Malcom's Bible

by Jerome

(with grateful thanks to Brian, current owner of the book, who provided the graphics from it along with other useful input acknowledged below)

Several decades ago a Bible Student came across a Holman’s Linear Bible (c. 1902 with ZWT references) in a book resale shop in Van Nuys, California. It was in very poor condition, but she noted a picture of Pastor Russell that a previous owner had pasted inside the cover. This prompted the purchase and the volume was subsequently rebound.

It now appears that this Bible had once belonged to Malcom Rutherford, the only son of Joseph Franklin and Mary Rutherford. After the death of his second wife, Eleanor, Malcom spent his last years in that area. (He and both his wives are buried side by side in the Forest Park Memorial Cemetery, Glendale, Los Angeles County, California.)

The link with this Bible to the Rutherford family starts with the picture of CTR pasted inside the book. The picture has been cut from a magazine or paper and has been much folded and taped together before being attached. It is a portrait that was regularly used in convention reports c. 1905-1907.  Just above the picture are two small scripture paste-ins, the kind of thing regularly found in Manna books of the era. One was for a Sister Boerger and the other for a Sister Rutherford.

The sticker on the right is addressed “Dear brother Rutherford” and signed “sister Boerger.” The sticker on the left is addressed to “sister Boerger” and signed “sister Rutherford.”

Searching for “Sister Boerger” has not been successful as yet. There was an Annie Boerger who wrote a filler for the August 2, 1922, Golden Age magazine. But whether she had any connection with the Sister Boerger in the Holman Bible I do not know. If anyone else can assist, please do make a comment.

However, the key names are Brother and Sister Rutherford.

A close check on the flyleaf where one would expect to find the owner’s name yields three names. They are actually very faint and were written in pencil. Either someone has tried to erase them or they have just faded with age. However, modern photographic technique has been able to restore the names, and I am very grateful to the present owner of the volume, Brian K, who has achieved this.

The three names are:  J. F. Rutherford, Mary M. Rutherford, and M. C. Rutherford.

It would have been nice if all the three names were original signatures, but this is not the case. We have J. F. Rutherford’s signature from a personal letter written in 1914, and this is a different hand.

We do not have Mary Rutherford’s signature (unless it is on the paste-in). However, we do have examples of Malcom’s signature. From his WW1 draft registration document in 1917 this is how he signed his name.

Moving forward in time this is how he signed his registration document for WW2 in 1942.

All the names in the Holman Bible are in the same hand. Brian sent me a comprehensive analysis of the handwriting, and is confident that this is in Malcom’s own hand. I have no reason to doubt this.

So, the area where the Bible surfaced, the stickers naming Brother and Sister Rutherford, the names of the three members of the Rutherford family on the flyleaf and a handwriting comparison indicates that this was most likely Malcom’s own Bible.

But why would Malcom keep this Bible, since he did not stay with his parents’ religion? We must remember that Malcom was a Bible Student for a number of years. He was in the supplemental census return for May 14, 1910, living and working in Brooklyn Bethel with both parents at the age of 17. He is listed as a “mail clerk.” He travelled from Liverpool, UK, to the United States on the Lusitania in April 1911 as “Pastor Russell’s valet.” Later that year he appeared in the convention report as one of CTR’s stenographers. He joined his parents on a pilgrim visit to the UK just before WW1 in 1914. According to the May 1, 1915 WT he was stenographer for his father in the Rutherford-Troy debates in Los Angeles. When first submitting his draft papers in 1917 he claimed exemption on the grounds that he was a member of the International Bible Students Association. When his father was jailed he wrote a long letter of support dated July 21, 1918, which was printed in full in the St Paul Enterprise newspaper for December 10, 1918. It occupies four full length columns.

