Children of WT GB Presidents?

by NonJW88 24 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

  • NonJW88
    NonJW88

    I have been doing some research on the early presidents of the WT and the GB. I was struck that as far as I can discover, there is no record of any of them (Russell, Rutherford, F. Franz) having children? Have any of the subsequent presidents had any children, or any of the current GB members?

  • slimboyfat
    slimboyfat

    Rutherford had a son called Malcolm. That's it as far as we know.

    http://www.jehovahs-witness.net/jw/friends/76946/1/Rutherfords-wife-why-the-info-blackout

  • asilentone
    asilentone

    Was Malcolm a loyal JW to his death? I better find out at the link as shown above.

  • asilentone
    asilentone

    Farkel said he was never a dub, He spent his time in the military.

  • blondie
    blondie

    Barbara Anderson reported:

    Further, while reading the account of the death of Charles Taze Russell in the December 1, 1916 Watch Tower, I discovered Charles Taze Russell and his wife had a celibate marriage. This really took me by surprise. When I inquired whether this obscure fact was going to be published in the new history book, the answer was, “No, the Governing Body decided the information might cause many of the flock to stumble.”

    http://www.freeminds.org/organization/barbara-anderson/the-discoveries-of-barbara-anderson.html

    Fred Franz never married and was definitely not a player.

    Nathan Knorr married Audrey Mock opening up the possibility for other Bethelites to marry, no children.

    Milton Henschel's wife was Lucille, no children.

  • nicolaou
    nicolaou
    while reading the account of the death of Charles Taze Russell in the December 1, 1916 Watch Tower, I discovered Charles Taze Russell and his wife had a celibate marriage.

    Hi Blondie. Was Barbara the source of that tidbit or (unlikely), the 1916 Watch Tower you cite?

  • blondie
    blondie

    nic, I would check the link and with Barbara.

    www.ctrussell.us Has the 12-1-1916 WT

  • slimboyfat
    slimboyfat

    Penton mentioned that Russell was said to be celibate in Apocalypse Delayed.

  • Farkel
    Farkel

    :Children of WT GB Presidents?

    They were all dysfunctional perverts, as I pointed out here:

    http://www.jehovahs-witness.net/watchtower/beliefs/87785/1/The-Cult-of-Four-Just-Imperfect-Men

    Farkel

  • Leolaia
    Leolaia

    Malcolm Rutherford was not raised as a Bible Student. Actually when he was born, Rutherford was still a political campaigner and allegedly Malcolm's first words were "Hurrah for Cleveland!", reflective of his father's Democrat background (he had briefly campaigned for William Jennings Bryan). And Rutherford gave up on religion for a while after a Baptist minister condemned his wife Mary because she was unbaptized. But they had Russell's books in their household since Malcolm was 2, and by the time he was 13 his father was studying them intently and the next year he got baptized. I don't know if Malcolm himself got baptized around that time, but he soon became closely involved with his father's work with the Bible Students. The family moved to Brooklyn, New York to live at Bethel where Malcolm worked as a mail clerk. By this time he was 18 years old. In 1911, Malcolm followed in his father's footsteps and became Pastor Russell's personal stenographer during his transcontinental tour. He also visited Britain in September 1914 with his parents. Then when the family moved to southern California, he assisted Rutherford during the Troy debate in Glendale, California in 1915. He studied law and meanwhile worked as a bookkeeper and clerk for the manufacturing company H. G. Pangborn in Los Angeles. But he was still a Bible Student. In June 1917, he had to register for the draft and he claimed an exemption as a "Member of Bible Students Assn." This was just a few months after his father became the President of the Watchtower Society. By time Malcolm was 26, he was married to a younger woman named Pauline and he rented a house in Los Angeles. He also had a law degree and worked first as a court reporter and then as a clerk at superior court. But this was about the time that he became estranged with his dad and with the Watchtower Society that Rutherford presided over. Bible Students who knew of him claim that he hated his father. Rutherford also became estranged with his wife and in 1929 began to spend his winters in San Diego. We know that Malcolm continued to attend a Bible Student ecclesia but he did not accept interviews with either JWs or critics of JWs. But unlike any Rutherford-affiliated JW, Malcolm was politically active. He and his wife were registered Republicans throughout the 1920s and into the 1940s and presumably took part in election voting. But we know that Malcolm and his father were not complete strangers. In 1938, Malcolm and Pauline joined up with Rutherford, Berta Peale, Bonnie Heath, and Bill Heath on a trip to Hawaii as part of Rutherford's Pacific tour. However Malcolm did not attend his father's services when he was buried in 1942, and it is unknown what kind of relationship they had when Rutherford died.

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