In all the Earth: United Kingdom

Partial rough draft. Comments welcome:
Updated to full except for the last three paragraphs. A temporary post. Usual rules.

In All the Earth: The United Kingdom

The United Kingdom was the target of the first concentrated international missionary activity. It is impossible to gage interest in Britain before the publication of Food for Thinking Christians. Previous to its publication the only letters appearing in Zion’s Watch Tower were doctrinal in nature, and few names and few or no locations were noted.

At least by 1850 there were readers of The Bible Examiner in Scotland; a letter from William Glen Montcrieff a noted Scot Conditionalist appeared in the May 1850 issue. Letters from other British Conditionalists appear in The Bible Examiner too. There had been some notice of the work in The Rainbow. A British clergyman and Barbourite, Elias H. Tuckett, wrote three articles for Rainbow. There may have been some small residual interest from that.[1] Barbour mailed his Coming of the Lord tract to the British journal The Christadelphian, which reviewed it negatively.[2] Later The Rainbow reviewed The Three Words, though somewhat negatively. The book saw a very limited circulation in England.[3] There is also some indication that Paton mailed material to his relatives in Scotland, but this seems to have born no fruitage. Yet, a prominent adherent in Newark, New Jersey, claimed dedicated interest in England and elsewhere. “We have,” he said, “members all over America, England, Australia, I think, and probably in Germany.”[4]

Russell asked John Corbin Sunderlin and later J. J. Bender to travel to the United Kingdom to publish Food for Thinking Christians and to direct a massive circulation campaign. Sunderlin had prior experience as an itinerate photographer and may have been chosen on that basis. Less is known of J. J. Bender. Historians including Watch Tower writers have never profiled him. Joseph J. Bender was a traveling sales agent for and later owner of a chemical company.[5] In most city directory listings he is noted by the initials “J. J.” but his full name is given in J.F. Diffenbacher’s Directory of Pittsburgh and Allegheny cities for 1881-1882. Bender had published The Standard Class-Book for Sunday-School Teacher’s Minutes in 1871, which was favorably reviewed by The Sunday School Journal that year.[6] In May 1886, He and a partner purchased The Bookmart, a magazine published in Pittsburgh devoted to book and autography collecting.[7]

Sunderlin was in Britain by July 11, 1881, when he registered with Gillig’s American Exchange in London, “a familiar and popular resort with Americans in the English metropolis.”[8] He would receive his mail and make currency exchanges a Gillig’s. It appears that the British edition of Food for Thinking Christians saw publication before the American edition of September 1881, but this is uncertain. Sunderlin arranged with William Cate, a London printer, to publish the booklet.[9]

Sunderlin returned to America aboard the S.S. Abyssinia, suffering from what was called “over-exertion incident to the arrangements for the distribution of ‘Food’ in Great Britain and Ireland.”[10] Russell more closely defined this as Rheumatic Fever.[11] There was a gap between Sunderlin’s return on September 8^th and Bender’s arrival. Bender arrived in mid-September, registering at Gillig’s on September 17 1881. He would remain in Brittan until early November.[12] Sunderlin seems to have had the preliminary arrangements well in hand before Bender’s arrival. By October 1, 1881, Bender could report from Edinburgh:

The remainder of this post was deleted. I give readers a limited time to read full chapter posts.

Johnathan Ling

We need solid biographical information.

Elizabeth Horne and Aaron Riley became correspondents, and cooperated in the work. By 1892, Riley had a group of twenty to thirty men that met regularly for Bible study, and he exchanged letters regularly with “sister Horne.” The both met Russell during his visit that year, and the Russells stayed in Elizabeth Horne’s home. The practice of preaching in parks is verifiable from the The Watch Tower, but there is insufficient biographical information to tell which of the many Elizabeth Hornes resident in London she was. Her husband’s name is never give.

