C.T. Russell: a confirmed Pittsburgh Free Mason

by kid-A 118 Replies latest jw friends

• 

  TD

  The pyramid is the plot monument for what was the Bethel family plot. It was designed by J.A. Bohnet, one of the directors who had supported Rutherford.

  Plot monuments are distinct from headstones in that they mark whole groups of graves. To that end, they're often very large statues or obelisks. Of course, the really, really wealthy built full blown mausoleums. Neither of these, (Mausoleums and plot monuments) are as common today as they used to be, but you can usually find both in an old cemetary.
• 

  Cygnus

  The pyramid is the plot monument for what was the Bethel family plot.

  You seem to know what you're talking about. Wasn't the property bought by the Masons after Russell was buried there?
• 

  SWALKER

  I hope everyone reads this: THE MASON LODGE NEXT TO WHERE RUSSELL IS BURIED WAS BOUGHT YEARS AFTER HE WAS BURIED THERE! I called them personally and anyone else can also. The current lodge had nothing to do with the old cemetary. It is just one of those strange coincidences that happen. The lodge told me they get a lot of comments about the pyramid, but they don't know anything about it.

  I have written to the Grand Master of the state where my grandfather was a Mason to try and find out any info I can. So far I have not received a reply yet. I will post this if they ever send me anything. I would like to know the circumstances under which he received his watch with the Mason symbol on the back. My friend told me he had to be way up the ladder to receive it...would just like to know more.

  Swalker
• 

  sf

  
  Rare Photo of Board of Directors after Russell's Death
  Top: (left to right)J.A. Bohnet, R.J. Martin, Giovanni DeCecca, F.H. Robinson, C.J. Woodworth
  Bottom: A.H.MacMillan, J.F.Rutherford, WE. VanAmburg
• 

  Cygnus

  sf,

  http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/2919/board18.jpg

  is that Paul Bizzard's site?
• 

  TD

  Hi Cygnus,

  You seem to know what you're talking about. Wasn't the property bought by the Masons after Russell was buried there?

  I don't think the Mason's own the Rosemont United Cemetary, but they certainly own the adjacent property on Masonic Way. I've been told (By a Bible Student) that the Bible Students currently own what's left of the Bethel family plot.

  At any rate, the plot monument is described in the 1919 souvenir convention report. (I don't have a decent copy to scan, so I'm just going to type this)

  "We visited the marble works and there watched the workmen slowly but surely chisel out the monument to be erected as a memorial to the Society. The Watch Tower Society burial lots in Rosemont United Cemetaries, five miles due north of Pittsburgh City, contain ample grave space for all the members of the Bethel family, and the Pilgrims and their wives--in all more than 275 adult graves. In the exact center of the Bethel lot will be erected diagonally the Pyramid Shape Monument as designed by Brother Bohnet, and accepted by Brother Russell as the most fitting emblem for an enduring monument on the Society's burial space."
• 

  Cygnus

  I guess I wonder why they made a big deal about burial plots since they thought they were going to heaven as new creations and made of entirely spirit bodies.
• 

  Nathan Natas

  Barbara G. Harrison discusses the "Miracle Wheat" fiasco in her book VISIONS OF GLORY, which can be read for free online at http://www.exjws.net/vg4.htm

  Please turn to chapter 4, "Accumulating Wealth While the World Refuses to Die."

  ... IN 1911, the market price for wheat was 59 cents to $1 a bushel. In Charles Taze Russell's Hicks Street Tabernacle, "miracle wheat" was being sold for $60 a bushel, or $1 a pound.

  and

  ...On September 23, 1912, the [Brooklyn} Eagle [newspaper]ran a cartoon called "Easy Money Puzzle." It showed a fat gilded banker standing on the steps of the "Onion Bank" calling to a sinister, sloppy old peddler with a top hat and a scraggly beard sneakily carrying off a parcel of loot. "You're wasting your time," the banker said. "Come on in here!" The cartoon's caption read, "If Pastor Russell can get a dollar a pound for Miracle Wheat, what could he get for Miracle stocks and bonds in the old Union Bank?" (The Union-"Onion"- bank was liquidated in 1912; the bank was unable to pay more than half of what it had held in trust for its depositors. The Eagle had been in large measure responsible for the exposure of "ill-smelling" securities which led to the bank's downfall.) Russell sued the Eagle for libel, demanding $100,000 in damages for "injury to his reputation, good name, fame and standing." The complaint alleged that Russell-who was on holiday in Europe when suit was brought on his behalf against the Eagle-had been "brought into scandal and reproach and has been held up to odium, scandal, disgrace and contempt among his neighbors, friends, and the readers of his Journal, books and other writings and among parishioners and members of his congregation."

  Rusell LOST his defamation suit, and in the court trial information came out about the dummy corporations the WTS used (and probably still uses today) to keep an appearance of propriety.
• 

  Cygnus

  Nathan,

  So Russell did the suing for libel, and lost. $100,000.00 sounds familiar.

  I still think he personally didn't make any $ out of the sale of MW.
• 

  JW83

  Pyramid Shape Monument ... as the most fitting emblem for an enduring monument on the Society's burial space.

  Yes, a pyramid would be a fitting symbol for the Society's burial place - I wish ...