An extract...

 ...from a potential future book on the Russell’s Family History.

     The aim of this extract is to very briefly trace why a family like the Russells ended up in America as they did.

     Comments welcome on whether it all makes sense (or not) and whether the narrative –as far as it goes – accurately describes the passage of history.

     Leave a comment here or send back-channel to Jerome.

 

THE ROAD TO PITTSBURGH

     To be Presbyterian and Scottish-Irish in 19^th century America meant that your family would have followed a certain well-trodden (and somewhat nomadic) path in history.

     We will start in Ireland – specifically what is now known as Northern Ireland.

     Historically, Russell – whether as a forename or a surname – goes back to the Norman Conquest and may be linked to a place in Calvados, Normandy, called Rosel or Rozel. It also may be derived from an Anglo-Norman nickname from Old French for red-haired. As we will see later, in Irish history it is recognised as a Protestant name. There were many Russells in what is today known as Northern Ireland at the start of the 19^th century. Other common names in the region at the time were Lytle (sometimes spelled as Lytel and which is thought to comes originally from Little) and Tay or Tays (possibly named after the Scottish River Tay). As an alternative explanation the Ulster Historical Foundation has suggested that the surname “Tease” which was common in the area (perhaps from the River Tees in England’s Durham and Yorkshire region) could sound like “Tays” when said with a strong Ulster accent.

    It was common for surnames, perhaps of mothers, to be preserved as the middle name for a new generation. This helps explain names like Joseph Lytle Russell and Charles Tays Russell with its variant spelling Charles Taze. This can also assist in tracing a family tree backwards. It was also common, as it is today, for forenames to be repeated in families down the generations. Of course, when people had large families, they soon ran out of repeatable forenames.

     As noted above, the Russell family were of Scots or Scottish-Irish ancestry; early records using the term Scotch-Irish ancestry. We will try and standardise our usage hereafter with the older expression Scotch-Irish, simply because that was the term in general use during CTR’s lifetime.

     This links this Irish population with Scotland if you go further back in history. It also links them with the Presbyterian Church.

     The Reformation was never a clear-cut affair. While England broke away from the Catholic Church in the time of Henry VIII and the Church of England formed in 1534, in places like Scotland their reformation began in 1560 with the influence of John Calvin and the local John Knox.

     The Scottish model became Presbyterian, referring particularly to how the church was controlled and how much the civil authorities were involved in governance. In the Church of England the State was involved with church appointments, but at one point the Scottish church abolished the position of bishop and threw out the Church of England’s prayer book.

     As events played out, there was a lot of pressure on Presbyterians to join the Church of England, and this caused some from the Scottish Lowlands and also Northern England to emigrate from the 17^th century onward. In addition, the Highland Clearances of the 18^th century forced many others in Scotland to leave their homes. The British Government was keen to encourage these people to move to Ireland with land grants like the Plantations of Ulster from the early 17th century onward. Of course, land grants for an incoming population would result in the displacing of some of the existing population.

     Short-term it met two objectives. On the one hand it damped down tensions and poverty in Scotland and the Borders, and on the other a Protestant and English speaking settler community would help dilute both the language and Catholic faith of the native Irish in the area. Other events would shape the intervening years, but long-term it would contribute to a civil war and the country partitioned. Today we have the north loyal to the British Crown and the south independent. The political consequences of those 17^th and 18^th century decisions still rumble on today.

     The Protestant communities that subsequently developed in the north of Ireland were Presbyterian for the most part from their Scottish roots. As economic conditions became difficult in this new homeland a number decided to move on again. For many, the “promised land” was America. The term Scotch-Irish eventually came to be used in America to identify this wave of Protestant immigrants. It distinguished them from the large numbers who came from Ireland a little later because of the potato famine. The latter were predominantly Roman Catholic.

     It is very easy to merge all those who emigrated into one group, but that would be wrong. Zydek’s book Charles Taze Russell, The Man and His Message, paints a vivid picture of the coffin ships that brought hundreds of thousands of starving Irish to America. It is well written, but Zydek assumes that this is how Charles TAYS Russell reached America as the first of his clan to make the journey, and gives the date as 1838.

     However, both the timing and the geography are wrong. We will see that the first known wave of Russells to hit American shores came around 1820, and the really vast crowd of starving Irish refugees arrived over twenty years later. Although there would be overlap, generally they were from different parts of Ireland. As already noted, the Russells were from the north of the country. The potato famine that overwhelmed the country started in 1845 and was particularly disastrous for the rural poor who were mainly in the west and south – and Catholic.

     Population growth, absentee landlords, tenant farmers having to split their land into thousands of smallholdings, all meant that subsistence farming had to rely on potatoes. It was the only crop that could just about feed a family off the land. It was a disaster waiting to happen. When the crop failed due to potato blight, it is estimated that a million died from starvation. Over a ten-year period more than two million left the country, many going to America.

