Why did Russell look so different? (page 3)

Black Sheep

I have a photo of a group in England in 1891.

Russell looks very different from the men in the group, the only male sporting a beard. Most of the men have moustaches.

Terry

Russell's family started out as Scottish Presbyterians.

Russell switched to Congregational before getting involved with Adventists.

He was a cherry-picker intellectually.

He lived at a time when wisdom and maturity were associated with a beard.

He was a bit callow looking when he was young and growing a beard helped his mature appearance.

The style of shaving the lip is often associated with Congregational type christians.

The idea that Russell was homosexual is problematic.

True, he didn't eve want to have sexual relations with his own wife.

But, he had been caught (and admitted to Maria) that he had some sort of peculiar affection for their ward.

I don't know if this suggest pedophile-tendencies or what.

No matter how you slice it, Charles T. Russell WAS different.

He was a rich kid, eccentric, driven and serious. That beard seems to be as much an outgrowth of his disposition as it is his skin:)

blondie

No pedophile tendencies, Terry. It was been well established on this board that Rose Ball was well over 18.

Terry

No pedophile tendencies, Terry. It was been well established on this board that Rose Ball was well over 18.

I think what I meant (I'll have to ask myself later!) is that Russell was immature in his sexuality to the extent he could only

feel comfortable being affectionate with someone unsophisticated and callow.

Maria, his wife, was a real pistol intellectually. I assume his "manly" need to be dominant (as christian males were at that time) was vexed by

her superior mind and forthright nature.

At any rate, being different and looking different is a disambiguation necessary in a person who craves dominance and attention.

Pastor Russell certainly achieved the limelight as a charismatic figure. Apparently the lipless beard worked!

Edited to include: I just looked up the Divorce information and the 1911 Brooklyn Eagle account.

Rose Ball was born in December 1869. Russell was born Feb. 1852.

Rose was about 15 years old when she came to live with Maria and Charles as their "ward". Pastor Russell was 17 years her elder.

Russell had married Maria in 1879.

Maria left him in 1897 and filed for legal separation for "metal cruelty" in 1903.

The Brooklyn Eagle account of the trail transcript in 1911 printed:

Q. When did you have your first material disagreement with your husband?
A. The first serious trouble with my husband was what you stated this morning, the first indignity with this woman who was in the office and in our home.

Objected to

Charles T Russell response
Mr. Porter: We don’t mean to charge adultery.
Q. You don’t mean by that that your husband was guilty of adultery?
A. No.
Q. What was the name of the girl?
A. Rose Ball.
CT Russell accusation
Q. That is the girl you spoke of a few moments ago?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. How long had she been with you before this trouble arose?
A. She came to us in about 1884.

By the Court : We will not permit you to show what Rose Ball told her. We will permit you to show that she went to her husband and told him that Rose Ball had told her that he was keeping her and telling her she was his dear little wife, and that he said that is was true.

By Mr. Porter:
Q. You understood the ruling of the Court? You are to tell what you stated to your husband that Rose had said, and his reply to you.
A. I told him that I had learned something that was very serious, and I didn’t tell him right away. I let a day elapse, until I felt I had control of myself and would talk, and then I told him that I had something very serious to tell him about this matter, and he said: "What is it?" and I said, "Rose has told me that you have been very intimate with her, that you have been in the habbit of hugging and kissing her and having her sit on your knee and fondling each other, and she tells me you bid her under no account to tell me, but she couldn’t keep it any longer. She said if I was distressed about it she felt she would have to come and make a confession to me, and she has done that."

blondie

Your explanation you just gave has nothing to do with being a pedophile though. That is a term not to use lightly and can poison the truthfulness of accompanying statements.

I think what I meant (I'll have to ask myself later!) is that Russell was immature in his sexuality to the extent he could only feel comfortable being affectionate with someone unsophisticated and callow.

snowbird

Apparently the lipless beard worked!

ROFL!

Sylvia

mindmelda

Everytime I see his picture, it reminds me a lot of Brigham Young...the co-founder of mainstream Mormonism. Close to the same era, I wonder if all religious leaders of the time cultivated a certain "patriarchal" look?

What do you think?

Terry

blondie:

Your explanation you just gave has nothing to do with being a pedophile though. That is a term not to use lightly and can poison the truthfulness of accompanying statements.

Here is what I said:

But, he had been caught (and admitted to Maria) that he had some sort of peculiar affection for their ward.

I don't know if this suggest pedophile-tendencies or what.

The age at which women could come in to their majority at that time was different than it is now. Was Rose Ball legally considered a woman or a child? I don't know.

I still DON'T KNOW. It is pretty close to what Woody Allen did and I find it very unsavory.

blondie

If you would read Leoilia, Barbara Anderson, and other posters research and the conclusion, you would have no question that she was legally of age when this "incident" happened, Terry. I would like to say I have the time to find it here on JWN, but you seem to have researching abilities.

Terry

If you would read Leoilia, Barbara Anderson, and other posters research and the conclusion, you would have no question that she was legally of age when this "incident" happened, Terry. I would like to say I have the time to find it here on JWN, but you seem to have researching abilities.

I wish I cared about protecting Russell's reputation enough to find a technicality for excusing his dalliance with a young girl 17 years his junior whom, while married, he was entrusted with protecting.

But, I must confess, I don't care about protecting Russell's reputation that much. The facts, as written, appear to suggest that if Russell did

nothing technically illegal he was certainly not an admirable fellow. Women were not legally protected in those days the way they are today. Women were lucky if they got a fair hearing in any such marital complaint. Women, such as Maria, were pro-women's issues in a world of male chauvanist pigs wrapped in religious bigotry.

Barbara Anderson, thank goodness, has given us considerable light on just what a monumental intellectual force Maria Russell was and how it must have dwarfed Russell's sense of superiority! (Being the little man he was).

No, I can't say that I'm that motivated to drive the stench of C.T.Russell's treatment of Rose and Maria out of room! I leave that to his apologists.

There are plenty of latter day Bible students around quick to jump to his defense. Let them spring into action:)

Why did Russell look so different?

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