Hi Sleepy,
THE WATCHTOWER AND THE MASONS by Fritz Springmeir has some personal information about Charles Taze Russell. Springmeir is somewhat controversial, however, this is one of his better books. Free Minds once carried it. I don't know if they still do.
I have done some research myself and learned that Russell had invested in a gold mine in Nevada and one of the reasons for his last tour out west in October 1916 was to inspect his investment. He met briefly with his partners in Kelso, California before heading on to Los Angeles for his final sermon. He died a few days later on Halloween 1916. There have been rumors that Russell was murdered. According to this scenario someone poisoned his food with arsenic. The symptoms that he manifested during those last days were similar to arsenic poisoning.
The Chicago Bible Students once published a book titled: THE LAODICEAN MESSINGER, BEING THE MEMOIRS OF PASTOR RUSSELL. Though it is long out of print, your local library may be able to obtain a copy through their interlibrary lending program. Its pro-Russell, but it does contain some personal details of his life. There is a former JW who is writing a book on Maria Russell. However, I don't know when it is scheduled to be published.
I have more information on Rutherford, who started out in politics before getting involved with religion. In 1896 he came within 100 votes of becoming the Democratic candidate for state legistlature representing Cooper County, Missouri. However, he was a Liberal Democrat and he lost the nomination to a more conservative Democrat who went on to win the election in November. Nevertheless, Rutherford worked hard to elect other Democrats and was impressive on the stump. He could talk for hours on complicated issues and still hold the crowds attention. He was very active in local Democratic politics for many years. His last election was 1904. Apparently he was too liberal for his time and so he gave up politics for religion, joining the Watch Tower movement some time in 1906.
The official Watch Tower history books give an earlier date for his conversion but they are in error. While it is true that he bought some of Russell's books in 1894 the books didn't really make an impression on him. Russell warned his flock to stay out of politics, but politics were Rutherford's life blood from 1890-1905. When Russell's representative visited Rutherford's hometown in May 1904 to give a talk on THE DIVINE PLAN OF THE AGES, Rutherford was out of town tending to business in Independence, Kansas.
I think that Rutherford realized that he was finished in Democratic Party but saw that he could succeed in religion using the backroom tactics he learned in local party politics. This enabled him to outmaneuver Ritchie, Johnson, and others in the fight to succeed Russell.
Rutherford and his wife serparated sometime before 1920, though they were not divorced. It is rumored that he took several mistresses. I am still researching this. Perhaps there are others who can reveal more about the first two Watch Tower presidents.
Sincerely,
Athanasius