The letter started…

…and ended…

After his marriage to Pauline Lucille Short (generally known as Bobbie) in March 1918 Malcom did eventually join the services and was in the army from 10 September 1918 to 24 December 1918. (One curiosity is that his letter written to his father in July was not printed by the Enterprise until December, by which time he had been in the army for three months.) But he remained in contact with both his parents. In the 1920 census he is living in the same street as his mother. Years later in May 1938 Malcom and Bobbie were on the same passenger list as JFR on the S. S. Mariposa arriving in Los Angeles, California. The 1944 Monrovia City Directory then has Malcom and Bobbie living with Mary in her home. (Whether they moved in to help her in old age, or whether she was helping them out we just don’t know.)

The Holman Linear Bible with ZWT references was published in 1902. Malcom would have been only 10 then, and his parents only fully embraced the faith later. So the Bible could have been a gift from CTR back in the day. It could have first belonged to Malcom’s parents or just his mother. Since he lived with his mother for a while he could have inherited it from her, even as late as her death in 1962. There are all sorts of possibilities, some more credible than others, but on present evidence we just don’t know. If we could find the mysterious “Sister Boerger” it might help, but that would only give us a rough date for the stickers that bear her name, not when they were added to the volume as it now is. And there may have been more subtle evidences of provenance removed when the volume was rebound.

If only for nostalgic family reasons one can imagine Malcom keeping the Bible. But then in extreme old age or after he died, the Bible ended up in a resale shop.

Just one last point needs to be addressed – the spelling of Malcom’s name. The signatures in Malcom’s hand show him spelling it the more conventional way as Malcolm. (The Watchtower Society’s Proclaimers book also spells it that way.) But his birth details leave out the second ‘L’ to spell it Malcom. His grave marker, obviously based on some official documentation, does the same.

Since he had no children and his second wife Eleanor died before him one wonders who organised the funeral and the marker and its inscription. Eleanor had extended family and her marker complements his. Probably her family were responsible.

Submission Call

We will entertain submissions about Russell's newspaper sermons and the syndicate that circulated them. Articles should be no longer than 20 single spaced pages. They should be footnoted to sources. Footnotes should be at the bottom of the page in the manuscript. They will move to end of document here. We cannot pay you for your work. This will be a project for which you only receive a well done.

We reserve the right to reject any submission. Your work should be well-written and in standard English. If English is your second-language, we will work with you to put it is more standard form. So do not let your command of English stop you.

We prefer footnotes to contemporary sources and original source material. Send submissions to rm devienne at yahoo dot com. no spaces in the email.

Russell's sermons were printed in many American newspapers, some in Canada, Wales, and in European nations. Your focus may be broad or narrow as you wish. But it must be informative, not a mere recitation of things that have previously appeared in Watchtower publications.

We expect history not a polemic. However, we accept 'let the facts speak for themselves' writing.

A single paragraph from ch 1, vol 2

        Before moving forward, we should note that Ellis’ comment about Russellites and social issues is echoed into the Twentieth Century.[1] However, a view of the world contrary to our own does not indicate that doctrine is false. Bible doctrine, assuming one believes the book inspired, is determined by its adherence to Scripture. The same is true of later comments on Russell’s morals. A long-standing approach by those clergy wanting to suppress a doctrine was to disparage the character of its proponents. This is one of the major logic fallacies. It is the fallacy of Pretended Danger: Imputation of bad character to deflect an argument.   It is meant to draw attention from the issues to the man raising them. If the author or promoter of the claims made has a bad character there is no reason to accept what he says. This is a common fallacy among polemicists, because it relieves them and their readers from the obligation to refute or reason. It is also too common among some who present themselves as historians.

---

[1]               See The Spectator, Volume 203, August 21, 1959, page 223.

Asking for the impossible.

Watch Tower evangelists were active in Orange and Rockland Counties, New York, after 1881. We have slight record, but want more. Because they had no distinctive name before 1886, this is very hard to trace. It will require more time than we have. But there are various newspaper searches on line.

The Library of Congress site referenced below.

and

http://www.fultonhistory.com/Fulton.html

are two of the best. If you have free time [hard to come by, I know.] give it your best shot. Please.

Quoted by Russell in 1883

Extract of Chapter One - Vol 2 in very rough draft

THIS is up for Comment.