     Those who were part of the earlier diaspora like the Russells may have come originally from Scotland, or they may simply have been lumped into that catch-all Scotch-Irish title. Either way, they were Protestants – Presbyterians – who lived in the region of County Donegal (from Charles Tays Russell’s grave marker) and Londonderry (from Joseph Lytle Russell’s newspaper obituary). Donegal and Londonderry border on each other. Today Donegal is the northernmost county in the Republic of Ireland, and Londonderry (often shortened to Derry) is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland.

     A key industry in what we now call Northern Ireland was the production of Irish linen. The climate and soil were suitable for the growing of flax, and French Huguenot refugees brought their weaving skills to the country in the late 17^th century. It became a huge cottage industry, especially when the British opposed the Irish woollen industry as a commercial threat. But in the early part of the 19^th century hand-spinning production faced severe competition from factory machine-spinning as the industrial revolution trampled all before it. Even so, prior to the First World War, Belfast in the north was still the largest linen-producing area in the whole world, and had the nickname, “Linenopolis.” But changing times and uncertainties of the 19^th century would cause some in the industry to look to America, both for markets and a home. So we have Charles Tays Russell, who reportedly came to America to work with Irish-born Alexander Turney Stewart. Stewart founded a dry goods empire which included importing Irish fabrics, before later cleaning up making uniforms for the Union side in the American Civil War. There will be more about Charles Tays later. One step further on from importing and selling linen we have Charles Tays’ one-time business partner – his brother Joseph Lytle Russell, establishing a dry goods store – a business that was expanded in due course with his son, CTR. The location of Pittsburgh, with its grime and industry, made the selling of shirts a reasonable commercial prospect.

Record of Christian Work, May 1919, page 316. (For Comment)

"Russellism has a wide advertisement in the South. It takes away the Christ of Scripture, denies salvation by faith, and encourages men to live in sin. That it makes headway is a reflection on the intelligence of the South and  the adequacy of the teaching in our pulpits."  

UPDATED. 

Comments on the significance of these quotations for Watch Tower history are wanted.

Christian Evidence Society Report, 1922 

Birmingham Diocese 

Our Diocesan Hon. Sec., Rev. F. Mellows, M.A., writes: 

As last year, our Diocesan Evangelistic Council has undertaken the responsibility of keeping an eye on any Atheistic propaganda, and has organised services in several of the Parks. 'Russellism' has gained some adherents, and the supporters of this heresy have spent a good deal of money in propaganda. I have given several lectures on the subject, and spoken about it at meetings. I have also written a pamphlet, ' Russellism-The Latest Blasphemy' (published by C. J. Thynne, Whitefriars' Street, E.C. 4). 

Just now we are having a course of lectures on open-air work, which are being very well attended." – Page 26 

Chelmsford Diocese 

A course of lectures has been given at the Parish Church, Pitsea, by the Rector, on "Christianity as Opposed to Modern isms"Christian Science, Spiritualism, Russellism, Theosophy, Christadelphianism, Mormonism, and Modernism (of the left Wing)showing their errors with regard to the Nature of God, Divinity of Jesus, Personality of the Spirit, Sin and Atonement. These have been greatly appreciated. 

The Chapter Meeting of West Ham Rural Deanery has now formed an Evidence Committee, to perpetuate the work of the Secretary, around that Deanery. He (the Secretary) deeply regrets having to give up speaking at Hyde Park and Highbury Corner, for the Central Society owing to the distance at which he is now living and the unsatisfactory state of the train service, but he is using every opportunity of bringing the work of the Society before the Orset and Grays Deanery. 

E. W. GREVATT, Secretary for the Diocese. – Page 43

Alton Bay 1876 or 1878

 Can we identify these men?

November 1916

     

A snapshot from the time of CTR’s funeral has recently come to light. The picture below comes from Mike C. On the back of photo it reads: “Gone Home – Pastor Russell’s grave.”

Brian K has flattened the picture to get the best possible result.

     Leroy has then used AI to present a colorized version. Obviously with AI there is some guesswork about the colors, but it brings the picture more to life.

     So when was this picture, with its absence of people, taken?

     The picture shows the flower arrangements which include the inscription “Holy Bible” and also “2 Tim 4:7,8.” The whole arrangement is no longer in the best of condition.

     This indicates that the picture most likely dates from the day AFTER the official funeral service on 6 November 1916, which would be 7 November 1916.

     The actual graveside funeral service took place at sundown. The known photographs of the casket arriving at the graveside with a heavily veiled Maria Russell walking behind are dark and also a little blurred. This is because they would need to place a camera on a tripod or a secure flat surface and use a long exposure (anything from one to five seconds) to get an image.

     The above photograph is obviously taken in daylight, and would have been an “instantaneous” photo of about 1/25 to 1/60 second duration. Consumer cameras of the day did not have setting for shutter speed. They were either “bulb” or “instantaneous.” (With thanks to Brian K for the information).

     So what happened? By the time the graveside service ended it would have been dark. There may have been safety concerns about lowering a coffin into the grave in these circumstances. Perhaps more to the point, the details in the St Paul Enterprise show that the casket was buried in its packing case (which is what I believe we see in the photograph) and the whole was encased in a strong layer of concrete. This work was performed by John Adam Bohnet. To do this would have taken some time and would need daylight.

