Gertrude Antonette Woodcock Seibert - And the the Finished Mystery

by Jerome

Gertrude Antonette Woodcock Seibert (sometimes spelled Antoinette) was born in 1864 and died in 1928. A Woodcock family history written in 1912 briefly summed up her history:

She started writing verse at any early age. One of her collections contains a poem written when she was nine years old, and her first published poem (not for Watch Tower) was published in 1889.

She became a well-known, high-profile Bible Student in the 1890s and soon became a household name in the Bible Student community for her poetry. Her first known poem published in the Watch Tower was in the December 1, 1899, issue, entitled The Narrow Way. She soon replaced other poets like Rose Ball Henninges and Ophelia Burroughs in the magazine columns. Several of her poems were later circulated in booklet form by the Watch Tower Society. The Sweet-Briar Rose (1909) and In the Garden of the Lord (1913) have been listed in by the Society as official publications. Other collections such as The Heavenly Bridegroom (1918) were published directly by her, but widely circulated amongst Bible Students. Various editions of Poems of Dawn contained her works, as did various editions of the hymn book Zion's Glad Songs where M L McPhail put her verses to music.

Her husband never took to her religion, although it wasn’t for Gertrude’s want of trying! In a letter to the Watch Tower when he died in 1913 she confessed that “I had witnessed to him daily, hourly almost, for nearly twenty years, without apparent effect.” However, long time friend and Bible Student, Clayton J Woodworth officiated at his funeral. (see WT reprints page 5281).

Robert Seibert left her very well provided for, and she was soon traveling with other Bible Students on special trains to conventions, and continued writing poems unabated. When CTR died, her quickly written memorial poem Gone Home (dated November 1, 1916) was published in the St Paul Enterprise newspaper for November 14, 1916, and a lengthy letter, interspersed with verses was published in the Memorial issue of the Watch Tower for December 1, 1916.

However, although we may think of her today as a writer of verse, her greater contribution to Watch Tower literature was probably as a compiler. In 1905 Daily Heavenly Manna for the Household of Faith was published, with a daily comment from past ZWTs or writings of CTR, compiled by Gertrude Seibert. In 1907 the second edition had extra pages for each date, so that Bible Students could record birth dates and get autographs of their friends. If they wished, they could even send a motto card on the day - and some of Gertrude's poems turned up on those too.

And then in 1907 came the Watch Tower Bible, a standard Common Version Bible but with four appendices. Two were compiled by Clayton J Woodworth, and two by Gertrude Seibert. As noted earlier, Woodworth would later conduct the funeral service for Gertrude’s husband. This special Bible was reviewed in the Watch Tower magazine for October 1, 1907, page 303. Gertrude produced what was called, Instructors Guide - An Epitome of the Faith Once Delivered Unto the Saints, which was a detailed subject index to the Dawns and Towers. Her second contribution, Berean Topical Index, was a scripture index of subjects. Woodworth’s main contribution was a one line explanation for every scripture from Genesis to Revelation that had been used in Dawns and Towers. Both compilers must have searched every page of the Watch Tower magazine and Dawn/Studies volumes to that date to produce such a detailed work. (The whole was then republished in its own separate volume in 1909, entitled Berean Bible Teachers’ Manual.) This painstaking work of compilation and indexing would set the scene for what proved to be a controversial publication and the main subject of this article - The Finished Mystery published in 1917.

THE FINISHED MYSTERY

The Finished Mystery was advertised as the 7th volume of the Studies in the Scriptures series. The consequences of its publication and circulation were far reaching. The book’s contents were a major factor in landing J F Rutherford and seven others in jail on charges of working against the American War effort in World War 1. And although Gertrude’s name was generally kept out of the subsequent legal proceedings, the evidence is quite clear that she was directly responsible for the volume's germination and fulfillment.

What follows below is taken from information in the trial transcript RUTHERFORD et al. v. UNITED STATES (1918). Anyone wishing to follow up further simply needs to read the Examinations and Cross-Examinations of George H Fisher and Clayton J Woodworth, and also check through the exhibits. (References will be given for the latter). It might be noted at this point, that the reason why so much detail of The Finished Mystery’s genesis was revealed in this trial was because the defense needed to show the book was both planned and written before America entered the war; and - if you included CTR’s intentions - some of it was written a long time before the war.

In late 1916 expectations were huge. CTR had died, and the Society was in the temporary hands of an executive committee made up of J F Rutherford, A I Ritchie, and W E Van Amburgh. The war and hopes linked to what was understood as the end of the Gentile Times created an air of expectancy. And an informal conversation in a private home in Scranton, Pennsylvania, would have far reaching consequences.

