The Search for Charles Buehler

(This is a considerable re-write of an article published here about six years ago. I have outlined in detail the research paths followed which may be of help to newer researchers looking for trails in their own research.)

One of my projects is to do a book on the various cemeteries in Pittsburgh that feature in Watch Tower history, particularly for the benefit of visitors/tourists to the area. A title like “Grave Matters” or “Grave Affairs” is likely. (Insert groan.)

Much of the research was done when I visited the area myself in 2014, and various articles appeared on this blog at the time, which will form the basis for the “new” work. But of course, everything needs re-researching in case there is more that can still be found.

This brings us to the strange case of Charles Buehler. A transcript of a death certificate, but alas not the original, has now become available on Ancestry. You would need to visit a record office in person to obtain the original, and since I live 3325 miles away from Brooklyn (give or take), that is a little impractical. (Any readers who can literally make the trip please contact me back-channel.) But the transcript does provide more information to help with identification – or muddy the waters.

But first, why is the death and burial of Charles Buehler of interest? In 1905 the Watch Tower Society through a holding company, The United States Investment Company, purchased farm land for a cemetery. In his last will and testament CTR asked that he be buried there, and in 1916 he was. The whole area was sold off at the end of 1917, apart from a couple of small sections just reserved for the Bible Students. The most famous one had a pyramid monument erected in its center, and this is the magnet for visitors to see.

The pyramid was designed as a family monument for Bethelites and Pilgrims with sufficient spaces for all their names on its sides. As it happened, only nine names were ever recorded, and were on three of the sides, leaving one side blank. The engravings were all done before the pyramid was installed and related to burials between 1914 and 1919.

The whole project was abandoned until burials restarted in 1943, with two exceptions. One was CTR’s sister, Margaretta Russell Land, who was buried next to him in 1934. The other was our mystery man, Charles Buehler, who was buried on this site on March 27, 1925. This is the 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 including the four taken out by the pyramid. (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 that was someone else’s headache in the future.

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, in plot H4. That fits the pattern, but then as noted above there were no further interments (apart from Margaretta Land) until the 1940s when the policy was to now sell off all the remaining plots.

So who was Charles Buehler? It is not an uncommon name in historical records, which makes the search more difficult. It is usually attached to families who came from Switzerland to the United States.

There are three known 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 at the St Joseph convention, and his photograph was attached and reproduced below.

When I wrote originally I thought this might be our man, except that the newly discovered death certificate shows that the Charles buried in United Cemeteries was only about 22 in 1909. I think we must accept the above photograph as being of an older man, although as noted below likely related. 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 Buehler name twice in connection with funeral reports.

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. Riemer, 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.”

Key points to hold onto are the reference to St Joseph and the family name Riemer. 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.” (Kansas City and St Joseph, Mo., are only 55 miles away from each other).

Unfortunately the file for the New Era Enterprise for 1925 is incomplete, which is a pity because an obituary for Charles himself would probably have removed all mystery.

This Charles G Buehler from 1922 could have been the older man from the 1909 convention report, or the younger man who died in 1925 and was buried in United Cemeteries. Our Charles’ death certificate transcript says he died in the Brooklyn hospital, and his given address was 124 Columbia Heights, Brooklyn. His occupation, obviously in Brooklyn Bethel, was bookbinder. He was born c. 1887 as worked out from his age of 38 at death. He was single. Cause of death is given as septicaemia and osteomyelitis. His “executor” was given as Mr Hugo H Riem, friend (which is likely a truncated transcript for H H Riemer).

Normally Bethelites who died at this time were buried in the Society’s new plot on Staten Island near the radio station WBBR. But, for whatever reason, Charles B was taken to be buried in the otherwise abandoned cemetery in Pittsburgh. There may have been a family reason, the name Charles Buehler also occurs in Pittsburgh records, although as noted above it was not an uncommon name at the time. There are three Charles Buehlers in Pittsburgh directories - for 1884 (a baker), 1902 (a brewmaster), and 1909 (a machinist). Whether different people or relatives of the Charles in United Cemeteries it has not been possible to determine.

It seems most likely that Charles came originally from Missouri. His friend H H Riemer had a connecton there. When the Watch Tower listed names of those who had taken “The Vow,” the class at St Joseph signed from, amongst others, Hugo H Riemer and also a Clara L Buehler. There were actually six Riemer family members including M E Riemer, who was likely featured in the New Era Enterprise quote above. From the August 15, 1908 Watch Tower magazine:

The 1908 street directory for St Joseph lists a Mrs Clara L Buehler and also not one but two different men named Charles Buehler. There is a Charles who is a book agent, and another Charles G for whom no occupation is given. One could have been the older Charles whose picture was in the 1909 convention report (note that his talk was given at the St Joseph convention) and other could have been OUR Charles Buehler.

