The Other Doctor Thomas

by "Jerome"

(a slight revision of an article first published on Blog 2 in May 2011)

A Church of God General Conference historian Mark Mattison in a widely circulated article The Provenance of Russellism makes some links between the Age to Come (One Faith) movement and the early work of Charles Taze Russell. In Mattison’s estimation there are actually few connections. However, the research on this blog has made a lot more, starting at least with an Allegheny group meeting at Quincy Hall, Lacock Street, being listed as a One Faith congregation under the pastoral care of Elder G D Clowes in 1874. (The Restitution, November 5, 1874). (Clowes’ death would be noted in ZWT for March 1889 – reprints page 1110)

But there is one fundamental error this article would like to address – the identity of a Dr Thomas who is quoted in Zion’s Watch Tower in June 1881. Mattison tries to make a connection between what became three distinctive religious groups. The paragraph in question reads:

The most interesting point of contact, however, appears in the Zion's Watch Tower, June 1881, Vol. 2, No. 12. The evidence is a short two-sentence by-line of an article entitled "The Credibility of the Scriptures." It reads: "Extracts from an Address Delivered by Dr. J. H. Thomas before the 'Liberal League' (an Infidel Society), of this City and published in the Restitution." Three related movements are represented here. Charles Russell, the founder of what was to become the Jehovah's Witnesses, printed an article by John Thomas, the founder of the Christadelphians, via The Restitution, the official publication of the Church of God. (end of quote)

The article identifies Dr J H Thomas with John Thomas the founder of the Christadelphians. That is incorrect. Although Charles Taze Russell (hereafter abbreviated to CTR) does not give a date – which no doubt led to the writer’s assumption – it can be established that the address given before the Pittsburgh Liberal League dates from around May 1881. Dr. John Thomas died ten years earlier in 1871.

The other Dr Thomas, J H Thomas MD, lived in Pittsburgh. In 1881 his address was 25 Centre Avenue, Pittsburgh, Pa. (The Christadelphian October 1881). From the late 1860s he had corresponded with Robert Roberts, editor of The Christadelphian. In the early 1880s Thomas branched out to include The Restitution with his submissions. From 1881 he became a regular Restitution contributor, and at least four of his sermons were reprinted as tracts and sold by their office. This apparently continued until his Christadelphian brethren caught up with him!

His first published lecture is in the January 26, 1881 issue of The Restitution, given before the Liberal League, Pittsburgh, Pa. on January 16. The title is ‘Man as He Was, as He Is, and as He Shall Be’ and from the May 18 issue of Restitution is advertised as a tract.

Dr Thomas followed this with another lecture given at the Liberal League which was reprinted in The Restitution on May 18, 1881, covering pages 2 and 3. No date is given, but it would have been very shortly before publication. The title was Reasons Why I Believe the Bible to Be the Word of God. This was the lecture picked up by CTR and republished in abridged form under the new title The Credibility of Scripture in Zion’s Watch Tower June 1881 (reprints pp. 231-233). CTR credits The Restitution for the original, and adds that the Liberal League is an Infidel Society.

This too was turned into a Restitution tract, being advertised from the June 1, 1881 issue onwards.

While a Bible Study group led by CTR was now active, with its own regular magazine, there was obviously still a separate Age to Come presence in the Pittsburgh area. While their meetings were not advertised in The Restitution as such, a correspondent, Samuel Wilson, in the November 8 issue of 1882 spoke of One Faith meetings in Pittsburgh. He wrote (on page 3):

“From Brother L C Thomas I learned that a body of believers has been called out in Pittsburgh, and that they meet regularly each week. This, as your readers will remember is the home of Brother J H Thomas who has written a number of powerful articles and pamphlets recently. I have not had the pleasure of meeting any of the brethren at Pittsburgh but hope that ere long there may be some means by which all of like precious faith in the East may be able to have stated general assemblies for mutual work and fellowship.” (end of quote).

How long these regular weekly meetings continued is not known. That they were well distanced from CTR’s activities was made quite clear in The Restitution for February 22, 1882, page 1, when Dr Thomas went out on a preaching tour from Pittsburgh to meet scattered groups of like faith. When visiting Bloomsburg he wrote: “I am sorry to say that the believers here are tinctured with Russelism (sic), which is subversive of the truth as it is in Jesus”. A Christadelphian observer, a Brother Bittles, wrote his own report to The Christadelphian for May 1882: “Dr Thomas lectured twice at Berwick, Pa., and once at Bloomsburg, Pa. at which places he did much to neutralize the influence of that subtle enemy of God’s truth, called Russellism, which is a mottled mixture of truth and Universalism”.

It is interesting to note that by the third year of Zion’s Watch Tower publication, CTR’s activities were sufficiently unique for the epithet Russellism to be in common use in at least two journals, with the assumption that readers would understand what was meant.

The One Faith group knew quite a bit about CTR. Three Worlds had been advertised in its pages (May 30, 1877). Then Object and Manner of Our Lord’s Return was sent to all Restitution subscribers at CTR’s expense (February 27, 1878) and was subsequently reviewed unfavourably by J B Cook in the June 26, 1878 issue.

As the gulf widened, it would be interesting to know if Russell and Thomas knew each other personally. As professional men in the same area as well as writers on religious topics it would be unusual if their paths did not literally cross at some time.

Dr Thomas’s flirtation with The Restitution provoked controversy amongst Christadelphians. There was even a warning about him the January 1883 Christadelphian. “Brother Gunn writes: I had hoped that some of the brethren in the United States would have cautioned you long ago against Dr J H Thomas, who certainly is not sound in doctrine, and is striving to hold a position in which he can do great damage to the truth – passing as a Christadelphian and fraternizing with the vile Restitution...”

Not surprisingly, readers of The Restitution did not take too kindly to their paper being called “vile” and there was some correspondence on the subject.

A debate rumbled on in The Christadelphian. Editor Roberts defended his decision in the January 1883 issue to publish works by Thomas, stating he had published them in good faith from a man of education who had sent in publications “apparently in harmony with the truth”. Correspondents in the April 1883 issue added that “(Thomas) seems to hold the truth himself, but is unprepared to exact it in every particular as the basis for fellowship with others”.

It was around this juncture that Thomas decided to relocate. What appears to be his last letter to The Restitution for a number of years (December 12, 1883) showed he had moved to Rochester, NY. It reads:

I wish to correspond with a physician holding the truth or favorable thereto, with a view to joining with me in the electro-medical treatment of acute and chronic diseases. He must be a graduate and accustomed to general practice – a thoroughly honorable and practical man. Would prefer an unmarried man.

Address, Dr J H Thomas, 90 North Avenue, Rochester, NY (end of quote).

 

Of interest is that Nelson Barbour, also an exponent of electro-medical therapies, was already in Rochester. One wonders if their paths crossed, and how Thomas’ relocation affected the Age to Come congregation in Pittsburgh.