The home belonged to George Fisher. The Fishers and Seiberts had been friends for some years. In 1910 Gertrude hid an old baking can as a time capsule for future generations during renovations on her home. It was discovered during further building work in 1948, and the contents mention George Fisher and his wife as visitors at the time it was concealed.

This time Gertrude was visiting the Fishers in Scranton in early December of 1916. And late one afternoon, the long-time family friend of both, Clayton J Woodworth, called in for a few minutes on his way home from work. Both he and Fisher worked at The International Correspondence School. Conversation turned to "the seventh volume". CTR had planned to produce it, but never had, and nearing death had declared that someone else would have to write it. Gertrude, who as noted above had already reviewed CTR's comments on scripture for her Instructors’ Guide, thought the time was ripe for the seventh volume. She suggested it could be called The Finished Mystery. She also opined that George Fisher could fill in the gaps on CTR's comments on Ezekiel and Clayton Woodworth could do the same for Revelation. 

Fired with enthusiasm and now apparently back at Bethel in Brooklyn, N.Y., Gertrude fired off a long letter to the executive committee. It has survived as Defendants’ Exhibit L. Her suggestions in Part III of her letter particularly relate to what became The Finished Mystery, but her letter is reproduced here in its entirety. It reads:

Brooklyn, N.Y.  Dec. 6, 1916

To

The Executive Committee

Watch Tower Bible & Tract Society

Brooklyn, N.Y.

Dear Friends:

Perhaps it may not be amiss for me to call to your attention a matter which has suggested itself to me, inasmuch as the Apostle exhorts us, saying, "Let him that is taught communicate unto him that teacheth." It is something along this line: A Memorial of Bro. Russell, published in book form, with board covers, and containing some or all of these subjects:

Part I.

a.      Biography of Bro. R. By Bro. Rutherford.

b.      Bro. Nelson’s articles on “Pastor Russell’s place in the Reformation,” as printed in Labor Tribune.

c.       Personal incidents, showing the social side of beloved Pastor’s character, composed of, suitable anecdotes contributed by various persons. (I have quite a number in my own memory, and doubtless many others have very interesting little touches to add to the penportrait of our dear Pastor.) And personal Poems.

Part II

a.      Details of the funeral service at N.Y. Temple.

b.      Details of the funeral service at Carnegie Hall, All’y

c.       Photographs of Floral display at N.Y. and Allegheny, also at the grave, and a later one to be taken after the stone is set up.

d.      Various photographs of Bro. Russell during different periods of his life. (Personally I would like to have all the friends of the Truth enjoy that beautiful one which hangs in the dining room behind Bro. R’s chair at present, which shows us the fatherly, sympathetic expression which almost all his other photographs lack.

Part III.

THE FINISHED MYSTERY

(This was the title Bro. R. permitted me to suggest for the Seventh Volume, once when we were discussing it, and he thought it was very appropriate.)

a.      The Book of Revelation. (A compilation by someone familiar with Bro. R's comments on this book. I would suggest Bro. Woodworth, as well fitted and in Bro. R's confidence for so many years.

b.      The Book of Ezekiel. Bro. Fisher of Scranton, named in Bro. R's will as an alternative for Board of Editors of Watch Tower, has what seems to me very good ideas on this book.

This book could be advertised or mentioned in the TOWER, and sold for $1.00 per copy, and it seems to me would be invaluable.

Respectfully submitted by 

Yours in His service,

(signed) G.W. SEIBERT.

The letter was likely passed by hand within the Bethel home, because there was an immediate reply that is preserved as Defendants’ Exhibit M:

December 7th, 1916

Mrs. G.W, Seibert

Bethel

Dear Sister:

Referring to your letter of December 6th, addressed to the Executive Committee, we beg to say that if the friends therein mentioned desire to prepare the copy mentioned and submit it to us for our consideration, we will consider it and give our opinion as to the advisability of publication.

Yours in His Service,

EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE

The suggestions in Parts I and II of Gertrude’s letter would wait until the Society published a brochure entitled The Messenger of Laodicea; and a private individual, W H Wisdom, produced his Memoirs of Pastor Russell in 1923, which received negative comment in the WT of September 15, 1023. But the proposed volume on Ezekiel and Revelation was acted on immediately, and there was a flurry of correspondence to get the project in place.

One of Clayton Woodworth's letters has survived as a Defendants’ Exhibit E. It is worth reading carefully because it shows in how much regard Gertrude Seibert was held.

Scranton, Pa

December 11th, 1916

Dear Sister Seibert:

Behold the hand of the Lord! For more than twenty years I have had in mind that the only proper title for the Seventh Volume would be "The Mystery Finished" and now you come along and suggest the identical title, with merely a transposition of the words. You are a grammarian and a logician. Think it over and tell me which is the best form of this title. Is our thought chiefly of the mystery, or is it chiefly of the Finish of that mystery? You shall decide, but my present thought continues as before. We have been considering and studying the mystery all the harvest time; and now has come the finish. Is it not so?