By the 1910 census the extended Buehler family was grown and scattered and difficult to piece together, but the 1900 census for St Joseph gives the likely branch that included Charles.

We have parents, and then in the full return a total of six children. The parents are the head (indecipherable but sometimes transcribed as Gustave) Buehler and wife, Katherine Buehler. Their eldest child is named Gottfried and was born in Switzerland. The father came to America in 1884, and his wife and first child in 1885. After Gottfried there was Charles, aged 14, who was the first to be born in America. There is a shared gravestone in the Ashland Cemetery, St Joseph, that is for Gottfried Buehler (1857-1926) and Katherine Buehler (1861- 1923) which helps clarify the father’s first name. 

Our Charles’ death certificate gives his parents as Gottfried and Katherine, so it is reasonable to assume that this is the right family and therefore the right Charles. This particular Charles in St Joseph received a life-threatening injury in a gun accident as a teenager, which may have contributed to health issues later on. 

Family records are a headache but those from the Ashland Cemetery suggest that the older Charles G Buehler of the convention report was a relative, maybe an uncle, or cousin once removed, as was Clara L Buehler by marriage to a Samuel Buehler. The older Charles lived on until 1940 but his obituary showed he had severed contact with the IBSA. His funeral was taken by J A Meggison.

So – a chain of possible evidence, conjecture, joining the dots maybe – such is the case of Charles Buehler. Such is the stuff of conjectural research. But the question still remains – why United Cemeteries?

Who Are Those Guys? - part 1

by Jerome

East face of the pyramid showing the names of Grace Mundy, Lorena M Russell, John Perry, H L Addington and Flora J Cole.

There’s a famous line in the film Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. Butch and Sundance are being chased by an unknown posse, who are only seen in the distance to begin with. The line that almost becomes a mantra throughout this sequence is “Who are those guys?”

It is a good enough opening line for this article (the first of two) which is about a group of people who have remained unknown and for any sufficiently curious, somewhat mysterious, for around one hundred years. Hopefully, in some cases, it might rescue their stories from obscurity.

In the Rosemont United Cemetery in Ross Township, Allegheny, there is a burial plot originally intended for Watch Tower supporters who either worked at their headquarters (Bethel) or who travelled from congregation to congregation (Pilgrims) or who acted as colporteurs along with their family members. CTR in his will specified that he should be buried in this cemetery, and the idea was for others close to him and his work to be buried nearby in the years ahead.

Previous articles on this blog have dealt with the actual site with a pyramid at its center – covering its history, the number of plots planned and how this was revised, who actually are buried there today, and also the mystery of the hidden box of publications sealed inside the pyramid that, alas, is there no longer. This article deals with those whose names were originally inscribed on the monument. For all the grandiose plans, only nine names ever made it on the pyramid sides.

This article may be considered a work in progress, because while some of these individuals were easy to trace, others were very illusive. Other researchers may be able to add to this information, and I would be happy to have their comments, and even publish a revised article (with acknowledgments) if sufficient extra material comes to light.

This first article deals with the five individuals whose names are recorded on the east face of the pyramid as shown in the photograph at the head of this article. They are listed under the carved heading Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society. Below is a plan of the complete lot where they are interred (Section T – lot 33) which also shows where CTR and his sister are buried (in their case, actually in Section T – lot 35). The plan shows where the five graves are in relation to each other at the far corner of the whole site. (All the Bible Student burials, apart from CTR’s, appear to be working from the extremities of the site inwards.)

 

 

Grace Mundy

Grace Mundy was buried in the same row as CTR, but at the furthest corner of the site. According to her death certificate she died on December 4, 1914, aged 25, and the interment took place on December 8. She was the first to be buried on the Society’s site. Sadly, she made the front page of the Brooklyn Daily Eagle when she was fatally injured.

The Eagle for December 4, 1914 carried the heading, WOMAN IN FLAMES RUSHES INTO STREET – Miss Grace Mundy Perhaps Fatally Burned – Neighbors Beat Out Fire.

