The Search for S D Rogers

There are some people in history for whom we have little background. Like the Bible character Melchizedeck (although of lesser reputation) we don’t know where they came from, and we can’t confirm where they went. They turn up in our narrative, give a few hints, and then disappear. It is frustrating for a researcher when this happens. This article is about one such case.

Back in 2016 there were several articles on this blog, written by Rachael de Vienne and myself, on a possible later sighting of S D Rogers. Recently returning to this subject, an interesting trail has been followed, with unexpected results. This article is that story.

But first, for any readers new to the subject, let’s examine what we know about his Watch Tower history. He always appeared in the pages of ZWT as S D Rogers. What the initials stood for was not known, which complicates identification. He appears in the 1880s. He was apparently born around 1847 and came from Michigan, and may have been born there. He was a vigorous and successful colporteur for Zion’s Watch Tower, but then was sent to Britain in 1893 which did not go well. He was subsequently involved as a key “conspirator” in A Conspiracy Exposed (1894). He was reported to be in league with Nelson Barbour and then disappeared from view. Then there are numerous accounts of a dubious religious character in the early 20^th century using the name S D Rogers. We will come to this later.

We arrive at a birth date of around 1847 for S D Rogers by assuming his entry on a ship’s list from 1893 is accurate. Rogers was travelling from New York to Liverpool in October 1893. The full details from the register show that he arrived in Liverpool on 4 October 1893. He called himself the Rev. S D Rogers, occupation Minister, and he is listed as single, aged 46. This gives us his approximate year of birth.

As to where he was from, we have several references to Michigan as either his place of birth or the place where he and his family were viewed as from.

Here is one of several examples from newspaper reports of sermons given in 1891. From the Buffalo Commercial (New York) for June 5, 1891.

A letter from S D Rogers in ZWT for August 1889 shows that his parents were living in Michigan at that time.

The problem is that nearly all of the 1890 American census returns were destroyed by fire in 1921 so we don’t have these to supply any background to the above. And a search of 1880 and 1900 provides no answers.

Using the approximate birth date of 1847 there are a number of potential candidates. Born in Michigan there is a Samuel Rogers, born c.1848. Living in Michigan in the 1870 census, there is a Sylvanus E Rogers, c. 1845 (born in Ohio), Sherman Rogers, c.1847 (born in New York), another Syvlanus Rogers, c. 1852 (born in Canada), another Samuel Rogers, c.1844 (born in Canada), and a Sol Rogers, c.1847 (born in England). Most promising on the surface would appear to be Samuel D Rogers, born Lodi, Michigan, in 1847. But this S D Rogers turns out to be a farmer with a wife and several children. While he could have “moonlighted” as a ZWT colporteur - which would have made a great story - this S D Rogers’ parents died some years before 1889. Playing round with different initials and locations has always proved to be a frustrating exercise.

Wherever he came from originally, Rogers entered the ZWT story in January/February 1889 in a letter from J B Adamson, who obviously became a close friend. (The letter is found in the original ZWT bur is not found in the abridged reprints). There are later references to Rogers rooming with Adamson and his wife, and Adamson of course was one of the other “conspirators” in the 1894 split.

Rogers’ first letter to ZWT was dated May 2, 1889 from Detroit, Michigan (again omitted from the reprints). He became a highly successful colporteur, regularly sending in details of the vast quantities of Dawns he had sold. As well as Michigan, he worked extensively in Canada and New York, and was obviously doing this work full-time, supporting himself on commission. Apart from his parents in Michigan already referred to, the only other personal detail his letters let slip is that he had a brother who also worked as a colporteur with a Brother Zink at one point, probably in Canada.

He was so successful in this work then when it was thought beneficial to send someone to Britain to galvanise this kind of work there, Rogers was the choice.

Rogers determined that a better plan than circulating the printed page would be for himself, as ‘Rev. S D Rogers,’ to hold a series of public meetings with himself as the speaker, and to solicit money for them. The book Bible Students in Britain basically accused him of expecting to be treated like a conventional clergyman of Christendom, with local Bible Students funding his meetings and funding him to a degree that went beyond expenses. Letters of concern winged their way from England to the Bible House in Allegheny.

On his return there was a lengthy article by CTR in the April 1, 1894 ZWT on The Work in England, and Rogers – after six years as a colporteur - left that activity. He assured CTR of his continued interest in the message and was planning to return to England, but not as a ZWT representative.