I have read your letters to Brother Fisher over the telephone and he is glad to enter the open door, and I, Oh Glory be to the Name of the dear Lord, I am so happy I can hardly wait the finish of this day to begin the work on which my heart is set. I will mail the letters to Brother Fisher at once.

Nothing was enclosed with my transmission of those letters. I seemed to me I ought not to do more at that time. I merely thought it would strengthen your heart to read them and to feel that you could not be far astray from the blessing of the Lord in doing what you have done. And how wisely you have done it! What a mind you have, and how fully it is in the handmaid of the Lord! How happy you must be that the continued faithfulness you have all along shown, is continually recognized by the Lord of the Harvest and there ere long you, too, shall have your desire fulfilled and be folded to the heart of the Lord, as His Bride, even as Brother Russell has already been thus received. 

Dear Sister, nothing has ever given me such joy before, for I know the hand of the Lord will be with us all. And the work will really be yours, for it must go to you, and be fully approved by you before it ever goes to the committee. On that I insist. If you can help me with the summary, which I shall put in as the Seven Plagues, do so, but if not they go in anyway, and come before you for review and edit.

Now can I ask a favor? Do you see your way clear to insert an advertisement in the Labor Tribune, something like the following:

(Woodworth then inserted a suggested advertisement. It encouraged those with thoughts on the subject to send them in with their name and address to the executive committee at Columbia Heights.)

If this appeals to you, ask the Executive Committee if they will receive and hand to you any mail thus addressed, and you can then send to me such as you think I should have. Does this appeal to you? I hope so.

Your loving Brother,

(signed) C.J. WOODWORTH

As noted above, this letter shows us in how much regard Woodworth held Seibert. Woodworth enthuses that the finished product will really be hers, because she is going to vet his work before it goes to the committee. And she is going to have the final say on the title.

Gertrude's position in the genesis of The Finished Mystery is further shown by the advertisement that eventually appeared in the National Labor Tribune. Woodworth’s letter suggested that other Bible Students could send in their views and comments on Ezekiel and Revelation to the executive committee, and hoped they could then be filtered through Gertrude and back to him and Fisher. However, the final advertisement asked prospective contributors to send them direct to Gertrude.

It read:

It is not known in which issue or issues of the National Labor Tribune the announcement appeared. The graphic above for Defendant's Exhibit C comes from the trial transcript but does not give a date of publication.

The announcement mentioned a committee, and there was also a trial transcript reference to an “association” that worked on the project. It was established in court that both were composed of Woodworth, Fisher and Seibert alone. It was planned that Fisher should send his copy to Woodworth, and Woodworth would then send both his and Fisher’s copy to Gertrude acting as coordinator and secretary. Whether this arrangement existed for long is not known because the original forward of the published volume tells it somewhat differently. “While both residing in the same city, they have worked separately and apart from each other, not even comparing notes.”

The executive committee that gave the green light to the project was dissolved in January 1917 when J F Rutherford became the second president of the incorporated Society. Fisher and Woodworth completed their work - with or without input from others - by June 1917, and the book was published in the July.  It contained a brief biography of CTR in the introduction.

So what Gertrude’s ultimate contribution was is unknown. The forward (above) credited Fisher and Woodworth alone (plus “the Lord”) and certainly when the book led to divisions and legal problems, Fisher and Woodworth took full responsibility for what had been written, both the new comments and selections from the works of CTR. When it came to the arrests and criminal trial in 1918, this author gets the feeling that they gallantly tried hard to keep Gertrude Seibert out of it. She might have edited, she might have proof-read - a bit like Maria Russell in another disputed literary endeavour - but they were the authors. She was the "third person" when the idea was first discussed, but it was the finished product that caused the dispute with the government and they claimed full responsibility for that.

AFTER THE FINISHED MYSTERY

Gertrude did not disappear from Watch Tower history with The Finished Mystery. As is well known there was a division after CTR’s death, but she appears to have stayed in fellowship with the original organization. In the flurry of correspondence in the wake of the publication of Harvest Siftings (and responses to same) she had a letter published in the December 1, 1917, Watch Tower, supporting both the current management and The Finished Mystery volume. She mentioned that she had been almost daily at the Brooklyn Bethel Home for the last four years, which would be since her husband’s death. She advised the readership in general that she had personally suggested the Finished Mystery title to CTR and he had approved it as “very good”. That the title had been subsequently adopted by the Society strongly convinced her of its worth.