Russell again invested in a large printing, announcing in the September 1882 issue: “The October number of zion's watch tower will partake of a missionary character. We will be sending out a very large issue to new readers – about two hundred thousand in all. If you desire you may share in the work of scattering the ‘good tidings of great joy,’ by sending copies of this missionary number to your Christian friends. Order as many as you can use judiciously, or send us their addresses and we will supply them.”[1]

            The issue was a combined issue, dated October-November 1882. Russell ‘introduced’ the paper to the Sunday-School Superintendents for whom it was intended:

Inasmuch as this number of ZION'S WATCH TOWER will go to each of the ninety thousand Sunday School Superintendents of all denominations in the United States, it is proper for us to introduce our paper to them specially.

The special mission of ZION'S WATCH TOWER is to clearly and forcibly elucidate and present truth on all religious topics, without fear or favor of any except our heavenly Master. It is strictly unsectarian and follows no formulated creed. Its method – comparing Scripture with Scripture, we believe to be the correct one for the elucidation of truth. Thus getting God's own explanation of His will and plan, we realize that God is his own interpreter, And He will make it plain.

While desirous of the esteem and fellowship of every child of God and loath to offend any, we yet stand ready to offend all, if a clear and forcible presentation of any Scriptural teaching shall have that effect. We discuss all Bible doctrines, not shunning the most abstruse – an uncommon thing among Christian journals.

This feature makes our paper valuable to Sunday School Superintendents and Bible teachers, and advanced Bible scholars, in this day when infidelity is challenging nearly every doctrine held by the churches. Surely there never was a time when an open and fearless examination of every point of doctrine was so much more needed than practiced. An intelligent understanding of Scripture was never more necessary than now.

We desire to assist in this great work, and with others to raise up the standard of truth against error in every form. We make no claim to defend every theory and creed of Christendom – this would be impossible, since many of them contradict each other – but we endeavor to draw direct from Scripture its uncolored and unbiased teaching on all questions. Believing that the true basis of Christian Union is a correct understanding of God's Word, rather than an ignoring of differences, we seek for this.

This sample copy is sent you in order that if desired, it may be one of your assistants in seeking for Scriptural truths. We will send it on trial.

THREE MONTHS FREE.

to all Sunday School Superintendents, teachers and Bible scholars. We therefore invite you to send in your names at once.[2]

            Russell included an explanation of his motive in sending out this missionary issue:

A very large edition of this issue has been sent out in hope of awakening thinking Christians from the lethargy and worldliness which has so largely overspread Christendom. The topics presented will be new to many of them, and we trust that all thoroughly consecrated readers will test it, and decide on its truthfulness, not by their prejudices, not by any sectarian creed, but by the Word of God, the only proper and infallible test; remembering, that the cause of divisions or sects is, that each party defends its creed, instead of laying aside tradition or accepting the harmonious testimony of Scripture.[3]

            Russell and Watch Tower adherents continued to send out literature to clergy and evangelists until near Russell’s death in 1916, perhaps afterward as well. The Word and Witness, a Pentecostal paper published in Malvern, Arkansas, opposed publishing the names and mailing addresses of their preachers. Some were young and not stable and others who were “supposed to be stable, even old men, have been led astray with Russellite and Millennial Dawn teaching.” The paper’s editor said it was “astonishing what inroads the devil is making by watching for such addresses, and sending these hungry but untaught hearts such destructive tracts.”[4] Russell inserted a notice in the January 1883 Watch Tower inviting those who received the sample copies to subscribe:

We offered the Tower three months on trial, free. Many availed themselves of the offer and others sent us lists of names of friends they thought would be interested by the papers. With this number we complete the three numbers to about ten thousand such trial readers. [Oct., Dec. and January.] All of these who are interested, we hope to hear from at once. The Lord’s poor who are interested, but unable to pay, should remember that they are welcome to the Tower free, but must ask for it. We have extra copies of these three issues.[5]