The Rochester Democrat and Chronicle newspaper lists Dr J H Thomas as a speaker at Christadelphian meetings in Rochester at least between 1884 and 1888, but then things appear to change again. The Christadelphian for May 1890 reported on a debate on the resurrection, between a “brother” Williams and Dr J H Thomas of Rochester. Thomas is not listed as “brother” and the resulting pamphlet from the debate is being sold by Williams.

By this time, Thomas had returned to the pages of The Restitution. Articles, letters, even one poem, appeared again from the February 13, 1889 issue onwards. A funeral report in the August 8, 1894 issue has a service conducted by Dr J H Thomas of Pittsburgh, so Thomas had now gone back to Pittsburgh. Assuming that Pittsburgh only held one J H Thomas MD at the time, his Pittsburgh address was given in a patent remedy advertisement found in the San Francisco Call newspaper the following year, April 6, 1895, page 5. A testimonial from J H Thomas, MD, 320 Liberty Street, Pittsburgh, Pa. reads:

For several months I have been suffering from rheumatism, I had taken all the usual remedies with no real benefit. I took one bottle of Paine’s celery compound and found myself much improved. The second bottle is nearly gone and I consider myself cured. (end of quote).

Forget electro-medical therapies - celery juice was the answer!

Perhaps the final coda to the story of Dr Thomas comes from The Christadelphian in 1925. There is a brief funeral report from Pittsburgh for a Sister Thomas, widow of Dr J H Thomas.

Ultimately the link with CTR is brief. Thomas and CTR lived in the same area for some time, and on that basis likely met. CTR published one of Thomas’s lectures. However, in other lectures (as recounted in both The Restitution and The Christadelphian) Thomas warned people of the dangers of Russellism.

But he certainly wasn’t the Doctor Thomas who founded the Christadelphians. On that score perhaps we can leave the last word to The Christadelphian for September 1882. In commenting on J H Thomas’s tract The Word Made Flesh, the by-line wryly comments:

An exposition that would probably be endorsed by the other Dr Thomas if he were not in Greenwood Cemetery.

Acknowledgement – my thanks to correspondent “baptisedbeliever” who provided the references from The Christadelphian.

If ...

the gentleman from Colorado would stay off this blog and my personal blog, I should be much obliged.

And we REALLY need help with this one ...

 

Lexington Leader. (Lexington, Okla.), Vol. 19, No. 12, Ed. 1 Friday, December 16, 1904

Little Mysteries

We make a surprising amount of progress by solving little mysteries. We don't solve them all, of course. But when we do, we're often led into interesting, even importnt bits of the Watch Tower story. Here is one of the unsolved little mysteries:

Russell had friends in the Richmond, Virginia, area from the 1870s. Some left with Paton in the 1880s. So the mystery here is: who lived at 302 West Grace Street, Richmond, VA, in August 1900?

This illustrates one of the most difficult aspects of original historical research. Little questions such as this one are not easy to answer. Doing so is time consuming, and it's often a fruitless quest. If we don't try, we write off what might be an important, or merely interesting, detail. Want to give it a try?

Find the name that attaches to this address. ...

We know a number of things about the Watch Tower congregation in Richmond. In this era various names were used. The Richmond congregation called itself The Watchers. The met in Marshall Hall for an hour of Bible Study followed by "preaching." We can put names to few associated with this congregation.

We need

A really good photography of Co-operative Hall at 14 Howard Avenue, Brooklyn, New York.

We need a volunteer

We need a volunteer to transcribe the Herald of the Morning atonement articles from 1878 into a Word or WordPerfect document. Anyone?

This will save us a huge amount of time.

J. H. Paton - Civil War Photo

The work in New York - 1891

Blog visitors

We get many visitors, but few leave comments. Some feedback would be nice, even if it is something like, "I read your post. I really [liked/hated] it because ..."

C. T. Russell in France -1912

Used with permission of the owner. Click on image to view the entire photo.

Update on progress

Work on the last chapter of volume one continues. We face several challenges, the most important of which is making obscure theological arguments understandable to modern readers. Many of the "arguments" used by Russell, Barbour and others are irrelevant to modern readers. Yet, the story is not complete without considering them. Decisions were made based on convoluted, half-reasoned articles. The decisions were the basis for further developments. We have to consider the arguments and balance that against not boring our readers silly.

We introduce H. B. Rice in this chapter. We have a good quality photo and tones of never-published material. His story is more interesting than the theological arguments and just as important. Almost everything published about him is wrong. But that’s not unusual.

Some one sent me a link to a short essay by a man posting as Terry. He says Russell was an Adventist with roots in the Millerite movement and that all of Russell’s doctrine came from Barbour. This is obnoxiously wrong. Sending me links to this man’s post is a waste of time. He never gets it right.

But, we still welcome assistance. We turn up interesting things sometimes, even from material that is otherwise wrong.

New to us today is a photo of Calista Downing. We have a good portrait photo sent by a Downing family member. The one we received today is not so clear, but it shows her with her Chinese students.

C. B. Downing and her students in 1900. Downing is in the back row, left.

We hope our book attracts general-interest readers. We’ve written with an academic audience in mind, but we will have failed if only academics read it. Mr. Schulz, who started this project and remains its guiding light, frequently says, "the story is in the details." I agree with that. We tell a very detailed story, talking you places no one else has. To do this we introduce you not just to new "facts" but we explain theological arguments, conclusions and trends. We take you to their real backgrounds.

Someone who read our biography of N. H. Barbour regretted that there was no "scandal" in it. I’m not certain what kind of personality dotes on scandal. We take up some supposed scandal, but on close examination it goes away or attaches to others than the ones you might expect. There is more of "scandal" in volume two. A. D. Jones and his second wife became notorious. Fornication, fraud, bigamy, a hint of murder. Tisk. Conley and his faith cure home run by a Missionary Alliance clergyman who liked the young women too much and who ran off and started his own cult. Double tisk. L. A. Allen who lost her virginity to a Barbourite evangelist. Much of this is in volume two, a small amount in volume one. If you like scandal, that’s about the limit in this era (1870-1887).

The falling out between Russell and Barbour, the subject of our last chapter in volume 1, exposes the raw feelings that doctrinal difference caused. Barbour is such an interesting (though nasty) character. Here’s a snippet from this chapter:

"Revisionists more contemporary to ourselves have said that Russell never claimed to be the Faithful Servant.¹ This is what our grandmother (Great Grandmother for one of us) would have called "hooie." Russell believed that he was "chosen for his great work from before birth," telling his associates that.² While most of this argument is best played out in Book Three of this series, we should note that Russell never corrected claims that he was "that servant." Examples of "uncorrected" claims are found in various convention reports where he is frequently referred to as "that Servant." Russell saw himself in this era as a divinely appointed teacher. Starting in 1895, he described himself as "God’s mouthpiece first as a reference to the Millennial Dawn series which, of course he wrote; then as a direct reference to himself.³ The only other way he used this phrase was to refer to God’s prophets of old.

"A feeling of divine appointment was not unique to Russell, Barbour, et. al, but is found in the writings of many clergymen. This would probably have remained a non-issue for Russell and Paton if it hadn’t been set against Barbour’s more extreme view of self. Three God-chosen ministers, each with a different message could not long endure in the same association."