Then came the campaign by “the gang of four,” Bryan, Adamson, von Zech and Rogers. They sent out a circular (not extant) and CTR responded with in A Conspiracy Exposed (special issue of ZWT April 25, 1894). In subsequent developments (ZWT June 11, 1894), Rogers was accused of visiting congregations with bad intent and in Rochester, NY, introducing the faithful to Nelson Barbour, described as a “bold and relentless enemy.” This came from a report by Maria, CTR’s wife, who went on a speaking tour in Rogers’ wake to counteract his activities. According to the June 11 special ZWT, Rogers split with the other three when they refused to hire a hall for him in Pittsburgh to “expose the errors of Millenial Dawn and Zion’s Watch Tower.”

                                                        

It appears that Rogers subsequently returned to Britain because one of the letters published in the June 11 ZWT was from a J Brookes in England whom Rogers visited. CTR assured the correspondent that Maria had no intention in following Rogers there.

And it is at this point Rogers disappeared. The subsequent lives of Bryan, Adamson and von Zech can be traced, but what happened to Rogers and his self-belief?

We find a number of references to a Rev. S D Rogers in newspapers between the years of 1903-1928, all linked to Michigan. To try and avoid confusion we will hereafter refer to our ZWT certainty as “SDR” and the 20^th century references to “S Donald.” Some 20^th century newspapers give Donald as the middle name to the Rev S D Rogers. See for example The Wood County Reporter (Grand Rapids, Wisconsin) for June 22, 1922.         

We will briefly outline S Donald’s known activities and then draw comparisons.

The known S Donald can only be described as a con-artist, and judging by the number of times he was encouraged to move on or got arrested, a particularly inept one.

 It can only be the vastness of America and the lack of communications that allowed him to try the same stunts year after year, while getting caught year after year. He may have had a penchant for pretty girls, or perhaps was just accident prone. Here is a typical headline from the Chanute Daily Blade for January 5, 1904.

He would start off by riding into town claiming to be writing a new book on the Bible; subscriptions gratefully accepted. Later he added raising contributions for a Quaker settlement, claiming to be a great grandson of Timothy Rogers, the Quaker who founded settlements in Vermont, and Canada. Timothy Rogers (1756-1834) was married twice, and had twenty-one children so this was a little difficult to verify both then and now.

S Donald’s real estate dealings had a sort of “kiss of death” about them. From the Witchita Daily Eagle for December 1919, his business dealings were (quote) “about everythng but successful” and were “always according to Hoyle” (a reference to gambling). Local real estate men were warned to have nothing to do with him.

The headline in the Wood County Reporter (Grand Rapids, Wisconsin) for June 22, 1922, with variations, became depressingly familiar.

.

Gradually a picture is built up of his back story.

He had “a new method” of preaching the gospel. His proposed tome entitled The Opening of the Books focused amongst other things on the year 1874. From an interview in the Chanute Daily Blade for January 5, 1904.

He had his epiphany while in England in the 1890s.  From The Journal Times (Racine, Wisconsin) for May 3, 1905: S D Rogers, “Christian minister and evangelist,” was planning a religious school in their city.  Soon to publish The Opening of the Books he is of Quaker lineage and believes in direct revelation to man. Rogers “claims that about ten years ago when working in England that the great mysteries of the scriptures were opened up to him in a personal and direct way by the spirit of God.”

In 1928 he was still at it. From the Sedalia Democrat (Sedalia, Missouri) for March 15, 1928, he had again been arrested for obtaining money under false pretenses. A proposed Quaker colony and his named magnum opus The Opening of the Books is the all-too-familiar story.

S Donald was described as a “shrewd book salesman” The businessmen who paid out now worked out that it was going to cost them even more if the case went ahead, so voted for dismissal. The full news report mentioned THAT book again – The Opening of the Books – and hinted that it still hadn’t actually materialised. The report also covered some of the areas Rogers had visited.

Later in 1928 we have our final sighting of him at work. The Daily Iowan for September 29, 1928, gave him the heading: Davenport Police Arrest Imposter – Alleged Minister Gets Donations from Local Men. 