Around 1918 Gertude published a small volume of poems entitled The Heavenly Bridegroom, which included her tribute to CTR, Gone Home.

Then in early 1920 she published a larger collection as The Sweet Briar Rose and Other Poems. It ran to 50 pages. Advertisements in the New Era Enterprise gave her address as Florida, then Scranton, PA (home of Fisher and Woodworth) and finally in the New Era Enterprise for December 27, 1921 her address was c/o the Watch Tower Society, as “the Society is always kept informed of my whereabouts.”

So while a Seibert family history website gives her 1922 address as 124 Columbia Heights, it was probably just a poste restante address.

In September 1920 she obtained her first passport, and became an international traveller. At the turn of the new year she was in Australia, reporting to the New Era Enterprise about attending an IBSA convention there. While there, she wrote a defense of CTR and the chronology of the Gentile Times for an Australian newspaper.

 

Shortly afterwards she submitted an article to the New Era Enterprise defending the direction the Society had been taking since J F Rutherford became president. It was published in the issue for February 21, 1922.

By June 1922 she had visited the West Indies and was on a passenger list traveling from Kingston to Great Britain, giving her London address as c/o 34 Craven Terrace. That was the British Bethel address, next door to the London Tabernacle. 

In September 1924, giving her permanent address as Brooklyn, New York, she applied to renew her passport, stating her intention to sail away from Los Angeles in October; her travels this time to include visiting Japan, China, India, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, and Great Britain. But she intended to return within twelve months. However, the following February, 1925, she was back in America, a patient in the Jackson Memorial Hospital, Miami, Florida, writing a poem in praise of nurses.

In 1925 she sent her old friend, Clayton Woodworth, a contribution for The Golden Age magazine, which he now edited. The article The Morning Star was published in the October 7, 1925 issue. Earlier that year another author had written an article entitled Rose Thoughts (GA March 25, 1925) which reprinted her Sweet Briar Rose poem in full.

Around 1926 she offered to update her old Daily Heavenly Manna for the Watch Tower Society’s use, to include all new material, but her offer was declined. Times had changed. The explanation given in the book Then is Finished the Mystery of God (1969) pages 145-146 was their application of 1 Timothy 2 v.12. Instead the Society now produced its own text book, changing texts and comments each year as part of an annual Yearbook.

In 1926 Gertrude published her final work, another expanded volume of Sweet Briar Rose and Other Poems. The 1926 edition now weighed in at 97 pages, and carried her photograph in the frontispiece. It was published by the Hefty Press, Miami, Florida, which sounds a bit like an in-joke to this writer.

The dedication page carried the message:

 

An original of this final edition is highly collectible, but a pdf can be found online if you search for it.

Gertrude appears to have suffered from ill-health in the last few years of her life. She needed an operation while in Australia in early 1922; there is the poem written from hospital in 1925 in praise of nurses which mentions post-operative care, and she died after an operation in 1928.

When she died, The Daily News, Huntingdon and Mount Union, PA, carried a brief notice. Headed “Obituary for Mrs. Gertrude W Seibert” it read:

Mrs. Gertrude W. Seibert died in Miami, Florida Wednesday noon, June 12, 1928 following an operation. She is the widow of Robert S. Seibert, President of the East Broad Top Railroad and for a number of years resided at Rockhill. The body will be brought to Mt. Union Sunday afternoon. Funeral service will be held at the Methodist Church 2:30 o'clock standard time in charge of Rev. H. W. Hartsock. The sermon will be preached by Mr. McMillen of Brooklyn, New York. Interment in the I.O.O.F. Cemetery of Mt. Union.

There is probably a slight glitch in the above quotation taken from a family history website, as the Wednesday that week was actually June 13.

There was another brief notice in the paper after the funeral. Dated June 19, 1928, it read:

 

One can reasonably assume that the Mr McMillen of Brooklyn, New York, mentioned in the obituary was in reality A H Macmillan of the Brooklyn Bethel family.

The I.O.O.F. Cemetery (Independent Order of Oddfellows) is now generally known as the Mount Union Cemetery, Huntingdon County, PA, and is where her late husband was buried.

A Visitor to the Grave of Joseph L Russell in Allegheny Cemetery

Photo by kind permission of the author of the book Watchtower of Allegheny Historical Tour, copyright protected.

"A Message in a Bottle"

(The author is currently researching an article on Gertrude Seibert, the unofficial poetess of the Bible Student movement for many years. Here is a snippet about her to be going on with. Sadly, we do not know what her message to future generations actually was, or where the baking can and contents eventually ended up. Note that George Fisher, co-writer/compiler of The Finished Mystery, was a house visitor at the time.)