     So it appears that after the funeral service, the mourners eventually left, and with a guard posted the casket remained above ground until the next morning, when the photograph of the wilting flower arrangements was taken.

     There is one photograph which supports this. The photo below shows the gravesite on what we assume is the following morning.

     This picture was reproduced in the St Paul Enterprise, but the print quality is poor and is not helped by the material only now being available on microfilm. But AI and colorization can help us a bit.

     Again with thanks to Leroy for the improved picture.

     We are looking down the hillside to the gravesite. Behind is the Wible/Wiebel farmhouse which was then the home of John Adam Bonhet and the office of the cemetery company.

     The cluster of white grave markers at the bottom of the hill is missing today. However, it appears these were not markers for actual burials, but merchandise sold by the United Cemeteries Company. Only two small areas were reserved for Bible Students, the bulk of the cemetery was sold for general use and like most cemeteries it provided a full service.

     For more information on the United Cemeteries including more on the funeral of CTR, see this post.

     https://truthhistory.blogspot.com/2024/12/grave-matters.html

With grateful thanks to those who provided the pictures and much of the information for this article.

Difference

 A major point of controversy between Watch Tower adherents and Clergy was their understanding of prophecy. Here is an advertisement from the January/February 1926 Peoples' Christian Bulletin.

Research Assistance Needed

 I need biographical and other detailed information:

*** w79 10/1 p. 9 The Light of Truth Shines in Belgium ***

Motivated by deep love for fellow humans and a keen desire to declare the “good news” to all kinds of people, Charles Taze Russell visited Belgium in the autumn of 1891, during a tour of Europe. Russell, the first president of the Watch Tower Society, realized the people’s need for spiritual freedom, as they were still in dense religious darkness. For most of them, Bible reading was forbidden, and they lived in fear of hellfire and in reverential awe of the parish priest.

Ten years later, a lover of justice living in the region of Charleroi began to brave the superstitious dread associated with reading God’s Word. As soon as he had obtained the first two volumes of Millennial Dawn, this man, J. B. Thilmant, organized a family Bible study. Soon the “good news” was spreading to other towns and even to France, thanks to the courageous work of the Thilmant family.

The Trials of Jonas

     We will all be familiar with CTR’s brief description of his contact with Jonas Wendell. From the booklet A Conspiracy Exposed and Harvest Siftings (1894) page 95 (Special edition of Zion’s Watch Tower for 25 April 1894) we read:

 “Among other theories, I stumbled upon Adventism. Seemingly by accident, one evening I dropped into a dusty, dingy hall, where I had heard religious services were held, to see if the handful who met there had anything more sensible to offer than the creeds of the great churches.

There, for the first time, I heard something of the views of Second Adventists from the preacher, Mr. Jonas Wendell, long since deceased. Though his Scripture exposition was not entirely clear, and though it was very far from what we now rejoice in, it was sufficient, under God, to re-establish my wavering faith in the divine inspiration of the Bible, and to show that the records of the apostles and prophets are indissolubly linked. What I heard sent me to my Bible to study with more zeal and care than ever before.”

     There had been a similar comment made about 15 years before, in the supplement issued with the first issue of Zion’s Watch Tower sent TO THE READERS OF THE HERALD OF THE MORNING and dated June 1879. This gave slightly different details:

“I have been a Bible student since I first had my attention called to the second coming of our Lord, by Jonas Wendell, a Second Advent Preacher, about 1869, who was then preaching the burning of the world as being due in 1873. But though he first awakened my interest on the subject, I was not a convert, either to the time he suggested nor to the events he predicted. I, in company with others in Pittsburgh, organized and maintained a Bible class for the searching of the Scriptures, meeting every Sunday.”

     In spite of the disclaimers, Jonas obviously made an impression on CTR. So in this article we are going to try and understand the human Jonas which may account in some part to the effect he had on CTR.

     Jonas Wendell (1815-1873) was a family man. He married Jane Gilmore (1823-1909) and they had one son, Daniel Gilmore Wendell (1839-1914). Some sources erroneously give a second child, daughter Emily, but this is a misreading of the 1870 census. Emily was Daniel’s wife and all four were living at the same address in Edinboro on census day. Daniel’s daughter Cora married and lived in Edinboro with her family until her death in 1928. The family subsequently moved away to Florida. There is a Wendell family plot with memorials in the Edinboro cemetery.

     For a detailed review of Jonas’ life and evolving theology and also his links with other key players like Nelson Barbour, see Separate Identity volume 1, pp.65-82.

     Like Nelson Barbour, Jonas was very keen on date setting for the return of Christ. The failure of his expectations for 1854 caused a dip in his activities as shown by official records. In the 1850 census he was a clergyman in Oswego, New York. Following the 1854 failure he settled his family in Edinboro. In the 1860 census he was a grocer in Edinboro, and in the 1866 tax assessment lists he was a lawyer. But then his faith was renewed and by the 1870 census he was back as “clergy.” He also had a new date to promote, 1873. How he did this we will come to later.