S Donald’s less than illustrious career came to an abrupt end in November 1928. I am grateful to researcher Philip for bringing this cutting to my attention. From the Washington Evening Journal for November 5, 1928:

The account relates how S Donald had recently been released from the slammer. He then left his local hotel - without paying the bill. The suggestion is that he was attempting to board the train without buying a ticket. Papers in his bag indicated he was from Detroit, although the chief of detectives there said no-one there had heard of him. He had with him printed cards as a minister of the gospel according to the Quaker faith with more than one address. Local Quakers said he was not a minister of their faith and were (quote) “indignant” (Davenport Daily Times November 10, 1928). His age was judged to be about 65. No family or friends or details of his real identity were traced in time for his funeral on November 8. His death certificate, totally devoid of family details, gives his occupation as “minister.”

A search of genealogical records finds only one reference we can clearly tie into an S Donald Rogers of the right age in 1920. He is single, born around 1866, and is a “roomer” so staying in lodgings of some sort in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. This gives his occupation as “author” and says was born in Canada.

So in summary, what can we say when comparing SDR and S Donald Rogers? Here are a few comparisons:

SDR called himself Reverend.

S Donald called himself Reverend.

SDR came from Michigan.

S Donald claimed to be from Michigan, either Vassar or Detroit.

SDR had a new way of preaching.

S Donald claimed to have a “new method” of preaching the gospel.

SDR was the top colporteur for CTR resulting in him being sent to Britain.

S Donald was a “shrewd book salesman.”

SDR wanted to make money.

S Donald certainly did.

SDR spent time in England in the 1890s.

S Donald claimed to have had his epiphany while in England in the mid-1890s.

SDR promoted ZWT theology.

S Donald’s proposed book focussed on 1874 as the start of the 7^th x 1000 year period of human history.

Put all that together and it just “feels” right that S Donald is our man. Until we have this 1928 record of his death of course, which throws it all out. Because a man born around 1847 would have been 80 in 1928.

Of course, it is always possible that the age for SDR when coming to England in the ship’s log is out by 15 years. Or that the coroner’s analysis of S Donald’s mangled corpse diagnosed a man of 80 as being around 65…  Yeah – sure. But certain phrases come to mind.  House of cards…  Don’t count your chickens…It’s not over until the fat lady sings… And yes – back to the drawing board.

Anyone out there like to take up the baton?

First published on https://jeromehistory.blogspot.com/

Some of you will find this useful

https://books.google.com/books?id=XmhDAQAAMAAJ&pg=PP7&dq=JAMES+H+WHITMORE+The+Doctrine+Of+Immortality&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjDg9jbzKPrAhVVPn0KHSAfAygQ6AEwAHoECAMQAg#v=onepage&q&f=false

Or an original on ebay

https://www.ebay.com/itm/JAMES-H-WHITMORE-The-Doctrine-Of-Immortality-Buchanan-Michigan-1871/124260175194?_trkparms=aid%3D111001%26algo%3DREC.SEED%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D225086%26meid%3Dd6c2369f75104d1ca0adff3294afff66%26pid%3D100675%26rk%3D1%26rkt%3D15%26mehot%3Dnone%26sd%3D124260175194%26itm%3D124260175194%26pmt%3D0%26noa%3D1%26pg%3D2380057&_trksid=p2380057.c100675.m4236&_trkparms=pageci%3Aadf8e00c-e0f1-11ea-95e7-ce2a8161efbe%7Cparentrq%3Aff2baf4f1730a4d74d96c9e0fffff03a%7Ciid%3A1

Revisions to Barbour bio.

Those of you who regularly read this blog know that I'm revising Nelson Barbour: The Millennium's Forgotten Prophet. Here is a snippet of current work. This will change as I add additional detail. But I'm posting it now for your comments, observations and critiques.

The Barbour last name is frequently spelled as ‘Barber’ in early records, though the family’s historic name is as Nelson spelled it.[1] Nelson Barbour’s family settled in Connecticut early in the Colonial Era. Barbour’s grandfather purchased a homestead in Throopsville, near Auburn, New York, in 1801.[2] By the time Barbour was born on August 21, 1824, Throopsville was a small manufacturing village.[3] A Gazetteer published in 1836 said it had a flouring mill, a saw mill, a carding and cloth dressing mill, one tavern, two stores, and from 20 to 25 dwellings.[4] A small Baptist Church, to which some of his family belonged, and later a Presbyterian Church were formed there.[5] The Throopsville Baptist Church drew attendance from surrounding villages, and was the seed church for Auburn and Port Byron.

His closest living relative, a half-uncle lived there, and when Barbour died in 1905 of “exhaustion” he was buried there.[6] During his childhood the village was so small that he would have known everyone in it.

