The Watch Tower and the Koreshan Unity

(With grateful thanks to Bernhard who originally provided key information for this article and Lyn Millner of the Florida Gulf Coast University for the leads on Koreshanity and Pittsburgh in her entertaining book: The Allure of Immortality – An American Cult, a Florida Swamp, and a Renegade Prophet. Expanded from an article published elsewhere, with permission.)

 

            During the times of CTR’s ministry and the founding of the Watch Tower Society there were individuals once in association who then left for pastures new. The reasons were many. Some, like John Paton took the “ransom for all” doctrine to an extra level and became a Universalist. Some had personal issues as discussed in A Conspiracy Exposed (1894). There was a split with Ernest Henninges in Australia 1909 (see Yearbook 1983).

            In nearly all cases, while a modern reader may not agree with what they did, they can at least understand what happened. But the oddest defections occurred in a little known scenario from the latter half of the 1890s – the move of three men, James Augustus Weimar, Ulysses Grant Morrow and Henry Nicholas Rahn to join a fairly new religious movement called The Koreshan Unity.

            The Koreshan Unity was founded by Cyrus Reed Teed (1839-1908). Teed studied medicine and practiced what today would be viewed as fringe therapies including alchemy and medical electricity. An encounter with electricity in 1869 rendered him unconscious and when he came around he believed he’d had a vision telling him he was the Messiah. He now had a mission to redeem mankind through his scientific knowledge. As part of his new calling he changed his name to the Hebrew version of Cyrus, namely Koresh. (Around a hundred years later another prophet called Vernon Howell would rebrand himself as one David Koresh and die at Waco). The original Koresh, Cyrus Teed, promoted a unique theology that included reincarnation, celebacy for certain levels of hierarchy and a version of communism. Perhaps his most unusual teaching was that the earth is hollow and humans live inside it with the sun like a giant battery in the middle. (One wonders if Edgar Rice Burroughs, author of the Tarzan books, got his idea for his Pellucidar series from reading Koresh.)

            The new movement with its Messiah formed several small communes that eventually came together as a collective version of New Jerusalem in the Florida town of Estero around 1894. At its peak the community had around 250 inhabitants, and was well organized and self-sufficient. They published a magazine called The Flaming Sword. They also got involved in local politics with their own political party, although not very successfully.

 

Teed aka Koresh died in 1908, as a possible result of injuries sustained in a 1906 fight between his commune and outsiders. Having claimed he would be raised to heaven, his followers kept vigil over his body until the public health people stepped in and insisted on burial. His tomb was then destroyed in a hurricane in 1921 and his coffin, a zinc bath, washed out to sea and lost. A few fragments of Teed were found in a search of the beach, which were stored in the Estero Post Office - which then burned down in 1938. Words like bizarre come to mind.

            After Teed’s death, the Koreshan Unity slowly declined. Their magazine ran until 1949, when a fire at their printing works ended production. The last official member of the commune died in 1981. The historical remains of the venture are now a State Park.

            Quite how any Watch Tower adherents became involved is not known, nor can we be sure who was first and who followed. But they included a Society director and also someone mentioned in fairly recent Watchtower literature.

            The key year was 1895. Teed/Koresh increasingly entered the consciousness of Pittsburgh residents in the newspapers of that year. The Pittsburgh Press for 14 March 1895 carried a satirical cartoon (not attempting a likeness) and poked fun at Koreshan belief.

The next month, Teed/Koresh visited the area in person and a local group of supporters was formed. From the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette for 23 April 1895:

            Teed’s spokesman on this occasion was a Mr. Morrow (to whom we will return later). The New Jerusalem in Estero was described and Morrow explained Koreshan theology for the reporter, including that “none but celebates could become part of the elect sons of God.” Unsurprisingly the reporter sounded out Mrs. Morrow. When interviewed, she confessed she “hoped in time to become perfect enough to live a celebate life.”

            There was no mention of CTR and the Bible Students at this stage, but that was soon to change. Teed was back in town in June. The Pittsburgh Daily Post for 17 June 1895 reviewed his speech at the Pittsburgh Opera House the night before, attended by about 500. It was on the front page of the paper and Morrow was again much in evidence. The newspaper byline dismissed this as “rather a small crowd,” but commended Teed’s skill:

            “Dr Teed is rather an impressive platform orator, He possesses a vigorous form, a strong, expressive face, and a deep, powerful voice, all of which help wonderfully in the control of an audience.”

            Within just a few weeks the issue between the teachings of Koresh and Zion’s Watch Tower became very public. The Chicago Daily News for August 12, 1895, had a special report from a correspondent in Pittsburgh, dated August 11, 1895. (Teed was still based in Chicago at this point). In the best yellow journalism style, it carried the heading: “Ready to Talk Two Hours or Weeks – Long-winded debates by the Rival Messiahs of Pittsburgh.”

            The text read:

            “Pittsburgh, Pa., Aug. 11. (Special) – A war has broken out between rival Messiahs. Dr. Cyrus R. Teed of Chicago, the renowned Koresh, and C.T. Russell, leader of the Russellites of Allegheny City, cannot agree, and the charges and countercharges that are made range all the way from points on religion and science to accusations of indecent conduct.