The story tells how the street was greeted by a “flaming apparition” as Grace rushed into the street, and several bystanders were burned trying to extinguish the flames. Grace’s father was away at the time, her mother was ill in bed, and she had been cleaning feathers in the kitchen in their home on the fourth floor of 539 Throop Avenue, using gasoline. She got too near the stove and the fluid ignited and set fire to her garments. She managed to get down three flights of stairs and out into the street but was severely burned. She was taken to St John’s Hospital, where she died.

The story makes no connection with the Bible Student movement, but the death certificate confirms that this is the Grace who was the first to be buried at the Society’s plot. She may have been a colporteur, and her parents, Peter and Sarah, may have been too. They had lived in Throop Avenue for three years at the time of the accident. They were not mentioned by Menta Sturgeon when he detailed who was part of the regular Bethel family in January 1913. (See trial transcript Russell vs. Brooklyn Eagle, 1913). The 1910 census has the family living in New Jersey, with the father a carpenter and Grace’s younger brother, George, a machinist in an auto factory. Grace was born in Missouri, and the census has her down as a step-daughter, with the original surname of Wilson.

The trail ran cold for me at this point. However, Grace and/or her family must have been heavily involved in the work of the IBSA for her to be given the ‘privilege’ of being the first to be taken all the way from New York to the United Cemeteries in Pittsburgh. No other family members were to be buried near her.

Lorena May Russell

A year went by without any further interments, and then two happened in quick succession in December 1915. The pyramid records the death of Lorena M Russell. She was living and working at Bethel, but was not listed there when the New York census named all the regular inhabitants on the snapshot day of June 1, 1915. According to her death certificate she was 40 when she died. She is named as Lorena on the pyramid, Lorna on her death certificate, and Laura in her obituary (see below). Even with this information, there are just too many L Russells around in the records to track her history with any certainty, but her death was mentioned in the St Paul Enterprise, the unofficial Bible Student newspaper of the day. No connection with CTR was ever suggested.

A letter from J H Coyle (John Coyle who worked in the Bethel laundry in 1915) dated December 17, 1917, read:

“Dear Brothers in Christ – Perhaps it would interest many to note that Sister Laura May Russell of the “Bethel” died December 11. Funeral service by our dear Brother Rutherford in which he noted her fine Christ-like characters, the largeness of heart and nobility of soul, the warmth and graciousness of her spirit and her earnest devotion and tender love to the Master and disciples. Pilgrim Rutherford lovingly called attention to the fact that our departed sister had the great honor of being the first from Brooklyn “Bethel” to meet and greet the Risen Master, even as did Mary of old.”

Two things we might glean from this. Lorena, Lorna or Laura was sufficiently well known in the Bible student community to make such a letter have any point, and also it shows that J F Rutherford was in Brooklyn (or at least as a Pilgrim travelled to Brooklyn) in December 1915.

John Perry

On December 13, 1915, John Perry died – our third name on the east face of the pyramid. The same letter from John Coyle continued:

“Two days later brother John Perry of “Bethel” also died. Funeral by Pilgrim Van Amburgh. His discourse was touching as he reviewed the faithful, devoted and blessed consecrated life of this very dear and saintly brother. Brother Perry had finely wrought qualities of heart that endeared him to all at the home. Like a shock of wheat he was fully ripe, and he has gone to meet the Saviour whom he loved so well!”

John Perry was listed in Menta Sturgeon’s January 1913 list as part of the Bethel family, and he was also in the June 1915 New York census at the Columbia Heights address. He was 70 years old at the time, and while many of his companions told the enumerator they were a missionary, evangelist, or minister of the gospel, John put himself down as a helper, and his occupation - housework.

We learn more about him from a letter in the January 7, 1916 SPE which gives his history. It was written by W H Bradford (Wesley Haven Bradford, who wrote several collectible booklets).

Before becoming a Bible Student, John Perry had been “a horse dealer in the vicinity of Bismarck, North Dakota, a very rough and profane man, not able to read or write, although a shrewd and successful horse raiser and trader, and possessed of a small fortune accumulated in trade.”

The account tells how he came in contact with “the teachings of Pastor Russell and was at once under conviction of them. He was unable, however, to read either the Studies in the Scriptures or the Bible itself, being illiterate...So he began on a task that most men of his age would despair of at the start. He used the Bible and the Divine Plan of the Ages as his text books, and actually learned to read from them.” He moved to Chicago where he became an active volunteer (and where Bradford first knew him). “He sold out his interest in the horse business, and...gave the proceeds to the Bible House for the furtherance of the Light.”