            Among the first permanent associations built off receipt of Watch Tower pamphlets was a small group in Islington, London. The brief history in the 1973 Yearbook of Jehovah’s Witnesses says:

           

Tom Hart of Islington, London, wrote for and received three pamphlets. He also received Zion’s Watch Tower regularly for nine months, all without charge-a new experience in the religious field. From then on he became a regular subscriber. He was struck by the theme that ran through each issue, namely, “Get out of her, my people” – a Scriptural call to leave Christendom’s religious groups and follow Bible teaching. He and a fellow railwayman, Johnathan Ling, began studying. This led to Hart’s formally resigning from the chapel in 1884, soon to be followed by Ling and a dozen others who began to meet together. This appears to be the first record of regular meetings of this sort in Britain. Many who shared in such meetings also showed a willingness to engage in the work of spreading enlightenment to others.[1]

            Thom Hart was born in Calcutta, India, in 1853. At the time of the 1881 Census he had moved his family from the Islington address to 5 Lavinia Grove, Middlesex, London. He was “a carman” for one of the railroads. In another place he called “a railroad shunter.” He and his wife had three children, two sons and one daughter, all under the age of four. I can find no helpful information about Johnathan Ling.

            The Yearbook is mistaken in its view that the group organized by Tom Hart was the first in the U.K., but a small group was meeting in London by March 1884. It may have been Tom Hart who wrote a letter appearing in the March issue of Zion’s Watch Tower. Whoever the writer was, he expressed his continuing appreciation of the Watch Tower. He always prayed for its safe arrival and was thankful that he had not missed one issue in two years. “I am able to report a little progress for the last twelve months,” he wrote. “Our meeting  

---

[1]               1975 Yearbook of Jehovah’s Witnesses, Watch Tower Society, page 89.

Sound quality is poor, but I like it anyway

We're open to other guest posts ...

... but I'd like to limit the topics to events before 1918.

If you choose to submit something, you should be aware of the following:

Everything is subject to edit.
Your work should be your best effort; if I have to edit extensively, I won't publish it.

It should be footnoted.

Footnote format for a book, magazine article, or pamphlet is: Author's first and last name: Title, publisher, place of publication [omit for a magazine], date of publication, exact page.

Online source: "as retrieved from [link] on [date]." I will reject anything that uses an online source except when it is a link to an original source.

Anonymous article: Title, Name of Publication, date of publication. If a magazine note the page. If a newspaper, omit page.

Prepare to be rejected on any grounds without explanation.

It must relate to Watch Tower history. It must be based on primary sources. It must be balanced and accurate. The research must be reproducible.

Photos should be in .gif or .png format. They should  be attached to your article, not embedded in it.

Your submission should be in Times New Roman font. NOTHING ELSE. It should be saved without any formatting but normal paragraph formatting. That means no colored fonts, no background colors. Italics for Titles of publications. Capitals and quotation marks for titles of articles [eg "How to Raise a Happy Goat"] It should be in Word or WordPerfect format. I will reject Wordpad and .pdf submissions. It shouldn't exceed 5000 words. If it's stellar research (in my opinion, not yours), I will accept something longer. Attach your article. Do not send as email text.

Our main interest is the Russell era. If you have something relevant to the Rutherford era we are less likely to consider it, but will give it a fair reading. Good writing trumps all. Write for an American audience (avoid passive voice.)

You surrender all rights, except that you are free to reproduce it elsewhere without asking our permission. This protects us and still leaves control in your hands. It also means that we can republish it in any form without asking you. Don't like this, don't submit. With the exception noted above, you retain copyright. In the USA copyright is automatic, though better protection comes from registering with the copyright office.

More Cedar Point - 1922 from Roberto

Nearly Impossible Task

We need to determine if the "sister" "M. Thompson" baptized in 1887 (see ZWT May 1887) was Mrs. Mark Thompson of Newark, New Jersey. Adah (also spelled Ada) Wakefield, married Mark H. Thompson in 1884. Our best guess is that Mrs. M. Thompson was Adah Wakefield. But we don't really know.

Anyone?

More from Cedar Point 1922

from Jerome

It may or may not help with identification, but below is another shot of the platform with J F Rutherford standing. The previous panorama was obviously posed because a lot of people were looking at the camera with Rutherford just standing on the rather makeshift platform. In this picture, which is the left hand side of another panoramic view, the shot is more impromptu. Rutherford is now speaking through a primitive microphone and the audience is generally looking at him. There don't appear to be any loudspeakers hanging from the trees, so maybe the total sound was coming out of that horn on the platform. This might explain why the sister sitting in front of the orchestra (just below the platform with the movie camera) has her hand to her ear. She is either deaf or the sound is too loud for her.

You will not be able to identify anyone from the next photo, which is taken from the back of the crowd, but it gives the flavor of the occasion. They were helped by good weather.