We confess to a bit of pleasure, though perhaps shaded with unkindness on occasion. There is so much that is wrong, often purposely distorted, that we pick apart, sometimes snappishly. We expect people who pretend to be experts in the field of Watch Tower history or belief to be as competent as we are. We’re often disappointed. We start this chapter with this:

"Little of this story has been told. As with much else in this era of Watch Tower history, we find significant purposeful nonsense and just plain bad research. For example, Graig Burns asserts that "the Bible Students had split off from a group of Second Adventists under N. H. Barbour, which later became the 7th-Day Adventist Church."⁴ We’re fairly certain Seventh-day Adventists would be surprised to know this. We certainly were."

We’ve encountered worse than this and in friendlier guise than Mr. Burns’ book. A Watch Tower writer claimed that W. T. Ellis was a Watch Tower evangelist. This is, of course, wrong. We enjoy setting matters in order. We expect the same "stuff" will continue to be written because there is no real interest in changing what is a mythology – really a dual mythology one part of which presents Russell as saint and the other as demon. We present the story as accurately as possible. What others do with it is not within our control.

This touches on the roots of belief, on why people choose to believe what they choose to believe. I’ve spent some time reading about the roots of belief and doubt, coming away from it all very dissatisfied. We leave those issues largely unaddressed because we simply do not know why some of these characters chose the paths they followed. We can only tell you what they said and did, unless they give us the reasons behind their acts.

So … we’re down to this last chapter, an introductory essay, and an afterward. There are a few months of work left. We’re waiting on a microfilm. I expected it by now, but it hasn’t arrived.

There are remaining issues we’ll probably have to leave as is. We need someone in New York City to view and copy material at Columbia University. That is the prime issue with volume one. We need some photos, but can live without them. We spent some time trying to trace H. B. Rice’s family papers, but emails went unanswered or those who did answer couldn’t help. We were unable to consult some of the Pittsburgh newspapers, though we found some significant material. We will publish with or without access to this material.

We need for volume 2 a microfilm from the Library of Congress. It costs about $350.00. We operate on a shoe-string budget. We can’t afford this at all. If someone lives in the District of Columbia area, they could help by viewing the material for us and copying the significant parts.

We will need help marketing this book. If you buy it and like it, tell others, post about it, spread the word.

John Paton's Farewell

From the very last page of the very last issue of John H Paton’s World’s Hope, Volume 34, number 16, August 15, 1916.

If he had only continued publishing for a few more months he would no doubt have written an obituary for CTR.

We need help ...

tracing down a G. Wood, resident in St. Maur, France, in the late 1870s. Full name would be great, occupation is important, anything at all will help.

We also need a photo and additional information about Elijah Beck, a retired farmer from Buchanan, Michigan. Russell preached there in August 1878. A news report of his sermon would be great. We can't find one. Bruce emailed a Beck descendant, but we haven't heard back yet.

We need

Any historical docmentation for the Springfield and Alton Bay Second Adventist conferences in 1878. Newspaper articles would be good. Photos, but only of that year, would be excellent.

Also ... A. P. Adams opened a series of meetings in Beverly, MA, in August 1878. Can anyone find a newspaper report?

Can you help with this?

A Watch Tower evangelist was in Buffalo, New York, in September 1886. Can you help us put a name to these advertisements?

The Huntington, New York, Long-Islander -- Nov. 5,1892

Mr. Schulz posted this on another forum ...

We have one chapter and a bunch of edits to go before volume one of our next book is released. (for those who don't know or have forgotten, the first book in this series is Nelson Barbour: The Millennium's Forgotten Prophet. It's a history of Barbour and his associates.) Our next book details Watch Tower history from Russell's childhood to about 1887. There is overlap on each side of that date.

To further our research we're seeking Brother Russell's letters. We've located a few. We would like to see more. If you have some to share, please contact me through our blog.

We are also interested in the personal letters (and photos) of early Bible Students.

Some of you may be interested in our new book. If you visit our public history blog you can see some pages in rough draft. I think Miss de Vienne and I tell a compreshensive story, giving more detail than ever published before. We draw on contemporary records and avoid when possible secondary sources. There will be photos you've never seen before. We used personall letters, court documents, county records, wills, contemporary newspaper articles and similar items. If you look at the sample pages, you'll see an illustration taken from church records of the Russells' membership in a presbyterian church in Philadelphia.

We recount in considerable detail the history of Russell's friends and associates, setting the record straight in several areas. We consider Russell's association with One Faith believers, something no one else has done. Though we do not have a firm page count for volume one yet, it will be about 325 pages and have perhaps fifty or more mostly never seen photos.

The chapters are:

1. Developing a Religious Voice. Russell's childhood to young adulthood. His family's history. A huge amount of detail is here. It's about fifty single spaced pages with illustrations.

2. Among the Second Adventists, Millenarians and Age-to-Come Believers: 1869-1874. This chapter contains extensive biographies of J. Wendell and G. Stetson. It explains their belief systems and shows Stetson's shift in association from the AC Church to One Faith (today best represented by Abrahamic Faith congregations). We draw some of this from Stetson's personal letters. We also consider G. D. Clowes, J. T. Ongley and G. Cherry, each of whom played a part in Russell's history. Among the illustrations is a Church Directory taken from an early isse of an Age-to-Come journal that lists the Allegheny Church not as Adventist but as One Faith.

3. Among the Second Adventists, Millenarians and Age-to-Come Believers: 1874-1876. We present an extensive biography of G. Storrs, demonstrating his shift from Adventism to independent Age to Come belief. We tell much of this story from his own words as found in Bible Examiner and Herald of Life. The focus of this chapter is on the interactions between the Russell's and Storrs especially as shown by letters and notices found in Bible Examiner. We detail the Russells' experience with E. L. Owen. We tell what happened to the Church of God group in Allegheny, later Pittsburgh. We tell about Russell's stormy relationship the the Christadelphians in Pittsburgh and near by places. We mention his interatctions with independent millenialists and SDA believers.

4. Separate Identity. This chapter, some thirty pages, considers the independent Bible Class, its known memebers and the development of a clearly stated theology.

5. Meeting the Principals: Russell's Entry into the Barbourite Movement. This considers those who were prominent among Barbour's associates. We present an extensive biography of J. Paton. Among the sources are numerous issues of Paton's magazine, his diary and other similar items. We also present biographies of B. W. Keith, S. H. Withington, Ira and Lizzie Allen, Avis Hamlin. Each of these played a part in the Watch Tower's development. Most of them are unknowns. We solve that problem. There are photos of Paton (from his family) and Hamlin and Keith. We tell exactly what the place of each was in Russell's history.

6. Barbour and Russell: The Early Ministry. Huge amount of detail on their interactions between August 1877 and the Spring of 1878. This is a key period in Russell's personal history. It is taken from original documents, newspaper articles and the writings of both men. About 45 pages of material few have ever seen.