            We do not know how many of the “about ten thousand” trial readers subscribed. Offering the paper free to the Lord’s poor is unique to the Watch Tower as far as we can uncover. Later, in 1912, William T. Ellis, a Presbyterian Clergyman, would dismiss this, writing: “Russell's people do not go out into the field of evangelism, reclaiming the unchurched. One searches his record in vain for anything about the rescue of the outcast and the sinning. Neither  
is there any trace of interest in the thronging social problems of our time. Ministry to the poor, visitation of the sick, care for the orphaned – these are outside of the pale of Russellite activities.
The limit of his benevolences is to send his literature free to ‘the Lord's poor.’”[6]

            Ellis’ comments are a series of lies that would not be worth addressing except that he is quoted by modern opponents of Jehovah’s Witnesses. We are not writing a polemic; this is not written to support or condemn the descendant religions of the Russell era Watch Tower. But if you oppose them, you should do so honestly. You should fact check. Those who quote Ellis do neither. In other chapters [among them “Out of Babylon” and “In the World but Not of It.”] we touch on these issues and present evidence that Russell era congregation structure was such that support for the poor, evangelism of the ‘unchurched sinners’ and concern for social issues were part of Russellite belief and practice. We give examples of the conversion of that class to Watch Tower belief. What Ellis objected to was Russellite belief that the full rule of Christ was at hand. Ellis was a post-millennialist. He believed that human efforts would bring any Kingdom of God. This was a view that was dieing among Protestants, but which persists among some until today. Despite this viewpoint conflict, Ellis simply got it wrong, and appealing to Watch Tower literature without reference points was fakery of the worst sort. As we said, he lied.

---

[1]               Untitled Announcement, Zion’s Watch Tower, September 1882, page 1.

[2]               C. T. Russell: Sunday School Superintendents, Zion’s Watch Tower, October-November 1882, page 1.

[3]               C. T. Russell: View from the Tower, Zion’s Watch Tower, October-November 1882, page 1.

[4]               A Warning, The Word and Witness, December 20, 1913.

[5]               Untitled announcement, Zion’s Watch Tower, January 1883, page 1.

[6]               W. T. Ellis: Investigating and Instigator, The Continent, September 26, 1912, page 1342.

Tentative chapter end: Food for Thinking Christians

This is up for comment ... COMMENT. Not that we'll get many. Mostly because many of our readers have never researched this material. But we always hope ...

A Twentieth-Century writer suggests that Food for Thinking Christians is Russell’s most important book. In that it was the first widely-spread dissemination of Watch Tower teachings, this is true. Criticisms such are Rall’s and those of more modern anti-sect writers ignore or diminish the significance of the long history of Historicist interpretation of prophecy. A more thorough going Biblical discussion would have benefited all parties. It did not occur in any meaningful way.

What did occur was an increase of resignations from former church affiliation on the part of newly converted Watch Tower adherents. Russell printed one such letter in the December 1881, Watch Tower. Written by a woman to her congregation of sixteen years, it was a plain statement of the essentials of Watch Tower teaching:

Believing that we are in the harvest of the Gospel Age as spoken of in Matt. 13:30, when the reapers are separating the wheat from the tares, which the Lord has permitted to grow together during the age, and also that the nominal church of all denominations is represented by the wheat and tares in the field– in which both have been growing, and that its mixed condition of worldly-mindedness and lukewarm Christianity is displeasing in the sight of our Lord, I have … concluded to sell all that I once found dear–my reputation and my friends if need be–my time, my talents, my means, my all.

This mixed condition of truth and error, worldliness and lukewarmness, etc., I believe to be the Babylon described in Rev. 18, in which are still some of the Lord’s dear children. To all such he says, (vs. 4) “Come out of her my people that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.”

In obedience to this command, I ask to have my name taken off the list of membership of the nominal church. It is written in the Lamb’s book of life and that is enough.

In withdrawing my name I do not withdraw my affections from you, but would if I could have you all “as ripened wheat,” gathered into the barn – condition of safety, rather than bound with the bundles of tares for the burning – with the “fire of God’s jealousy.”

Let me urge you each to a deeper consecration and a more thorough searching of the Scriptures.