And finally, a photograph taken earlier in the week from inside the main auditorium. It has been split into two, but these should be stitched together to make one whole. Faces in the first few rows are clearly visible.

My grateful thanks to Brian who sent me these pictures with permission to share.

Another from Bernard - Click on Photo to view Entire

Solutions from Bernard - Click on Image to view Entire

Searched...

...the Golden Age and New Era Enterprise for details of the convention, but alas, no clues as to the people on the speaker's stand for this final session. But I did find out where the picture came from.

1922 Convention

I'm posting this for one of our blog readers. He would like to identify people appearing in this panoramic photo of the Cedar Point convention. I have segmented it and made it as clear as possible. Obviously we will not be able to identify many.

Jerome will be interested in the moving picture equipment. CLICK ON THE PHOTO TO VIEW IT ENTIRE.

Samuel Tackabury

Samuel T. Tackabury

Samuel T. Tackabury was born in New York, April 12, 1832, to Irish immigrant parents. He entered the work in March 1882. He had been “a member until now of the M.E. Conference.”[1] Tackabury was a new convert, one of the few ministers convinced by Food for Thinking Christians and other Watch Tower publications. He forwarded his ministerial credentials along with his resignation from the Methodist Episcopal ministry and from the M. E. denomination to church authorities, and it is duly noted in The Minutes and Official Journal of the New York Conference.[2] He had been active in the Methodist ministry at least from the mid 1860’s,[3] resigning his charge in 1877 because of chronic ill health. Early in his Methodist Episcopal ministry, he supported himself as a “dairyman and farmer.”[4]

He returned to the ministry later and was, at the time he was introduced to Watch Tower teachings, pastor of the newly-formed Methodist Episcopal Church in Pierre, South Dakota, and serving a congregation in Ohio.[5] Because of continued fragile health, his missionary activity was short-lived, and he fulfilled his mission by “preaching the blessed gospel by letter and otherwise to many of the scattered saints.”[6] Russell wrote that Tackabury “was engaged with us in the important, though personally obscure field of labor of Z.W.T.” By February 1883, Tackabury was back in Ohio, and answering a letter from the Townsendville, New York, Methodist Church:

Not doubting the general interest of yourself and those for whom you speak, in the welfare of a former pastor whose relations were mutually of the most amicable kind, I still suppose that it is particularly on account of my having withdrawn from the ministry and membership in the M.E. Church that you desire to hear. To those who listened to my preaching during my pastorate at Townsendville, it is unnecessary to state that I was at the time a Methodist. My notions of the teachings of Scripture were gained while yet a child. They were taught me by Methodist parents, in Methodist Sunday-schools, from Methodist pulpits.

            He believed his approach to doctrine was molded long before he “was capable of forming ... intelligent opinions concerning even the general scope of Scripture teaching” for himself. He “unquestioningly accepted the opinions of others” and made them his own. But, in an oddly-worded  confession, he said: “I am now disposed to believe, however, that it was with some degree of mental reservation that I accepted some of the doctrines of orthodoxy. How else could I, while professing to believe in endless torment for the unrepentant, associate with them, accept their many kindnesses, and speak to them from the pulpit on themes often tending to divert their attention from, rather than attract it toward, so horrible a fate.” Yet, he faithfully discharged his duties and “walked up to the degree of light” he possessed.

            Two years after leaving Townsandville, he wrote, “there fell into my hands, providentially as it seems to me, a publication which was the means of a decided change in my understanding of much of God's Word; a change, however, which led me to much more exalted views of the character of God, and served to harmonize many passages in his Word, which before appeared either unmeaning or contradictory.” That publication was Food for Thinking Christians.

