by AndersonsInfo 50 Replies latest watchtower scandals
Thanks Barbara for this work, i will surely buy it, to see what was the Maria's theology.
I hope that some days you could find and comment the divorce trial's document of 1907, it seems for me that these documents could be the real exposition of what Russell was at that time.
Charles
This could be hard to swallow for Russelite-Bible Students.
I'm sorry that I couldn't put the e-document on the web for free. Maybe one of these days. Right now, Joe and I are both doing as much as we possibly can financially for this cause, so we thought that if we asked a small fee for this valuable material, it would help defray costs of the website, www.watchtowerdocuments.com. We purposely chose to have an LLC to help avoid some possible problems when we put important documents on our website, but that's an expensive way to go in the State of Tennessee as the fee is $300.00 per year. Plus, what with website hosting charges and payment to the computer guy for work done on the website, it really adds up. We ask for no donations or contributions but thought that giving something valuable such as the 116 pages of WT charter information or the Maria Russell material for small fees helps us and also helps the one who is desirous of the information. Everybody benefits in this way because then we can keep the website going and they have the material. Sorry to say, we gave most of our working years to the Watch Tower so because of that we have to stretch our pennies in our senior years.
I am in possession of all the Russell divorce material. Although some of the copies are in poor condition, I have double checked them for accuracy and re-typed everything. A number of years ago, I worked part-time just to buy all the transcripts and other material to do with the Russells. I also hired two expensive professionals in two states to do research for me in places that few people thought to look and came up with some very interesting material which I don't think even the Bible Students have in their archives, but that's sort of an educated guess. Hopefully, next year we'll see what we can do to share those documents. Maybe the Bible Students will put the entire divorce on one of their websites. I know they have most of it and then we all can talk about it. But if they won't, I will and then the battle of words will begin.
Of course the Bible Students won't like what I say about Charles Taze Russell. But, I've really done my homework, so right now I'm not concerned that some of them will not be happy with me. However, there are some very informed and open-minded Bible Students who know I'm right cause we've had some long discussions and they told me so. I don't have an agenda except to seek out the truth. If Russell and his followers had told the truth and not the half-truths that were common with them, their followers today would have no need to worry about what I say. If they can prove me wrong, I welcome open, honest discussion.
In "The Writings of Maria Russell," Introduction, I make some negative but factual remarks about Pastor Russell and I did not include a source for some of those remarks but that was done intentionally. The reason is this: I have three different transcripts of the same Russell divorce and all three have different page numbers. Until I release all three of the documents, it is useless to include page numbers. So for now, you'll have to take my word for it that if I say something happened thus and so, I have the proof. If you really have a problem with any statement I make in the Introduction, PM me and I'll respond with proof.
If anybody downloads the Maria e-document and wants to put any quotes from my Introduction on this or any other discussion board, that's fine with me.
Barbara
Barb,
The Maria Russell document you've put together is dynamite stuff. I think anyone who is interested in Watchtower history will need to reevaluate their position on Charles and Maria's relationship and Maria's influence on the movement in the light of this material. Thanks for making it available!
I'm so glad to see this info posted. When I was doing some research last year I found something that erased my belief that C. T. Russell was a well meaning but deluded person.
I was searching through some of the WT Reprints and discovered this gem and posted about it 1906 Training for Colporteurs - a real eye-opener
Russell himself delivers a lecture to colporteurs on how to sell books. Even if they already have the Millennial Dawn they should lie and say the Studies in the Scriptures were different books so they could make the sale.
I lost any respect I had for Russell after reading this. Now Barb you have given me one more nail for his coffin.
Reading about how Russell treated Maria is appalling. Russell was giving a training session for colporteurs during the Believers in the Atonement Sacrifice of Christ Convention held in Ashbury Park New Jersey July 22-29, 1906. His attitude for teaching his colporteurs was to tell them to forget people who couldn't pay (in the link I posted above) In one part of his lecture there is a Q&A which reveals a lot about Russell's sales methods. (red text is my comment)
Q.What would you do if you were presenting the Studies in Scripture and you saw they had the Millennial Dawn books?