Others separated from their previous church affiliation forming de facto congregations in cities where more than one shared similar beliefs. The congregation in Albany, New York, dated its formation to 1881 and by implication the publication of Food for Thinking Christians. They called themselves “Believers in the Restitution,”[1] one of many names used by congregations of Watch Tower adherents. Some were initially skeptical of the message, only to take it up later. Others believed the message on first reading and became life-long adherents. In 1916, A. P. Logan, of Houston, Texas, wrote that he “loved this present Truth since ... ‘Food for Thinking Christians’ first was issued. He considered Russell as “second only to St. Paul.”[2] H. M. Glass recalled his introduction to the message: “In 1881 ... a package of ‘Towers’ came to our Sunday school superintendent, who distributed them to the school. We got one and with it, the Allegheny address of the editor. We next got ‘Food for Thinking Christians.’ Ever since that good day we have been bountifully supplied with ‘meat in due season.’”[3]

Henry Rudolf Riemer, an immigrant from Germany[4], received his copy through a personal visit in 1883. His son, Hugo Henry Riemer recalled it this way:

In 1883, my father, then a presiding elder over a district of the Methodist church in the middle western part of the United States, answered a knock at his door. There stood one of the early witnesses of Jehovah holding up a paperbound book entitled “Food for Thinking Christians,” written and published by C. T. Russell. After a greeting, he told my father, “Mister, here is a book that will make you happy with the only true happiness.” He then handed the book to my father, who thumbed through it, noting the many Scripture quotations and citations in it. Being impressed by the earnestness of the man, who had kept on talking to him, he gave a contribution for the book.

Mother was just packing father’s traveling bag for a weekend trip on the train. He handed her the book, requesting that she put it in his grip on the very top of his things. After he had taken a seat on the train, he opened his grip and took the book out and began reading. He finished reading it when the train arrived at his destination, and he said to himself, “Thank God! That is the truth.”

When father arrived home, he said to mother, after greeting her and us four boys, “Mamma, I have found the truth.” Mother said, “What do you mean?” He said, “Do you remember that book you packed in my traveling bag? I want you to read it and let me know what you think of it.” But he had some misgivings as to her reaction, because she was the daughter of a lay preacher. She read the book and then said to father, “If that is the truth, we have no place in the Methodist church.” With rejoicing father said, “Mamma, those are the most precious words I ever heard you speak.” I was five years old at the time, but from then until now, at the age of 86, Jehovah has not failed to show his love toward me as he poured it out on my father and mother.[5]

  

photo:

Heinrich Reimer

H. H. Riemer’s account leaves out significant detail, and it implies that his father remained a Watch Tower adherent. However, his father Henry [Heinrich] Reimer’s obituary appears in The Dawn, an opposition journal:

Brother Riemer became a Christian at an early age and because of this stand was forced to leave his father’s home. He studied for the Christian ministry and was faithful as a minister in the Methodist Church until he was privileged to see the light of present truth as a result of reading Pastor Russell's booklet, “Food for Thinking Christians, or Why Evil Was Permitted,” published in 1881. With a family of young children to support he withdrew from the Methodist ministry, studied Medicine and was successful as a medical doctor until his retirement late in life. His third and final stand for Christian principle came when he, in company with others of like precious faith, discerned the errors of the Society, and withdrew there from in 1928. Up to the last moments of his life he gave evidence, though with failing memory along most lines, of clearness in his understanding of the fundamental doctrines of present truth. He finished his earthly course on Thursday, October 29th, 1936, at 90 years of age.[6]

W. E. Haller encountered the booklet shortly after it was published. Writing about his experience in 1917, he recalled that “‘Food for Thinking Christians’ was my first book to digest, and [I] still have it.” He moved for work to a town near Allegheny, attending meetings held in the Grand Army of the Republic Hall on Federal Street, Allegheny, starting in July 1887. He committed to the faith in 1888, entering the colporteur work shortly afterward. Recalling his work, he wrote: “Nothing but Millennial Dawns, in paper leaves, was out at the time I first heard him. [i.e. Russell.] Those I introduced by colporteuring up the Monongahela valley during the summer of 1889, the second volume being first published that season.[7]

