Update on United Cemeteries

Most readers interested in Watch Tower history will already know about the changes made in the United Cemeteries in the last twelve months. Earlier posts on this blog detailed the damage done to the pyramid monument in the center of the site, and how after just over one hundred years the decision was taken to dismantle it.

I now have photographs from a source I can freely copy with permission. So thanks to Jim H, and here is what has recently happened on site.

The first picture shows the pyramid as it was in 2014, when I personally visited the site and took the photograph. On the right you can see the site after the monument had been taken down, with just the concrete base left. CTR’s grave marker is at the top of the picture.

Where the pyramid once stood nine flat grave markers have been installed. Here you can see the scarred land after the original concrete base for the pyramid was removed. Again, you can see CTR’s grave marker at the top of the picture. No doubt the grass will soon grow over the barren areas.

Below is a close up of the nine markers. These modest stones are similar to those found at the Society’s current burial site at the Watchtower Farms Cemetery in Walkill, Ulster Co. They give the names exactly as they appeared on the original pyramid sides, along with the ages of the Bible Students concerned.

The figures, A-1, etc. refer to the actual grave numbers in the original plots.

William Morris Wright and Charles Piazzi Smyth

by Jerome

William Morris Wright (1848-1906) was one of many Bible Students well-known in his day, but now largely forgotten by readers. He is remembered, if at all, for correspondence found in Volume 3 of Millennial Dawn, Thy Kingdom Come, which has prompted this article. Many letters from him appear in ZWT from 1887. He worked in insurance and had the Allegheny Bible House as his base for the last few years of his life. He was a director of the Watch Tower Society from September 19, 1901 to his death on April 3, 1906 (thanks Bernhard).

Wright had a particular interest in pyramidology and when he learned that CTR was devoting a chapter of Volume 3 of Millennial Dawn to this subject, he asked permission to copy the manuscript pre-publication, to send to Charles Piazzi Smyth. Smyth, the former Astronomer Royal of Scotland, was one of the leading proponents of pyramidology. CTR agreed and Wright typed out the manuscript. Smyth received it and responded positively. CTR was so pleased with the response that an edited version of Smyth’s letter appeared in Volume 3 when published in 1891.

By one of those strange moments of serendipity, Smyth’s original letter has recently been rediscovered. A correspondent, Brad S., purchased it along with Wright’s copy of Smyth’s seminal work on the Great Pyramid. The book has Wright’s own name in the front. It is assumed that the collection originally came from one of Wright’s descendants, but as yet it has not been possible to trace the trail back.

Smyth’s original letter to Wright dated December 21, 1890, was on one piece of paper, folded in two, making a total four pages. The original envelope (to the insurance company where Wright worked) is reproduced below, followed by the complete original letter.

If you enlarge these photographs and examine them carefully you can see that the original letter has some subsequent notations on it. Some just extend what is written for the typesetter, for example ‘1st ass. pass.’ becomes ‘first ascending passage’ and another hand has added England at the top. ZWT readers might not recognise the address CLOVA, RIPON (also printed on the back of Smyth’s envelope above) as being in Britain. CLOVA was the name of Smyth’s house in RIPON in the West Riding of Yorkshire. Some are rough alterations and deletions made by Smyth himself as he scribbled away in those pre-word processor days. But the main one was a large cross on page two. This was an edit made in the ZWT office before the letter was published. (Wright was often in Pittsburgh where CTR was based – so either man could have made that decision and written on the original letter).  I am therefore copying the text of the entire letter below. Where a line is through the text, this appears to be Smyth’s own edits. Where the text is in red, this is what Smyth wrote originally that was then deleted before the letter saw publication. The remainder is exactly as was reproduced in Thy Kingdom Come on page 312 in most editions. It doesn’t add a lot to our understanding but is interesting now that the handwritten original has come to light after nearly 130 years. It makes you long for what else may still be out there – somewhere - to be re-discovered.