Though the usual references to her are as “Mrs. Barbour” or “Mrs. N. H. Barbour,” he was married September 27, 1877, to Emeline Jobes. Emeline B. Barbour was born in September 1831 and died while on a trip to Florida on November 20, 1901.[7] The Library of Congress catalogue suggests that his middle name was Homer. This is incorrect. His middle name was Horatio and is so noted on the British patent for one of his inventions.

A newspaper article appearing in The Auburn, New York, Citizen of October 30, 1905, and his grandfather’s will make it clear that Barbour was the nephew of Delecta Barbour Lewis, the radical anti-saloon crusader. A Barbour descendent says that his father was David Barbour, the son of Friend Barbour. Though the person relaying this information had much information on the early Barbour family, and this seems correct based on Census data, it needs greater verification. Little is known about David Barbour beyond the fact that he was a farmer. More is known about Nelson Barbour’s grandfather, Friend Barbour, and his other children. Both Friend Barbour and his second wife were interested in the Temperance Movement, and letters from and about them appear in various New York newspapers. Nelson Barbour would not have known his grandmother, but his step-grandmother was “a woman of remarkable endowments and fine educational attainments.” Noted in her early life “for her accomplishments,” she “became a well recognized oracle in the neighborhood.”

A brief description of Friend Barbour and his family appears in Mary F. Eastman’s Biography of Dio Lewis:

Friend Barbour was one of the largest men, weighing three hundred pounds. He was well-proportioned, of erect carriage, and of great strength of body and mind. His voice was so loud and clear that he never used a horn to call his men, as was the custom, for his shout could be heard anywhere on his farm of seventy-five acres. ... Dr. Peter Clark used to say that at a house-raising, when the frame was lifted with the cry of “he-ho heave!” he had heard Mr. Barbour’s voice a mile away.

He was a master builder and pushed work with such vigor that when ... he wished to substitute a frame house for the log-house in which he lived, he moved his family into the church across the street on Monday morning, took away the log-house, built a new frame house with three rooms on the ground-floor, and moved his family into it on the next Saturday afternoon.[8]

            A toll road built by the Montezuma Turnpike and Bridge Company sometimes about 1817 started at Friend Barbour’s residence. Nelson would have seen the traffic on what was, though only a dirt track, a semi-major roadway for the era. It appears that Friend Barbour took the tolls for the company.[9] Members of the extended family were prominent both in business and politics in the Auburn and Throopsville area. Josiah Barbour, a carpet maker, also manufactured “cheap flannels” in Throopsville, and starting in 1829 used local prison labor to manufacture silks.[10]

            We can infer from a newspaper interview that his parents, despite Friend Barbour’s Baptist affiliations, became Presbyterians. This was not a major doctrinal change since many Baptist churces were Calvinist in doctrine. Other than a family move to Cohocton, New York, when Barbour was young, nothing is known about his life until he is fifteen and enrolled in Temple Hill Academy in Geneseo, New York.[11] The Academy was founded in 1827 and chartered by the New York Legislature. It was “an institution combining classical instruction with that of the useful arts, and at a moderate expense.”[12] The trustees promised “to throw around it those healthful, moral, and religious influences which cannot fail to inspire confidence in the minds of parents and guardians, and make it a seat of Literature and Science, as desirable, as its location is distinguished, for its grand and beautiful scenery.”[13] Temple Hill’s management was eventually entrusted to the Presbyterians. Barbour attended from 1839 to 1842.

Temple Hill Academy Photo here.

            From his frequent use of illustrations drawn from engineering, the Doppler Effect, and scientific analysis one can, I believe, conclude that Barbour concentrated on the science curriculum. While there, it is likely that he met Owen Russell Crozier who was four years older than Barbour, a school teacher and a student at the Methodist seminary at Lima, New York. Crozier belonged to the Amphictyonic Society, a debating society that met at Temple Hill Academy in 1842, and Crozier enrolled in Temple Hill in 1842. Crozier would become an influential writer whose work affected Adventists and other interested in millennialist subjects.

Barbour left his parent’s Presbyterian religion and “united with the Methodist Episcopal Church” at Geneseo.[14] [jen-ess-EE-oh] Again we are left with little record. The Methodist Episcopal Church in Cochocton was pastored by Stephen Daniel Trembley, occasionally spelled Trembly. [June 2, 1799 – June 28, 1868] Trembley was very active in the Methodist ministry, serving congregations in New York, New Jersey and Minnesota. If Barbour was interested in Methodist faith before attending Temple Hill academy, it is through Trembley that he learned the elements of it. He told a newspaper reporter that he “united” with the Methodist faith in Geneseo. By “uniting” with the church he meant formal membership, not initial interest.

