As some of you know, I'm not a Witness, but I am the co-author of a series of history book that discuss the Watch Tower's earliest years. Russell mentions a 'brother' van der Ahe as an early days WT evangelist. We can't identify him. This is what we have:
We don’t know who “Brother” van der Ahe was. Possible candidates are two Pittsburgh residents living and working near the Russell’s Fifth Avenue store. The Pittsburgh directories spell the name as Vandera. Thurston’s 1869 Directory lists William, a salesman, and Louis, a shoemaker. There is no firm identification of Van der Ahe. - From a chapter that will appear in Separate Identity volume 2.
Some of you are adept researchers. Can you solve this problem?
Rachael