cyberguy, would it be possible for the elder you know to write out his account? If he is worried about being identified, his written statement could be sealed and given to his attorney, not to be opened until after his death.
Rutherford Exposed: The Story of Berta and Bonnie
by Farkel 747 Replies latest watchtower scandals
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Leolaia
larc....Do you know which newspaper it is? Ancestry.com has thousands of old newspapers (most local papers) online which are fully searchable by keyword.
Both Frank Teel and Berta Teel appear to have been invisible to the 1910 and 1920 census. Can't find them anywhere, though I found a bunch of Teels living in Pitt County. Just no one named Frank/Francis/Franklin/etc. and Berta/Alberta/etc. I did find a Frank Teel of North Carolina who was born in 1919; was the name of the child Frank Jr.?
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VM44
Leolaia,
Looks like I will have to get Berta's obit by snail mail, so we will have to wait about a week or so. I will post what I find out.
--VM44
edited to add:
Her obit might have been published in the Long Beach Press-Telegram. Perhaps it is available at Ancestory.com?
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larc
The newspaper in question is the Akron Beacon Journal. Frank's sons were Carrole and Leslie. I had the same problem finding records when I took a trip to North Carolina. Frank filled out the application for his brother's marriage license. On it, he wrote, FS Teel. Perhaps, this is the way it appears in the census record.
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Leolaia
I found 'em, I found 'em, at long last.
In the 1920 census, Miss Berta Teel (the top of the "a" is missing, making the name look like "Bertie") was living with her sisters Lona E. Teel, Georgie R. Teel (sp.?), and Carrie Teel (now married as "Carrie Denton"), as well as with her brother-in-law Frank S. Denton and her father William Teel at 257 Franz Place, Akron, Summit, Ohio. All were from North Carolina. Berta's age was given as 19. This fits perfectly with everything we know so far. The age points to 1901 as when she was born, the place of birth being North Carolina, she was living in the same town where her future husband-to-be was living, and just a few miles from where she was living in 1930, and most specifically, the name of her sister Lona (!!) who was also mentioned in Farkel's original post. Furthermore, Farkel stated that she had "three female sisters," and indeed this is the correct number: Lona, Georgie, and Carrie. Carrie was the oldest sister, at 24, Georgie was 21, Berta was 19, and Lona was the youngest at 16.
Berta's father, William Teel, was 55 years old at the time, widowed, and unemployed. Frank S. Denton appears to have been the main wage-earner in the household and he was a carpenter. Georgie was also employed as a secretary, and Berta worked as a clerk in the post office. So it looks like her work skills at that time was clerical and secretarial in nature. I just saw in larc's new post above that Frank Teel's initials were F. S., and that is the case with Frank S. Denton. So I strongly think that your Frank S. Teel and Frank S. Denton are the same person. But why Frank S. Denton? Was he actually Berta's brother-in-law, and not a real brother? Since larc saw the court record with F. S. Teel, I would guess not. So did the census taker get the facts wrong? Perhaps Carrie's husband was away, and the census taker mistook Frank as her husband, and wrote him down as "Frank S. Denton".
Now the interesting thing is that these were not the only Teels from North Carolina in the town. A Mr. George F. Teel was also living in Akron, Summit, Ohio, with his wife Ferol M. Teel. Both were born in North Carolina. They had two kids: Joseph, who was born in North Carolina, and 10-month-old Albert who was born in Ohio. Since Joseph was 37 months old, and since the date of the census was January 6, 1920, this fixes the date when the Teels moved to Ohio to between December 1916 and March 1919. George worked at the rubber mill -- the same place Alfred Peale worked at. Perhaps Berta met Alfred through George. So who was this George Teel? Any ideas, larc? There has to be a connection, since they were also from North Carolina living just a few miles away. The household of George F. Teel lived at 808 Carlysle Street, Akron, Ohio, whereas Alfred Peale lived at 500 Scheck Street, Akron, Ohio at the time. I checked Mapquest.com and found that all lived within 5-6 miles of each other. The address in Cuyahoga Falls, where Berta and Alfred both lived in the 1930s, is about 2-3 miles to the northeast.
What are the implications of this data? More specifics of Berta's background from Farkel's post have been confirmed. We now know more about her own work skills. I think the new data also puts the "hairpin" story to rest, at least as far as Berta is concerned. If she was living in Akron, Ohio, as far back as 1920, and if the incident took place in the 1920s as claimed by AlanF, then there is no way the incident could be connected with Berta unless she moved back to North Carolina and returned to Akron before 1930 (very unlikely). However, this leaves the period after 1938, when she was living at Bethel, still open.
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VM44
Great work Leolaia!
This pretty much clears up the hairpin story as far as Berta is concerned.
--VM44
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VM44
Berta is said to have lived at the house Beth Sarim in San Diego until it was sold in the late 1940s.
Raymond Franz once stayed at Beth Sarim.
Perhaps someone could contact Ray and ask if Berta was there at the time, and if he could supply any more details concerning Berta?
--VM44
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minimus
I thought you were going to say that Ray and Berta......oh---never mind.
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Leolaia
Frank's sons were Carrole and Leslie.
Yep, that's confirmed too. In the 1930 census, a Mr. Frank Teel was living at 937 North Main Street, Akron, Summit, Ohio, with his wife Mary, his sons Leslie W. Teel and Caroll E. Teel, and his daughters Mary V. Teel and Betty L. Teel. The funny thing is that, I guess because of the spelling of Caroll's name, the census taker initially wrote "daughter" and scratched it out to write "son". Frank, Leslie, and Caroll were born in North Carolina, whereas his wife Mary and his daughters Mary and Betty were born in Ohio. Leslie was 16 at the time, and Caroll was 14 years old.
For those who doubt larc's credibility and his connection with Berta, I think I've been able to show that he's been right on the money so far with his facts. That's not to say the stories are true, but merely that this is not some guy on the internet blowing smoke who has no real connection with these people.
Frank Teel's profession, btw, is given as trucking, that is, moving and hauling.
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Leolaia
Now that I know Berta's father's name, William Teel, I decided to go back and check the 1910 census to find where Berta and her family came from in North Carolina. William was 55 years old in 1920, so he was likely born around 1865. I then checked the 1910 census for a William Teel living in North Carolina who was born around 1865. There I found William R. Teel, living in Greenville, Pitt, North Carolina, who gave his age as 50. This age is five years off from the one given in the 1920 census, but people lie about their age -- especially in middle age. His wife was Mary R. Teel, age 49, and Sallie Jane Teel, age 74, lived a few doors down. No kids are mentioned.
larc, VM44: Sorry, those papers are not in the collection, just the Long Beach Independent and a slew of other Ohio newspapers.
I really would like to see that story from the Akron paper. That should shed light on some things.
HOLY SH**!! I just searched for "Bonnie Boyd" in the 1930 census. Farkel's gonna loooooove this! I gotta post a picture of this. Words cannot express what you can see with your own eyes.