7. Russell and Barbour: The Fruitage. This chapter considers the historiaclly most important of those accepting their message. We consider Caleb Davies, W. I. Mann, J. Tavender, J. C. Sunderlin, A. P. Adams, telling our readers why each of these men was important to Russell. We dran on Sunderlin's personal letters, the records of Adams' trial before the Methodist authorities, and other original records. There are photos of Davies, Tavender, Sunderlin and Adams. We also present details that help one understand issues not fully explained in Zion's Watch Tower.

8. Aftermath of Failure. This considers their expectations for the spring of 1878 and the separation and controversies that followed.

Volume 2 will take up the story, following it to just past the publication of The Plan of the Ages. Everything is footnoted so there are no unsupportable claims and anyone who wishes can follow our reseach path.

So this is nearly our last call for documentation that may help before we publish volume one. Anything you have, no matter how trivial you may think it would be of interest. Can you help?

Let me tell you about our next book ....

I usually post articles like this on my personal blog, but this one will go here. I’m smooshing [yes I know that’s not a standard English word] together my new research and Mr. Schulz’s 1990 research paper. This will be the last full chapter of volume one of our new book. It tells the tale of the 1878 disappointment, Barbour and Russell’s eventual separation, and the controversy that followed. 

Most people know the basics, I think. The story is told in two or three paragraphs in most histories of the Watch Tower movement. I can tell you now that you don’t know the full story. Wickedpedia and other silly sites reference A. H. Macmillan’s story about some standing on the Sixth Street Bridge at midnight. It didn’t happen. His claim that Russell saw much work ahead and didn’t expect translation is also false. I’m not saying he lied; he just got it wrong.

Russell tells an entirely different story. We’ve found a lot of that, people making claims that can’t be sustained. We start this chapter with one of those:

“Little of this story has been told. As with much else in this era of Watch Tower history, we find significant purposeful nonsense and just plain bad research. For example, Graig Burns asserts that “the Bible Students had split off from a group of Second Adventists under N. H. Barbour, which later became the 7th-Day Adventist Church.”[1] We’re fairly certain Seventh-day Adventists would be surprised to know this. We certainly were.”

It’s fun to be a little bit snippy. So much we read is just silly.

Much more interesting to me is Russell’s separate doctrinal development. While he and Barbour were slugging it out over the Atonement doctrine, Russell was perusing an independent Bible study that lead to new approaches to previous beliefs. This is all new research for us, but I think we grasp the basics. What were these new thoughts? Read the book when it’s published.

Not surprisingly, we find Barbour misstating events. He does that. He thought he was God’s special mouthpiece, the “leader” of the little flock. He, at all costs, appeared in the best light possible, even if that meant that he lied about his associates.

An obnoxious fabricator claims that Russell stole the Herald of the Morning subscription list. This is a stupid claim. The Herald had fewer than 1000 subscribers. Russell sent his new magazine to 6000 individuals. More importantly, Russell was part owner of the Herald, even if Barbour later denied this. Notices in the semi-monthly issues said so as did periodical listings in the public press.

 

 

Click the illustration to view it all.

Right now, this remains a complex, tangled mess. That won’t last. Research always starts that way. This book is nothing like what we imagined. The real story is so much more interesting – and … well … different.

We puzzle through why they believed what they believed. I do not mean we don’t understand their chain of reasoning. They published all that. I mean I want to know why they believed what was sometimes improbable. Charles Pierce, a contemporary of Russell’s, wrote that, “The characteristics of belief are three. First, there is a certain feeling with regard to a proposition. Second, there is a disposition to be satisfied with the proposition. And third, there is a clear impulse to act in certain ways, in consequence.” It’s hard to argue with that proposition. They wanted to believe. So they believed. The limits of belief were the scriptures as they understood them.

Doubt also plays a part in this story. Pierce wrote that doubt “may approximate indefinitely to belief.” That is, as long as there is belief, there will be doubt. He gave several causes for ‘doubt,’ and I think we see them all at work in this story. Doubt in this history drove investigation. And investigation is the life blood of cogent thought. The theologies that descend from Russell, Barbour and others were driven by investigation and doubt. We, of course, do not express an opinion on the success of any of the actors in this story; we only tell you what they did, and if they let us know, why they did it.

We’ve worked hard to turn names into living personalities. Everyone with even mild interest in Watch Tower history knows the name B. W. Keith. Benjamin Wallace Keith had a personality all of his own, built out of experiences and friendships. His aged father ran off and married someone far his junior. We tell you that. He married twice. He lost children to disease and bee sting. We tell you all those small details. And we hope that the story comes alive through them.

Sunderlin was adopted. He and Keith were both wounded in the Civil War. Sunderlin suffered endlessly from a wound that ran down the length of his spine. Best we can put together is that he was prone, shooting, and a bullet traveled down his spine. He became an opium addict. Didn’t know that did you? He found relief from his pain and the addiction in a medication that probably only had a placebo effect. But it worked for him.

We have photos of Keith and Sunderlin. They’ll appear in the new book.

L. A. Allen, one of the original Watch Tower contributors, was a young woman. We tell you some of her life issues. This is a partially told tale. We simply do not know enough detail to say more than what we will say. I wish we did. Her issues lead her to Universal Salvation belief.

Russell, in a very obscure, hard to find place, tells of looking through a blast furnace peephole and thinking about the horrors of hell. Knowing that doesn’t add much to the story, really. But it’s colorful. It gives a flat story something of his personality.

Bet you didn’t know about Russell’s furniture store? His stock market investments? Read the book when it comes out, and you will.

We “take to task” a number of writers on both sides of the aisle. So much [insert slightly vulgar word here] has been written … and believed … that we have to address some of it. Zydeck’s book comes in for a thrashing. It’s not nice to make things up. Bits of things found in dissertations and thesis are beat with a hammer. Most of you won’t have read any of those, but some of them rest at the back of books and pamphlets you would have read if you’ve pursued this at all. Our goal is to present as accurate a history as we can.

An example? Here’s a paragraph:

Owen W. Muelder wrote that Storrs “studied at Princeton, graduated from Andover Theological Seminary, and was a professor of theology as Western Reserve College in Ohio. In 1828, he lived in South Carolina where he observed the grim reality of a slaves’ life.” None of this is true. Records of his ordination and ministry have him in New Hampshire through all this period.[2] A brief biography prefacing one of his books appears to be a product of Storrs’ own pen, and, as such, probably speaks authoritatively about his early religious beliefs. Not surprisingly, his introduction to spiritual thought came from his mother. Storrs and his siblings received their first and primary religious instruction at her knees. Storrs remembered her as “ever watchful over their religious instruction, while the father was most studious to promote their temporal welfare.” Lucinda Storrs “gathered her children around her, particularly on the Sabbath, to give them instruction in the things pertaining to God, and our Saviour, Jesus Christ.”

We want it “right.” If we fail, it’s our own fault, of course. But we strive for accuracy no matter where it takes us.