            Teed’s Florida colonization scheme looks like a winner and the Russellites have been flocking to the banner of Koresh in such numbers as to alarm their former chief. He issued a circular the other day that brought Teed here today. Koresh made reply in the shape of a challenge to Russell to debate the whole question of Messiahism. He is willing to make it a debate of two hours or two weeks.”

           No debate as such ever happened, but the story was picked up in detail by the Pittsburgh Press for August 14, 1895.

            CTR provided a lengthy written statement for newspaper, which, apart from some theological arguments, they appear to have printed in full. Much of it features the first of our three defectors, Augustus Weimar, which the paper calls the Rev. Mr. Weimar.

            Before considering the newspaper account, first, a little background for James August Weimar (1855-1919).

James August Weimar’s photograph from “The Mysteries and Revelation”

            Weimar came from Germany to the States and became interested in the Watch Tower message in 1888. He was a minister of the German Baptist congregation in Meriden, Connecticut at the time. By 1889 he was a Watch Tower evangelist mentioned in the pages of Zion’s Watch Tower. He continued to be mentioned in connection with his support for CTR’s work up until 1895. During 1895 he was a director of the Watch Tower Society, replacing J B Adamson on January 5, 1895, and being replaced by E C Henninges on January 4, 1896.

            At some point in 1895 Weimar found his new spiritual home with the Koreshan Unity. The Flaming Sword published an attack on CTR and Millennial Dawn in its July 1895 issue. It started on the front page and ran to three pages in total. It attacked his position on the ransom as a “corresponding price” and dismissed his theology as “modern Christianity gone to seed.” This attack was followed by a reprint of a Nelson Barbour article from Herald of the Morning for November 1891 in The Flaming Sword for September 1895, which sneered at CTR’s ransom theology as that of a “commercial man” and “commercial gentleman.” As noted above, there was already a branch of the Koreshan faith meeting regularly in Allegheny.

            It came to a head with what Weimar called AN ALL-DAY CONFERENCE with CTR. We don’t know exactly when it happened, but writing as “Augustus” Weimar reported on it in The Flaming Star for April 1896. He called it “A dispute I had with the compiler of Millennial Dawn, concerning Koresh (whom I believe to be the true Messiah of this age) and his literature.” Weimar insisted that Koresh had wonderful widsom and understanding, and could understand ancient languages fully, better than any recognized lexicographer, even though he’d never had any lessons… He went on to insist that Koresh understood all the prophecies of Old and New Testaments, and (quote) “that to him all the mysteries of the physical and the anthropostic microcosm were open secrets.” The interview did not end well. According to Weimar, CTR said “THAT IS OF THE DEVIL” and Weimar said “Goodbye Mr Russell” and left.

            More detail of the split is found in the aforementioned Pittsburgh Press for August 14, 1895. CTR’s letter to the newspaper gave the following details as he saw them:

            “It is true that J.A. Weimer has been working in the office of “Zion’s Watch Tower” as a compositor for some years, working piecework, at 40 cents per M., and averaging about $14 per week, and I learn that it is true that Mr. Teed has offered him $18 per week of 36 hours.

            “It is true, also, that I had a far better opinion of his education, his reasoning facilities and his heart than to suppose that he would have the slightest interest in the vagaries and absurdities of Koreshanity.

            “It is true, also, that for some time Mr. Weimer has been holding some meetings in some nearby towns along lines which I believe to be biblical. But it is not true that he was either appointed or paid for such service. His car-fare only was supplied from a volunteer fund to which he with others contributed.

            “From this it will be seen that “The Post” was misinformed by the Koreshans when told that I had given Mr. Weimer the “option” of ceasing his investigation into Koreshanity or “leaving the service in which he was employed as a speaker for several out-of-town congregations,” for his was neither paid nor employed, and was in no sense in my service, but voluntarily in the Lord’s service. Nor has there been one unkind word between us, nor one word with reference to his job as a compositor. He, however, settled that by failing to report for work on Monday.

Weimar Saw the Letter

            “As for the ‘printed matter attacking Teed most bitterly;’ about which Teed wanted his people ‘not to be angry’ if they were ‘persecuted,’ it was a ‘typewritten letter, a copy of which was handed to Mr. Weimar more than a week before it was sent, that he might know exactly what we counseled the friends to do respecting his preaching; and I requested Mr. Weimar to indicate any items not considered true, or for any reason objectionable to him.

            “In this letter I assume no control over Teed, Weimar or the gatherings of God’s people. The most offered is reasonable advice, and that in kind and courteous language.

            “It is reported that I declined to discuss differences with Mr. Teed, but this is not the case; for I have never been ‘approached’ on the subject. I surmise, however, that no good could be accomplished for Teed, nor for any as blinded as to consider him greater than Christ. But should it ever become evident to me that any of the Lord’s true sheep need help, I shall not hesitate to show up the hollowness of the blasphemous claims of Koreshanity….