There was one each of Methodist Episcopal, Episcopalian and Presbyterian churches in Geneseo serving a village of 2714 souls.[15] The Methodist clergyman assigned to the Geneseo church was John Parker.[16] He entered the Methodist Episcopal ministry in 1822 with most of his work centered in the Geneseo area. As was Trembley, he was committed to his faith. However, while we presume that Trembley taught orthodox Methodist doctrine, we know with certainty what Parker taught because he put his thought to paper. In 1857 he published The Upward Path, Or Brief Thoughts on Christian Salvation as Revealed to us in the Holy Scriptures, and as Understood and Taught by the Great Body of Methodists Throughout the World.[17] There is nothing surprising in Parker’s book. His doctrine would have been heard in any Methodist church, not matter what the sect of Methodism.

Barbour began studying for the Methodist ministry “under Elder Ferris.” In the first edition of this book we noted that Elder Ferris was otherwise unnamed, but speculated that he was William H. Ferris, a prominent member of the New York Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church and a representative to the church’s annual national conferences.[18] This Ferris was one of the founders of Drew Theological Seminary and is named in the charter.[19] We wrote: “That William H. Ferris[20] was Barbour’s teacher is only an educated guess.” This was a very poor guess. Access to more complete records leads to another, firmer conclusion.

David Ferris [February 6, 1805 to May 27, 1865] was a long-serving Methodist Episcopal clergyman who was born in New York and died there. He held, among other appointments, a visiting professorship at Genesee Wesleyan Seminary at Lima, a small village south of Rochester, New York.[21] When Barbour was at Geneseo, David Ferris was pastor of both the Groveland and Geneseo, New York, Methodist Episcopal congregations, replacing John Parker in late 1840 or early 1841. Parker became pastor at Livonia with oversight of the Groveland and Geneseo churches. By 1844 Ferris had moved out of Barbour’s life.[22] Identifying “Elder Ferris” with David Ferris has location and timing in its favor.

Whoever Elder Ferris was, Barbour’s association with him was brief. “Having been brought up among Presbyterians” a newspaper profile says, “and having an investigating turn of mind, instead of quietly learning Methodist theology he troubled his teacher with questions of election, universal salvation, and many other subjects, until it was politely hinted that he was more likely to succeed in life as a farmer than as a clergyman.”

Barbour told The Rochester, New York, Union and Advertiser that he began preaching independently when he was nineteen. This dates his preaching to 1843. Conversion to Millerism impelled Barbour into “independent” preaching. By the designator “independent preaching” he meant that he wasn’t recognized by any religious body as an authorized evangelist. We do not know how much before 1843 he found Millerism worth his attention. There is no detailed conversion narrative, and we are left to piece the story together the best we can. An letter from E. A. Hendrick of Lakeville, ten miles from Geneseo, to one of the Millerite journals tells us that Millerite Adventism was a growing force in Livingston County: “I am well pleased with the Signs of the Times you send me by Eld. L. D. Fleming’s address and shall be happy in using my feeble efforts to facilitate its circulation. The truth is gaining advocates in western New York.”[23]

Photo here

Barbour United with the

Methodist Church in Geneseo

Her brief letter tells us there was Millerite interest in Livingston County and that Elder L. D. Fleming, a clergyman turned itinerate Adventist, had furthered it. He had the reputation of overly frank, sometimes abusive speech. In 1837 Elizabeth R. Long, a young woman “of unblemished character” sued Fleming for slander and won – twice. The issue was a medical treatment chosen by Long to which Fleming objected. In stating his objections to the treatment he suggested things that defamed her and impugned her character. Fleming saw himself as a medical expert of sorts, and patented a medical device in later years.  [add footnotes]

Lorenzo Dow Fleming (1808-1867) has left us with an enlightening view of his faith as it was prior to the 1843-1844 disappointments. He wrote A Synopsis of the Evidences of the Second Coming of Christ, about A. D. 1843 to express his views of Christ’s near return. It went through three editions; the one coming down to us is the third edition, revised. When it was published Fleming had moved on to Newark, New Jersey. But his work represents the message he preached in Livingston County, New York. We do not know if Barbour attended his meetings in Geneseo but suspect that he did. Fleming turns up in New York City in the 1870s contemporary to Barbour’s residence there. They preached to the same congregation and had similar abrasive personalities.