Bradford’s account concludes: “He was very clear on all the essential doctrines, being able to quote Scriptures fluently to support them, and it was impossible for men of education or argumentative skill to tangle him up. I have often thought, when pondering on such a life as Brother Perry’s, What hath God wrought! The Divine Potter indeed hath power out of ordinary clay to fashion a vessel unto honor. In the light of such a life, who should not have faith?”

One gets the picture of a rough diamond who donated his assets to the cause and was probably given a home at Brooklyn Bethel as part of that arrangement.

H L Addington                             

 

In his day, Henry Lawrence Addington was probably one of the best known of the names on the pyramid. Other than CTR, he was the only person named on the pyramid to receive an official obituary in the Watch Tower magazine.
 

Addington served as a Pilgrim and as his itinerary was regularly listed on the back page of the Watch Tower magazine. In both June 1919 issues it notes that he was booked to speak at Mansfield, Ohio, on July 4. He was killed en route to that speaking engagement.

 

His obituary was published in the July 15, 1919, Watch Tower on page 217 under the heading: “Sown in Weakness, Raised in Power.” It reads (in part):
 

“Brother H L Addington, member of the office staff and also of the Pilgrim force, suddenly finished his course on the morning of July 4 at Mansfield, Ohio, when he and four other friends, three from Cleveland and one from Mansfield, were killed by a special Pennsylvania train. Eight friends were seated in an autocar and were being driven to picnic grounds nearby, where meetings were to be addressed by Brother Addington during the day. Five friends were killed practically outright; three were injured.”
 

The obituary noted that Addington symbolised his consecration in Pittsburgh in the spring of 1914 and joined the Bethel family in February 1918.
 

The accident was reported in the July 5, 1919, New York Sun as “Five Die in Motor Crash - Pastor is Among Victims on Way to Bible Students’ Picnic” and also in both the Loudonville, Ohio, newspapers, the Advocate and Democrat, on July 7, 1919 – headlines “Five Killed” and “Another Awful Auto Accident.” They all misspell Addington’s name and initials as the Rev. H A Haddington. He was 38.
 

Apparently the level crossing gates at the East Fourth Street crossing of the Pennsylvania railroad at Mansfield were not down, and as the car attempted to cross it was hit by a special train taking fight fans from Pittsburgh to Toledo. The gateman hadn’t seen the signal from the next station of the train’s approach, and neither had he heard it. He was arraigned on the charge of manslaughter and at the preliminary hearing it turned out that he was (quote) “quite deaf.”

 

Before becoming a Bible Student, records shows Addington to have been born in Darke County Ohio, some sources gives 1881, others 1882. He married Edith C Woolley (or Woodley) in June 1909. (It was Edith’s second marriage and she married a third time after Addington’s death, and lived until 1945). The 1910 census shows Lawrence and Edith living together in Allegheny, Pittsburgh and him working as a telegraph operator.

 

Flora J Cole

 

The final name on the east face of the pyramid is that of Flora Jane Cole. There is a link here to the present today for, as we shall see below, her son James was mentioned in a modern Watchtower magazine in 2012. Flora died in Manhattan, New York on June 8, 1919, aged 70. George Swetnam’s 1967 article about the pyramid gives her age as 78, but this is a misreading of a by now none-too-clear inscription. She was buried next in the row of women that started with Grace Mundy and Lorena M Russell.
 

Flora was born about 1849, and as Flora J Loomis married John Cole in 1870. In the 1880 census, John is an engineer, and they have three young sons, James, Herbert and Alfred. Eldest son James was born in Kansas in February 1872. In the 1900 census, Flora is a widow living in Cuyahoga County, Ohio, with two sons, James, an electrician, and Alfred a book-keeper. By the 1910 census we find just Flora and James together in lodgings in Detroit City. They both now give their trade or profession as colporteur and the general nature of their business as Bible studies.
 

In Menta Sturgeon’s January 1913 list, a Mrs Cole was part of the Bethel. Moving forward to the June 1, 1915 New York census, Flora J Cole is still listed as living at Bethel. Her relationship to the rest of the family is “helper” but her occupation is “missionary.” That would identify her as a colporteur.