Ellen S. Dodge [born April 1852] was also introduced to the Watch Tower faith through Food for Thinking Christians. We do not know how the booklet reached remote Schoolcraft County on Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, and it probably doesn’t matter in this context. She “received comfort from its pages,” she wrote, and “surrendered [her] will to the Lord.”[8]

John L. Mears [May 1837-1920] was a Civil War veteran, serving in two Ohio Volunteer Infantry regiments. His parents emigrated from Lancashire, England, in 1828. About two years before his death John wrote:

After being raised a Baptist by strict religious parents, my father being a minister. I naturally believed a great deal just as it came to my ears at boyhood; but later, doubts arose as to the dealings of God to humanity. So I went on with doubt and fears ... when one day I got a little book called “Food for Thinking Christians,” and I just devoured it and that gave me an appetite for more of the same. I got the Watch Tower and of course that was pretty strong “meat,” but finding that the Tower was in accord with Scripture, I have simply read about everything that our dear Pastor has written.[9]

            George Washington Haney [born 1844], a Kansas farmer, received a copy in 1881. He read it and still had it in his possession in 1914. He arranged to meet Russell in the “early eighties.” “I have read and kept in close tough with everything that he has put out,” Haney wrote.[10] Haney saw participation in the world’s affairs as compromise: “I saw that the enemy is the ruler of this world, and, as I could not serve two masters, I gave up politics, and have not voted since.” He thought serving on a jury and swearing to tell the truth in court were both wrong. He dated adopting these beliefs to near the time he read Russell’s booklet.[11] There are many others whose names we know who persisted in the Watch Tower faith after reading Food for Thinking Christians, but a long list seems irrelevant. The booklet developed interest, and new workers entered the field, some sharing their faith locally and some becoming itinerate evangelists.

            Jane Ann Marwood [Aug. 1834 – Jan. 11, 1927], with her husband Robert, immigrated to America, settling in Nebraska in 1866, and acquiring a small-hold farm. By 1907 her husband is described as an early-days pioneer and a prominent cattleman living near Clearwater, Nebraska.[12]

            Without otherwise defining it, she wrote of ‘a time of trouble’ that turned her thoughts to Christ, and if she hadn’t been a Bible reader before she became one. (Most likely this was the great grasshopper plague.) “I well remember the time when as I was reading Rom. 12:1, it struck me that I had never presented my body a living sacrifice, and being alone, I fell on my knees and, then and there, consecrated. That was somewhere in the late seventies.”[13] A “dear old brother” in the Congregational Church gave her a copy of Food for Thinking Christians. She studied it carefully, consulting the cited Scriptures. She was convinced:

When I received the first copy of Food for Thinking Christians ... and had read and proved it true from the scriptures, I knew I had been taught wrong all my life, and being a teacher in the Sunday School, was teaching others wrong. On my knees I asked forgiveness for the wrong I had done, in the blessed name of Jesus, and God surely heard my cry for light. I sent for the Watch Tower, and the dear Lord led me out of darkness into His Marvelous Light. From that time on I tried to lead others into the light but for years no one would listen.[14]

            That no-one would listen is not totally true. At least one of her eleven children did. In late 1899 or very early in 1900, [Probably December 1899 or early January 1900.] she send Russell five dollars for ‘an order,’ asking him to “put the balance into the Tract Fund. “Some of it is from my daughter,” she wrote.[15] When she accepted Watch Tower teaching as Scriptural Truth, she returned to the friend who had given her the tract. His reaction was unexpected:

The man who first gave me Food for Thinking Christians ... used to say, when I told him of the light I had received: ‘Mrs. Marwood, I do not want that light. It is ignis fatuus light. Every time I received more light on different scriptures I tried to tell him about it, but he would have none of it, and to this day no memeber of his family will look at Brother Russell’s writings. It made my heard sat. When I would go to church or Sunday School they were all afraid of me, thinking I would lead some of their members astray, and my name was cast out as evil.[16]

            Not long after reading Food she subscribed to Zion’s Watch Tower. In a letter to Russell written in 1909, she recalled: “I had always prayed for you and all those who labored with you in the watch tower office, from the time I first took the tower, which was in 1882.”[17] We lose track of Jane Marwood after 1915. However, by 1922 there was enough interest in Clearwater, Nebraska to warrant a visit from W. M. Wisdom, a traveling Watch Tower representative, who spent two days there in 1921.[18] And visits in 1922 by O. L. Sullivan, R. L. Robie, and J. A. Bohnet and regularly thereafter by traveling “brethren.”