Clova, Ripon, England, Dec. 21, 1890

Wm. M. Wright, Esq.,

     Dear Sir: I have been rather longer than I could have wished in looking over the invaluable MS. so-called of your friend, C. T. Russell of Allegheny, Pa., but I have now completed a pretty careful examination, word by word. And that was the least I could do, when you so kindly took the pains to send it with such care between boards by registered parcel, with every page flat, and indited by the typewriter in place of the hand.

     At first I could only find slips of the said typewriter, a letter here or a letter there, so glaringly a mistake that it seemed a needless meddling on my part to take any notice of it. Yet exactly such little things often escape an author’s eye and enter into a very solemn book greatly to the prejudice of some particular part of it, as see on p. 4 line 5 ab imo a very terrible case of the perversion of the most cherished and sacred part of the meaning of the book and all its objects, by the introduction of the little word “of” where doubtless the author had with his own hand written “by”.

     Other little things I have noted in pencil but as I progressed through the pages, the powers, the specialties and the originalities of the Author came out magnificently; and there were not a few passages I should have been glad to take a copy of for quotation, with name, in the next possible edition of my own Pyramid book. But of course I did nothing of that sort, and shall wait with perfect patience and in most thankful mood of mind for when the author of Scripture Studies shall choose his own time for publishing. So I merely remark here that he is both good and new in much that he says on the chronology of various parts of the Pyramid,

especially the First Ascending Passage and its granite plug; on the Grand Gallery, as illustrating the Lord’s life; on the parallelisms between the King’s Chamber and its granite, against the Tabernacle and its gold; and generally on the confirmations or close agreements between Scripture and the Great Pyramid, well commented on in p. (15) 2.

     In the meanwhile, it seems that I am indebted to you for your kind gift of long ago of the first two volumes of Scripture Studies. I did not at the time get further than the first half of the first volume, finding the matter, as I thought, not quite so original and new as I had expected. But after having profited, as I hope, so much by a thorough reading of this advanced pyramid chapter of the third volume, I must take up the first two volumes again, de novo.

     The parcel will go back between its boards, registered. I remain, with many thanks,

     Yours respectfully,

     C. Piazzi Smyth

As noted in the letter, Smyth returned CTR’s manuscript. He made a few notes on it and CTR commented in Thy Kingdom Come on page 311 in most editions: “We thank Bro. Wright and Prof. Smyth for their kindness, and have followed the corrections indicated; which, however, only three in all, we were pleased to note were not of special importance. Only one of the criticisms was upon measurements, and it showed a variance of only one inch, which we gladly corrected.”

Smyth and Wright continued to write to each other. Two shorter letters from Smyth to Wright have survived from 1893. They refer to a serious accident Wright suffered. He was badly injured in a railroad accident in 1893 and in those pre-X ray days was never diagnosed or treated properly. He remained in considerable pain for the rest of his life.

Smyth died in 1900 and fittingly a pyramid monument was erected in the graveyard of St John’s Church, Sharow, near Ripon.

Photo credit Julia & Keld

Wright became one of the original trustees of the Rosemont Mount Hope and Evergreen United Cemeteries (as was CTR) established in Pittsburgh in April 1905. Sadly he was one of the first to require its services when he died on April 3, 1906. His funeral from the Bible House chapel was mentioned in ZWT for April 15, 1906 (reprints p. 3765).

His obelisk is just up the hill above the main Society plot where CTR is buried.

This photograph is looking up the hill to where the lesser known Watch Tower cemetery area is located. A closer look shows the Wright name and gives his dates.

The next photograph is looking at the monument from the other side, now looking down the hill.

Wright’s name is on the other side in this picture. You can see that this monument is alongside one of the narrow roads through the cemetery. Just out of shot to the right of this picture further down the hill is the Society’s section of graves with of course its own pyramid.

There is only one name on Wright’s obelisk. It was obviously intended for the whole family, but they would live elsewhere and were buried over a hundred and twenty miles away in Erie Cemetery, Pennsylvania. To confuse researchers there is a memorial stone for William there as well. However, his death certificate clearly shows United Cemeteries as his final resting place.