     Jonas and his contemporaries were all very human, with human frailties, but they were imbued with a mission and weren’t going to let setbacks deter them. Whatever we may feel about the details of their beliefs today, they lived them and expended themselves, often to a premature end.

     So what trials did Jonas face?

     We are going to look at three: physical difficulties, financial setbacks, and scandal.

     The thought of physical difficulties comes over in the Advent Christian Church paper The World’s Crisis for 5 May 1869. This carried a letter from H A King then of Nevada, Ohio, about Jonas’ work organising regular meetings and mentioned that he had a physical disability. Several (actually six) wished to get baptised but Jonas couldn’t do this on his own because he only had the use of one arm. Whether this was temporary or a more permanent problem is not known.

     Of particular interest is the location where this happened in March of 1869, Pittsburgh.

     Physical issues would affect Jonas later. In August 1873, he suffered a serious fall down a flight of stairs in Edinboro. His obituary by George Stetson in The World’s Crisis for 10 September 1873 detailed this, and how he soldiered on before overtaxing himself helping someone with a “fickly horse” and collapsing and dying a week later at the age of 67.

     Trials also included financial setbacks. From The World’s Crisis for 13 January 1869:

     Wendell’s horse died and he had to ask his fellow believers for help. Two of the names who came to his aid might be familiar. Daniel Cogswell’s name appeared on the cover of early issues of Nelson Barbour’s Herald of the Morning. And Ira Allen appears in Zion’s Watch Tower for November 1880 helping to arrange a visit from CTR, and his daughter Lizzie wrote for the magazine and later for John Paton’s World’s Hope.

     It serves as a reminder that so many of the players in those early days knew each other.

     A trial of a far different kind happened in 1871. This was scandal. A very public accusation of immorality was made against Jonas involving a girl who had been released from a “House of Refuge” after his intervention. We will explore this in some detail.

     It appears that a girl named Mary Terry had relatives in Edinboro and, for whatever reason, was committed to what was called the “House of Refuge.” Jonas knew of the case and secured her release, giving guarantees of good conduct and according to other reports helping her find employment. His status as a minister and at least some knowledge of the law likely helped him do this. So far so good. But then the girl went on her travels – sometimes on her own, sometimes with another girl - no doubt using the railroads to do so, and at some point it was claimed that Jonas had offered to run off with her to Pittsburgh.

AI image generated by Leroy with thanks

 One of the less slanted reports, although with no guarantee of accuracy in the detail, came from The Pittsburgh Commercial for 31 May 1871, page 4.

     Jonas was described as 60 at the time, a nice round figure for a philandering clergyman. Actually he was 55, but no doubt looked 60. He was old. He was a minister. He was a married man. The girl was a sweet vulnerable 16 year old, pretty, but perhaps “somewhat simple minded.” If you were eager for salacious scandal, what more could you ask for? In reality, as we will see later, rather than an unworldly “sweet sixteen” Mary was a more traveled 19 year old at the time.

     If The Pittsburgh Commercial used a certain restraint that wasn’t the case when the story broke elsewhere. Various by-line writers had a field day, veering between a sinful clergyman and an elderly seducer, and sometimes combining the two. For example (all cuttings dated 29 May 1871): The Cincinnati Enquirer, A MINISTER ARRESTED FOR ADULTERY; The St Louis Republic, A SINFUL ADVENTIST; The Courier-Journal, A TREACHEROUS SHEPHERD; The Washington Daily Patriot, ANOTHER REVEREND SEDUCER; The Cleveland Leader, A REVERENT SCAPEGRACE; The Appeal-Democrat, AN OLD AND REVEREND SINNER; The Evansville Journal, A SHAMEFUL FORNICATOR; and The St Louis Globe-Democrat, AN AGED LOTHARIO ARRESTED.

     Even if Jonas were guilty, one can feel sympathy for his wife, Jane, and the rest of the family in Edinboro. But as events were to prove, he wasn’t.

     However, it was hardly a surprise that most popular newspapers weren’t that interested in a clergyman cleared of wrongdoing, so very few carried the sequel.

     Once the “crime” was brought to public attention events moved swiftly. Jonas was detained in Erie, Pennsylvania, and brought back to Edinboro. The girl was a little more difficult to find. As noted above she had been traveling from place to place and “after a tedious search” was finally tracked down. Like Jonas she was brought back to Edinboro.

     Faced with the enormity of the situation, she either recanted or claimed she’d never made the accusation in the first place. To its credit, The Pittsburgh Commercial for 1 June 1871 carried the news:

     Quote: “(Mary Terry) makes affidavit that the charges made against Mr. Wendell are entirely without foundation.” Jonas was cleared.

     Interestingly, in the aftermath the girl was not blamed. A week later the same paper noted that Wendell had been completed vindicated and blamed an unnamed “personal enemy” for the story. From The Pittsburgh Commercial for 7 June 1871:

     A retraction of the accusation was noted in the editor’s journal column in The Advent Christian Times for 4 July 1871:

“The man who published the scandal has corrected it before the public and done what could be done to retrieve the wrong.”