            “…These blasphemous claims are all the proofs that I need that the entire theory is of the devil. I care not for the legerdemain of sophistry by which they were entrapped, and by which they claim to prove God’s word a lie. It is sufficient to me that this is the faith and teachings of Koreshans, who receive it from Koresh, whom they call “The Master,” and before whom they bow…”

            “On the one hand we have all the exceeding great and precious promises of God’s word and our Christian experiences and growth in grace and knowledge for many years, and our realization of our Lord’s presence, and feasting with Him upon the things old and new which He has furnished to His household during the past years of His presence. On the other hand, we have the bombastic claims of a poor fellow being of certainly no more than average ability, who has claimed to be able to make gold for £3 per ton, but who has done nothing but twist a few passages of scripture fulfilled twenty-four hundred years ago by King Cyrus the Mede, whose decree let Israel go free from Babylon, so as to make himself ‘somebody,’ and to practically deny or make void all the remainder of God’s word.

            “I learned of Brother Weimar’s interest in Koreshanity and of his affiliation with its advocates at their homes. Brother Weimar was present; but declares that he is not committed to Koreshanity, but says he is trying it, investigating it, proving it. I showed him in most kindly manner and word some of the absurdities of such a view, and that there was nothing to prove or weigh. It seems to me, and I believe it will seem to some of you all, and to Brother Weimar, when you consider it, that he is at present in no condition to teach others respecting matters of which he is himself in doubt – not yet decided. I advise, therefore, that any appointments already out for Brother Weimar be filled by someone else, and that for the present you excuse Brother Weimar. If desired, I will endeavor to send you someone else for any meetings already appointed or for others.”

            The break between CTR and Weimar was final, and the latter’s connection with Koreshanity would not be just as an observer.

            When Teed died in 1908 it was Weimar who led a vigil over the corpse for several days. He was now viewed as Teed’s doctor, although his speciality was in the fairly new-fangled and unconventional field of osteopathy.

            He stayed a Koreshan believer for the rest of his life. As the three pictures below from 1914 show, Weimar became part of The Flaming Sword editorial committee and also translator of their works into German.

            If I have deciphered the theology correctly, one of their beliefs was that hell was sort of something inside a person. This allowed for a swipe at Pastor Russell. From the same 1914 volume:

            There is no author given for the article in question. However, an article carrying Weimar’s name in this same volume shows that he was one of the inner circle who practiced celibacy. It should be noted that Weimar’s wife divorced him way back in 1898, citing his membership as a reason.  

            At some point he published a book entitled The Divine and Biblical Credentials of Dr. Cyrus R. Teed (Koresh). It was republished as recently as 1971 as Koreshanity, the New Age Religion. Weimer died in 1919 and was buried in the Koreshan Unity Cemetery in Estero, Florida.

            The second name with Watch Tower connections is Ulysses Grant Morrow (1864-1950). In the above reproduction from a 1914 Flaming Sword magazine, we can see that Dr. J. A. Weimar translated into German a publication from the English by a Prof. Morrow.

            Ulysses Grant Morrow was born in Kentucky in 1864, and like many others was named after the Civil War General, then a hero on the Union side. He married and had two children. He moved to Iowa where he published and taught his own stenography system. Then at some point he relocated to Allegheny.

Ulsusses Grant Morrow’s photograph as used in Find a Grave

            For the clue that links Morrow to Zion’s Watch Tower, we must travel forward to March 1936 when The Flaming Sword attacked him and accused him of plagiarism. The Koreshan Unity and Morrow had parted company many years before. But the article in passing takes us back to 1895. The writer (one Allen Andrews) states: “I have known Ulysses G. Morrow for more than 40 years and for a considerable period was a co-worker with him…Away back in 1895 Ulysses G. Morrow (then a member of the C.T. Russell sect) was living in Allegheny, Pa.”

            There is one mention of a Brother Morrow in the pages of Zion’s Watch Tower, in the issue for November 1891. CTR had been away on a trip to Britain and on his return to Allegheny he wrote: “Brother Bryan and Morrow, a delegation of welcome, met us at the depot.” On getting to the actual Bible House, there was a service of welcome conducted by Brother Weimar and Sister Ball read a poem. Brother Bryan would be Elmer Bryan, soon to leave in the 1894 disagreements. Sister Ball would be Rose Ball, later Ross Ball Henninges. Brother Weimar we have already met, and it is probable that Brother Morrow was Ulysses G.

            The 1936 attack on Morrow mentioned he was associated with CTR back in 1895, but if so, he obviously had a foot in two camps. In The Flaming Sword for May 1895, Morrow wrote a letter stating he had a file of their magazines going back to 1892, and addressed his letter to: KORESH, THE MESSENGER OF THE COVENANT – DEAR MASTER AND SHEPHERD. The letter stated his conversion to “hollow earth” belief (from a previous “flat earth” belief) and announced that his own magazine would henceforth promote the Koreshan system.

            So there in Allegheny, right under the nose of The Bible House, Morrow went to work. As noted above he appears to have been the spokesman for Teed in his April 1895 visit, and regular meetings at Morrow’s Allegheny home for the “Branch Assembly of the Arch-Triumphant” were announced in The Flaming Sword from July 1895 onward. He also produced a new paper called Salvator – Scientist which started in September that year.

 

            Morrow did not stay in Allegheny long. He soon relocated to the newly formed Koreshan commune in Estero. He took over editorial duties for The Flaming Sword which swallowed up the Salvator – Scientist. He also invented a special piece of equipment called a Rectilineator that could be used in a straight line on a beach to establish the curve of the earth. In 1897 at Naples Beach, not far from the Estero commune, they conducted an experiment which convinced them even more that the earth’s curve was concave, not convex – so yes, mankind really was inside a hollow earth with the sun as a giant battery in the center. It was blindingly obvious.

