For me, Maria Russell is the more interesting character. How did she so quickly get "up to speed" to write articles for "The Watchtower"? How did
she get past the "I do not permit a woman to teach" New Testament declaration?
Maria had a huge intellect!
She was remarkable in a number of ways.
I think, of the two of them, Maria is the more original thinker.
There are examples of her writing "out there" on the Net. Look them up and read them, especially THE TWAIN.
She felt (rightly) she was every bit the equal of C.T. Russell. I think he thought so too....until....he was lionized as a spiritually "chosen" man. He then sought to distance himself.
As a man sort of manly man....Russell may have had deep psychological wounds from the death of his mother. Clearly, she made a deeply penetrating impression on the little boy's sense of things with her Calvinist Presbyterian ideas of Heaven and hell.
Maria might have had the same mind or personality as Russell's mother.
It is just a guess....