(When researching this article I contacted Bernhard to confirm Wright’s dates as a Watch Tower director. Bernhard sent so much biographical material on Wright that it deserves its own article, which hopefully will appear on this blog before not too long).

George Swetnam

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Not by any reader of this blog I would hope.

Today ... on the Invitation Only Blog

I've posted the first section of Chapter 2 of our work in progress. It defines the broad influences on Russell's theology, pointing to Age-to-Come belief as promoted by the Wilsons and others through The Restititution, a newspaper published in Indiana.

We find that the quality of research is often reflected by the footnotes. An educated eye can distinguish research into secondary sources  in the guise of primary sources. When we research we check what others claim and we check their sources. You have no idea how often the footnotes found in books that purport to be serious schollarly efforts betray the writer.

Here are the footnotes from our chapter two. I think they show the quality of our research. Do not expect us to post this chapter on the open blog (this blog.) Unless you are member of the other blog, you won't see it until publication. But I will let you see the footnotes:

[1]           C. T. Russell: Harvest Siftings and Gatherings, Zion’s Watch Tower, July 15, 1906, page 229.

[2]           Russell self-identifies as a pre-millennialist in an interview published in the December 26, 1878, issue of the Indianapolis, Indiana, Sentinel. The review from John O’Groat Journal is copied in the March 1, 1898, issue of Zion’s Watch Tower, page 80.

[3]           Emma Doolittle: Millennial Dawnism, later reprint by Faith Publishing House, Guthrie, Oklahoma, no date but originally not earlier than 1914.

[4]           Hatchet: Destiny of Man in the Ages to Come, The Millenarian, February 1887, page 1. Vitringa (1659-1722) was professor of Oriental languages and later professor of Theology and sacred history at the University of Franeker. His major prophetic statement was Anacrisis Apocalypsios Johannis Apostoli, published in 1719.

[5]           Institutio Interpretis Novi Testamenti, 1761.

[6]           J. Piscator: Commentarii in Omnes Libros Novi Testamenti, 1613.

[7]           Modern Millenarianism, The Biblical Repertory and Princeton Review, January 1853, page 68.

[8]           J. V. Himes: The Rise and Progress of Adventism, Advent Shield and Review, May 1844, page 92.

[9]           For a helpful article see David Graham: The Age-to-Come Influence of Elias Smith, Church of God General Conference History News Letter, Summer, 1984, page 1. The claim that Elias Smith was the first to preach Age-to-Come made in the Editorial accompanying the article, (see page 10) is, of course, false.

[10]          The resolution is reproduced in full in L. E. Froom: Prophetic Faith of our Fathers, volume 4, pages 617-618.

[11]          G. Storrs: The Return of the Jews, The Midnight Cry! February 17, 1843, page 1. (Pages are not numbered in this issue.)

[12]          J. V. Himes: The Rise and Progress of Adventism, Advent Shield and Review, May 1844, pages 47-48.

[13]          The Story of Chicago in Connection with the Printing Business, Regan Printing House, Chicago, 1912, page 203. Rowell’s American Newspaper Directory, 1872 edition, page 31.

[14]          Rowell’s American Newspaper Directory, 1873 edition, page 53. Marturion is the Greek word for Testimony. Wilson’s conception was of a society of witnesses to God’s word and work.

[15]          David Graham: The Old Union Church and the Church of God Abrahamic Faith in Indiana, Church of God General Conference History Newsletter, Autumn 1984, footnote 8 on page 7.

[16]          Thomas Wilson wrote in Our Rest: “I have been for some time prayerfully engaged in the study of that greatest wonder of earth (The Great Pyramid), 'the witness,' and the Lord has at last blessed my investigations by revealing to me what I sought after, viz., a perfect chronology, reaching back to the beginning of the world. I have felt impressed for some time with the idea that this building of His, so perfect in all other respects, would not fall short here, and so it has proven. The testimony is gradually being given, and in every instance it witnesses for the truth of that good old book, the Holy Bible.” – Quoted in B. W. Savile: Anglo-Israeliteism & the Great Pyramid, London, 1880, page 102. Wilson wrote a series of articles on the Great Pyramid in the 1880s. Two of the most significant are found in the January and November issues. These were picked up and commented on by The International Standard: A Magazine Devoted to … The Great Pyramid. See the May 1884 issue, pages 117, 124.