As noted above, Flora’s son James has been mentioned in Watchtower literature in very recent years. The February 15, 2012, Watchtower magazine, had a feature article “It Made Me a Little Conspicuous.”  It described a contraption used by colporteurs called the Dawn-Mobile. This was designed by James. It was a frame with two wheels attached, one in front of the other, which could be fixed to a suitcase. It enabled colporteurs to transport large amounts of literature to people. It was especially appreciated by female colporteurs and the Watch Tower actually offered these free to women in full-time colporteur work - see for example WT June 15, 1908, reprints page 4195.

James Cole from a 1915 convention report

 

There is an entertaining article in the 1908 convention report from Cincinnati, Ohio (pages 79 and 80), where James Cole (with A H Macmillan as helper) demonstrated the new Dawn-Mobile to the colporteurs at their special meeting. While “Dawn-Mobile” was the official title, nearly everyone at the time called it the “Cole-Wagon.”

The Cole-Wagon 

So Flora J Cole was James’ mother. And hers was the last name to be found on the east face of the pyramid. When James eventually died he was buried in California. You can find him on the Find a Grave site.

If the stated plan had been followed all of the above would have had small grave stones, 12 inches long by 6 inches high. However, no stones for any of the above five now exist. Still, their names are preserved on the pyramid.

 

The next article in this series, when ready, will discuss the remaining individuals remembered on the north and south sides of the monument: Charles T Russell, John Milton Coolidge, Arabella Mann and Mary Jane Whitehouse.

 

ANALYSIS OF A PHOTOGRAPH

There is quite a lot of detail in this photograph, which obviously shows the gravestone for Charles T Russell and nearby, the Pyramid monument erected by early 1920. The photograph likely dates from that year or very shortly thereafter. The pyramid was designed to have engraved on pages on all four sides the names of all those buried on the Watch Tower Society’s plot. There was even a plot reserved for J F Rutherford originally. However, the plan was quite soon abandoned, as noted in an earlier article on this blog, probably because the center of activities returned to Brooklyn in 1919 and then stayed there until very recent times. There was little point, and a lot of unnecessary expense, in shipping bodies all the way back to Pittsburgh unless the families had a direct Pittsburgh connection.

Directly center in the photograph is the farmhouse, which became the office for the United Cemeteries, with J Bohnet in residence for a short time. (Bohnet is pictured in one of the photographs in the post just before this article). This farmhouse was pictured from a different angle when the cemetery company really got going in 1909, and that photo is also in the previous post. In quite recent years this area has been covered with a Masonic building, causing delight for conspiracy theorists. They cannot seem to get their heads around the fact that the Watch Tower Society sold off this land in the early 1920s and has had no input on its use since then.

Then, almost in the centre, a little way down and to the right of the pyramid (looking down the hill) are two small grave markers. They are most likely for Bible Students Arabela Mann and Mary Jane Whitehouse, both of whom had died and were buried here before the pyramid was completed. These specific markers (of white marble and a foot wide and six inches high) are no longer visible today, perhaps having been covered over with grass. However, the two names are engraved on the pyramid, along with a few others, and a rough plan of interments shows this to be where they are buried. Most visitors to the pyramid miss this, probably because they are not looking for them. Also, because of the way the stone has weathered, and the way the light catches the monument, these engravings can easily “disappear.”

One final point to note: In front of the former farmhouse are a whole cluster of graves. Visitors to the site will look in vain for these today. Were the monuments destroyed or were those buried reinterred elsewhere? The answer is neither. Apparently the cemetery company sold monumental masonry – as do many such companies today. These were simply sample stone on display for purchase by future occupants and/or their families.

Who Are Those Guys? - part 2

by Jerome

Charles T Russell and John Coolidge on South face of pyramid
(old picture)

 

Arabella Mann and Mary J Whitehouse on North face of pyramid
(modern picture)

 

 

 

The first article in this series (see September 22) reviewed the history of the five persons named on the east panel of the pyramid memorial in the center of the Society’s main plot in the Rosemont United Cemeteries.

In this article we will examine the remaining names – two on the north panel and two on the south. There are no inscriptions on the west panel.

The panel facing south is headed Dead With Christ and contains two names, Chas T Russell and John M Coolidge.

 

Charles Taze Russell

 

Right at the top is the inscription Chas T Russell, age 64. He died on October 31, 1916, and his burial took place on November 6, 1916.  His current grave marker further up the hill from the pyramid dates from the same time as the pyramid itself, late 1919, early 1920. The installation was complete when it was written up in the The New Era Enterprise for February 10, 1920.