Another example, this one from a discussion of the Allegheny Bible Class:

A. D. Jones was not a member, despite claims by various writers. Neither was George Stetson, though he may have met with them on the odd occasions when he was in Allegheny. Jones came into the picture in 1878, and Stetson was centered in Edinboro and could not regularly attend though he preached to the Church of God congregation every other week for a period, and in December 1872 he preached there twice each Sunday. The claim made by an Internet based encyclopedia that George Storrs attended regularly is a fabrication. The entire article in which that claim appears should be rejected by serious researchers.

Wading through secondary sources for this period (roughly 1870-1887) leaves the stain of Augean Stables on one. … Which is a nice way of saying really bad stuff about what most have written. We understand that we’ve had extraordinary access to some material not available to most writers. But most of this story has been available to anyone who looked. They just haven’t looked.

Writing this has been a challenge. Melding two writing styles into one readable document is not the least of our challenges. Finding material has been an even bigger task. If you’ve read this blog for a while you’ve seen a long list of “needs and wants.” We still need most of those.

On the other hand, family members of some of those we write about have found us or we’ve found them, and they’ve contributed surprising things. We’ve had help from Wendells, Barbour descendants, von Zech’s family, J. A. Brown’s distant granddaughter, and others. This has added richness to this story.

Mr. Schulz often says, “The story is in the details.” This is an excellent maxim.

---

[1]               G. Burns: Exit From Soul-Abuse: Redefining Extremist Cults, Trafford Publishing, 2012, page 454. Burns is an ex-Witness. One wonders how he could associate with that religion for twenty-four years and not know the basics of Watch Tower history.

[2]               O. W. Muelder: Theodore Dwight Weld and the American Anti-Slavery Society, Jefferson, North Carolina, 2011, page 89. Storrs ministry in this period is well documented, presenting this record: Admitted on trial to the New England ME Conference 1825; Ordained deacon by Bishop Hedding at Lisbon, June 10 1827 and elder by the same at Portsmouth, June 15 1829; Appointments Landaff, 1825; Sandwich, 1826-7; Gilmanton and Northfield, 1828-9; Great Falls, 1830 and 1832; Portsmouth, 1830-1; Concord, 1833-4; Henniker and Deering supernumerary 1835; left the Methodists 1840; Without charge, Montpelier Vermont, 1841; Supplied Albany, New York, 1841-2. – See N. F. Carter: The Native Ministry of New Hampshire, Concord, 1906, page 428.

I know i'm asking for the moon, but we need:

1. Any and all of the semi-monthly issues of Herald of the Morning except the June 15, 1877, issue. We especially need the issues for April and May.

2. We have a very limited number of contemporary reactions to their failure to be "translated" in April 1877. We would love to have more comments from outside the movement.

3. We still seek Russell's personal letters. Since I last asked, we've come up with six, one of which was very helpful. If you have one (or some), no matter how trivial the content may seem, please scan it and send it to us.

4. We still need Barbour's Spiritism booklet from 1883.

5. We need a photo of William I. Mann. We've checked with the university where his son was provost. No joy there. Anyone? Even a poor quality newspaper photo would work.

6. Letters between early Bible Students, no matter what the date are important, even if they seem trivial. Do you have any you can share?

Update on progress:

Mr. Schulz is writing the introductory essay for volume one. I'm reading through and re-researching and re-writing something he wrote about 1990 for someone else's book. This will become the last chapter of volume one. We're moving a chapter planned for volume one to volume two where it will be more appropriate; the same is true of one appendix.

I noted a discussion of Russell's supposed membership in the Masons over on another site. Just so you know, the membership list for the lodge his uncle belonged to is available. Neither C. T.'s dad nor himself is on it. We deal with all of this in an appendix in volume one.

We're hoping to have volume one in print early next year.

Photo Drama - click to view

Pittsburgh Commercial Gazette, April 2, 1877

Working on the last chapter of volume 1

This is what we have. Can you add detail. ...?

A. H. Macmillan reported a later claim made by “Pittsburgh newspapers” that Russell “was on the Sixth Street bridge dressed in a white robe on the night of the Memorial of Christ’s death, expecting to be taken to heaven.” We could not find the original of this newspaper report, though we do not doubt its existence. The fact of the report is interesting, but the conclusions many have drawn from it are distorted. The report, no matter who printed it, was long removed from the events of 1878. Macmillan’s association dates from 1900.[1] The newspaper article could be no older than that and is probably dated later, perhaps after 1906. So at best it reports on events twenty years pervious. As Macmillan has it, Russell’s reaction was to laugh “heartily” and say:

I was in bed that night between 10:30 and 11:00 P.M. However, some of the more radical ones might have been there, but I was not. Neither did I expect to be taken to heaven at that time, for I felt there was much work to be done preaching the Kingdom message to the peoples of the earth before the church would be taken away.[2] 

            One should dispose of the ascension-robe claim first. It was an old often repeated calumny. Everyone with clearly defined end of the age expectations was subject to it, though there is not one verifiable instance. It is especially out of place when applied to Russell. He expected a change to a spirit body, making any self-made ascension robe irrelevant. He understood the “white robes” of Revelation [vs] to be symbolic, not literal. That he or any of the Pittsburgh Barbourites dressed in robes is a newspaper reporter’s lie. Some writers have taken this on face value. The story delights Russell’s enemies who discount his denial, and others simply repeat it as is, believing it to be accurate because it saw print.

            If Macmillan reports Russell’s belief that “there was much work to be done” and that he didn’t “expect to be taken to heaven at that time” with any sort of accuracy, then we must presume his doubts to have arisen in the last weeks before April 1878. Any time prior to the spring of 1878, we find Russell and Barbour believing with equal fervor that translation impended.[3] It is apparent that he believed and preached that translation was due. Taken as a whole, this seems a very unreliable report. But we come away from it noting two things: There was among the Pittsburgh brethren a “more radical” party; they were somewhat fragmented. And doubts grew as the time approached.

---

[1]               A. H. Macmillan: Faith on the March, Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, 1957, page 42.

[2]               A. H. Macmillan: Faith on the March, page 27.

[3]               C. T. Russell: A Conspiracy Exposed and Harvest Siftings, Zion’s Watch Tower, special edition, Apriil 25, 1894, pages 103-104.  The Prospect, Herald of the Morning, July 1878, page 11.

We need to locate the original of the ...

newspaper article mentioned by A. H. Macmillan that claimed that Russell and his associates were on the sixth street bridge on passover day 1878. Anyone?

Anyone have any additional information on this?

Setting matters straight

Several have presumed that the Watch Tower Society some how supports this project or that they feed us information. This is our own personal project. It is not sponsored by, approved by, or otherwise supported by the Watch Tower Society.

They do not feed us information. We have written or emailed them five or six time over the course of our current project, usually to ask a specific question. Most often their answer has been, "We don't know" or "We don't have that." They have sent us exactly seven pages of photocopy, some of it material we already had. In point of fact there were only three pages we did not have. We appreciate receiving that much. But, that is all we have received from them. It is wrong to suggest on a public forum or in private that they are a secret voice of support behind this project.