[17]          Jan Stilson: Editorial, Church of God General Conference History Newsletter, Autumn 1984.

[18]          J. W. Houghawout: Report of Labors, The Restitution, August 14, 1878.

[19]          Amos Sanford: Controversy, The Restitution, June 12, 1876.

[20]          AC Times as quoted in H. V. Reed: Doubt Castle Invaded, The Restitution, December 16, 1874. Characterization of Age-to-Come as “trash”: AC Times, July 18, 1877.

[21]          David Graham: A Short History of Anti-Sectarianism in the Church of God, Church of God General Conference History Newsletter, December 1992/January 1993, page 1ff.

[22]          Mary Bush” Letter to S. A. Chaplin in the January 22, 1879, issue of Restitution.

[23]          Abby A. Perry, Letter to S. A. Chaplin in the April 16, 1879 issue of Restitution.

The next section should go up in a few days. It profiles Jonas Wendell in detail not found anywhere else.

Charles G Buehler ?

by Jerome

Charles G Buehler as pictured in the 1909 convention report

Back in 2014 I wrote a series of articles on this blog on the subject of what came to be known as the United Cemeteries, Pittsburgh. When the Society sold the property they retained a special burial area that was intended for Bethel workers and pilgrims and their families. The center of the plot contains a pyramid monument which was designed to have the names of all those buried inscribed on its four sides. In reality, only nine names were ever inscribed before the idea was abandoned. The articles Who Are Those Guys, parts 1 and 2, published here in September of last year, outline the history of the individual Bible Students, Charles Taze Russell and eight others.

Other articles from last year established that, excepting the burial of CTR’s sister, Margaretta Land, beside him in 1934, the graveyard was to all intents and purposes abandoned until the 1940s. The remaining graves were then sold off. This was established from an examination of memorial inscriptions on the site, personal interviews while visiting Pittsburgh, plus a handwritten document that appears to show who purchased graves, although giving no actual dates.

Then last week I received the official interment records for this special area. I am very grateful to the current owner of United Cemeteries for making this available, and to friend Gabriel who worked hard to achieve this. As expected, it shows a number of gaps. This indicates that, while all available spaces have been sold, not all have been used. Several families opted for alternative arrangements like cremation when the time came. Some owners are still with us, because interments are still taking place. The official records cover from Grace Munday’s burial in December 1914 up to June 2015 (at this time of writing just last month). After CTR’s sister, interments were resumed in 1943, although we do not know when the grave in question was purchased.

This leads us – finally – to the subject of this article, Charles Buehler. Charles is a mystery that doesn’t quite fit the pattern, because he was buried on this site on March 27, 1925. This is one solitary burial throughout the whole of the 1920s, but there was no name added to the pyramid inscriptions.

The location of the grave is interesting. Below is a plan of the site, and the grave plots as they exist now. (Originally they hoped to cram in more burials, but a curved hillside site presented logistical problems, and the original plan that you can make out on the sides of the pyramid monument was soon rejected.)

The plan is looking across the site – to the left is in the bottom of the hill and to the right is the top. You can see where the named Bible Students on the pyramid sides were buried – apart from CTR himself, they were in little clusters at the corners of the site. In the top right hand corner were John Perry, Grace Mundy, Henry Addington, Lorena Russell (no relation to CTR) and Flora Cole. In the top left hand corner were Arabella Mann and Mary Whitehouse. In the bottom right hand corner was John Coolidge, whose stone still survives. But the bottom left hand corner was unused. However, it was obviously the plan to start at the four extremities of the Society’s site and work their way inwards. There were going to be problems when they met in the middle, but those were future problems.