     So what do we know about Mary Terry?  She’d had family in Edinboro, that was how Jonas came to hear of her, and in her travels the papers noted she had relatives in Rouseville. Existing records suggest she was born Mary Anna Terry in Chester, Pennsylvania, in November 1852.

     As already observed, she had been placed in a House of Refuge. We will show later that this was specifically the House of Refuge in Pittsburgh.

     The concept of Refuge might suggest a haven for the needy, but in reality this was part of the penal system.

     According to The Jeffersonian of 1 June 1854, page 1, the Pittsburgh House of Refuge was opened in 1854, and was for (quote) “infants under the age of twenty-one years, committed to their custody by two Judges...on complaint and proof made to them by the parent, guardian, or next friend of such infant...that said infant is unmanageable or a vagrant, and has no parent or guardian capable and willing to restrain, manage and take proper care of such infant.”

     The Sunbury American for 23 February 1856 noted that two years after opening “the House of Refuge...now contains 135 inmates. It noted that “the directors state that the institution exerts a salutary effect upon the minds and deportment of viciously disposed youths.”

     The institution moved out of the Pittsburgh area in the mid-1870s. The Official Report on the move dated May 13-16, 1874 was in The Third Annual Report of the National PRISON Association of the United States (capitals mine).This noted “it is to be removed from Allegheny City, where it is cooped up within very restricted premises enclosed by massive stone walls, to a large and splendid farm...in Washington County.”

     The report included comments from the superintendent, one Reverend R N Avery: “We demand implicit obedience and we always obtain it.” He qualified his comment by saying “That strict discipline does not interfere with the happiness of the children is evident from the cheerfulness which characterizes our whole family.” His statement appears to have been taken at face value.

     Avery’s name as superintendent confirms that this is where Mary Terry was detained. The 1870 census for McClure Township lists R N Avery as superintendent of the House of Refuge. He is there with his wife and family.

     This is on page 45 of the schedule and is followed by various supervisors, teachers, matrons, etc. of the establishment, and then come the names of around 230 inmates, who today would be called teenagers. On page 50 of the schedule we find Mary Terry.

     All it tells us is that she is 18 and was born in Pennsylvania. So, as noted above, rather than “sweet sixteen” she was nineteen when the accusations were made.

     A later report on the newer farm location dates from 1888. It’s found in The Journal of Prison Disciple and Philanthropy, Pennsylvania Prison Society, January 1888. This explained the House of Refuge regime: The girls “never mingle with the males or speak to them, nor do they ever see them except in the chapel services (at which) a minister of some religious denomination officiates.” As well as six and one half hours of schooling each secular day and chapel on Sundays, the girls “do the washing for the entire institution, cook for themselves, make their own clothing and also shirts for the boys.”

     One can appreciate why Mary would have been all too keen to get out of the place!

AI image generated by Leroy with thanks

     As to her subsequent history, there is one possible sighting in the Pittsburgh Weekly Gazette for 29 December 1871, which has a Mary Terry in Pittsburgh, as ”an inmate of a house of ill-repute” being sent to the workhouse.

     The Mary Anna Terry, who was born in Chester, Pennsylvania, in 1852, would lose her Terry name when she married and moved to New Jersey in 1874. She lived until 1937 and raised six children, one of whom lived until the 1970s.

     Returning to Jonas Wendell, his trials were not yet completely over. He was still subject to investigation in a church hearing at the Advent Christian Conference in New York State.

     Fortunately they ruled in his favor. The result below comes from The Advent Christian Times for 27 June 1871:

     A fuller report was published in The Advent Christian Times for 25 July 1871:

     The rider at the end suggests that while Jonas had been well-intentioned he’d been somewhat naive in his dealings with Mary.

     In spite of his various trials, Jonas expended himself on his preaching because of the urgency of the times as he saw it. He published a small booklet Present Truth or Meat in Due Season in 1870 to proclaim a literal return of Christ for 1873. It was republished in June 1873 with an extra chapter by E. Wolcott of Keyport, New Jersey.

     Jonas died before his own “great disappointment.” An obituary in The Watchman’s Cry for 1 October 1873, written by the editor S.W. Bishop, expressed support for his views:

DEATH OF ELDER JONAS WENDELL

“He was an earnest lover of the appearing of our Great King, and was therefore deeply interested in those prophecies which treat especially of his glorious advent. By a thorough and prayerful study of those prophecies he became fully convinced that our Lord will return to earth this present year, 1873; and, as many of our dear brethren know, sent out a synopsis of his faith in this great truth in a printed essay, broadcast through the land...WE SHALL SEE HIM IN A FEW WEEKS, beyond the reach of death, at the appearing of our great Life giver, when he shall come to bestow immortality on all the good, both dead and living. God grant we may all be ready.” (Capitals mine).

     As noted in CTR’s own comments in the Herald supplement, he was aware of Jonas’ beliefs about 1873. Barbour was to recalculate the date for 1874, and when again nothing visible happened, eventually the concept of an “invisible presence” was explained.