The research is ours. Outside help comes from interested individuals who read this or the private blog. Some of them are Jehovah's Witnesses, some Bible Students and a couple are educators who have a historian's interest. None of them are part of the official Watch Tower staff. All the conclusions we draw are our own. We are not writing a polemic; we're writing history. If there prove to be mistakes in the book, we are to blame. If we take  you places you've never been, show you history you've never seen, the praise is ours too.

A recent forum post says that Mr. Schulz is using a pen name. He is not. I write as Rachael de Vienne, and that is a pen name, an extract from a much longer personal name. That is my name, just not my first or last name. I teach and I raise children and goats.

Mr. Schulz did not write scripts for a television show. He wrote childrens' stories. They are all out of print. He used a pen name for those. They aren't relevant to the history we write.

Our next book must stand or fall on its merits. Either it is sound, well-researched history, or it is not. It does not matter who our ancestors were or who our living relations may be. Some of them are not praise-worthy people anyway.

I don't know what these are ....

Do you know? Do you have copies? Click the image to view.

If you find these interesting, please say so.

From the Adair County News (Columbia, KY) August 5, 1909

Names

I have an hour or so before I go teach my one class of the day. I’m using it to organize the mass of photocopies we received. There are maybe 200 pages, but little of it is useful for our work in progress. However, it will be useful for book three in this series.

Some short newspaper articles give names of those active in the movement, many of which are new to me.

There is an Alexander Graham of Summerville, Minnesota. I’ve never heard of him. Eventually, I’ll hunt him down. He shows up in an article from September 23, 1899.

J. H. Moffatt of Micanopy, Florida, was giving Bible lectures in 1904.

An Elder Staples and Charles N. Friend preached alternate Sundays in Richmond, Virginia, in 1901.
This one is confusing. Two Charles N. Friends, both near Richmond. One was  a druggist, the other a minister. The one we want lived in Chester VA in 1901.

Elder appears to be a first name instead of a title.

George Ceariners (or Geariners) held meetings in his home in Houston, Texas, in 1896.

C. R. Raymond of Cleveland, Ohio, lectured in St. Louis in 1903.

J. A. Gillespie was lecturing in Omaha in 1912.

Samuel Williams lectured in Huston in 1903.

S. J. Arnold was in Marietta, Ohio, to lecture in March 1900.

N. W. Mottinger led the congregation in Akron, Ohio, in 1902.
This is Noah W. Mottinger, born in Ohio in 1846 and died in Ohio in 1907. He was a Civil War veteran.

"Evangelists Williams and Howel" lectured in Houston, Texas, in 1902.
Howel is John (Jonathan) Marshman Howell, a horticulturalist and carpenter. (1849-1925). We think but don't know for certain, that Williams is A. E. Williams.

T. H. Lloyd was advertising Millennial Dawn in Salem, Oregon, in 1896.
This is Thomas H. Lloyd, a carpenter (stairbuilder), born in wales in 1851 and died in Salem, Oregon in 1901.

George H. Draper of Conde, South Dakota, lectured in Minnesota in 1908.

Mr. Anderson held meetings in his "studio" in Huston, Texas, in 1896.

J. Wyndetts was an adherent living in Huston, Texas, in 1899.

J. O. Sandberg of Grants Pass, Oregon, placed an ad for a lecture in 1904.
Appears to be the John O Sandberg burried in the Fox Valley, Linn County, Oregon Cemetery. Birth and death years are given as 1846-1926.

G. W. Hessler, a carpenter, was an adherent in Scranton, Pennsylvania, in 1898.

Mrs. N. E. Rolison was secretary of the congregation in Elmira, NY, in 1911.

D. W. McClay of Schenectady was lecturing in 1905.

Fredrick Clapham opened his home up for meetings in Albany, New York, in 1900.

Morgan T. Lewis of Cohoee was lecturing in New York in 1900.

James G. Hill was lecturing in Yonkers in 1908

Maurice McKinny was lecturing in Elmira, New York, in 1905.

This list continues to grow … I can see lots and lots of hard, detailed research in my future.

George Storrs in Pittsburgh

Washington D. C. Times - 1904 [click on the image]

I hope you're not getting tired

of all the newspaper articles ... I found bunches of them that are new to  us. Some of these answer questions we've had and some are just interesting. I found one from 1888 about Viola Gilbert. We mention her twice in our upcoming book. It's brief but adds significantly to the story. As a result we'll move a footnote into main text and elaborate.

These raw, sometimes little bits of newspaper text have furthered our story in huge ways. I hope you enjoy them.I"m focused on articles published before 1910 even though that date is two decades past the cut off date for our next book. We foucus on names, slogans and catch-phrases. The history doesn't stop at 1890, though our book focuses on the years before that. It would be silly to confine ourselves to material before that date.

So ... what you're seeing is material we've just found. It's not exactly surprising, except for a few new names we'll have to track down. But it adds detail. If you think about it, lack of detail has choked the story, turning it into a myth. Our goal is to restore detail so subsequent writers can follow the trails we have and add new research or simply abreviate the story, but accurately.

The advertisement from Salem, Oregon, is especially important because it illustrates what some Watch Tower evangelists did. This is not news to us, but it gives us a usable visual. Without explaining all of the details, Russell was exposed to and part of a religious movement that struggled with names and identity. He was very reluctant to give a name to the organization that grew up around Zion's Watch Tower. We're documenting the many names used by individual groups. The articles we've found recently helps with that.

Something that did surprise me is a series of "Millennial Dawn State Conventions." These were held in the 1890s and into the early 1900s, and while Mr. Schulz did not find this "new," I did. Anyway, I hope I'm not boring you silly by posting these articles.

Salem, Oregon - 1896 [click image to view]

Huston Daily Post - 1902 [click on image]

Huston Post - Feb 22, 1903 [click the image]

We need some basic biography for Mr. Williams ....

S. O. Blunden and other matters.

In early to mid 1888 Blunden was arrested in Harrisburg, PA, for handing out tracts in from of a Methodist church. We would like to see original records of some sort. We can't find them. Anyone?

We need a public domain photo of City Gospel Tent, New York City, as it looked between 1885 and 1890.

We need any records of "New Church of Brooklyn." It was in existance in 1892-1893. A photo would be stellar.

We need copies of any letters from or to or among Bible Students in the period before 1916, no matter how unimportant they may seem. Anyone?

Seattle Star - July 9, 1907

Russell 1902 -Click the Image to read the whole thing

On the Private Blog

We posted a chapter on early Watch Tower finances. It profiles some of the first directors and discusses early donnors and such.

We need to know J. F. Smith's middle name, and we'd love to find a photo of him and William C. MacMillan and Simon O. Blunden.

We have very little information about the sale of donated land in Florida in the 1880s. Any small detail will help.

The Ross Libel Case

 

 

 

In 1912, J J Ross, a Baptist clergyman in Canada, published a booklet “Some Facts about the Self Styled Pastor Russell.” It attacked CTR over a number of issues, including his marital problems, his business ventures and his ordination and education or lack of same.