 

I trust that most readers of this blog will already know his history, and will also know that his sister Margaretta R Land (died 1934) is buried in an unmarked grave next to him. Her name was given in various ways over the years, but Margaretta R Land is how she gave her name in the 1930 census and how it is listed in the cemetery records.

 

 

CTR and his sister, Margaret Land, in 1907

John M Coolidge

John Coolidge’s name is quite easy to miss because it is right at the bottom of the south page that is headed by CTR’s name. The reason simply is the location of the grave. CTR is buried in what is now Section T – lot 34 – grave A1, and John is right at the end of the same row in what is now numbered grave D2.   He has the distinction of being the only one (other than CTR) to have a surviving grave marker.

John Milton Coolidge was born in February 1876 in Massachusetts. He was married for a short time to Emma Eliza Phillips (married in Utah in 1898, but she died in 1899). He obviously lived at some point in Canandaigua, county seat of Ontario County, NY, because the Ontario County Journal gave a one line notice of his death -  at New York City, Jan. 2, John Milton Coolidge, formerly of Canandaigua, aged 38 years. (The death certificate gives January 4).

He was not in the 1913 list of Bethel residents provided by Menta Sturgeon, nor in the 1915 census of Bethel. However, a 1915 listing has him serving as a deacon in the New York City Ecclesia.

John’s death certificate states that he was living at 320 Beekman Avenue, The Bronx, at the time of his death. (This is a block of apartments built in 1910). The certificate says that he died of cerebrospinal meningitis at the age of 40 on January 4, 1916. (If the above birth date is correct that should probably be age 39, although the newspaper announcement gave age 38 and the pyramid inscription repeats the death certificate with age 40). His burial in the United Cemeteries plot was on January 6. His occupation was given as electrician.

All I can establish about him is that he was an amateur poet, somewhat along the lines of Gertrude Seibert. His death and funeral are not mentioned in the SPE (St Paul’s Enterprise) but a few months later a letter dated April 22, 1916, was written from Brooklyn by Mrs Anna H Brooks. It was eventually published on page 4 of the August 29, 1916, issue. She wrote:

“The accompanying poem written by our dear departed Brother Coolidge, has been so helpful to us at Bethel and vicinity, that we desire to share it with all the dear Enterprise family. It was read at his own funeral, and now we will be so glad to see it in our favorite newspaper.”

The poem was entitled “What of To-day?” and modern readers can always skip down this page if it is not to their taste.

We aim to do good in the “after while.”

  What good have we done to-day?

We would bring to each lonely one a smile,

  But what have we brought to-day?

We would give to Truth a greater worth:

And to steadfast Faith a grander birth,

And bless the fallen ones of earth.

  But what have we done to-day?

We will be so kind – “when we’re over there”

  How kind have we been to-day?

Our dear Lord’s likeness we there shall wear.

  But whose have we worn to-day?

We will share His joy and His glory too;

Rejoice and praise Him the whole day through,

And do all the Father would have us do.

  But what are we doing to-day?

Overcome, we must, to with Him share.

  Have we overcome aught to-day?

We will serve all His dear ones with tender care,

  Have we served them so to-day?

Gentle and loving and kind as a dove,

Manifesting the Heavenly Love,

Showing the Spirit from above.

  But how have we done to-day?

We’ll sympathise fully with others then.

  But how are we doing to-day?

We’ll think e’er we speak and not condemn,

  But what are we doing to-day?

We wish to prove worthy of “the call”

And help all mankind up from “the fall”

That the Glory of God may be known to all.

  Are we practicing this to-day?

  Composed  by J.M. COOLIDGE

 

Another one from John Milton Coolidge

 

And now we turn to the north face, which contains two names, Arabella Mann and Mary J Whitehouse.

 

Arabella Mann

Some internet transcripts give Arabella’s age at death as 86. However, the only death recorded in Kings, New York (the area including Brooklyn) with a subsequent burial at United Cemeteries, is Arabella L Mann, who died 28 May 1916 aged 66. Trying to decipher the difference between a 6 and an 8 on a discolored and weathered pyramid seems to have caused the discrepancy.

Arabella Mann was born c.1849-1850. (One source says December 1849). The 1900 United States Federal Census has Arabella L Mann living in Middlesex, Massachusetts, aged 50. She was born in New Hampshire, and had been married for 28 years (i.e. since c.1872), but there are no husband or children with her on census night. Her occupation is Music Teacher. City directories also place her on her own in Massachusetts in 1899 (Boston) and 1907 (Everett). By the 1910 census she is back in her home state of New Hampshire at Plymouth, Grafton, aged 60, as a boarder and a widow with no occupation listed. The Atlantic Reporter volume 80, page 366, reviewed a legal hearing held in New Hampshire in 1911 involving a widow named Arabella L Mann claiming back wages owed to her late husband, one George G Mann, who died March 17, 1908. This could be the same Arabella.