     In a sense this was history repeating itself. William Miller’s movement focussed on 1843. Nothing happened. So the chronology was adjusted to reach 1844. Nothing happened. It was then calculated that the date was right but the related event was invisible – in 1844 this would be the “cleansing of the heavenly sanctuary” which is still the position of the Seventh Day Adventist Church today. Scroll forward 30 years and we have Wendell’s date of 1873. Nothing happened. The chronology was then adjusted to reach 1874. Again it seemed that nothing happened. But Nelson Barbour came to believe that 1874 marked an invisible “parousia.” His paper Herald of the Morning proclaiming that event attracted CTR, who as noted in his own statement quoted earlier, was familiar with Wendell’s views.

     So Jonas was a real person, with real problems but a real mission.

     He was undoubtedly sincere, even if we judge him as sincerely wrong. One cannot fault him on his zeal for the scriptures (as he understood them) or his passion for publishing and preaching in spite of various issues to contend with.

     He certainly left his mark on CTR, and the rest as they say, is history.

Notice

 Uncle B is mostly bed bound. He has a backlog of emails that he is not able to answer at this time. Please be patient.

A. M. d'iles-Stewart

A Trivia Story

This story about a mishap before a wedding was carried by numerous newspapers. This cutting is from the Evansville Journal (Indiana) for 5 January 1901.

The very tenuous connection with truth history? Cora was Jonas Wendell’s granddaughter. After her death in 1928 the last of the family moved from Edinboro to Florida.

Service Convention. Can we date this?

 

If you're interested in ...

 

the religious situation in Russell's day as it affected him, read this:

Burlington Wale: The Closing Days of Christendom. It's on google books and downloadable. 

Rough Draft

 I'm posting this reluctantly. I need comments. This will stay up less than a week. Don't cry if you miss it. And no, I won't repost it. There are legal reasons, copyright and such, that I cannot keep this up for long.

3 Albert Delmont Jones and William Conley

Remainder of this post has been deleted.

Totally off Topic

 From The Nile book site centered in Australia:

Falcon's Crown by Bruce W. Schulz

A Crown of Courage: An Adventure of Loyalty, Loss, and Destiny

An orphaned noble girl, stripped of her birthright and living in poverty, is thrust into a whirlwind of adventure in this captivating middle grade/young adult novel.

Follow her journey from the tender age of eleven to the cusp of fourteen as she’s swept away to the royal castle, a place of both promise and peril. Amidst simmering ethnic tensions and the ever-present threat of assassination, she rises to become a key figure in the kingdom, albeit a controversial one.

• A story brimming with adventure: No paranormal elements, just pure, thrilling escapades!
• A journey of self-discovery: Witness her transformation as she navigates a world of courtly intrigue and dangerous secrets.
• Inspired by real-life resilience: Crafted with inspiration drawn from the author’s own conservative Christian students.

Nice to be noticed.

The Rainbow

    

 (Much of the background to The Rainbow’s doctrinal position with its key players is taken from Edwin Le Roy Froom’s The Conditional Faith of Our Fathers, volume 2 (1956) starting on page 380.)

     The Rainbow was a British monthly periodical which is of interest to those researching Watch Tower history. Its first issue was in January 1864 and its final issue was for December 1887. Its founding editor was William Leask (1812-1884). Leask came from a Congregationalist background and had the pastorate of the independent Maberly Chapel in London for the last twenty years of his life. After his death Joseph Bryant Rotherham (1828-1910) took the editorial chair. Rotherham came from a Church of Christ (Campbellite, Restoration Movement) background and brought the paper to its conclusion.

     The purpose of the magazine was stated clearly on its title page.

     The subheading “with special reference to the revealed future of the church and the world” remained with the magazine throughout its history.

     According to Froom (volume 2, page 381): “Starting out as a forum for discussion of opinion, the journal soon became a veritable battleground of effective debate.” So in its first year, for example, you had contrasting articles side by side. From the April 1864 correspondence section you had “COMING” AND “APPEARING,” DIFFERENT (pages 180-182) immediately followed by (pages 182-184) “COMING” AND “APPEARING,” THE SAME (pages 182-184).

     The periodical fulfilled its brief with a variety of articles. In its first three years, subjects included:

PLAN OF THE AGES

SCRIPTURAL DATES OF THE TIME OF THE END?

SECOND ADVENT – PRE-MILLENNIAL

WILL THE RAPTURE BE VISIBLE OR SECRET?

WILL THERE BE A SECRET PRESENCE?

     The concept of certain events being secret or invisible was frequently discussed and when Matthew 24 v.3 was explained, “parousia” was often rendered as “presence.”

 

     Here are a few examples:

July 1864

July 1866

December 1868

     When Benjamin Keith showed Nelson Barbour the Diaglott’s interlinear rendering “presence” in Matthew 24 v.3 in the mid-1870s, leading to the invisible presence explanation for 1874, he could perhaps have been a Rainbow reader. We will return to this thought later.

     The magazine soon settled into its most identifying feature, promoting the tenet of conditional immortality. According to this belief, man does have an immortal soul and there is no literal eternal Hell fire; rather, immortality is only granted by God through Christ and is conditional.