Crozier says that a “Mr. Johnson,” a Millerite evangelist, lectured at Geneseo in the winter of 1842.[24] Though Crozier paid little attention to Jonas D. Johnson’s message,[25] by mid summer 1843, he was actively spreading Millerite end-times predictions, lecturing at the Canandaigua school house and elsewhere. Barbour, and Daniel Cogswell from Dansville, about 21 miles from Geneseo, also spread the Millerite message. It is apparent from the biographical sections of Barbour’s Midnight Cry booklet that Miller’s end-times calculations struck his fancy and convinced him. He saw them as flawless and inarguable. He memorized the math and the chronology upon which the calculations were based, and for fifteen years after the 1843-4 disappointment he could find no error in them, though the failure was self-evident.

Barbour gives us one snippet of his experiences as an active Millerite. He recalled that every Adventist had a Bible in his hand or pocket, ready for immediate use. “It must have been a small gathering for those days, where, if a preacher quoted or misquoted a text, his ear was not saluted by the rustling of a hundred volumes.”[26]

In 1843, at the time appointed, Millerites in the Geneseo and surrounding areas gathered in Springwater at the home of “Captain [Parker H.] Pierce near the center of the town with its huge lawn.” The group there took the name “House of Judgment.” One source estimates that twenty or more attended the gathering, and, considering Barbour’s close association with Henry F. Hill, who was one of the principal speakers, it is likely he attended.

---

[1]               The New England Historical and Genealogical Register, volume 76, page xciv.

[2]               “Cayugans Are Interested: Will of Tacoma Man Probated in Rochester,” The Auburn New York Citizen, October 20, 1905.

[3]               John W. Barber and Henry Howe: Historical Collections of the State of New York Containing a General Collection of the Most Interesting Facts, Traditions, Biographical Sketches, Anecdotes, &c. Relating to its History and Antiquities, with Geographical Descriptions of Every Township in the State, New York, 1842, page 80

[4]               T. F. Gordon: Gazetteer of the State of New York, Philadelphia, 1836, page 377.

[5]               E. T. Storke: History of Cayuga County, New York, D. Mason & Co., Syracuse, New York, 1879, page 202, 252; T. F. Gordon: Gazetteer of the State of New York, Philadelphia, 1836, page 377. Several membership lists exist noting Barber/Barbour names. Friend Barbour is listed here: https://www.cayugagenealogy.org/church/throop/throopsville_baptist_church_membership_males.htm [Retrieved March 2, 2020]

[6]               Though his death notice in an Auburn, New York, newspaper says he died September 1, 1905, in Tacoma, Washington, the official record gives the date August 30, 1905. He died aged 81 years, 9 days. - “Died,” The Auburn, New York, Bulletin, September 6, 1905, page 8. Register of Deaths, City of Tacoma, 1905.

[7]               A web site that gives her name as Elizabeth is incorrect. Death date: The Auburn, New York, Democrat-Argus, November 26, 1901, page 1. Marriage and birth dates are in the 1900 Census. She and Nelson are both buried in Throopsville Rural Cemetery, Throop, New York, Swift Purchase, Lot S31. This was Emeline’s second marriage.

Also on that lot are graves for Benjamin H. Barbour (1831-1913) and his wife L. A. (1835-1914). They appear to be the same as the Benjamin H. Barber and Lydia A. Barber of the 1880 Census. They were residents of District 41, Auburn, Cayuga County, New York. Benjamin’s father’s birth place is listed as Connecticut, and his mother’s birthplace is listed as Ohio. Benjamin H. Barbour was Barbour’s half-uncle according to an obituary. – Cayugans Are Interested: Will of Tacoma Man Probated in Rochester, The Auburn New York Citizen, October 20, 1905.

[8]               M. F. Eastman: The Biography of Dio Lewis, Fowler & Wells, New York, 1891, pages 19-20

[9]               Documents of the Assembly of the State of New York, Fifty-Seventh Session, 1834, pages 3-4.

[10]             Collections of Cayuga County Historical Society Number 4, 1887, pages 30-31. Throopsville was three miles from Auburn Prison.

[11]             Description of Barbour’s grandmother: Memorial and Family History of Erie County, New York, The Genealogical Publishing Company, Buffalo, 1906, Volume 1, page 107. Description of Friend Barbour: Mary F. Eastman: The Biography of Dio Lewis, A.M, M.D., Fowler & Wells, New York 1891, pages 20-21. On the move: The Rochester, New York, Union and Advertiser, October 5, 1895, page 12.