            As a Methodist he rejected Second Probation doctrine. “Though it is nowhere stated in Scripture that there is not for any a probation after this life,” he explained, “it is preached and enforced much more vigorously than many things which the Bible does affirm.” He now saw that as unscriptural, false, and he presented a series of Bible verses to support a much wider salvation than Methodism allowed. By rejecting future probation – “after the dead shall have heard the voice of the Son of God and come forth, as illustrated in the case of Lazarus” – and other Bible teachings, “the nominal Church has been thrown into confusion and led into many errors.” This “largely contributed” to the “rapid increase of infidelity, both within and without her own pale.” The Church’s condition testified to his point:

What is the spiritual condition of the Church to-day? Where are the wonderful revivals of former years? Alas, they exist only in name, or are the result of the efforts of a few professional revivalists. The barriers that formerly separated between the Church and the world are mostly swept away, and the man of fair worldly prospects, with whom she refuses to share all her privileges, must fall below the world's standard of morality. These, dear brethren, are some of the causes which led me to sever a connection, which I once so highly prized, and to accept doctrines which, though they may bring reproach and obloquy, I believe to rest on the foundation of the Prophets and Apostles, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone. Commending you to God, who is able to make all grace abound toward you, and trusting that this letter may lead you to a more careful study of His Word, which only is able to make you wise unto salvation, and to trust less in human creeds and traditions.”

He returned to New York State in April 1883, preaching in areas where he had family and where he was pastor of Methodist congregations. Russell announced this in the Watch Tower: “Bro Tackabury will travel some through western New York, holding meetings commencing this month.” He contributed articles to Zion’s Watch Tower. Among them is an article entitled “One Soweth and Another Reapeth.” It is a short ramble on order in creation and in the ministry, without a clear point. He seems to have meant that a clear understanding of “God’s plan” should focus evangelism into right paths.[7] Not all of his articles were vague – Far from it. An article appearing in the June 1884 issue is concise and pointed. Entitled “Let Not Your Hearts be Troubled,” it addressed issues of pure belief and faithfulness.

His articles reflected his Methodist ‘holiness’ background coupled with Watch Tower doctrine. This is especially so of an article entitled “Life Through Death” appearing in the December 1885, issue. In it we see Russell’s emphasis on the “narrow way to life” doctrine and rejection of Christendom’s lack of ‘regeneration,’ being “made new” in Christ:

The natural man receives not the things of the Spirit of God: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned (1 Cor. 2:14). Many such, however, have undertaken to interpret “the things of the Spirit of God” – and have thus become blind guides, leading multitudes into error, and filling their minds with gross darkness.

In this way those powerful organizations known as churches have been established, and by their opposition to the truth, and those who hold the truth, have become anti-Christ. (Adversaries of the true Church – the anointed body of Christ.) The same spirit which in our day has become so formidable, manifested itself in Apostolic times (1 John 2:18), and has been alive during the entire history of the Gospel Church.

This accounts, in part at least, for the fact that the nominal church is so largely composed of the unrenewed, and that the many forms of worldliness which are so pleasing to the “natural man” are not only permitted, but declared to be in harmony with the Divine will. The renewed mind, however, readily distinguishes between the ways of “this present evil world” and the “path of life.”

The one is a narrow way with a strait entrance, and requires the most assiduous effort to tread therein; the other is a broad way with a wide approach, and many who presumably desire the way of life, find themselves drifting with the multitude in its seductive paths.[8]

He did not name the “many forms of worldliness which are so pleasing to the ‘natural man,’ but they’re commonly named elsewhere in Zion’s Watch Tower. Dancing, card playing, the theater, and similar entertainments were seen as corrupting.

Tackabury died August 5, 1888, of “consumption,” that is tuberculosis.[9] During his last illness, he received letters of encouragement and consolation. A comment by J. B. Adamson is preserved in the Watch Tower: “How often Brother Tackabury must, now that he is himself helpless, look back joyfully upon the record of his faithfulness.”[10] We lack access to other sympathetic expressions, but at Russell’s request, Tackabury addressed the body of believers through an open letter printed in the March 1888 paper:

It has been my privilege to enjoy Christian fellowship with some of you by personal association, and I believe that to all of you I am united by that tie (love) that binds together the children of God everywhere, in one family. I am comforted with the thought that many of you with whom I have personal acquaintance, show your sympathy and interest by making inquiry after my welfare.

To know that my dear brethren and sisters thus kindly think of me alleviates my sufferings and enables me the more cheerfully to endure affliction. It is now more than two years since I was attacked with a difficulty of the throat and lungs, and though I was quite thorough in its treatment, none of the remedies used gave more than temporary relief; and from the first, my physicians held out but little hope for my recovery. ...

During the whole of my sickness the Lord has been present to sustain me, and I have been enabled at all times to say from the heart, “Thy will, not mine, be done.” At times the thought of being “forever with the Lord,” makes me long for the end of the warfare and the union with Jesus our head, and all the “elect” – members of his body.