If she were a sometime colporteur, then moving about would be par for the course. By 1915 she is in the Brooklyn Bethel. The name is incorrectly rendered in the schedule as Anna L Mann. No other family members are with her. She is aged 66 and gives her relationship to the rest of the family as “helper” but her occupation as “missionary.” That would tie in with colporteur work.

Perhaps the biggest point to note about Arabella is that she appears to be no relation to William Imrie Mann. It would have been nice if a connection could have been made with WIM, who wrote for the early ZWTs and was a Society director until 1892. However, WIM left CTR and associated with John Paton and William Conley. It was this Mann who reported Conley’s death in the pages of Paton’s World’s Hope in 1897. Just the year before, CTR had railed against those who, as he saw it, were guilty of “evil surmising and slanders and envy” – and Mann was first on his list. (See Russell vs. Russell 1906, exhibit 2, letter from CTR to ‘My dear wife’ dated July 9, 1896). So it seems unlikely that Arabella was a relative. William Imrie was born in Scotland, whereas Arabella was born in America, although I do not have any information on her husband or maiden name.

Mary J Whitehouse

Mary Jane Whitehouse died in the Pittsburgh area in June 1916. There was a brief announcement of her death in the Pittsburgh Press for June 24, 1916. It reads:

WHITEHOUSE  – On Friday, June 23, 1916, at 1.25 a.m., Mary Jane, beloved wife of Herbert E Whitehouse (née McAdams) in her 63^rd year. Funeral services at her late residence, Rear 382 Boquet Street, Oakland, on Sunday June 25^th at 2.00 P.M. Interment private.

Mary Jane McAdams married Herbert Edward Whitehouse c. 1877 to become Mary Jane Whitehouse. Both were born in England but grew up in America. Two of their children featured in Watch Tower history.

The most well known was Laura Mary Whitehouse. She was born in Pittsburgh in 1878, and in the 1900 census she gives her occupation as a clerk. This was most likely in the Bible House, because she was invited with two other women to give their names to a company called Logan, Land and Whitehouse, in connection with buying goods at wholesale rates for a short-lived commercial enterprise called the Solon Society. When asked about why she allowed her name to be used, in cross-examination at the Russell vs. Russell 1907 hearing, she answered:

“I knew these gentlemen that belonged to the Solon Association, and I understood them to be thoroughly honest, honorable and reliable, and that there would be no responsibility upon myself, and so I permitted my name to be used in that way...Mr Russell broached the subject to me, but it was not compulsory at all; he didn’t say that we had to or needed to; he just simply asked us if we would like to.”

Laura’s mother was to be buried on the pyramid site, as was the mother of Alice Land, another one of the Logan, Land and Whitehouse triumvirate. Alice’s mother was CTR’s sister, Margaretta, mentioned above.

Laura married Albert Ernest Burgess, who, like her, grew up in Pittsburgh. He became a well known Pilgrim speaker and was one of the names mentioned in CTR’s will. By the 1910 census they have been married one year and are living in Brooklyn Bethel.

Another daughter of Mary Jane and Herbert Whitehouse was Estelle Belle Whitehouse who married Isaac Francis Hoskins on January 16, 1908. The two are also together in Brooklyn Bethel as a married couple in 1910, with the suggestion (assuming the enumerator completed the form correctly) that she had lost two children by then. Isaac Hoskins was one of the four directors replaced by J F Rutherford in 1917.

Laura and Estelle Whitehouse in 1907

Mary Jane Whitehouse’s husband, Herbert, died in 1931, having spent his last few years living with the Hoskins in New York.

So those are a few details about the nine names on the pyramid.

In order of death the nine were:

 

And then, no sooner was the pyramid erected and the names inscribed by early 1920, than the whole plan was abandoned

 

But any visitors to the site, or any interested in this footnote to history, should now have a bit more information to go on.

 

United Cemeteries Revisited

by Jerome

The United Cemeteries burial plot where CTR is interred has featured on this blog on several occasions in the past. Back in 2014, after visiting the area in person, I was able to write a series of articles covering the cemetery’s history, the history of the pyramid monument (including the infamous break-in) and also the history of the people whose names are inscribed on the pyramid’s sides. Also the claim by conspiracy theorists that CTR was a freemason because - shock, horror – there is now a Masonic temple on the site has also been discussed in detail in the past by both me and others.