            Morrow lived until 1950 and his son lived on until 1988. One wonders how they coped with “hollow earth” belief as the years went by, especially into the era of rockets and space travel.

            The third member of our trinity of Watch Tower defectors was Henry Nicholas Rahn (1858-1933) who has actually been mentioned by name in recent Watchtower literature.

Henry Nicholas Rahn’s photograph from Koreshan archives

            Henry Rahn and Augustus Weimar obviously had connections. Weimar came from Germany, and was previously a Baptist and at one point was reported to have lived in Baltimore, Maryland. Rahn also came from Germany, and had been a Baptist pastor, and also lived in Baltimore. Both certainly knew each other. Baltimore Baptists and then Bible Students at the same time, they both then became Koreshan Unity supporters at around the same time. They both stayed with the new movement for the rest of their lives.

Rahn was a married man with at least six children. His oldest son was Claude who will enter our story shortly. In the 1880 and 1900 census returns Henry’s occupation was as a clerk.

            The modern reference to Rahn in Watchtower literature is found in the book God’s Kingdom Rules (published 2014) on page 174, in paragraph 13. Rahn is credited with the suggestion used for group meetings that CTR endorsed. The relevant passage reads:  “In the mid-1890’s, after a number of volumes of Millennial Dawn had been released, Brother H. N. Rahn, a Bible Student living in the city of Baltimore, Maryland, U.S.A., suggested holding “Dawn Circles” for Bible study.”

            The original reference comes from the September 15, 1895 ZWT. It is part of an article by CTR recommending how to conduct meetings, and states that Rahn’s suggestion for Dawn Circles dated back to earlier in the decade. The reference reads: “Such meetings for the study of the Word in the light of the now revealed plan of the ages have been termed Dawn Circles. The plan originated with Brother Rahn, of Baltimore, several years ago, and he and the other members of the class report much profit therefrom.”

            Rahn’s name had already occurred several times in the ZWT’s pages by the time of the Sepember 1895 quote. He probably became interested in the Bible Student message in the late 1880s, around the same time as Augustus Weimar. His name occurs in ZWT for May 1892, April 15, 1893, June 11, 1894, and March 15, 1895. Finally, there is the aforementioned September 15, 1895 reference. However, immediately thereafter Rahn disappeared from Watch Tower history. In that year, 1895, he left association with the Bible Students and spent the rest of his life as an advocate of the Koreshan Unity.

            Henry Rahn died in 1933 and his obituary was published in The Flaming Sword for August 1933, page 13: "The sad news has been received from Baltimore of the death, after a long illness, of Mr. Henry N. Rahn, father of Brothers Claude and Frank Rahn, in his seventy-fifth year. Mr. Rahn was a staunch Koreshan and earnestly endeavored to further the Cause in his native city of Baltimore since accepting Koreshanity in 1895. Meetings were frequently held at his house to discuss the doctrine; and whenever KORESH visited Baltimore he was a welcome guest at the hospitable home of Mr. and Mrs. Rahn. Mr. Rahn is survived by his wife, five sons and a daughter."

            Rahn’s defection from Watch Tower therefore occurred in the same year he was credited by CTR for suggesting Dawn Circles. Rahn was to remain close to Koresh. On June 21^st 1899, he received the book The Cellular Cosmogony from him. Cyrus R Teed wrote a dedication inside it, to: “H N Rahn, Pastor of the Church Triumphant in Baltimore,” a name used for local meetings there. Teed identified himself as the “Founder of the Koreshan Unity” and considerately added a new alternative date, A.K. 60 – Anno Koresh. He was sixty years old at the time.

 

            We have mentioned above that Teed was seriously injured in a street fight in 1906 between his supporters and local townspeople. Teed was actually at the depot to meet a train from Baltimore that was bringing some of the Rahn family to visit. Both Henry and son Claude were part of the ensuing fracas. Teed was pistol whipped by a town marshall and Claude got himself arrested.

            Although Henry Rahn lived most of his life in Baltimore, son Claude was to live at the Estero commune for some years and wrote a biography of Teed/Koresh. He was also briefly the Vice President of the dwindling Koreshan association. He lived until 1973. Like Morrow’s son, you wonder how he coped with the advancing knowledge of the space age.

            The above then is a story of three men who ceased working with CTR and the Watch Tower and made what appear to be off the wall choices of religious direction. All in all, when examining this history, you get the impression that CTR may have breathed a big sigh of relief when they parted company with the Watch Tower Society.

 

A. P. Adams one more time

 Adams mentioned Russell in one of the 1907 issues of Spirit of the Word. I do not have and cannot locate any of those issue. Can you?

I need more data on Adams between 1890 and his death. 

Photos of his known associates help.

An analysis of Barbour's comments on Adams found in the latter issues of Herald of the Morning.

Belgium

 

https://bitterwinter.org/jehovahs-witnesses-fined-in-ghent-for-their-ostracism-a-wrong-decision/

Yet more people to research.

 Charles D. Rice, born in Auburn, New York, April 1859. Living in Hartford, Connecticut in 1903. He was married to Anna, maiden name unknown, born in Union Springs, New York. They were married in 1883. The 1920 Federal Census says he was "manager, typewriter works." The 1900 Census calls him a mechanic/engineer. C. D. Rice was still living in 1937. His name is found on a Ship's Passenger List. 