From: The Daily News (Huntingdon, Pennsylvania) for Saturday, June 19, 1948, page 6.

Old can found in porch

In fulfilling a promise to recount some incidents not included in a previous contribution, “An Early Spring Journey Along Pioneer Trail” (April 17 and 24), we will now tell of the contents of an old baking powder can which was found at the American Legion Post Home in Rockhill Furnace. This large can - probably of 10 pounds capacity - was found while tearing out an old porch during recent alterations to the post home. The can, with its contents, was evidently placed there by Mrs Gertrude W. Seibert, wife of R.S. Seibert, then president and general manager of the East Broad Top Railroad.

Mrs. Seibert doubtless believed the can would remain in obscurity until a far-later period, as a communication she had written was found therein, dated August 25, 1910, and continued: “To Future Generations, from Gertrude W. Seibert, Orbisonia, Pa. - This house was opened as a Hotel in 1876 and converted to a residence in January 1905, for Officials of the Rockhill Iron and Coal Co., and the East Broad Top Railroad and Coal Co. This porch was built in August 1910; carpenters employed: Joseph N. Stevens, foreman, John Steward, Elmer Foster, Frank Smyers, Z James Reed - Persons at present residing in this building are R.S. Seibert and Wife; C.D. Jones, Wife and child (Dorothy); Roberts D, Royer T and Wife; Byron Woodcock. VISITORS - George H. Fisher and Wife, of Scranton, Pa., Harry A. Guefricae and Wife of Robertsdale; Charles H. Jones, 20 Broad Street, New York City; John S. Etnier, Wife, Son and Daughter, Mill Creek, Pa.  EMPLOYEES - Lulu Hollabaugh, Rockhill; Grace Dieffey, Love Valley.

Articles in Can

Listed among other articles in the can were an East Broad Top Railroad timetable No. 29, effective June 27, 1910, and these publications; two copies of Watch Tower, July 15 and August 1, 1910; National Labor Tribune, August 25, 1910; The North American (Philadelphia) of the same date and a copy of the Mount Union Times of August 21, 1908.

The writer is grateful to Murray Slaughter, manager of the post home, for the privilege of examining the contents of the old can, as well as other kindly courtesies extended by him during my visit to the beautiful home of the American Legion in Rockhill Furnace.

Author note:

It’s not quite the contents of the United Cemeteries pyramid, but interesting nonetheless.

Help

We are still busy with the textbooks we agreed to write, but research continues. We now believe that Nelson Barbour had another wife, and that the marriage took place in 1859-1860. We think her name was Mary W. Barbour.

We do not have time to pursue this now, but if one of you would, it would make our lives a lot less stressful.

Black line is in the original image. Click image to view all.

We need ...

A good clear scan or photocopy of J. W. Brite: Eternity: On "The Plan of the Ages." Published by J. H Paton in 1891. There's a copy at the Harvard Divinity School Library. But there must be other copies out there. Anyone?

A Familiar Image

We are all influenced by our surroundings, and this short article is just to illustrate how Charles Taze Russell might have been influenced by his.

The video “Jehovah's Witnesses—Faith in Action, Part 1: Out of Darkness” portrays the funeral of Ann Eliza Birney Russell, CTR’s mother. She died when Charles was about to turn nine years old. The reconstructed shot in the film has obviously been closely modelled on the Russell family plot that you can visit in the Allegheny cemetery today. 

Recent photograph of Section 7 Lot 17 - Russell family plot.

Back row - Mary Russell (no stone), Charles T Russell, James G Russell, Sarah A Russell
Front row - Joseph L Russell, Ann E Russell, Joseph L Russell Jr., Lucinda H Russell, Thomas B Russell

At the time Ann Eliza died, five interments had already taken place.  CTR’s Uncle and Aunt, James and Sarah, were there, but they died a number of years before he was born. It was James who purchased the standard plot for ten graves originally - although only nine spaces were ultimately used. Also, three of Charles’ siblings had died and were buried there. Further information can be found in an old article on this blog entitled “The Russells and the Allegheny Cemetery” from November 2013.

Young Charles may well have attended the funerals of his two brothers and one sister, and of course, then his mother. As an adult in his 20s he would likely have attended the funeral of his Uncle, the similarly named Charles TAYS Russell, who was buried in the row behind.

So, Allegheny cemetery was definitely on CTR’s radar. Below are two modern photographs of the main entrance through which you would have to travel to the part of the cemetery where the Russell plot is found. Notice the round towers on the ramparts.

Now just think what CTR did when he founded his own magazine, Zion’s Watch Tower and Herald of Christ’s Presence.  From the first issue in 1879 until the end of 1890 it had the same graphic on the masthead. And even when the paper gained a proper cover in 1891, the graphic below was retained until December 1894 at the head of the opening article.