The one unused quadrant of the whole site, section T-47, is where the grave of Charles Buehler is found, in the far corner again. That fits the pattern, but then there were no further interments (apart from Margaretta Land who obviously owned the grave next to her brother) until the 1940s when the policy was to now sell off the remaining plots.

So who was Charles Buehler? He was obviously a Bible Student, and had probably secured a plot on this site long before he died in 1925.

There was a Charles Buehler who died in Kings, NY (where the WT Bethel then was) in 1925, but by then the Bethel workers were being buried in the Staten Island cemetery near the WBBR radio station. There was also a Charles Beuhler who lived in Allegheny for a time, but census returns give no clue as to him being a Bible Student.

What we do have are three references to Charles Buehler in Bible Student materials. The first is the 1909 Convention Report. The 1909 Denver Colorado Convention program contained a symposium on The Fruits of the Spirit. C G Buehler gave the segment on Long-Suffering, and the photograph at the head of this is taken from this source. Then (as far as this researcher’s labors are concerned) there is silence until 1922. In that year the Bible Students’ unofficial newspaper, The New Era Enterprise (formerly the St Paul Enterprise – named after the place, not the apostle) mentioned the name twice in connection with funeral reports. And while there may have been more than one Charles G Buehler in the Bible Student community, it seems unlikely.

The January 24, 1922, issue had a funeral report for one R Fritz who had died in an accident. The report, written by the widow, then residing in Kansas, reported “we secured the use of the community hall seating over 600 for the services and sent to St Joseph, Mo., for Brother M.E. Reimer, who sent Brother C.G. Buehler in his stead. The discourse was grand...giving the divine plan as briefly as possible and the people were very attentive. We have heard many favorable comments, some saying it was the best they had ever heard.”

Two months later, the March 21, 1922, issue had a funeral report for Amy C Merrett, of Kearney, Mo., who “had had present truth since 1883.” The brief report noted that “Brother Charles Buehler of Kansas City, conducted her funeral.”

Crucial extant copies of the New Era Enterprise for 1925 are missing, which is a pity because an obituary for Charles himself would probably have removed all mystery.

It seems likely that this Charles G Buehler is the man who died in 1925 and was buried in T47, H4. But by this late date, why here? Why no others? Why only him? The site remained unused and apart from any who wished to visit CTR’s grave, probably unvisited. In 1929 Bible Students who had seceded from the Watch Tower Society held their first reunion convention in Pittsburgh, and held a memorial service at the site. It was observed that “either the friends have not been dying, or the plan has been changed.”

So why was Charles Buehler the exception?

As yet I don’t know the answer to that one. But suggestions are welcome.

More on the United Cemeteries' Pyramid

WHAT PYRAMID?

 

The pyramid was removed very carefully on September 1. These photographs are from September 2. On top of the CTR grave stone is a small piece of granite salvaged from the pyramid site. 

For the background as to what led up to this, see the post from August 22.

The Magnificent Seven

     Well, perhaps not all quite so magnificent, but I couldn’t resist the title.

     When Zion’s Watch Tower Tract Society was incorporated in late 1884, there were seven directors. This article is just a brief overview of the original seven. As such, most of the material has appeared in some form before, and for details of the lives of these people you will need to consult the Separate Identity series. Grateful thanks are due to Bernhard who has supplied much of the information here. And in line with a series of past articles based on the indispensible Find a Grave site, as well as giving their dates, this article shows where all these people ended up. Literally.

     But first, here is the list of names from Zion’s Watch Tower for January 1885.

     There are, of course, only six names listed here. However, the original handwritten record of the charter lists a seventh, Simon O Blunden. When the original articles of incorporation were reproduced in the Watch Tower for November 1, 1917, all original seven names were listed.

     We will take them in the order in which they appeared in the 1885 ZWT (adding Blunden at the end) and simply document their births and deaths and when they ceased to be Society directors. In many cases, ceasing to be directors coincided with ceasing active association with Charles T Russell and Zion’s Watch Tower. To illustrate, we will show their final resting places.