How glorious thus to be permitted to enter on the work for which he has called and is perfecting his Church! On the other hand, when I know that error is being preached so persistently from almost every pulpit in this land, and throughout Christendom, and that great efforts are being made to spread these errors among the heathen nations, I long for strength to raise my voice for the truth. But the decree has gone forth that the darkness of error shall give place to the light of truth, and whoever may fail, the work will go on till all God's promises shall be fulfilled.[11]

About a month before he died, his wife wrote to Russell, reporting on his condition and hoping for a return letter of encouragement:

Mr. Tackabury has regained strength to quite an extent, being able to walk about the house and sit up most of the day. His lungs show great power of resistance to the advance of the disease, much to the surprise of all, but he is scarcely more than a skeleton. He wishes me to remember him to you and Sister Russell with much love.

We feasted on the contents of the last tower. Mr. T. said he thought it one of the best he had ever read. We find many things in the Bible that we would like to hear you talk about. Almost every reading reveals something new, something that throws light on the grand plan which God has designed for a lost world's recovery.

How it all increases our love and gratitude to our heavenly Father! Write us whenever you can spare time from your numerous duties.[12]

            He remained active through his final illness. Not long after his death, his wife wrote to Maria Russell telling of his persistent, death-bed evangelism: “As people knew that we were professedly Christians, although of a peculiar sort, of course, it was Christian people who called to minister to our needs, and therefore, it was to them that Mr. T. had access, when he was able to talk, and he improved every opportunity. It also seemed usually Baptist people who came in, and we often remarked to one another that they seemed more willing to listen.”[13]

            Russell announced his death through the August 1888 Watch Tower:

After a protracted illness Brother Tackabury died Sunday morning, Aug. 5th, of consumption of the lungs. The last three months were a season of painful waiting and longing for the grim enemy, death, to finish his consecrated sacrifice. Though inclined, at times, to wonder why our Lord did not sooner permit the executioner (Satan, Heb. 2:14,) to snap the last cord, he was far from desiring to dictate in the matter, and accepted the weeks and months of weakness and pain as among the “all things” which he knew were being overruled for his good according to God's promise. Such experiences may be permitted as tests of faith to develop our trust in God; or, they may be profitable to us as giving experiences which will the better enable us to sympathize with the poor dying world in general, many of whom experience similar afflictions, without the supporting grace and strength of the everlasting arms, which carry us through victoriously.

During health it was his chief pleasure to tell the glad tidings of great joy which shall be unto all people,--that the sins of the world had been fully atoned for by the blood of the Lamb of God, and that in consequence “times of restitution of all things” (Acts 3:19-21) shall come, when, at his second advent, the great King of kings shall take the dominion of the world out of the hands of “the prince of this world.” And when confined to his room, and bed, and only able to converse in low tones, the same gospel of restitution was his theme; interspersed with explanations concerning the future work of the Church, the Bride, the Body of Christ, after the union of all the members with the Head, in glory and power, as the Royal Priesthood; to both rule and teach, and thus to “bless, all the families of the earth.”

His fervency of spirit, his patience, his strong confidence, and his explanations of Scripture, backed by an honorable, upright life in his community, seem to have made a favorable impression, so that when the Editor preached his funeral sermon, to an intelligent congregation, of about one hundred and fifty of his towns-people, gave close attention for nearly two hours. His desire was, that his death might accomplish as good results, to the glory of God, as his life. We trust it may be so, and have already heard good reports that the truth is making progress there.[14]

---

[1]               View from the Tower, Zion’s Watch Tower, March 1882, page 1.

[2]               The Minutes and Official Journal of the New York Conference: Fifteenth Annual Session of the Central New York Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church held at Ithaca, New York, October 11-17, 1882, pages 24, 60. Earliest mention of his ministry within the M. E. Church I could find is in The Syracuse, New York, Journal, May 3, 1866, page 5.

[3]               Elliot G. Storke. History of Cayuga County, New York,  lists him as active in the ministry in 1864.

[4]               Hamilton Child. Gazetteer and Business Directory of Onondaga County, N. Y., for 1868-9.

[5]               His health issues are mentioned in Central New York Conference reports in the late 1870’s Pastor in Pierre, South Dakota: Hughes County History, Compiled and Arranged in the Office of County- Superintendent of Schools, Hughes County, South Dakota, 1937, page 115.  