The tower and wall do look somewhat familiar!

I am very grateful to the author of “Watch Tower of Allegheny Historical Tour” who made this original suggestion, and who also supplied the most recent photographs included in the article.

               

Charles G Buehler ?

by Jerome

Charles G Buehler as pictured in the 1909 convention report

Back in 2014 I wrote a series of articles on this blog on the subject of what came to be known as the United Cemeteries, Pittsburgh. When the Society sold the property they retained a special burial area that was intended for Bethel workers and pilgrims and their families. The center of the plot contains a pyramid monument which was designed to have the names of all those buried inscribed on its four sides. In reality, only nine names were ever inscribed before the idea was abandoned. The articles Who Are Those Guys, parts 1 and 2, published here in September of last year, outline the history of the individual Bible Students, Charles Taze Russell and eight others.

Other articles from last year established that, excepting the burial of CTR’s sister, Margaretta Land, beside him in 1934, the graveyard was to all intents and purposes abandoned until the 1940s. The remaining graves were then sold off. This was established from an examination of memorial inscriptions on the site, personal interviews while visiting Pittsburgh, plus a handwritten document that appears to show who purchased graves, although giving no actual dates.

Then last week I received the official interment records for this special area. I am very grateful to the current owner of United Cemeteries for making this available, and to friend Gabriel who worked hard to achieve this. As expected, it shows a number of gaps. This indicates that, while all available spaces have been sold, not all have been used. Several families opted for alternative arrangements like cremation when the time came. Some owners are still with us, because interments are still taking place. The official records cover from Grace Munday’s burial in December 1914 up to June 2015 (at this time of writing just last month). After CTR’s sister, interments were resumed in 1943, although we do not know when the grave in question was purchased.

This leads us – finally – to the subject of this article, Charles Buehler. Charles is a mystery that doesn’t quite fit the pattern, because he was buried on this site on March 27, 1925. This is one solitary burial throughout the whole of the 1920s, but there was no name added to the pyramid inscriptions.

The location of the grave is interesting. Below is a plan of the site, and the grave plots as they exist now. (Originally they hoped to cram in more burials, but a curved hillside site presented logistical problems, and the original plan that you can make out on the sides of the pyramid monument was soon rejected.)

The plan is looking across the site – to the left is in the bottom of the hill and to the right is the top. You can see where the named Bible Students on the pyramid sides were buried – apart from CTR himself, they were in little clusters at the corners of the site. In the top right hand corner were John Perry, Grace Mundy, Henry Addington, Lorena Russell (no relation to CTR) and Flora Cole. In the top left hand corner were Arabella Mann and Mary Whitehouse. In the bottom right hand corner was John Coolidge, whose stone still survives. But the bottom left hand corner was unused. However, it was obviously the plan to start at the four extremities of the Society’s site and work their way inwards. There were going to be problems when they met in the middle, but those were future problems.

The one unused quadrant of the whole site, section T-47, is where the grave of Charles Buehler is found, in the far corner again. That fits the pattern, but then there were no further interments (apart from Margaretta Land who obviously owned the grave next to her brother) until the 1940s when the policy was to now sell off the remaining plots.

So who was Charles Buehler? He was obviously a Bible Student, and had probably secured a plot on this site long before he died in 1925.

There was a Charles Buehler who died in Kings, NY (where the WT Bethel then was) in 1925, but by then the Bethel workers were being buried in the Staten Island cemetery near the WBBR radio station. There was also a Charles Beuhler who lived in Allegheny for a time, but census returns give no clue as to him being a Bible Student.

What we do have are three references to Charles Buehler in Bible Student materials. The first is the 1909 Convention Report. The 1909 Denver Colorado Convention program contained a symposium on The Fruits of the Spirit. C G Buehler gave the segment on Long-Suffering, and the photograph at the head of this is taken from this source. Then (as far as this researcher’s labors are concerned) there is silence until 1922. In that year the Bible Students’ unofficial newspaper, The New Era Enterprise (formerly the St Paul Enterprise – named after the place, not the apostle) mentioned the name twice in connection with funeral reports. And while there may have been more than one Charles G Buehler in the Bible Student community, it seems unlikely.

The January 24, 1922, issue had a funeral report for one R Fritz who had died in an accident. The report, written by the widow, then residing in Kansas, reported “we secured the use of the community hall seating over 600 for the services and sent to St Joseph, Mo., for Brother M.E. Reimer, who sent Brother C.G. Buehler in his stead. The discourse was grand...giving the divine plan as briefly as possible and the people were very attentive. We have heard many favorable comments, some saying it was the best they had ever heard.”