[12]              Nancy Beadie and Kimberley Tolley: Chartered Schools: Two Hundred Years of Independent Academies in the United States, 1727-1925, Routledge, 2002, page 285. Temple Hill Academy’s name was changed to Geneseo Academy in 1849.

[13]             Cortlandt Van Rensselaer: True Organization of a Christian Institution: An Address Delivered at the Close of the Winter Term of the Geneseo Synodical Academy, N. Y., April 7^th 1853, Philadelphia, 1853, page 21.

[14]             The 57th Installment of the Union’s Series of Saturday Articles on Rochester Pastors is Devoted to the Rev. Nelson H. Barbour, Pastor of the Church of the Strangers, The Rochester, New York, Union and Advertiser, October [?], 1895, page 12.

[15]             1835 New York State Census returns. T. F. Gordon: Gazetteer of the State of New York, Philadelphia, 1836, pages 508, 511.

[16]             Minutes of the Annual Conferences of the Methodist Episcopal Church: 1839-1845, volume three, page 93.

[17]             E. D. Darrow & Brother, Rochester, New York, 1857.

[18]             William L. Harris, ed: Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church Held in Philadelphia Pennsylvania, 1864, page 16.

[19]             William L. Harris, ed: Journal of the General Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church Held in Chicago, 1868, page 520.

[20]             There is another and more famous William H. Ferris associated with the African Methodist Episcopal Church. He is a different individual.

[21]             Catalogue of the Officers and Students of Genesee College ... for the Academic Year 1857-1858, C. P. Dewey at the Office of the Daily American, Rochester New York, 1857, page 5.

[22]                Minutes of the Annual Conferences of the Methodist Episcopal Church for the Years 1839- 1845, Volume Three, pages 189, 288, 521. David Ferris and forty-six others signed an anti-slavery petition in 1860. We do not know his views on slavery as they were in the 1840s.

[23]             Based on Federal Census records, E. A. Hendrick seems to be a woman. Her letter appears in The Signs of the Times[Boston], November 1, 1840, page 119.

[24]             Canandaigua Daily Messenger, Volume 126, Number 126, November 22, 1923, pages 17-24.

[25]             His full name is given in appended to a letter by him in published under the heading The Alarm to Go From This Country in The Voice of Truth and Glad Tidings, April 9, 1845. A brief article in the [issue] of Voice of Truth says his principal labors had been in LeRoy, Dansville, Springwater, Warsaw, “and many other places in those regions.” – See: Br. J. D. Johnson, Voice of Truth, May 21, 1845.

[26]             N. H. Barbour: Evidences for the Coming of the Lord in 1873; Or The Midnight Cry, second edition, Rochester, 1871, page 24.

Separate Identity

If you intend to buy a copy of Separate Identity vol. One, note that Amazon has fouled up the purchase page, raising the price without authorization to almost fifty dollars. Buy it from lulu.com where the price is 27.50.

I'm working with Amazon to correct this, but without much success. Personally, I've become so frustrated with Amazon that I never purchase through them anymore if I can find the book I want elsewhere. There are many book sites including ebay and bookfinder.com and abe.com.

Amazon can't "keep it together," and dealing with their agents online, on the phone or via social media is frustrating, usually a waste of time. Use lulu for my books.

https://www.lulu.com/en/us/shop/b-w-schulz/a-separate-identity-organizational-identity-among-readers-of-zions-watch-tower-1870-1887/paperback/product-1re47n8q.html

Amazon has created two web pages for volume one. One of those takes you to a high priced book. It's their preference. The normal page is here

https://www.amazon.com/Separate-Identity-Organizational-Readers-1870-1887/dp/1304969401

I still suggest you avoid Amazon. They're a problem plagued seller.

George Swetnam

George Swetnam (1904-1999) was a writer who led a full and eventful life. His obituary in the Pittsburgh Post Gazette (April 7, 1999) outlined how he was an author of a dozen books, mainly on history, and was also a Presbyterian minister. He had been a newspaper editor, a member of various historical societies, and for two years of his life, a hobo. His obituary states “he claimed to have ridden more freight trains than any other Ph.D alive.” He is probably best remembered today for co-authoring A Guidebook to Historic Western Pennsylvania.

He is of interest on this blog because he wrote about Charles Taze Russell from time to time.