[6]               A Word from Brother Tackabury, Zion’s Watch Tower, March 1888, page 1.

[7]               S. T. Tackabury: “One Soweth and Another Reapeth,” Zion’s Watch Tower¸ June 1884, pages 5-6.

[8]               S. T. Tackabury: Life Thorough Death, Zion’s Watch Tower, December 1885, page 6.

[9]               Brother Tackabury’s Death, Zion’s Watch Tower, August 1888, page 1. Tackabury was married twice. His first wife, Mary G. Watkins, died May 6, 1863. The marriage and her death are noted in The New York Genealogical and Biographical Record, January 1913, page 84. He married secondly Alice Force in Ohio. That marriage is noted in A Centennial and Biographical Record of Seneca County, Ohio, The Lewis Publishing Co, Chicago, 1902, page 439.

[10]             Extracts from Interesting Letters, Zion’s Watch Tower, October 1887, page 2. [Not in Reprints.]

[11]             A Word from Brother Tackabury, Zion’w Watch Tower, March 1888, page 1.

[12]             Extracts from Interesting Letters, Zion’s Watch Tower, October 1887, page 2. [Not in Reprints.] The letter is dated September 20, 1887.

[13]             Mrs. S. T. Tackabury: Let Your Light Shine, Zion’s Watch Tower, January 1889, page 8. [Not in Reprints.]

[14]             C. T. Russell: Brother Tackabury’s Death, Zion’s Watch Tower, August 1888, page 1.

Minor updates

A state archive holds a letter written by S. T. Tackabury. We're arranging to get a scan, but have low expectations for the letter.

A search by another of a pertinent YMCA archive shows that Adamson probably played a far smaller part in a revival than he suggested to Watch Tower readers. We'll use this result with caution because we didn't make the search ourselves. But even a negative result adds to the story.

Thomas Hickey - Early Bible Student

by Jerome

The 1922 Cedar Point, Ohio, convention of the IBSA is a remembered historical event for several reasons. But a little known one that can now be added is that a member of CTR’s early Bible class from the mid-1870s was there, and was interviewed in the New Era Enterprise newspaper about those early days. His name was Thomas Hickey and in 1922 he was billed as “the only one now living who was a member of Pastor Charles T. Russell’s first little class in Allegheny”.

The above report is found in the New Era Enterprise for December 26, 1922, page 2. We will transcribe the account a little bit later, but first, some background information about Thomas Hickey.

He was born on November 11, 1844, in Tredegar in South Wales, UK. In the 1851 census returns for Tredegar, his father (unnamed) is noted as immigrated, leaving a wife, Joanna Hickey, to support three young children as a dressmaker.

Tredegar was a boom town in the 19^th century linked to expanding iron works with their tram road and then steam links down the valley to the aptly-named Newport. But horrendous sanitary conditions and cholera epidemics made it a place to leave if you could. Your religion was probably one of several competing varieties of Baptist or Methodist non-conformism.

According to the Wales-Pennsylvania project, at one point one-third of the population of Pennsylvania was Welsh, and even today there are 200,000 people of Welsh ancestry in the State.  From the original Welsh Quakers moving to Pennsylvania, there were soon floods of industrial workers from Wales - slate quarrymen from the North, and from the South coal miners and iron workers, whose skills would be welcomed in industrial centers like Pittsburgh. At the time Hickey lived in Pittsburgh there was a large Welsh St David’s Society there, which still flourishes today.

So Hickey followed a well-trodden path to reach Pittsburgh. He was married to Gwendolyn Bowen with one child, John, when they made the decision to leave Wales and travel to the States in the 1860s. He ultimately had seven children, but all the others, barring one, were born in the States. The exception was his fourth, daughter Anna, who was born around 1874 back in Wales, so - assuming the census enumerator got it right - they must have made a trip back to the old country.

In the 1870 census Thomas is now in Pittsburgh as a puddler in a roll mill. (A puddler was a specialized furnace worker, who converted pig iron into wrought iron.) In the 1880 Pittsburgh census he is still listed as a puddler, with wife Gwennie, and the seven children.

And between those two dates he attended early meetings with Charles Taze Russell.