A John Barnes hosted A. P. Adams in 1901. This was in Hartford, Connecticut. There are so many John Barnes living in Hartford in 1901 that I cannot firmly identify this man. Can you?

More people to research

 I  need biographies for these individuals:

Carrie Ingersol of Beverly, Massachusetts, was born about 1848. The 1880 census notes her as single and working in a shoe shop. She is boarding with a Mary Owen, also employed in a shoe shop. This isn’t a retail store, but a shoe factory. She is still living with Mary Owen in 1910, and both are employed as ‘stitchers’ in a shoe factory.

Elijah Chadwick, of Chelsea, Massachusetts, born between 1808 and 1811, was a Customs House Clerk. His wife was Sarah, maiden name unknown.

James H. Carty of Chelsea, Massachusetts, born October 24, 1810 in “British Provences,” i.e. Nova Scotia, Canada, immigrated to the USA and naturalized November 3, 1860. A physician.

Limited Circulated Tract - 1909

 

Click Image to See it in its Entirety.

Put your research hat on ...

 I have a short list of people who become important to vol 3 at least in a minor way. I know almost nothing about them. Can you help?

First on my list is Edwin T. Butman of Lynn, Massachusetts. He was born in 1829 in Maine and died November 11, 1892, at Lynn of "accidental suffocation." His wife was Mary A. maiden name unknown. The 1880 census says he worked in a shoe store. I suspect he owned it since they were keeping a servant named Frances. 

Next is Elizabeth M. Richardson of Lynn, Massachusetts. There are several women of that name in the census records, but the Elizabeth M. resident in Lynn was born in 1813 and died December 29, 1898, in Lynn of an ovarian tumor. Her death record and 1870 census names her husband as Stephen A. Richardson, a wealthy shoe manufacturer. The 1870 census says that at some point she ran a "dry goods" store from which she had retired by that year.

Francis A. Spinney of Lynn, Massachusetts, was born October 15, 1829, to Irish immigrant parents. Her father was a shoe maker. According to the 1850 census all her brothers were engaged in the same trade, probably working for their father. She died March 6, 1913, never having married. Her death record says she died of acute nephritis complicated by bronchial pneumonia.  

S. C. Jackson of Beverley, Massachusetts. No information at this time. 

E. S. Jackson of Beverley, Massachusetts. No information at this time.

James H. Morse of Beverley, Massachusetts, born about 1845 in Massachusetts. The 1910 census lists his occupation as 'real estate'. The 1880 census says he worked in a 'shoe shop,' which may mean a shoe manufactory. He was married to Lizzie R. [Elizabeth R.] last name unknown. They had two children according to the 1880 census. His wife probably did not share his faith.

There are more on this list, but I'll be happy with any information on these individuals. This is a frustrating but important bit of research. Post what you find to the comments section, please.

Bible Harmony by A. P. Adams

 Because Bible Harmony was based on two previous works, Adams labeled this as the second edition. In fact, it was not. He adopted the same careless usage that allowed Paton to label his re-written Day Dawn as second and third editions. Adams adopted "Droweht" as the name of his 'publishing company.' That's an anagram for "the word."

 

World's Hope

 

Can you read shorthand?

 I have several pages of notes in shorthand from 1910. Can you translate this for me?

For comment, and an opportunity to help

I am thankful for the documents and monetary help I receive. What I need is a persistent and adept gang of researchers, questers. Here is a small bit of a chapter I'm researching. It is unsatisfactory as is. Documents that would help clear this up include A. P. Adams' will, which may have been probated either in New Hampshire or Massachusetts - Probably New Hampshire, though I really have no clue. Some more information about Adams' son would be helpful. All I have is his name and birth date. Who is Mrs. Chase? Is she in the early issues of Herald of the Morning? The 1890 Seattle Directory hints that this might be a Mrs. Clara Chase. Can we prove or disprove that? Either would be helpful. 

If you truly wish to help, this is a significant way.

From rough draft. It will change:

Adams support seems to have come from one or two wealthy adherents. A short notice in the New Hartford, Connecticut, Western News reported that Adams held parlor meetings at the invitation of Mrs. Kellogg-Strakosch [1842-1916] on Sunday and Monday of the preceding week. On Sunday Adams spoke on “Death” and on Monday on the topic “Liberty.” This seems to be his ordinary fare. What isn’t ordinary is who his hostess was. Clara Louise Kellogg was “the first American Prima Dona,” “one of the foremost singers in Grand Opera.”[1]

            Clara Louise left us an autobiography. We do not learn much about her religious views from it. She pictured herself when a young singer as “an odd, young creature – just five feet and four inches tall, and weighing only one hundred and four pounds. I was frail and big-eyed, and wrapped up in music (not cotton wool), and exceedingly childlike for my age. I knew nothing of life, for my puritanical surroundings and the way in which I had been brought up were developing my personality very slowly.” She mentions attending church in various places. Beyond the brief article in The Western News we know nothing of her relationship to Adams. It is likely, however, that she and others like her were the financial mainstays of Adams’ ministry.