In 1958 he wrote Where Else but Pittsburgh, and part of one chapter has six pages on CTR. It is written in popularist style, and while one can easily nitpick some of the erroneous details, it could be called a tribute and a sympathetic portrait.

Swetnam became a columnist and feature writer for the Pittsburgh Press. At least two of his pieces featured CTR. The first in the Pittsburgh Press Sunday magazine for October 6, 1963, was about the demolition of the old Bible House as part of the North Side redevelopment scheme.

The second was an article, again in the Sunday magazine section of the Pittsburgh Press for January 25, 1967. This was about the burial site and the pyramid monument.

Swetnam lists the names found on the pyramid, but was obviously struggling. The weathering of the stone and the way the light hits the monument can make decipherment difficult. He lists eight names, CTR himself and then seven others.

There were actually nine names inscribed. He misses out the name John Perry, and some of the names he records have glitches. Grace Mound was actually Grace Mundy, who died in a fire in 1914. Chester Elledge can only be a drastic misreading of John Coolidge, which is strange because his grave marker is the only one (other than CTR’s) to still survive of those named. Swetnam says that the oldest who died was Miss Cole, aged 78. Flora Cole actually died aged 70, but it IS hard to decipher the lettering. But she wasn’t “Miss” she was “Mrs” – her son James Cole was the inventor of the Dawn-Mobile featured in a fairly recent Watchtower article – February 15, 2012.

The other thing this article did was to remind the public that there was a treasure trove of old publications buried in the pyramid. They appear to have survived until 1993 when the pyramid was finally broken into and the contents stolen.

Not by any reader of this blog I would hope.

More Barbour research issues

I need as much detail as you can find about this man:

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/43732704/david-ferris

Call for submissions.

Usual expectations. Supported by original source material. Footnoted. History not doctrinal controversy. I'm still struggling with health issues as is my wife. I can't contribute to this blog as I might wish. I'd like to see a well-researched article on Russell's newspaper sermons. Another possibility is an article probing the effects of the publication of Millennial Dawn volume 2. An article about court cases and legal issues during the Russell era would be welcome. Or any Russell-era topic you have pursued. Surprise me.

I have the final say on what appears here. I will make my decision based on research quality and grammar. If English isn't your first language, one of us will work with you to put your article in shape assuming it is otherwise interesting.

There is no word limit, except that imposed by blogger. We can divide an article into parts if need be.

Email your submission to me at bwschulz2 at yahoo dot com.

John Parker

A "Rev. John Parker" was the Methodist clergyman in Geneseo, New York, in 1840.

I need as much information about him as can be found. Are you up to the task?

I need as much information as you can find ...

About a Methodist Episcopal clergyman named Stephen D. Trembley. He served Prattsburg and Cohocton, New York from the mid 1830s into the 1840s. He owned the B. T. Hawkins sawmill and adjacent property, in 1840, organized the first Sunday school in Bristol, New York. 

I know very little beyond this, and any stray fact will be helpful.

Revision to "Nelson Barbour"

This fragment of revision to Nelson Barbour: The Millennium's Forgotten Prophet is posted for your comments and observations:

            As with his childhood, there is little record of Barbour’s adventures in Australia. He left the United States through an east coast port. New York City is most probable. And we can date this to 1851 or 1852 based on a newspaper advertisement for his services as a physician. He told the Rochester Union and Advertiser that he preached in all of the Australian colonies. This implies that he traveled somewhat regularly. There are three ship’s records for a Mr. Barber of the correct age traveling as a mining supplies merchant between the various colonies. Lacking a first name or initials, we cannot firmly attach these to Nelson Barbour. A Mr. Barber appears in Australian newspaper files in the two years before he left for England. This Mr. Barber was being sued by several for defalcation. New York property records show property transfers to a N. H. Barbour in the eighteen months before he left for England. There are, however, at least two other N. H. Barbours living in New York State in that period. So while we could imagine a very dim and dirty story with Nelson Barbour at its center, without a firm identification in the records we would craft fiction and not history.

            In the first edition of this work, I suggested how and where he became an electro-physician. The craft, eventually viewed as medical quackery, has since been revived in a more narrow way as part of current medical practice. Originally I suggested [quote paragraph]. Since that was written I discovered several advertisements for Barbour’s services. These suggest that his studies were primarily in Europe. Barbour made wild claims throughout his lifetime and was not averse to making misleading, sometimes false claims. [continue]