Charles Taze Russell (February 6, 1852 – October 31, 1916)

     CTR remained president until his death. He is buried in the plot owned by the Watchtower Society in United Cemeteries, Pittsburgh. Visitors often photograph the pyramid on the site, but this is not CTR’s grave marker. The pyramid was originally designed to list all the names of those buried on site. Only nine names were recorded before the idea was abandoned. For a full history including the history of the “pyramid nine” check back on this blog to a series of articles written in 2014.

William Imrie Mann (January 4, 1844 - December 12, 1930)

     Mann, the original vice-president, ceased to be a Society director on April 11, 1892. He is buried in Grove Cemetery, Trumansburg, Tomkins County, New York.

Maria Frances Russell (April 10, 1850 – March 12, 1938) 

     Maria (née Ackley), the original secretary-treasurer ceased to be a director on February 12, 1900, although she actually parted from CTR back in 1897. After leaving CTR she made her home with her sister, Emma, until Emma’s death, and lived the last years of her life in Florida. She is buried in the Royal Palm South Cemetery, St Petersburg, Pinellas County, Florida.

John Bartlet Adamson (1837 - January 22, 1904)

     Adamson ceased to be a director on January 5, 1895. He is buried in Mount Olive Cemetery, Chicago, Cook County, Illinois. There is no marker, he is buried in a garden lot which is just an area of grassland.

William Cook McMillan (October 10, 1849 - 1898)

     McMillan ceased to be a director on May 13, 1898. He resigned because he was serious ill and died shortly afterwards. He is buried in the Mechesneytown Cemetery, Mechesneytown, Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania. (The spelling McMillan occurs in the January 1885 ZWT, but MacMillan in the reprint of the association’s articles in the November 1, 1917 WT, whereas the family memorial spells the name MacMillen. All three forms can be found for him in the pages of ZWT.)

Joseph Firth Smith (October 28, 1849 – December 7, 1924) 

     Smith ceased to be a director on April 11, 1892, the same date as William Imrie Mann. He is buried in the Allegheny Cemetery, the same location where CTR’s parents and other family members were buried. For a history of this cemetery and the Russell family’s connection with it, check back on this blog to an article from November 2013.

Simon Osborne Blunden (September 1840 - November 13, 1915) 

     Blunden ceased to be a director on June 6, 1908. He is buried in the family grave in Glendale Cemetery, Bloomfield, Essex County, New Jersey - not to be confused with the more famous Glendale Cemetery of California (Forest Lawn). The headstone reads Samuel Buchanan, who was Blunden’s son-in-law and who died in 1906. Two other family members who died before Buchanan also had their names on the marker. However, when Blunden died later, he was buried in this family plot, but the headstone was never updated.

Uncle Daniel's Bible Class Book

   

  The Edgars, brothers John and Morton, are well-known to collectors of Watch Tower history. They were responsible for the volumes of Great Pyramid Passages, as well as a series of small booklets that were widely circulated. One of them, Where are the Dead (not to be confused with the Watch Tower Society’s official publication of that name) was instrumental in Fred Franz becoming a Bible Student. He later served as a Watch Tower Society president.

     One book bearing the Edgars’ names that is available for internet download is called Uncle Daniels Bible Class Book, and dates from 1890.

     The book was published by Bone and Hulley, a company that later handled the pyramid books. A close up of the title page clearly shows the Edgars as authors.

     

And yet, this is not actually true.

     Research has shown that this book was originally published back in 1850. Then it was simply called The Bible Class Book. The author and compiler was Charles Baker.  Below is the title page of the second edition which dates from 1860.

     

The book covers the whole of the OT with articles, maps, and notes, using the Ussher chronology.

     Charles Baker (1803-1874) was a prolific author. His Wikipedia entry lists around seventy-five works on a variety of subjects, including the Bible. Although he wrote on the NT as well, there does not appear to be a companion volume to The Bible Class Book, which concentrates on the OT. One of his nephews became the Archbishop of Canterbury. His main focus in life was producing school textbooks for the teaching of children who were deaf and dumb.