A. I would try to sell the books anyway, because we know it is only prejudice they have.
Now this is bizzare. The Studies series is the same as the Millenial Dawn series. As far as I have seen it is the same book with a different title. To make matters worse, try to sell your books even if they have the other set
Q. How would you answer if they were to ask you—"Is this the same as Millennial Dawn?"
A. I would try to evade the question by asking them—"What does Millennial Dawn teach?" They would doubtless say it taught this and that, etc., which we would know it does not teach. You could then say: "this work does not teach anything like that."
WOW Evade the question and if asked directly LIE
Another telling quote
Q. When working an aristocratic section, if the servant comes to the door and the lady of the house will not come down, what do you do?
A. My advice is to go where the books are desired.
Don't bother with trying to sell to a servant.
Forget the possibility that the servant might be interested or have an open heart and mind. Forget them because they have no money to pay us.
Yet another quote
Q. What do you say if they ask you what church you belong to?
A. This is an undenominational work, we are connected with a Bible Society whose works are for all Christians. It does not matter much what church you belong to if your name is written in heaven.
I remember being taught to avoid saying I was a JW if at all possible
I know what I am posting is about Russell's sales tactics but I think it illustrates his attitude towards people who cannot pay to learn about Russell's teachings and those who do not agree with him.
Maria did not always agree with Russell on his teachings. And the less she believed the less tolerant Russell was towards her. It was interesting to read in the manuscript that Maria's disagreements with Russell started before she left him and went to live with her sister (who was a women's rights activist). But Russell ignored the problems that made her leave and blamed it all on the beliefs of Maria's sister.
This attitude that the wife is the problem or her thinking/beliefs are the problem strikes me as very interesting.
Before I finally left my elder/husband I went into therapy. I was able to convince my husband to come with me. We barely made it through the first session and he refused to go back for a second session. Grudgingly at the last minute he decided to come. He didn't stay long. Shortly after the therapist pointed out where his thinking and behavior was causing some of the problems he stood up and pointed at me and said, "She's the problem! Fix her and things will be OK" and then he stormed out of the session. What he really meant was I needed to go back to being a submissive wife and forget about dealing with problems in the marriage.
It seems to me that Russell's attitude regarding Maria was the same. As long as she refuses to think, believe and behave in the manner I want then she is the problem and I can treat her anyway I want including lie about out problems. It is the same attitude that he had towards non-believers. Sell to them if we can and if they agree with us that's great. If not then they are worldly and not worthy of our time
And yes the terms worldly, wifely subjection and the truth came from Russell as seen from the following text from theSaturday Morning, July 28, Library Hall during his final Colporteur Meeting. It also says a lot about his attitude regarding wifely subjection.
Q. In case of one with a family dependent upon him, if arrangements could be made, would it be all right to go into the colporteur work?
A. I would not think it right for a wife, for instance, to leave her home and husband in any measure of neglect. She has a wifely duty towards her husband and her home. But if this husband were in the truth, and agreeable to it, all right. If he were a worldly husband, he has a right to demand that his home should be cared for; that is part of the wife’s contract, which I think she must not violate.
Wifely subjection so soon but then the times were different too.
Q. If the husband is a worldly man, but willing for his wife to go out, what then?
A. All right, sister, if he is willing; but I would take heed never to run the matter to a limit. Always consider the companion, his interests, and what he might reasonably ask or expect.
The belief's Russell had about sales methods, wifely subjection, and opposition to his beliefs by worldly people and his own wife seem to be quite similar.
On page 4-5 of the manuscript you wrote:
Before Thanksgiving of 1897, in letters that later were entered as court exhibits, Pastor
Russell ordered his wife?s family to stop communicating with her and threatened them with the law if they continued to do so. He also forbade Mrs. Russell from seeing her family, endeavoring
5
to isolate her. Rumors reached her ears that her husband was hinting that she was of unsound mind. So on November 9
th of that year, Maria Russell fled from her home in Allegheny, Pennsylvania, in order to escape what she believed was her husband?s plan to incarcerate her in a lunatic asylum.Still in frail health, Mrs. Russell made a harrowing twelve-hour journey to Chicago aboard a night train in the middle of heavy rains and landslides, to seek, she said, advice and protection from her attorney brother.
