This is an interesting topic, but you must realize that the Masons didn't die out when Russell died, they are still alot of them alive and well and claiming Russell was not a Mason.
For instance, AF. He would have us to believe that Russell included the winged disk on the cover of the publications of a religious magazine and though acutely familiar with Masons, didn't know what that symbol represented when every Freemason would? Same goes with the crown and cross on the Watchtower!
Then after his death he Watchtower Society buries him under a pyramid with a seeing eye, the SAME symbol on the dollar bill which AF implies is just for decoration if it is not linked with Freemasonry?
Pa-leeeze!. AF is a brilliant man and thus would not be so naieve as to believe every single thing on anything like a dollar bill would have critical significance. The significance to the emblem is an attestation to the money and power Freemasons have, and thus, the seeing eye and the pyramid are definitely freemasonry symbolisms also.
BUT.......
There is a technicality here. Freemasons are just a branch of many occult groups that know and are aware of the "mysteries". These groups operate as "secret societies" and have a common origin but may not necessarily be all the same organization.
Biblically speaking, the "weeds" are a symbol of a form of Freemasony connected with the "Eleusinian" mysteries since it was believed that a fungus infecting wheat caused a psychedelic hallucination that allowed the mysteries to evolve, etc. Thus the seeding of God's organization with "weeds" in the illustration of the wheat asnd weeds could represent it's being infiltrated by a form of the mysteries "secret societies", related to Freemasons but not directly.
What my take on it is, and based upon a quote (which I don't have now) that Russell made is that he spoke of these "secret societies" and basically was inviting them into the Watchtower Organization as a safe place to operate. That explains his putting the "cultic" symbolims of the the cross and crown from the Knights of Templar and the winged disc of Osiris more associated with "British Israelism" than Freemasonry.
So was Russell a "Freemason"? Maybe not technically. Was he into secret societies and did he create a special one among the witnesses. YES!
A casual comparison of what the witness occult secret society is into would be the "Tower Goddess" the "Goddess of Fortresses". Some of their understanding and beliefs about the mysteries would be found in a book they used to publish by Alexander Hyslop called "The Two Babylons".
At any rate, those into the mysteries would recognize these mystic symbolisms so they are not "innocent" as AF would have us all believe? What, Russell couldn't find any original symboms or anything else, even like a simple cross of Christendom he had to use a pagan symbol on Christian literature. C'mon A.F. Even you don't believe that. SOMETHING is wrong here. Even if it is not specifically the current Chapter of Freemasonry.
One interesting thing you can look into that should more than alert you to the mystical nature of this, is the occult "subliminal art" that the WTS graduated to after the Cross and Crown were removed and the winged disc.
This relates to the abdominal "7th Volume" put out by Rutherford wherein an interpretation was made of the pagan book of "Song of Solomon" a book that pagans know clearly is pagan and relates to the Tower Goddess. Thus the symbolisms on the early Watchtower reflect the reference in Song of Solomon on how to represent this goddes in architure, particularly the breasts of the goddess being like towers. I'll look this up and then elaborate. But the "wall" and the tower are connected with the goddess and that is the symbolism used on the Watchtower cover. In addition, the older Watchtowers showed a white mountain with a stream coming from it and the waters of life and knowledge are thought to come from the breast of the goddess which is part of the mysteries of this goddes since she is the goddess of knowledge, etc.
So, while the cultic society practiced by those in the WTS might not be frank "Freemasonry" it's still a haven for those who are in the mysteries or who use the mysteries to operate their own organization. So I would call Russell a Freemason but definitely a follower of the mysteries and thus just as bad as being a Freemason. Only the WTS secret cultic society seems to be more into the "Tower Goddess" and "Goddess of Fortresses" mysteries than what the Freemasons are into.
Finally, and interestingly enough, the Freemasons and the secret societies have been connected with Jews and Hitler, of all people, started to persecute the witnesses BECAUSE of this alleged Jewish connection with the secret socities the Germans believed the Jews were involved with, i.e. their belief that the Jews were planning to undermind Aryan Western Culture and take over the world by world finance and all that. And this can't be denied now since Rutherford's own letter back to Hitler said as much, that Britian and New York were controlled by the Jewish bankers. So Rutherford definitely understood the secret societies and Freemasonry references going on and the witnesses are right in the middle of it!
So whether it's their Tower Goddess new secret cult, or Russell being buried under his mysterious circumstances with Freemasonry symbolism or the Nazis linking JWs with secret societies of the Jews...they will not be able to shake the connection, no matter how many specific "details" can be denied.
So was Rusell a "Freemason" proper? Maybe not. Was he into the occult and secret societies? Absolutely!
Look up information on the "Tower Goddess" for some interesting comparisons....
The fact that the WTS would be infiltrated by "weeds" (Freemasonry-like secret societies associated with the "mysteries") was Biblically prophesied. This strong infiltration fits the context of Revelation saying: "Get out of her MY PEOPLE"...meaning Jehovah's witnesses involved with Freemasonry were to "get out of her", suggesting that it must be quite common for them to have been involved with "Babylon the Great" which is connected with the "Illuminati" and secret socities linked with the UN.
Anyway, like I said, whenver an article like this comes up, I just laugh because I know some current Freemason will have to try to dismiss suspicion away from Russell's connection with the "Fremasons" and the occult, when it is so very apparent that he can't be disconnected if he was buried with a seeing-eye pyramid on his grave.
"Freemasons" are alive and well and particularly in these X-JW news groups.
JCanon