CTR sued Ross, but the indictment got no further than the magistrates court. As a result, Ross published an expanded booklet with extracts from the court transcript, claiming that he “won” and CTR “lost”. The accusations made in this booklet, especially over whether CTR could read or understand Biblical Greek have been re-circulated down to this day. Opponents of CTR accuse him of perjury. Others reading the limited transcript available see a far more innocent explanation; one given by CTR at the time.

Regrettably, the full transcript of the key hearing, where CTR was cross-examined by George Lynch Staunton, is not currently available. Staunton’s copy does not appear to survive, nor that of J J Ross, and the one owned by the Watchtower Society was lost for many years, then reportedly rediscovered, then apparently mislaid again.

While it might give many interesting historical morsels in CTR’s testimony, it probably covered similar ground to other trials of the day involving CTR. This can be seen by examining how the newspapers of the day reported the proceedings.

What is noteworthy is that the reporters in court never picked up on any accusations approaching perjury. Any reference to CTR’s ability to read Greek, be it letters or language, was so peripheral it didn’t merit comment. In their minds the accusations made by Ross focussed more on CTR’s marital difficulties and ordination – subjects already raised by newspapers such as the Brooklyn Eagle, from where Ross’s original booklet admitted he had obtained most of his material. And crucially, the newspapers of the day explained why Ross was not found guilty. (One must always remember that in law it was Ross who was the defendant, not CTR).

The answer is given very clearly in the cutting at the head of this article. And it reflects what CTR himself said by way of explanation at the time.

When later asked about the case, CTR made his defense in the Watch Tower, September 15th, 1914, pp. 286-7 (reprints page 5543). This was a reproduction of a letter published in a newspaper in Trinidad, apparently in answer to Ross's second booklet. The key part is as follows:

(all underlining mine):

'I am quite familiar with the slanderous screed issued by Rev. J.J. Ross. In Canada they have just two laws governing libel. Under the one, the falsifier may be punished by the assessment of damages and money. Under the other, criminal libel, he is subject to imprisonment. I entered suit against Rev. Ross under the criminal act at the advice of my attorneys, because, as he had no property, a suit for damages would not intimidate him nor stop him. The lower court found him guilty of libel. But when the case went to the second judge he called up an English precedent in which it was held that criminal libel would only operate in a case where the jury felt sure that there was danger of rioting or violence. As there was no danger that myself or friends would resort to rioting, the case was thrown out. I could still bring my action for financial damages but it would be costly to me and impotent as respects Rev. Ross.'

(CTR then discusses at some length the issues raised on Biblical languages and ordination and presents his side of the case).

So CTR states he was advised to try for criminal libel, but because of an English precedent relating to resulting 'rioting' and 'violence', it was thrown out. The English law (obviously governing Canada at this time) is put simply in Reader's Digest Family Guide to the Law (1971 edition) page 675: (underlining mine):

'Libel is normally a civil wrong - what the law calls a 'tort' -·but it can be also a criminal offense if the prosecution shows that the libel caused, or was likely to cause a breach of the peace. Such prosecutions are rare because the person libelled normally prefers to seek damages in a civil action; for even if someone is found guilty of criminal libel the person defamed does not get any damages.'

In discussing how certain rare circumstances allow for criminal libel of the dead, it states:

'If the dead person is libelled in such a way that his relatives are understandably angered into a breach of the peace, the writer might be prosecuted for criminal libel.'

So the key point in law is, will the one libelled be likely to cause a breach of the peace, or will his relatives?

This is backed up by Stones Justice Manual, 1985 edition, Section 4-5671. After the definition of criminal libel, and various decisions on whether or not the dead could be so libelled, we have the British precedent to which CTR referred: (underlining mine):

(quote) Lord COLERIDGE CJ, directed a grand jury at Berkshire Assizes, Reading, February 1889, that there ought to be some public interest concerned, something affecting the Crown or in guardians of public peace, to justify the recourse by a private person to criminal libel by way of indictment. If either by reason of the continued repetition or infamous character of the libel a breach of the peace was likely to ensue, then the libeller should be indicted: but in the absense of such conditions, a personal squabble between two individuals ought not to be permitted by grand juries, as indeed it was not permitted by sound law to the subject of criminal indictment, and he invited them to throw out the bill, which, in accordance with his suggestion, was done (33 Sol Jo 250).

In summary – if no breach of the peace was actually caused by, or threatened by, the one libelled, a private individual bringing a charge of criminal libel would have it thrown out – irrespective of the merits of the case. Had CTR brought a civil action against Ross it may have been a different result. This is what he did with actions against the 'Washington Post' and Chicago 'Mission Friend' where both cases were decided in his favour. The issue of CTR’s 'divorce/separation' was common to all cases.

The whole object of the exercise was to silence Ross, and CTR wrote to him while the case was pending offering to withdraw the suit if Ross would discontinue his (quote) "injurious slanderous course". (See Watch Tower, October 1st, 1915). On this occasion the strategy backfired!

In hindsight it would appear that CTR received flawed legal advice to go for the rare charge of criminal libel, rather than civil libel as before.

In the Watch Tower for October 1st, 1915, when answering a question about why he, CTR, took someone to court, when Jesus didn't, he stated about the Ross case: "We are not certain that we did the wisest and best thing – the thing most pleasing to the Lord in the matter mentioned."

Scranton PA Tribune. May 1, 1897 (click the image to read all)

One more. This one from Chapter One

Another Page. This one from Chapter 5

These sample pages will give you an idea of what to expect, at least in apperance, and some idea of content. We don't have a release date yet, but we're hoping for near February 2014.

We have a major chapter to finish, followed by a thorough edit and re-write. We don't know if there will be an index with the first volume or if that comes with volume 2.

Pages will look like this ...

These are from chapter 7 of the new book.

The List

Mr. Schulz made this list for someone else. I think it may be interesting to you too. It's a short description of the chapters to be found in volume 1 of the next book:

Chapter one considers Russell family antecedents and C. T. Russell’s childhood with some reference to his business ventures. We draw heavily on Russell’s accounts as scattered through the pages of the Watch Tower and Convention Reports, public and church records.

Chapter two takes us into his meeting with Wendell, Stetson and others. We provide extensive biographies of Wendell and Stetson and more brief notices of others Russell met between 1869 and 1874. We define the difference between Age-to-Come (One Faith) belief and Adventism and explore which most influenced Russell’s associates. Among those we profile and whose interactions with Russell and his associates we explore are George Darby Clowes, John T. Ongley, and George W. Cherry. We explore Stetson’s shift from Adventism to One Faith belief. Photos of the hall Wendell first spoke in and the one in which Russell met him and copies of newspaper notices and similar matters illustrate this chapter

Chapter three considers interaction with Storrs. We present an extensive biography of Storrs, emphasizing his shift from Millerite Adventism to Age-to-Come belief. This discussion is drawn from contemporary records. We also consider the Russells interactions with Eleazer L. Owen, Seventh-day Adventists and Christadelphians. We detail the history of the One Faith congregation that grew out of Wendell’s visit. We consider claims made about Russell’s view of William Miller and his connections to other, non-Adventist millenarians.

