appear in MacMillan’s book Faith on the March (1957). Taken from this transcript:

    

MacMillan was scathing about Menta Sturgeon. Quote: “Poor Sturgeon didn’t know enough to take care of a sick chicken, much less a dying man. What he said himself about Brother Russell was enough to kill the man if he was half alive.”

     Reading Sturgeon’s detailed description of CTR’s last hours and his attempts to care for him; and in the heightened emotion of the moment “spiritualizing” some of those events, one can understand MacMillan’s comments.

     MacMillan also blamed Sturgeon for the body having to be removed from the train at Waynoka, where Kepner Undertaking was the only game in town. Sturgeon had chosen to publicize the death and Railway and State regulations kicked in. As MacMillan states “if he had any sense and kept his mouth shut” the situation could be been avoided.

     In his talk MacMillan was to further criticise Sturgeon for not giving the Bethel family the news. Sturgeon wrote to his wife, Florence, in Bethel, and told her. Only by intercepting the letter did MacMillan and others learn the news, before the newspaper reporters started banging on the doors.

     MacMillan could be caustic about Sturgeon because by the time this talk was given Sturgeon had ceased fellowship with the IBSA. He ultimately left all strands of the Bible Student movement and ended up canvassing for a Universalist group, The Concordant Bible Society.

     MacMillan’s distain for Kepner came across in his continued description: “They pulled the body off the train in Pampa, Texas, and took him to a furniture store.” As noted in the original article it was quite normal in small towns for the undertaker to have another business. A man selling furniture and perhaps making furniture could easily diversify into coffins, and if qualified, to provide the whole funeral experience.

     That was the next point MacMillan made. In his estimation, Kepner was not qualified. His account continues: “There a man who didn’t know how to embalm tried to embalm the body and made a mess of the whole thing.”

     Did Kepner know how to embalm? As the original article explained, he was licensed and the only licensed embalmer in the city. When he moved to Waynoka in 1913 and took over new premises The Woods County Enterprise (Waynoka) for April 18, 1913, stated he had been in business for 30 years and  praised him as a graduate of the best schools of embalming in the U.S.

     

Even allowing for self publicity, embalming was something Kepner did. He remained in active practice for over a decade after attending to CTR, only retiring in 1929.   His company, managed by his second wife likely hired someone else to do the embalming, and was still advertising in the 1940s. While embalmers may bury their mistakes (literally!) this man ran a successful business for decades. There was no hint of any issues in the many references to him in the newspapers of the day.

     We must remember that his brief was not to present a body for lying in state, rather to preserve it to meet existing laws for transportation. Kepner appears to have done what was needed. Contemporary accounts of the events surrounding CTR’s death spoke highly of him and there was no criticism from those who first saw the body before it continued on its journey.

     However, for lying in state, after a long journey being bumped about on cars and railroads, more work would be needed, including final cosmetic touches.

     MacMillan is then critical of finding suitcases packed around CTR’s feet in a twenty dollar casket. But this was not a casket for viewing; it was a simple coffin (actually costing thirty five dollars) to meet the requirements of transporting a body across America. Possessions that had been taken off the train with the body also had to be forwarded, personal effects, clothes etc. and the logical thing was to store them in the coffin if there was room. This may have been Kepner (and Sturgeon) just being practical, but MacMillan seems to have taken it as insensitive and disrespectful.

     So what was the problem? Everyone was very upset. Their beloved Pastor Russell had died. He looked old before his time, had been failing in health for quite a while, and sadly died in great pain. Opening the coffin in New York and seeing him was very distressing. There was turmoil in Bethel at the time. After giving the Bethel family the news, MacMillan described how “they met in little groups to talk and whisper, "What is going to happen now?"” Once the glue that held them together – Pastor Russell in person – was gone, then there were going to be problems, as events later proved.

     So there was an inclination to lash out. Sturgeon came under fire and Kepner came under fire. But after further work by New York undertakers several thousand were able to view CTR in a proper casket, first in the Bethel Home, then in the New York City Temple and finally, six days after he died, in Pittsburgh’s Carnegie Hall before the interment at United Cemeteries.