The account in full from the Enterprise reads as follows:

(quote)

Among the thousand attending the convention is the venerable Thomas Hickey, of Newcastle, Pa. He is the only one now living who was a member of Pastor Charles T. Russell’s first little class in Allegheny.

He relates that the first convention held was in a building on Federal St., Allegheny, when less than a hundred were present. This was about 1875. The first testimony meeting was held in 1876 in the home of Brother Russell, when six consecrated hearts were present. This gives an amazing contrast when compared with this great convention of over 12,000, with many, many times that number at home all over the world.

In listening to Mr Hickey relating his experiences, it can be seen that this movement grew, not by any organized effort, but simply and spontaneously by a gathering together of consecrated Christians to study their Bibles as their hearts yearned to do.

“Charlie would give them little talks,” he said, “and after awhile he began to go around and speak here and there. When they started to call him Elder Russell, the question arose as to what would be the proper title for their minister. When they asked Brother Russell, he answered simply, ‘We will just go on without any name, for are all one in Christ Jesus.’”

Mr Hickey said he never expected to attend such a convention as this one, and considers it the greatest privilege of his life.

(end of quote)

We have to accept that this is anecdotal evidence from an old man about events nearly fifty years before. We don’t know how good his memory was, or how accurately he was reported by the Enterprise writer, but it gives us a flavour of those early times.

A search in the early ZWTs provides a number of references to a “Brother Hickey” but these all appear to be Samuel I Hickey, a former Presbyterian minister, who had quite a high profile in those early days. So all we have - unless other researchers can find out more - is the Enterprise interview, and also Thomas’ obituary in his local paper.

The above obituary from the New Castle News, January 14, 1927, firmly identifies Thomas as an active member of the International Bible Students Association. It states that he moved to New Castle 22 years before, which would be around 1904, and his final employment status was as a boiler maker.

There is a Thomas Hickey in New Castle trade directories for the 1890s, and this Thomas is described as working in the Vulcan Iron co., so there may be an error in the obituary dates and this is him. Or maybe the 1890s feature some other Thomas Hickey. It was not an uncommon name.

Thomas was certainly well-known enough in his New Castle community to warrant the 1927 obituary, which also detailed two fraternal societies he belonged to, one of which was back in Pittsburgh.

One wonders how many of his surviving five children, fifteen grandchildren and seventeen great-grandchildren continued in the same religious persuasion.

Ernest - By G. P.

The Importance of Being Ernest

            The 1973 Yearbook relates an event in 1910 when Pastor Russell visited the town of Otley, in Wharfedale, Yorkshire.  Apparently, as a result of reading Russell’s Plan of the Ages, three Methodist lay ministers left the church and started a Bible Study group which by 1910 had grown to a class of about 40 persons.  But who were these three ministers?

            The 1910 Convention Souvenir relates the same event with more detail, informing us that the event occurred some years earlier and giving us the names of two of the three: a Brother Ted Smith and a Brother Waterhouse, who had become elders of the Otley Ecclesia by 1910.  But when precisely did the event take place? The Leeds Mercury for 6 March 1906, carried an article entitled Millennial Dawn – A New Sect in Wharfedale – Some of its Strange Tenets. It explained that:

            The religious beliefs of a band of Otley people have just attracted attention from the fact that three of their number, who were at one time prominent local preachers on the Primitive Methodist plan, have rendered their resignations, and these have been accepted by the district meeting. 

            Apparently therefore, the event had occurred early in 1906, but who was the third man?

            Recently the writer stumbled across the war record of an IBSA conscientious objector in World War One who had been placed in the 6th Northern Company of the Non Combatant Corps.  Like many a Bible Student, the man was refused total exemption at his Military Service Tribunal but was given exemption from combatant service only. Thereafter he refused to follow orders and received court martial before being sent to Wormwood Scrubs Prison.  Eventually he took what was considered ‘work of national importance’ working under the Home Office Scheme at the Princetown Work Centre, the former Dartmoor Prison.

            The surviving WO 363 (Burnt record) for this man suggests that he was first called up on 24/06/1916 but that a delay resulted in him not being put into the Non Combatant Corps until March 1917.  It states his name was Ernest Yeoman Renton, aged 33, and his home address was Holme View, Arthington, Yorkshire.  His religion is stated as ‘Bible Students Association’ and his occupation as ‘Lay Evangelist - Bible Students' Association.’  But what would account for the delay?  At this time the War Office had consented to cancel the papers of elders who had been called to the army, pending the decision of a case referred to the High Court.  The case was decided in February 1917 but sadly failed to establish the exemption of IBSA elders as ministers of religion.  As a result, Ernest Yeoman Renton, an elder in the nearby Otley Ecclesia, was expected to take his place in the Non Combatant Corps in March 1917.