Two months later, the March 21, 1922, issue had a funeral report for Amy C Merrett, of Kearney, Mo., who “had had present truth since 1883.” The brief report noted that “Brother Charles Buehler of Kansas City, conducted her funeral.”

Crucial extant copies of the New Era Enterprise for 1925 are missing, which is a pity because an obituary for Charles himself would probably have removed all mystery.

It seems likely that this Charles G Buehler is the man who died in 1925 and was buried in T47, H4. But by this late date, why here? Why no others? Why only him? The site remained unused and apart from any who wished to visit CTR’s grave, probably unvisited. In 1929 Bible Students who had seceded from the Watch Tower Society held their first reunion convention in Pittsburgh, and held a memorial service at the site. It was observed that “either the friends have not been dying, or the plan has been changed.”

So why was Charles Buehler the exception?

As yet I don’t know the answer to that one. But suggestions are welcome.

Richard Heber Newton

by Jerome

Photograph from the Fitchburg Sentinel, Mass, for April 22, 1891

What links the Scopes monkey trial of 1925, this blog’s resident bad boy, Albert Royal Delmont Jones of the ill-fated Day Star, and Charles Taze Russell of Zion’s Watch Tower? The answer is Richard Heber Newton.

Your first reaction may be – who?                                       

To give a flavor of the man, check out first this newspaper item from the Aurora Daily Express for November 22, 1892. (The same story was also published in The Times, Trenton, N.J. November 19, 1892, and the Lincoln Evening News, Nebraska, November 25, 1892, and no doubt other papers of the day).

The clipping shows that Newton was widely known in his day. His “misfortunes” included being charged with heresy. In truth, he was to be charged with heresy on three separate occasions during his career, in 1883, 1884 and 1891, but as a sign of liberalizing theology the matter was always fudged so that he kept his position. The newspaper above, which relates to the 1891 episode, noted that Newton was “exonerated”, although dryly commented that “not proven” might be more accurate.

More than a decade after Newton’s death America was to be fascinated by what was popularly called the Scopes Monkey Trial in 1925. A substitute high school teacher, John Scopes, was accused of violating the Butler Act which made it unlawful to teach human evolution in any state-funded school in Tennessee. Although the fundamentalists won the skirmish of the day and Scopes was found guilty, his conviction was overturned on a technicality. Long-term the fundamentalists lost ground as far as future legislation was concerned, although the Butler Act actually stayed on the books until 1967.

But in covering the case, most journalists highlighted past cases where an attack on a literal interpretation of the Bible had put people in the dock, including clergymen like Dr Richard Heber Newton. Several newspapers mentioned Newton being charged back in the 1890s with “broad churchmanship” - in other words heresy. The cutting below comes from the Daily Northwestern (Oshkosh, Wisconsin) for July 10, 1925:

The same story appeared in other papers such as the Wisconsin Rapids Daily Tribune, July 9, 1925, and the Lima News, Ohio, July 10, 1925. According to the small print, Newton had demanded a formal trial, but when this demand was met, the plaintiffs failed to appear. And Newton was viewed as a champion of liberal theology as opposed to literalists and fundamentalists.

So who was this man, and what was his connection with “truth history”?

Richard Heber Newton (1840-1914) was a prominent American Episcopalian clergyman and writer. From 1869 to 1902 he was rector of All Souls' Protestant Episcopal Church in New York City. He was a leader in the Social Gospel movement and as evidenced above, a firm supporter of Higher Criticism of the Bible. He came to prominence and notoriety in the early 1880s with a series of sermons later published in book form (copyright 1883) entitled “The Right and Wrong Uses of the Bible”. This work clearly nails his colors to the wall.

While commending the Bible as literature that could work on the emotions, Newton’s stance on inerrancy and inspiration was clear. His premise, bluntly and vigorously expressed, was that (in his own words):

It is wrong to accept its utterances indiscriminately as the words of God.

It is wrong to accept everything recorded therein as necessarily true.

It is wrong to consult it...for the determining of our judgements and the decision of our actions.

It is wrong to go to it for divination of the future.

And it is wrong to manufacture out of it any one uniform system of theology.

Preaching this material from the pulpit and publishing it for the masses outside of his own church drew strong criticism in certain quarters – hence the repeated charges of heresy and attendant newspaper notoriety.

These five key points of Newton’ theology would all be at obvious odds with the message found in CTR’s Zion’s Watch Tower of the day. But in the 1880s they would be manna from heaven for Albert Royal Delmont Jones.

 In the 1880s, after already having fended off two charges of heresy, Newton would write extensively (and sometimes exclusively) for Jones’ Day Star Paper.