            An obituary notice placed by his son described him as “a wealthy, retired ... clergyman” who in later life owned a summer home “overlooking Lake Waukewan,” New Hampshire.[2] In 1898 Barbour wrote to Adams asking him to return all or part of a donation made to him in 1884 or 1885. Barbour was prone to lie when it came to his former associates, and we must proceed with considerable caution. Barbour’s version of events is that:

 

A widow, Mrs. Chase, then in the west, now living in Seattle, Wash. believing that the change to  incorruption was very near; let the editor of [The Spirit of the Word] have $500.00 to use as he thought best; saying at the time, “I do not know when I shall want this, if ever.” A few months ago I wrote to this man [he means Adams], informing him that Mrs. Chase was old, sick and in straightened circumstances, and appealing for help. Hoping that he would at least, join with me in sending her a little much-needed help; a little interest at least, on the $500. I would like to have all our readers see his letter in answer to that widow’s cry for help. But will only give an extract to show how his better nature is crushed to earth by his theology. He says, in giving and taking the money, (nearly all the poor woman had;) “It was a great mistake on her part; it was a still greater one on mine; this is from man’s standpoint, and a business point of view. From God’s standpoint there was no mistake at all.”[3]

 

            The remainder of Barbour’s comments are directed at Adams’ Universalist doctrines. They are sneering and not helpful here. If we assume that the basics are true, that a Mrs. Chase donated five hundred dollars for Adams to use in ‘the work,’ and that a decade and a half later Adams was unable to return it or any portion of it, we might not see Adams as a wealthy clergyman. Barbour suggests that seeing the entirety of Adams’ reply would be shocking, but he withheld it. As he did with Russell twenty years prior, he represents letters to suit his point of view. And, conveniently, he failed to say that his fiddlings with Bible ‘chronology’ prompted the belief that the “change to incorruption” was near. So we are left with a suggestive comment, but without a solid resolution.

           

---

[1]               Carl Strakosch Dies at Hotel, The Hartford, Connecticut, Courant¸ October 24, 1916.

[2]               Wealthy Minister, Son Here, Dies Suddenly in the East, The El Paso, Texas, Herald, November 27, 1920.

[3]               N. H. Barbour: Questions and Answers, Herald of the Morning, December 1898 – January 1899, pages 155-156.

Yet more A. P. Adams Stuff

 If you can add even the smallest detail, please do so. 

Separates from Barbour

 

            First issue of Spirit of the Word [continue]

 

            He described his association as an independent church. A guide to Beverly, Massachusetts, described it as “a little religious society in Beverly that has no particular sectarian name.” This was common practice among Restitution and Age-to-Come sects. “Its membership is composed of people who were formerly Methodists; they came from that body because of becoming interested through their pastor, Rev. A. P. Adams, in the subject of the Lord's coming and the Restitution of all things, (Acts 3:21) in the ‘Ages to come’ (Eph. 2:7).” When interviewed Adams made a point of saying “they are not Adventists ... for they believe that the second coming of Christ is for the blessing of the whole human race, a view that the Advent sect altogether repudiate.”

            His congregation was very small, though Adams claimed “there are thousands of (sympathizers) scattered over the country.” If one counted all Universalists and Age-to-Come believers, in truth it would be difficult to find thousands who sympathized with Adams’ unique doctrines. This was an exaggeration.

            Meetings were held Sunday afternoons in Good Templar's Hall, except the last Sunday of the month when the meeting was in Boston. The guide we’ve drawn this from said:

 

A general convention is held in Beverly during the month of June each year for those in New England and vicinity. Besides this, Mr. Adams, who is still their pastor, accompanied by his wife, makes an extended tour every year, (since 1890), of three or four months among the interested ones in the South and West and up in the Canadian provinces. A monthly paper has been published in Beverly ... for the dissemination of these views; many books and thousands of copies of tracts have been scattered far and wide over the land. This faith is briefly expressed in the language of the day as the “larger hope," though with Mr. Adams and those in sympathy with him, it is more than a hope, it is plain Scriptural doctrine.[1]

 

            Adams support seems to have come from one or two wealthy adherents. A short notice in the New Hartford, Connecticut, Western News reported that Adams held parlor meetings at the invitation of Mrs. Kellogg-Strakosch [1842-1916] on Sunday and Monday of the preceding week. On Sunday Adams spoke on “Death” and on Monday on the topic “Liberty.” This seems to be his ordinary fare. What isn’t ordinary is who his hostess was. Clara Louise Kellogg was “the first American Prima Dona,” “one of the foremost singers in Grand Opera.”[2]

            Clara Louise left us an autobiography. We do not learn much about her religious views from it. She pictured herself when a young singer is of “an odd, young creature – just five feet and four inches tall, and weighing only one hundred and four pounds. I was frail and big-eyed, and wrapped up in music (not cotton wool), and exceedingly childlike for my age. I knew nothing of life, for my puritanical surroundings and the way in which I had been brought up were developing my personality very slowly.” She mentions attending church in various places. Beyond the brief article in The Western News we know nothing of her relationship to Adams. It is likely, however, that she and others like her were the financial mainstays of Adams’ ministry.