             Marwood’s experience illustrates several things. Here, it illustrates the enduring conviction of ‘truth’ engendered in some by reading Food for Thinking Christians and The Watch Tower. In other chapters we note the expulsion of Watch Tower adherent people from their previous churches, not because of untoward behavior, but for contrary belief. In one chapter we consider the evangelical persistence of the sole adherents within their comunities. Marwood’s experience fits neatly into all of these narratives.

---

[1]               His Second Coming: Believers in the Restitution Say Christ Will Come again in 1914, The Albany, New York, Evening Journal, May 28, 1900. There is no record of this group in contemporary issues of Zion’s Watch Tower. This article comprises the entire history of the Albany congregation before the 1890’s. In 1900 they met in the home of Fredrick Clapham at 288 First Street. The article is vague, and it is possible that instead of the congregation being formed that year, it was a reference to the formation of Zion’s Watch Tower Tract Society. The actual quotation is: “The ‘Believers in the Restitution is a society organized in 1881. It is comparatively small in this city, but in several sections and in England, it is flourishing.

[2]               Note from Logan to Editor of St. Paul Enterprise¸ January 18, 1916, issue.

[3]               Letter from Glass to Editor of St Paul Enterprise, March 7, 1916, issue.

[4]               Born in August 18, 1848, Marienwerder, East Prussia. Died October 29, 1936, in Buchanan. Missouri. Married Emilie Balcke in 1871.

[5]               H. H. Riemer: Experiencing Jehovah’s Love, The Watchtower, September 15, 1964, page 571.

[6]               The Passing of Brother H. R. Riemer, The Dawn, January 1937, pages 32-33.

[7]               Letter from Haller to Editor of St. Paul Enterprise, February 27, 1917, issue.

[8]               Letter from Dodge to Editor of St. Paul Enterprise, January 16, 1917, issue.

[9]               Letter from Haney to Editor of St. Paul Enterprise, January 2, 1914, issue.

[10]             Letter from Haney to Editor of St. Paul Enterprise, January 2, 1914, issue.

[11]             Letter from Haney to Russell found in the article: Practical Questions, Zion’s Watch Tower, May 15, 1893, page 154.

[12]             Untitled article, The Norfolk, Nebraska, Weekly News-Journal, July 5, 1907.

[13]             J. A. Marwood: Letter to Editor, St. Paul Enterprise, July 30, 1915, issue.

[14]             ibid.

[15]             J. A. Marwood to Russell, found in Interesting Letters, Zion’s Watch Tower, January 15, 1900, page 16. [Not in Reprints]

[16]             J. A. Marwood: Letter to Editor, St. Paul Enterprise, July 30, 1915, issue.

[17]             J. A. Marwood to Russell, found in An Interesting Letter: Zion’s Watch Tower, May 15, 1909, page 159.

[18]             International Bible Students Association: Lectures and Classes by Traveling Brethren, The Watch Tower, August 15, 1921, page 256.

I know ...

I know many of our readers are more interested in side-issues and Watch Tower trivia than solid, significant research. I am not unsympathetic. Solid, significant research is much more difficult to do, and sometimes it's the trivia that leads to something important. And research at depth requires more thought - sometimes painful thought - to understand.

So, having written that, here's a bit of trivia that is part of more significant research.


Arthur Melin: A Barren Land Becomes Fertile, The Watchtower, October 1, 1994, page 21, talks about his father without naming him. Two letters from his father appear in Zion's Watch Tower. They're signed O. C. Melin. We suspect this is Oscar Charles Melin. O. C. Melin went by Charles. 