However, since finding a couple more photographs hidden away on a hard drive, this article will go over some of this history briefly again. And it may be of interest to new readers who have not delved back into this blog’s own past.

Using the United States Investment Company, the Society purchased farming land formerly belonging to a Margaret Wible in 1904, with the intention of forming a cemetery company. It would be a commercial venture, but a percentage of the profits would go towards their religious work. There was already a cemetery adjacent owned by the Roman Catholic St Philomena Church, so the change of use was logical. Plat maps of the 1890s show a farm and land belonging to Margaret Wible, with the St Philomena Cemetery to the south.

When CTR wrote his last will and testament in 1907 he asked to be buried here. A special area of the cemetery came to be known as the Bethel plot, and was to be reserved for full time workers, either in Bethel or as pilgrims or colporteurs.

Our first picture was taken in early November 1916 and shows a view down the hill across the special “Bethel” cemetery area.

Two small grave markers can be seen on the grass. These are for Mary Jane Whitehouse and Arabella Mann, who were both interred in June 1916. Their graves mark the end of the special Bethel plot. The land in front, while still belong to the cemetery company, was not part of the Bethel plot. Looking further down the hill you can see a large house. This was the original farmhouse, now occupied by J Adam Bohnet, who was cemetery manager in 1916. He’d lived there for some years, and had earlier used the surrounding farmland to grow “miracle wheat.”

In front of the house on the right of the picture you can see some substantial grave stones clustered together. You will not find these today because this was apparently a collection of monumental masonry for purchase from the cemetery company.

So in 1916 CTR died and arrangements were made for his funeral. The next picture shows the grave being dug.

You can just see the head of someone in the bottom of the grave. The group of men include J Adam Bohnet on the far right. Bohnet’s distinctive bald head is covered over by a hat. The small graves stones for Mary Whitehouse and Arabella Mann are shielded in the picture by the group. Below them is the house along with the sample grave markers.

Our next picture takes us forward to very early in 1920. The pyramid monument has been erected in the center of the Bethel plot. This is covered in some detail in the New Era Enterprise newspaper for February 20, 1920, which reproduces this photograph.

This photograph, taken near dusk, appears to have been taken from the location of CTR’s grave. Looking down the hill, you can still see the two small grave markers for Whitehouse and Mann. It looks like the lights are on in the house.

However, the house no longer belonged to the Society. In December 1917 the whole cemetery, with the exception of the Bethel plot and a couple of other small areas, was sold off to what was now called the North Side Catholic Cemetery Association. J Adam Bohnet no longer lived in this house. After a short spell in Brooklyn he would spend the next decade as a Pilgrim loyal to the IBSA travelling across the country.

Once the pyramid monument was installed, no further names were inscribed on it. Apart from two further burials – Charles Beuhler in 1925 and Margaretta Russell Land (CTR’s sister) in 1934 – the site fell into disuse until the Society started selling off plots in the 1940s.

Our next picture dates from November 1991.

The site looks a little neglected, although that might just have been the time of year when the picture was taken. You can see CTR’s grave, the pyramid monument, and assorted grave markers both inside and outside of the Bethel plot. The two little grave markers for Whitehouse and Mann have now disappeared. So has the farm house. The land opposite is just scrubland, with just a few possible graves near the path.

In 1994 the Catholics (rebranded as the Catholic Cemeteries Association of the Diocese of Pittsburgh, Inc.) sold off this waste ground to the Masons. The documents from October 1994 show they sold 42.40 acres of land to the Masonic Fund Society for the County of Allegheny for $610,000. The Masons then built their shiny new Greater Pittsburgh Masonic Center there.

Our final picture (taken in 2014) shows CTR’s grave, the pyramid and the Masonic buildings in the distance.

It must be stressed to any who persist in linking a Masonic conference center with CTR’s grave that the land was sold to the Catholics in December 1917. The Catholics appear to have done nothing with it until selling it on in 1994. So there is absolutely no connection with CTR and the Society’s burial area. But when did facts ever get in the way of conspiracy theorists?

There are numerous pictures of the area showing it as found today. The one reproduced above is my own, but had to be cropped because I appear in the original. Being of a naturally shy and retiring nature I decided to edit it accordingly.