The August 19, 1886 issue lists around 60 of Newton’s sermons being available in the Day Star pages. And some were exclusive to editor Jones at this point. For example: 

A similar advertisement for the same pamphlet showed that it was given away as a free gift to all new Day Star subscribers:

This clearly shows that in 1886 the most prominent theological voice in Albert Royal Delmont Jones’ Day Star was that of Richard Heber Newton.

Whether Charles Taze Russell ever knew of Newton’s connection with Jones is not known, but Newton was sufficiently famous (or infamous) to make him a specific target in Zion’s Watch Tower. ZWT for July 1, 1892, carried a lengthy article (including a cartoon) that took up 10 of the magazine’s 16 pages. (See reprints pages 1417-1420).

CTR started by laying into Protestant clergy in general who preached higher criticism, describing them as “men honoured with titles such as neither our Lord not any of his apostles ever owned...who receive salaries such as no apostle ever received...(and) who are recognized as among the best educated in all things pertaining to worldly wisdom...but which prefers to arraign that revelation before an inferior court of fallible human philosophers and incompetent judges who vainly overrate their own knowledge and wisdom.”

He continued, “What wonder that the pews are also sceptical... They are handing stones and serpents to those who look to them for food... As for the average nominal Christian...he is just ready to swallow these suggestions of unbelief.” The Towers had warned about these developments from the very early issues.

Having lambasted the clergy in general, CTR next turned his attention to the Rev. R. Heber Newton in the particular, mentioning him by name three times. After one lengthy quote from Newton, CTR derided his theology: (capitalization mine):

“Here is a REPUDIATION of all that Christ taught on the subject of the “things written” which “must be fulfilled,” a REPUDIATION of all his quotations from the Law and the Prophets; a REPUDIATION of his repeated statements of God’s choice of...the seed of Abraham as heirs of the promises that of these should come the predicted Messiah; (and) a REPUDIATION of his statement of the necessity of his death.”

The last point hit at the heart of CTR’s theology. His attack on Newton’s preaching continued: “But whilst showing Christ to have been a wonderful Jew, and the great exemplar for both Jews and Gentiles, he (Newton) utterly REPUDIATES him as a Savior in the sense that the Master taught – that he “gave his life a ransom for many” – “to save (recover) that which was lost.”

CTR applied Matthew 7:22 to Newton – “those who say Lord, Lord, yet follow not his teachings...It is the duty of every true disciple to rebuke them; for the outward opponents do far less harm than those who wear the Master’s name whilst denying his doctrine.”

CTR concluded his lengthy attack on Newton with the words:

“As a further element of this discussion the reader is referred to Chapters ii, iii, and x. of MILLENNIAL DAWN, Vol. 1. And thus we rest our argument for the present; urging all who have “laid hold upon the hope set before us in the gospel” to hold fast the confidence of their rejoicings firm unto the end – to hold fast to the Book, And how much more easy it is and will be for those who have learned the real plan of God and seen its beauty to stand firm upon the Bible than for others. To many, alas! It is a jumbled mass of doctrinal contradictions, but to us it is the foundation of a clear, definite, grand plan of the ages. So grandly clear and symmetrical is the wonderful plan that all who see it are convinced that only God could have been its author, and that the book whose teachings it harmonizes must indeed be God’s revelation.”

Albert D Jones’ reliance on Newton to fill his Day Star pages in the 1880s, and CTR’s lengthy and specific attack on Newton’s theology in the early 1890s, shows the gulf that now existed between CTR and his former co-worker. There were a number of people over the years who parted company with CTR and founded their own journals – Paton, Adams, von Zech, Henninges – but at least they retained a more or less fundamentalist approach to scripture, and could have a framework within which to debate their own proof texts. The same was true with other religious journals, One Faith, Adventist, and the like.

But the infidel Jones had gone one step further. In ZWT for May 1890 CTR reviewed the history of the developing “truth movement” in a lengthy article entitled Harvest Gatherings and Siftings. Concerning Jones’ paper (Zion’s) Day Star, he wrote that “within one year it had repudiated Christ’s atoning sacrifice, and within another year it had gone boldly into infidelity and totally repudiated all the rest of the Bible as well as those portions which teach the fall in Adam and the ransom therefrom in Christ.” He also noted that of that date (1890) the Day Star was “now for some years discontinued”. The whole article was reprinted with some amendments in the special 1894 issue of ZWT entitled A Conspiracy Exposed and Harvest Siftings.

The dates (“one year” then “another year”) line up perfectly with the first publication of Newton’s credo “The Right and Wrong Uses of the Bible”. To then allow Newton his weekly pulpit in the Day Star pages would make perfect sense to Albert D, but illustrates how just far (by CTR’s terms of reference) he had gone beyond the pale.

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