O. C. Melin plays a part in a volume 2 chapter entitled In All the Earth: Canada. We need a firm identification for O. C. Melin. Can you help.

1914 Baptism

Ultimately there was quite a nice response to the recent Quiz photograph both in comments on the blog and back-channel. Here is the complete photograph that can be found in a rather poor reproduction opposite page 112 in the 1914 convention report, captioned “Receiving instructions. Re: Immersion service.”

The people in the picture (from left to right) are:  Robert Hollister, John A Bohnet, Charles T Russell, and Edward W Brenneisen.

The “mystery” character in the recent quiz was John Adam Bohnet. He was regularly photographed in convention reports between 1906 and 1927 but for the studio portraits was nearly always hatless. This meant that what stood out as his principal identifying mark was a shiny bald head. Pictured here with a hat on was designed to confuse for the recent quiz – and succeeded.

Bohnet is an interesting subject – CTR’s private secretary who typed letters for him to Maria, who typed out Joseph Lytle Russell’s last will and testament, who designed and built the pyramid monument on the United Cemeteries plot, and who literally grew “miracle wheat.” An article on his life story is in preparation. Below is the cover of a 1909 cemetery photo book with his portrait.

From the Cardiff, Wales, Evening Express, Nov. 14, 1893

Another Outside our Research Area - but interesting

We need a volunteer

I found a number articles in Hawaiian newspapers that address an important issue. I have them as pdf files. We need someone to type them out in word format. Most of them are very short. Can you help?

Lecture advertisement

 

The Rock Island Argus, Jan. 3, 1913

Mystery photo

This is a little bit of light audience participation. Can you identify the person photographed with CTR? I will wait three days before giving the answer, so feel free to suggest whoever you think it might be, even if someone else has already given the same answer. We can then compare notes.

The photograph is taken from a larger picture that featured four people. A rather poor reproduction can be found in one of the convention reports but it doesn't reveal who the characters are. This nice clear print comes from a good copy that originally belonged to Rose Hirsh.

Enjoy.

The answer is now in the comment trail.

Rutherford et. all released. ...

Not relevant to the time period we write about, but interesting. This is from The, Aurora, Missouri, Menace of April 12, 1919. The Menace was an anti-Catholic paper.

It's probably worth reminding our readers ...

If you have research projects of your own that involve American events, this site is one of the major newspaper search resources ....

https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/search/titles/

Outside our focus era, but ....

Perrysburg, Ohio, Register - Feb. 28, 1918

Our thanks,

Bruce's emails thanking those who contributed to our purchase of a very expensive but needed book seem to have bounced. So I am thanking everyone through this blog post. We received a bit more than we needed for the book in question. This allows us to pay for photocopies we have put off buying because of what I see as obscene expense. Our profoundest appreciation to you all.

We need

We need to quickly raise $40.00 to buy an otherwise very expensive book for our research. If you can, paypal works through Mr. Schulz' email.

Submission

We would entertain articles on the prevalence of millennialist views in Scandanavia, the UK, Germany and Switzerland from the late 17th Century to 1900. We cannot pay for submitted and published articles. They must be footnoted to original sources. Some secondary source citation is acceptable. No more than five thousand words. Submissions should be reasonably well-written. If English is a second language for you we will work with you to put it in proper form.

Groups and individuals you mention need not resemble Watch Tower belief, only believe in the return of Christ and an impending millennial reign.

If we cannot use your submission we will send a simple rejection letter. If we like what you send but think it needs additional work, we will give you an opportunity to revise your work.

Send submissions to rmdevienne at yahoo.

Allegheny City

Old photos give us an idea of what living there was like. Here is one showing part of the 4th of July parade, 1907. Not directly related to Russel and the Watch Tower, but informative.

To get the 'flavor' of Allegheny in the Russell era, you may want to visit this:

https://newsinteractive.post-gazette.com/thedigs/2013/03/11/butchers-run-flood-devastates-ohara-street-in-1874/