 

Adherents

 

            Adams had enough influence among Watch Tower adherents that Russell addressed the issue, naming him along with Barbour and Paton as former associates, [continue]

 

            As we observed in [volume page] most of those who followed Paton, Barbour and Adams met with Watch Tower adherents because their numbers were small and they had no meaningful meetings of their own. Adams was somewhat surprised to find that small “assemblies” were “meeting regularly to talk of the things concerning the soon coming kingdom.” Though he made it seem that there were many “in various places,” he could only name two and had the address of only one. A small association met at 67 Schermerhorn Street, in New York City. Adams suggested there was another group regularly meeting in Chicago, but he didn’t know the address, adding “there is also one at Philadelphia I think.”[3] We know few details.

            What minor detail we have attaches to the Chicago believers. We have the name of three: Clarinda Jane Ferris and her two daughters Ada Josephine and Georgia.[4] That’s it. There is at this writing no more detail.  

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[1]               W. C. Morgan: Beverly, Garden City by the Sea: An Historical Sketch of the North Shore City, Amos O. Odell, Beverly, 1897, pages 120-121.

[2]               Carl Strakosch Dies at Hotel, The Hartford, Connecticut, Courant¸ October 24, 1916.

[3]               A. P. Adams: Assemblies, Spirit of the Word, February 1890, pages 45-46.

[4]               Clarinda Jane nee Avrill [1828-1914] was the widow of George B. Ferris [1833-1872]. Ada married Henry James Sprague in 1886. Sprague died in November 1889, leaving Ada a widow. A somewhat confusing city directory entry suggests that she managed a boarding house in Chicago which was owned by her husband’s relatives. Georgia A. Ferris married Burton A. Graves, date uncertain.

More A. P. Adams needs....

 I need to know what business or residents were at 67 Schermerhorn Street, New York City in 1890.

I need a bit of research assistance

 I need basic biography - more if you can find it - for these people. They adhered to Adams' later theology.

A. P. Adams

 Sent by Raymond, to whom we owe considerable thanks.

The Connecticut Western News, February 3, 1898

Clara Louise Kellogg-Strakosch

Her autobiography is here:

https://www.gutenberg.org/files/38023/38023-h/38023-h.htm

Research Funds

 

Because of slowed income - Covid issues - I'm very low on research funds. I have located some A. P. Adams material I cannot otherwise find. The owner wants $85.00. I don't have a spare eighty-five dollars. Are you willing to help?

Update: I now have the funds. Thank you.

A. P. Adams

 There is an article in the June 9, 1905 Boston Globe about Adams and his followers. I do not have access to this paper. Do you? Will you please copy the article for me?

More from Current Work: A. P. Adams

 For comment or suggestions.

           A guide to Beverly, Massachusetts, described it as “a little religious society in Beverly that has no particular sectarian name.” This was common practice among Restitution and Age-to-Come sects. “Its membership is composed of people who were formerly Methodists; they came from that body because of becoming interested through their pastor, Rev. A. P. Adams, in the subject of the Lord's coming and the Restitution of all things, (Acts 3:21) in the ‘Ages to come’ (Eph. 2:7).” When interviewed Adams made a point of saying “they are not Adventists ... for they believe that the second coming of Christ is for the blessing of the whole human race, a view that the Advent sect altogether repudiate.”

 

            His congregation was very small, though Adams claimed “there are thousands of (sympathizers) scattered over the country.” If one counted all Universalists and Age-to-Come believers, in truth it would be difficult to find thousands who sympathized with Adams’ unique doctrines. This was an exaggeration.

            Meetings were held Sunday afternoons in Good Templar's Hall, except the last Sunday of the month when the meeting was in Boston. The guide we’ve drawn this from said:

 

A general convention is held in Beverly during the month of June each year for those in New England and vicinity. Besides this, Mr. Adams, who is still their pastor, accompanied by his wife, makes an extended tour every year, (since 1890), of three or four months among the interested ones in the South and West and up in the Canadian provinces. A monthly paper has been published in Beverly ... for the dissemination of these views; many books and thousands of copies of tracts have been scattered far and wide over the land. This faith is briefly expressed in the language of the day as the “larger hope," though with Mr. Adams and those in sympathy with him, it is more than a hope, it is plain Scriptural doctrine.[1]

 

---

[1]               W. C. Morgan: Beverly, Garden City by the Sea: An Historical Sketch of the North Shore City, Amos O. Odell, Beverly, 1897, pages 120-121.

Small bit of work in progress

 I'm posting this unedited selection for comments, and with the hope that it will prompt blog readers to find more about these people.

Response to 1883 Failure

 

            Barbour appealed for letters of support. A very few trickled in, and he published them in the Herald of the Morning. If he wanted a measure of continuing support, he must have been disappointed. However, examining them gives us some insight into those who continued to see Barbour as the font of truth.

            Alfred Harrison Fleisher [c 1832 – 1914] of Birch Lake Township, Minnesota, a very small village near Hackensack, wrote that even if others “could do without The Herald,” he could not: “Had I not become perfectly acquainted with its teachings I might, in this hour of trial, say, I have no further use for it. But our senses have been so much exercised through its teachings, that we can now be patient. We have a glimpse of the land, and know that our journey will soon be ended, and that we shall reap, in due time, if we faint not.” Divested of its floridity, in the past he firmly believed Barbour, and he was reluctant to abandon belief. Note, too, that he points to the Herald’s teachings, ignoring the Bible which is supposed to be the foundation of Christian faith.[1]

            Fleisher was at least a casual Barbourite evangelist. A “Brother Brown,” not otherwise identified, believed that “the hand of God was manifested in sending A. H. Fleisher to introduce to me what appears to be ‘the faith once delivered to the saints.’” Brown believed that God was “leading in this movement.” If either of these men persisted after a subsequent ‘failure’ in 1885 is doubtful.