The Marriage Was Over
Two months after her flight to Chicago, Mrs. Russell returned home, but the couple never reconciled. In 1903, after five more years of claims of
her husband?s harassment, Pastor Russell?s wife filed for divorce.Russell's lectures that included wifely subjection probably grew from his personal problem in his marriage.
I want to thank the wonderful people who helped me with The Writings of Maria Russell project. I'm very much indebted to Atlantis for his work to format all the material that made up this e-document file. Without his help I don't know what I would have done to make this material available to those who want to see it. Also, many thanks go to Dave Malone who took the photo of Maria Russell I sent him, which has rarely been seen before by the public, and developed the cover art for the e-document. Then there is my gratitude to Lorene Stanley who typed the entire 600-page manuscript written by Maria. Without these people, the "Maia" e-document would never have seen the light of day.
Lady Lee, your observations about Russell's attitude is right on the money. Thank you for your insight.
A little later, when I have more time, I'm going to post an interesting experience, which I was told by Mrs. Russell's great grand-nephew, that happened between Mabel (Charles Taze Russell's half-sister who was also Maria's niece), and the Bible Students.
Barbara
BTTT
That Rutherford kid was on to something...Religion is a snare and a racket!
Hill
I just downloaded the e-book and I look forward to reading it. But I can see from just looking at the documents that this is hot stuff and an invaluable resource for understanding the history of the organization. I thank you (and all those who helped you) so much for undertaking the toil to bring this material to the light of day. "There is nothing concealed that will not be disclosed, or hidden that will not be made known." --Matthew 10:26.
As for Pastor Russell's attitude towards Maria, his words speak for himself:
"If I were to die to-morrow, I think my former wife would soon follow me, for she cannot live unless she had me to nag." (scan)
Here’s some interesting tidbits of information for those who don’t know much about the marriages of Joseph and his son, Charles Taze Russell. Some of the latter statements by me in this post have never been published before.
Charles Taze Russell's father, Joseph, married Emma Ackley around 1879-80. Emma was the younger sister of Maria Ackley Russell. Maria Ackley married Charles Taze in March of 1879. Emma was approximately 24-25 years old when she married Joseph. He was around 66 or 67. I've not been able to locate a marriage certificate for them, but they had a child together, Mabel, born in 1881. Emma did not introduce her sister, Maria, to C. T. Russell because Russell said he met Maria for the first time at a Bible lecture he gave at his sister’s home. So Emma must have met Joseph through her sister Maria and that’s why I think Emma and Joseph married sometime in 1879 or 1880. If anybody has any additional information on this topic, I would welcome it.
These two marriages would make Mabel and Charles Taze half-sister and brother. Mabel would also be the niece of Maria Russell. And due to marrying Maria, Mabel is also Charles Taze’s niece through marriage. For a fact, Mabel addressed Charles Taze as uncle, not brother. She told everyone including her own kids that Maria and Emma married two brothers. She privately in conversation called Joseph, her father, “the old man.”
As far as I know, all the Russell family left Rutherford's Watchtower and associated with various Bible Student groups or ecclesias. An ecclesia in the St. Petersburg area met for study in Mabel's home. Which Bible Student Movement or group that met there I can't say with certainty, but am inclined to say it was Laymen's Home Missionary Movement that Paul S.L. Johnson started because a niece of Charles Taze, who was the daughter of his sister Margaret, was a close companion of Maria’s and that niece followed P.S. L. Johnson’s movement.
Mabel loved her Auntie Ria and took care of her until Maria died. She was frequently annoyed during the Bible Student Bible Study held at her house when so much credit and adulation went to Pastor Russell. At times, after the Bible Study of old Watch Tower articles, she would show around pages of Maria’s manuscript which I’ve published on the e-document. In time, Mable became so persistent in saying that her aunt was co-founder of the Watch Tower organization and co-author of the Millennial Dawn Series of books, volumes 1-4 that, after many warnings from the elders to stop bringing up the subject, they removed the Bible Study from her home, at a time when she was old and frail which made it difficult for her to go to someone else’s home for the study. That’s when she stopped associating with the Bible Students. Mabel died in 1961.
Barbara