     When he died The Sheffield and Rotherham Independent for May 30, 1874, gave a brief obituary:

    

Yet 20 years after the last publication of Baker’s work, the Edgar brothers claimed it as their own.

     How could this happen? Modern sensibilities might question the ethics of giving no acknowledgement to Baker, but it was all perfectly legal. The British Copyright Act of 1842 granted copyright to an author for his lifetime and then for seven years after his death. As noted above, Baker conveniently died in 1874, so by 1890 his work was in the public domain and the Edgars – or anyone else for that matter - could do what they liked with it.

     The British 1842 Copyright Act was eventually replaced by one of 1911, which extended copyright to a more realistic fifty years after an author’s death.

     Since the Edgars weren’t going to give Baker any credit, they took out his introduction, which he had revised for the second edition. In its place they inserted a Watch Tower advertisement.

    

This Watch Tower material only took up one page whereas Baker’s introduction in both editions took up two, so the Edgar volume simply has an extra blank page following the Watch Tower advertisement. One assumes this is so that the remainder of the plates would not need their pagination adjusted.

     We are on firmer ground with the Edgars’ pyramid volumes and the series of small booklets which were original and reflected the Bible Student theology of that time. But as far as “Uncle Daniel’s” work, all was not as it appeared. It may still be viewed as collectable, but perhaps not as much as might be hoped.

Allegheny Cemetery update

One of the problems of writing articles about historic sites from a distance is that you have to rely on photographic evidence, or statements given you by others who have actually visited the sites in question.

On both this blog and blog 2 I wrote articles about the Allegheny cemetery, where nine of CTR’s close relatives are buried, these include his parents, three siblings, and assorted uncles and aunts.

I stand by the information presented in the articles except for one point. I stated in good faith that there were only five grave markers lying flat on the ground on the site – those for CTR’s parents, two siblings, and then his Uncle Charles Tays Russell. Having finally been able to visit the site in person, I can now more accurately report that a total of eight grave markers exist. Likely many of them had been covered in part by grass and earth encroaching over them over the decades.

In the top row, next to Charles Tays Russell, are the graves of James and Sarah. James purchased the family plot originally, and his wife Sarah was the first to be buried there in 1846.

Sarah’s stone reads: Sarah, wife of Jas. G. Russell, died Dec 14, 1846. James’ stone next to her simply reads James G Russell. Both stones are much smaller than the later ones for CTR’s parents or his uncle Charles Tays.

There used to be a family tree of the Russells in circulation that made the assumption that Sarah was James’ sister. However, the grave stone plainly shows her to be his wife.

Then in the front row are the immediate family of CTR. They were buried as they died from right to left. First to die was Thomas, aged 5 years and 3 months. There is a small stone visible there. Sadly it is worn completely smooth, so it is not possible now to make out any inscription. Next are the two larger stones for Lucinda and Joseph Lytle Jr. – both very worn and indistinct now, and finally the stones for his parents. Joseph Lytle was the last to be buried here in 1897 and the site then became forgotten for nearly a century.

The only family member who appears to have never had a gravestone was Mary Russell, Joseph Lytle’s sister, who died in 1886.

 

 

One other feature of this site may be of interest and I am indebted to my Pittsburgh guide for the information. If you are on the road, facing the family plot which verges on the road, behind the site and a little to your left are two old monuments, both sadly somewhat vandalised today. One is of a pyramid shape – albeit a rather thin one. The other, behind it, is of books on which names were originally intended. A pyramid and open books for names should bring to mind the cemetery where CTR was buried in 1916 – in what became known as United Cemeteries. The monument to the WT Society (not CTR) was of course a pyramid, with open books on its sides. Installed several years after CTR’s death, it was reported that he had approved the design in 1914. If that is true, maybe the vista at his parents’ final resting place gave him the idea.

Maybe.