            The fact that Arthington is a small village close by Otley is unremarkable by itself.  However it just so happens, that Ernest Yeoman Renton wrote a letter to Edmund Harvey, a Quaker MP sympathetic to conscientious objectors, in late 1916, which can be seen in the Friends House Library, London.  In convincing Harvey of the genuineness of his position, Renton mentions that “these Christian principles have governed my life for the past ten years.”  If Renton took to Bible Student teachings some 10 years previous to 1916, this places him precisely at the time of the incident in question.

            A search of Ancestry details for Ernest Yeoman Renton shows him living at Arthington during the 1911 census.  It is also apparent that he married a 36 year old named … wait for it … Lucy Waterhouse.  The event took place in Morecambe, Lancashire on 17 May 1916.  The reader may not be surprised to learn that Lucy Waterhouse had formerly lived in Otley (according to the 1911 census) with her family.  She was the daughter of John George Waterhouse, a Master Baker, and appears to have worked as a shop assistant for him.     

            We cannot be 100% sure, of course, but it seems extremely likely that the three Primitive Methodist lay ministers of 1906 that became Bible Students therefore were:

            Ted Smith

            Ernest Yeoman Renton

            John George Waterhouse

            P.S.  As an aside, it also seems likely that Leonard Renton of nearby Leeds, who was a member of the Richmond 16 and became one of the eight Bible Student conscientious objectors to have faced the infamous ‘death sentence’ episode, was in some way related to Ernest Yeoman Renton.

Home Movies

by Jerome

For some time I have been working my way through a visual search of the St Paul Enterprise newspaper (later named the New Era Enterprise) for Rachael. Some of the published life stories (and obituaries) in this paper take us back as far as the 1880s, and in a few cases even link up with early letters in ZWT. As a spin-off though, there is a lot of other interesting material to be found. Although more recent than the general timeframe of this blog, I found the following item which certainly interested ME.

The Cedar Point, Ohio, convention of 1922 is an historical milestone for the Bible Students who later adopted the name Jehovah’s Witnesses. What is not generally known is that a short “home movie” was produced of the proceedings and sold commercially thereafter.

Above is an advertisement that appeared in the New Era Enterprise newspaper on October 3, 1922. According to the pitch, anyone could purchase the film for home viewing, and perhaps see if they could spot themselves amongst the audience.

The film was made to be shown for home audiences with the Kinemo equipment. We know that the first three films made for this system - basically travelogs linked to J R Rutherford’s visit to Egypt and the Holy Land - have survived, even if currently unavailable. But has anyone out there still got a reel of film about Cedar Point, Ohio, in 1922?

There is an element of good news and bad news about these kinds of film. The good news is that film produced to be shown in private homes was generally not on nitrate stock. Unless stored under very specific conditions, nitrate tends to crumble to dust, unless it goes up in flames first. But safety film, although not having the translucent properties of nitrate, can survive a lot longer.

The bad news is that the Kinemo system used one of the very first “amateur” film sizes - 17.5 mm. Basically this film size started life as 35 mm stock split down the middle, and even then, different manufacturers had different ways of organizing the sprocket holes. It was only commercially available for a short time and was soon superseded when Kodak popularised 16mm and Pathé 9.5 mm. Ultimately 8 mm became the standard amateur gauge for home viewing.

So even if someone had the film, they would have great difficulty projecting it without very ancient equipment - and probably not just any 17.5 equipment, but specific Kinemo equipment. That is assuming Kinemo equipment still existed in working order and wouldn’t automatically chew up the product and spit it out in bits.

But back to the good news - many of the classics of the silent screen have only survived to our day because someone had the forethought to produce copies for these smaller sized film stocks that had the capacity for survival. In many cases, film archives have re-photographed them frame by frame to preserve them for modern audiences.

No-one is going to say that Cedar Point, Ohio, is a classic lost film. But does ANYONE know if it is still out there? Somewhere? The Instructo Cinema Service Company of Chicago must have sold a few at the time.