Simon O. Blunden, Watch Tower Director (page 2)

dropoffyourkeylee

I had never heard of Blunden before now, but if he died at 75 in 1915, he would have been one of the older of the Bible Students. I wonder about his role, what years he was a director, etc.

dropoff, he was part of the original board of directors chosen with incorporation and continued as a director until 1908. We have a fairly extensive biography of him that will appear in volume 2 of Separate Identity. He owned a 'fancy store', selling women's accessories. It seems to have failed and he became a traveling wholesaler, preaching as he traveled. He was arrested once on a clergyman's complaint. He preached extensively in the New York City area and in Brooklyn which was a separate city at the time.

He parted from Russell in 1908, but the details can only be surmised. A major schism arose that year over an aspect of Atonement doctrine. His resignation from the board seems connected to that.

He and another Watch Tower evangelist started something called The New Church where Millennial Dawn readers met.

We will tell more of his story in vol 2 of http://www.lulu.com/us/en/shop/b-w-schulz/a-separate-identity-organizational-identity-among-readers-of-zions-watch-tower-1870-1887/paperback/product-21546337.html