            Some of those answering Barbour’s call to affirm their belief in his speculations saw the Barbourite movement as a continuation of Millerism or as the fulfillment of the Parable of the Virgins. Hamilton R. Perine [March 24, 1833 – April 24, 1915], who started reading Herald of the Morning in 1873, saw “in its teaching” a “continuation of the true advent movement as taught in the parable of the ten virgins.” He believed that God called him to “a place” in his “army,” meaning the Barbourite movement. How he could see a miniscule movement as an army of Christians is puzzling. Despite a continuing chain of failed expectations, he remained loyal to Barbour. In 1898, Perine was still expressing loyalty, despite repeatedly failed expectations, writing that his “confidence in this, as a prophetic movement, is unchangeable. Have been a reader of your writings since 1873; have been confident all through this quarter of a century, that we were in a shining pathway that would lead us on to the consummation of our hopes. Have never doubted this; hence, disappointments have not destroyed my confidence and rejoicing.[2]

            Perine came to Barbourite belief through a circuitous path. As noted in Separate Identity, volume one, He was present at the August 2, 1874, meeting that organized what became a Church of God Seventh Day Missouri State Conference.[3] Church of God, Seventh Day, was formed to sustain Seventh-day Adventist doctrine without recognizing Ellen White as a prophet. How he was introduced to Barbour and his doctrine is unknown.

            George S Vilott [May 6, 1842 – Aug 23 1920] and a William C. Hays of Mankato, Kansas, wrote a joint letter, saying: “We two are all we know in this part of Kansas who are in full sympathy with the Herald.” We know nothing about Hays, but rather more about Vilott. Child and young man he lived in Indiana. During the Civil War he served in a sergeant in the Company H of the 36th Indiana Volunteer Infantry. He may have been wounded. His pension records list him as “Army Invalid.” He moved to Kansas after the war where he and another Vilott, probably his brother, took up farming in Jewel County. He was elected to the Kansas State Legislature in November 1894. An obituary describes him as “a Christian, holding to a creed of his own, as he had made the bible [sic] one of the great studies of his life.”[4]

 

 

 

            Others who wrote in their support have left minimal or no records. Caroline “Carrie” B. Barnum [1833 – October 20, 1907] of Kendall, New York, lived with her aged mother.[5] With a “Miss Ferguson,” she wrote saying they supported Barbour based on ‘the evidence’ and that they saw him as “God’s instrument.” An Elizabeth Tyler of Michigan believed Barbour’s articles were spiritual food. She called it “meat for me,” an allusion to Hebrews 5:12.[6] There are at least two possible identities for her, neither of which have much to recommend to us.

            James Sloan, writing from Lapeer, Michigan, continued to believe despite successive disappointments because Barbour’s manipulation of types of prophetic numbers seemed harmonious: “I thank God that we have been led from one degree of light to another, until now we can see almost to the other side.” As Barbour did, he saw each failed expectation as a step further into divinely-given understanding. Unfortunately, calling a serious error ‘victory’ did not make it one. Sloan believed God would “sift out all the tares” from their movement. This is an allusion to Jesus’ harvest parable. – Matthew 13:24-30

            His exact meaning is unclear. In the Barbourite view, the tares were false Christians, but Sloan’s reference seems to be directed against those disappointed by the 1883 failure and who left the movement. Sloan is difficult to identify. There are two possibilities, father and son of the same name. The most likely is an Irish born [1813-1889] immigrant who settled in Michigan in 1833-34. He was a prosperous farmer and sold his services as a carpenter and joiner.[7]

            Mary R. Campbell, of Douglass, Butler County, Kansas sent her support:

 

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[1]               Fleischer to Barbour, Herald of the Morning, October-November 1883, page 14. Fleisher was a Civil War veteran, serving as a private in Company D of the 4^th Iowa Volunteer Infantry. His death date is recorded in his pension records. The 1880 Census gives his occupation as engineer.

[2]               Letter from H. R. Perine to N. Barbour, Herald of the Morning, June/July 1898, page 47.

[3]               R. C. Nickles: History of the Seventh Day Church of God, 1999, page 78.

[4]               Elected to office: The Topeka State Journal, Nov. 8, 1894, Night Edition, page 3. Sources conflict as to his party affiliation, some calling him a Republican and others a Prohibitionist. His obituary is reproduced at https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/41615528/george-s-vilott [as found February 14, 2021.]

[5]               She was the child of C. H. and Pamela Barnum. Her proper first name is found in census records. 1850, 1870 and 1880 Federal Census Records. New York, State Death Index, 1880-1956. The 1870 Federal Census says the family owned real estate valued at $5500 and that they had a personal wealth of $600. These are, for the era, considerable sums.

[6]               “For when for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again which be the first principles of the oracles of God; and are become such as have need of milk, and not of strong meat.”

[7]               Portrait and Biographical Album of Jackson County, Michigan, Chapman Brothers, Chicago, 1890, page 319. 1870 and 1880 U.S. Federal Census records.