     The catalyst that led to The Rainbow’s reputation for this doctrine, was an article written by William Maude (1827-1883). Maude was a contributor to the paper from its very first year on various subjects, but it was his article on conditional immortality simply titled IMMORTALITY published in March 1869 that cemented The Rainbow’s position. Maude’s history and a detailed précis of this key article can be found in Froom, volume 2, pages 383-389.

     This caused a furore and around five hundred promptly cancelled their subscriptions. But the die was cast. New subscribers soon replaced those who had gone, and the follow-up articles included (from 1870):

IS ENDLESS SUFFERING THE DOCTRINE OF SCRIPTURE?

LIFE AND IMMORTALITY ONLY IN CHRIST

     Various names were given to this position, Life only in Christ, Immortality through Faith, Annihilationism, Conditionalism, but Froom (page 451) credits Leask and The Rainbow for popularising the expression “Conditional Immortality.”

     In America writers like Henry Grew and George Storrs promoted conditional immortality and now The Rainbow was doing the same in Britain. It is therefore not surprising to find Rainbow readers in America.

     A number of American periodicals mentioned The Rainbow. In the Advent Christian Church fold, The World’s Crisis called it “an able monthly” (1 April 1868) and offered to act as agent for American subscribers. From the Crisis for 13 October 1869:

     Here it is called a “valuable monthly.” These offers and descriptions were to be repeated and the Crisis also frequently republished material from The Rainbow; perhaps most notably when William Maude’s key article on IMMORTALITY was serialised over three issues, 31 March, 7 and 14 April, 1869. 

     Confirming the connection, the Crisis editor Miles Grant had a letter of support published in The Rainbow for February 1870.

     When an official agent was appointed in New York to handle subscriptions, the Crisis published the information and continued to make positive comments such as (19 February 1873) “The Rainbow contains valuable articles from able writers. We commend it to our readers.”

     Other Advent Christian papers followed suit. The Advent Christian Times (9 January 1872) with typical verbosity called The Rainbow “an invaluable arena for adventurers in the stupendous conflict of religious thought” and frequently reprinted its articles.

     The Advent Christian Quarterly likewise reprinted material from The Rainbow’s pages. For example, from Volume 1, number 3 (January 1870):

     In the Church of God/Age to Come fold, the Gospel Banner and Millennial Advocate (edited by the Diaglott’s Benjamin Wilson) regularly re-cycled Rainbow articles. See the example below from 15 May 1868.

     The Banner was succeeded by The Restitution and that too used Rainbow material. One of the earliest surviving issues is for 16 December 1874, where an article is introduced:

     The Life and Advent Union’s Herald of Life and of the Coming Kingdom frequently raided The Rainbow’s pages for copy. Under George Storrs’ stewardship, the Herald noted (March 29, 1871) that “The Rainbow is doing a great work in (Britain).” When an accredited agent was appointed for American subscribers in May 1871 (George W Young of New York) this was advertised in each weekly issue until nearly the end of the year, and the paper probably used Rainbow material more than any other American paper at this time.

     When Storrs went back to producing Bible Examiner it too praised The Rainbow. The February 1874 issue described The Rainbow as being “filled with good and interesting matter.”

     Storrs advertised that George W Young was still the American agent for sbscriptions and articles continued to be taken from its pages.

     Joseph Seiss’ Prophetic Times was another supporter. The November 1865 issue described the new periodical as a “sprightly and valuable English Magazine of Christian Literature” and like others reprinted material from it. A further testimonial from June 1867 read:

     Looking at all of the above, if you were a reader of Adventist or Millennialist periodicals in the United States in the late 1860s and throughout the 1870s there was no way you could avoid The Rainbow.

     We mentioned Benjamin Keith earlier. We know he was a regular reader of The World’s Crisis for a number of years. This paper contained a feature where the names of those who requested literature were listed. The name B W Keith occurs in this a number of times, including the issue below for 30 September 1868.

     Other examples are found in issues for 24 June 1868, 4 November 1868, 9 June 1869, 28 September 1870, 12 October 1870, 21 February 1872, 31 July 1872, and 2 April 1873. In addition Keith attended New York State conferences at Springwater (including in June 1872) and wrote to the paper, for example, in its issue for 2 April 1873. He is also mentioned as a conference delegate in the Advent Christian Times.

     So with all these quotations and links, the suggestion that Keith could also have been a Rainbow reader, and might therefore have partly absorbed the “invisible presence” concept from that source, while unproven, is perfectly feasible. But certainly the historical influence of this periodical was considerable.

     In view of all the above, it is not surprising that the Rainbow had connections with certain key players in Watch Tower history and pre-history.

     Here now are some examples.

 

George Stetson.

     George Stetson (1814-1879) spoke at different times at Quincy Hall, Allegheny[i], and CTR credited him as an influence in Harvest Gatherings and Siftings (ZWT May 1890 and several times reprinted)[ii]. When Stetson died in 1879, CTR spoke at his funeral.[iii]

     Stetson wrote a letter to The Rainbow in its issue for February 1873.