Chapter four considers the formation of the Bible Class, following the trail of their doctrinal development and connecting it to contemporary persons and articles. We discuss in some detail William Conley’s background, his connections to Peters and others, and his doctrinal differences with Russell. We leave the history of their separation and Conley’s shift to faith-cure advocacy to volume two.

Russell describes their doctrinal development several times. Combining his various statements we outline the salient points as: 1. End of the age; 2. Second Probation; 3. Ransom and Atonement; 4. Parousia and Restitution; 5. Restoration of the Jews; 6. World Burning; 7. Baptism; 8. Resurrection; 9. End-times chronology and prophetic framework; 10. The Trinity; 11. Devil and Demons; 12. Great Pyramid, and 13. Other doctrines including congregation “ordinances.” We connect their study to contemporary events, discussions and articles in journals we know they read or tracts by people they knew.

Chapter five considers Russell’s introduction to the Barbourite movement. It profiles the principals and discusses his meeting with Barbour in Philadelphia and his meeting with Paton in Pittsburgh. There is some newspaper documentation of Barbour’s activity in Philadelphia. This chapter presents a thorough biography of Paton and biographies of those most prominent among Herald of the Morning readers: Benjamin Wallace Keith; Samuel Howe Withington; Ira and Lizzie (Elizabeth) Allen; Avis M. Hamlin. It ends with a consideration of the social milieu and Russell’s commitment to the work.

Chapter six considers in detail Barbour and Russell’s ministry up to the spring of 1878. We explore newspaper articles detailing their first missionary trip. We discuss their publishing ministry and some new doctrinal developments. They abandoned belief in an earthly heaven in mid 1877, causing some considerable controversy. We look at reactions to their ministry both from Adventists and from One Faith believers, quoting from articles appearing in their journals.

Chapter seven considers their ministry’s fruitage. We profile some who were prominent in the following years. These include Caleb Davies; William Imre Mann; Joshua Tavender; John Corbin Sunderlin; and Arthur Prince Adams. We draw on private letters, church records and contemporary newspaper articles.

Chapter eight considers the atonement controversy and separation. This exists as notes only.

We plan an additional chapter considering Barbour and Russell’s households, their wives and other connections. This may be inserted between chapters six and seven. An appendix on Russell’s supposed Masonic connections is ready. A second appendix considering Russell’s preaching with evangelists connected to The Restitution is partially complete.

 

A rough page count of volume one is 380 pages. That will change with edits.

Discussion

We’re close to the break point for what would be volume one of our next book. When chapter eight is finished and we do a thorough re-write, we could publish it. We’re debating this. There is a huge amount of work left, almost all of it for volume two. We could put out volume one, but we’re afraid that alone it will not hold our reader’s interest.

It might. There is good stuff in it, new, well-researched and interesting at least to me. But it ends with Russell and Barbour’s separation and he controversies that followed it. We don’t expect to sell many copies anyway, but we worry that interest will wane between the publication of a volume one and the final volume.

I’m in no shape physically or mentally to make a rational decision. (I’m very sick right now.) And Bruce seems torn by a desire to get it out and wanting to tell the whole story at once. So we’re opening it up for discussion here.

Lack of interest here, and we my shelve the project.

A statement

We haven’t had to restate "the rules" for some time. And I suppose that’s not exactly what I’m doing now. We post minor bits of our research on this blog. Serious research goes up on our private blog for review by a group of knowledgeable, interested readers.

We write history books. Our research supports our own writing. We’re not here to support your projects. That doesn’t mean we’re not happy to hear from blog readers. It means we cannot further your project beyond a general answer to your questions unless we’re receiving significant material from you in return.

I don’t care who you know or who you pretend to represent. I don’t care who your "important friend" may be. None of that will gain you special access to our research or draw us off into controversy with you. Our sole interest is in accurate research. If you have something to contribute, or a correction to make, or want to offer help, I’m more than happy to hear from you.

As an aside, no member of the Governing Body would send you to us back channel. Don’t take that tack with us. It will make me raise my eyebrows, but it won’t get you access to aspects of our research we haven’t published here. The Watch Tower Society knows Mr. Schulz’ address and its representatives are perfectly capable of asking their own questions.

There are older bits of research we’ve left up on this blog. Be aware that some of it may be dated. We are far beyond what remains on this blog, but we don’t post it here. We stopped posting updates here because some used our research as if it were their own discoveries and because of low-grade harassment by religious zealots.

Our work in progress is two thirds done, and we’re at 220,000 words including a mass of footnotes. There will be many never seen or seldom seen photos. It presents a new approach to the era between 1870 and 1887. There will be things you’ve never seen or heard of. We think it will change the approach to this era of Watch Tower history.

We tackle a series of mythologies built up around Russell. When it is finally published and you read it, don’t ignore the footnotes. Most are just references, but if you don’t read them you’ll miss interesting things. (Millennial Dawn evangelist arrested for threats is an example). We identify people left unnamed in official histories, telling their stories. We tell you about the criminal behavior of one of Russell’s associates. (a dirty rascal indeed!) But be aware that we’re writing well researched history, not a scandal rag, and we’re not parroting the anti-Russell or pro-Russell mythologies that abound.

We draw almost exclusively from contemporary sources, including letters and personal papers of the principals. So much for that.

Ultimately, how we respond to an email from you depends on how you present yourself. We size you up by what you write. Think about that before you send me an email.

Don't name drop.

My answer to a recent email:

I forwarded your email to Mr. Schulz. The information on our public blog about William Imre Mann is old research, and we have updated it since. We do not have a photo for him. If the Watchtower Society has questions about the first Watch Tower directors they may contact Mr. Schulz directly. They have his address.

Mr. Schulz has been a Witness since 1952 or earlier. I am a simple historian with a religion of my own. Personally, I'm reluctant to share our hard won research without an expectation of reciprocity. Mr. Schulz is more giving than I am.

We have some photos of Russell's early associates, but though we've searched for Mann's we haven't located one. We don't have Simon Osborne Blunden's photo or that for J. F. Smith, though we have a photo of his place of business and some letters he wrote. William C. McMillan's personal records have come our way in a limited way. We have H. B. Rice's photo; several for Paton; B. W. Keith's photo; original letters by and a photo of Sunderlin.

As I said above, if the Watch Tower needs this information, they should contact Mr. Schulz directly. We no longer post significant research to our public blog because of harassment from various sources and the unattributed use of our research. All our current research goes up on an invitation only blog.

We are no longer taking requests for access from people we do not know. Access is open to professional historians who we many know personally or individuals who come with a recomendation from someone we know and who can contribute in a meaningful way to our current research.

R. M. de Vienne

help with this?

We need the first name of Mrs. Bell, the wife of Rev. William Bell, head master of Dover College, Dover, Kent, England, in the 1880s.

Can you help with this ...?

One of those who read our history blogs needs a really clear, color scan of the 1931 Convention Program. Anyone?

that was quick! thanks

Joseph Dunn

We need solid biographical information about Joseph Dunn, apparently a clergyman, living in Hague, New York, in 1901. Anyone?