 

George Storrs

     Another American figure, already mentioned, who features in Watch Tower pre-history is George Storrs. Storrs was a champion of conditional immortality and after leaving The Herald of Life returned to publishing Bible Examiner. In 1874 he visited Allegheny for a series of meetings, and specifically mentioned CTR’s father, Joseph Lytle Russell, as a friend he made there.

     We have already noted Storrs’ enthusiastic endorsement of The Rainbow in Bible Examiner for February 1874 and he often reprinted articles from it thereafter. The Rainbow in turn referred to Storrs in its February 1879 issue.

Nelson Barbour

     Barbour is mentioned several times. A British writer, retired Baptist pastor Elias Helton Tuckett (1814-1891), wrote for The Rainbow, and singled out Barbour for special mention. In an article entitled “Probable Time of the Second Advent” which ran in two parts over August and September 1877, Tuckett highlighted the predictions of Joseph Seiss for 1870 and then those for Nelson Barbour a little later. From the September 1877 issue, page 426, Tuckett wrote:

     The article concludes with a summary straight out of Barbour, featuring the dates 1874, 1878 and 1881.

     A further article by Tuckett in the November 1878 issue entitled “The Midnight Hour” also singles out Barbour:

     These comments on Barbour were highly favourable, although an earlier review of his book Three Worlds was less so. From July 1876, and we assume written by editor Leask:

     The review mentioned C F (sic) Russell as publisher of Barbour’s work.

     The Crisis never deigned to review Barbour’s work, but in its issue for July 25, 1877 a correspondent took issue with the above review; not the actual criticism of Barbour – they fully agreed with that - but the statement: “The incurable tendency of our American brethren to fix dates for the advent and the resurrection is fatally exhibited in this pamphlet.” They felt this was unfair to Americans, and some of the British were just as bad.

 

Charles Taze Russell

     CTR’s key work The Plan of the Ages (later re-titled The Divine Plan of the Ages) would be given a full-scale review by Joseph Bryant Rotherham in 1886, who by then was the paper’s editor. From The Rainbow for December 1886:

     Rotherham starts very positively:

“THIS is a notable book—bold, broad, and breezy; very refreshing after the stereotyped dogmas and platitudes which pass current in the theological world. It is a book for men and not for children... “The Plan of the Ages” is a valuable production, and is probably destined to furnish material assistance in shaking down old walls and building up new.”

     The review totals nearly ten pages. Rotherham concluded with:

“Only those who read dispassionately for themselves “The Plan of the Ages” will perhaps believe us when we assure them that enough in any case remains that is unimpeachable to render this volume such as is likely to repay abundantly any discreet man’s perusal. The Chapter on “The Permission of Evil” is alone more than worth the price of the whole volume, and is the fullest discussion of this great mystery, and the nearest approximation to a probably correct solution of it, with which we are acquainted.”

     It should be noted that in the full review, Rotherham questioned some of CTR’s views on the millennium, dispensations, restitution, the person of Christ, judgment day and the nature of man. However, it has also been observed that many of these reservations were resolved by Rotherham in two detailed appendices in the 1902 edition of his Emphasized Bible.

 

Zion’s Watch Tower articles

     This positive view of CTR’s ministry was reinforced when The Rainbow chose to reprint three Zion’s Watch Tower articles, all in the September 1887 issue. All three had been taken from Zion’s Watch Tower for July 1887. Pages 383-384 (Rainbow) carried the article THE KNOWLEDGE OF CHRIST NECESSARY TO SALVATION. This originally appeared in Zion’s Watch Tower as part of THE VIEWS FROM THE TOWER. The Rainbow reprint concluded:

     Then pages 401-403 carried the article “HOW CAN YE BELIEVE,” which was a complete article from the July 1887 ZWT.

     And finally, almost immediately afterwards on pages 404-405 came the article REVEALED IT UNTO BABES which again first appeared in the July 1887 ZWT.

 

End of the Rainbow

     The magazine was struggling with its circulation during 1887 and attempts were made to attract new subscribers. But eventually in the December 1887 issue Rotherham announced that it would be the last. Soundings were taken for a new replacement journal that would be half the size and half the price. But this apparently never happened.

     One possible reason for this was that back in 1878 the Conditional Immortality Association was formed. Leask was one of the founding members. They organised annual interdenominational conferences. They also had their own journal The Bible Standard which started the year before in 1877. Its masthead proclaimed that it was “devoted to the doctrine of...Conditional Immortality.”

     Other papers too promoted the same view like The Bible Echo (1872>) and The Messenger (1876>).

     The Rainbow had served its purpose for 24 years but now it was time to call it a day.

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[i] See for example, World’s Crisis, 9 October 1872 page 3, and Speaker’s Appointments from 20 November 1872 page 27, and several weeks thereafter, also Advent Christian Times, 11 November 1873, page 112.

[ii] ZWT May 1890 page 4, Harvest Gatherings and Siftings, reprinted in ZWT 15 July 1906 page 230. Also incorporated into A Conspiracy Exposed and Harvest Siftings, special ZWT, 25 April 1894, page 96.

[iii] See Stetson’s obituary in ZWT November 1879 page 2, and World’s Crisis, 5 November 1879, page 102.