Rutherford Exposed: The Story of Berta and Bonnie

by Farkel 747 Replies latest watchtower scandals

  • Merry Magdalene
    Merry Magdalene

    P.S.--Just found this (it's not much to go on, but...):

    According to an entry at FamilySearch, a Victoria Pauling married a John K.S. Boyd on 04 July 1889, Black Hawk, Iowa.

  • moshe
    moshe

    I had a lot of problems with old census records from the 1860's onward in my family genealogy search. Many times I discovered in a 40 year span that the census takers had written down the names wrong or misspelled them on the same person. I had one ancestor I couldn't find- a Martin VanBuren Wilson. I finally found him living close to another relative- he was named MVB Wilson. I guess the census enumerator took a shortcut. This has been a most interesting thread.

  • Fisherman
    Fisherman

    Good point minimus. THe Society does not coverup sexual immorality as far as I know. Anyone would get exposed for that even JR.

  • Abandoned
    Abandoned
    Good point minimus. THe Society does not coverup sexual immorality as far as I know. Anyone would get exposed for that even JR.

    Are we talking about the same society here, because the watchtower bible and tract society of new york does exactly.

  • Leolaia
    Leolaia

    I don't think those discrepencies would rule out a Lenore Pauline ~ Nora Pauling identification; they are just complicate things. Lenore is an unusual name for a boy anyway, isn't it? Also, thanks for reminding me about the 1930 census for 124 Columbia Heights in which Victoria gives her father's nationality as "Scotland" (we've gone through so many records it's easy to forget about earlier finds!). And looking at the original text, I agree too that the middle initial could well be "P", which would again point to "Pauling":

    The new datum of a "Victoria Pauling" marrying a "John K. S. Boyd" on 7/4/1889 in Black Hawk, Iowa would imho establish the identification even more, since we have the 1895 State Census which confirms that John's middle initial was "K", and the 1900 census states that John and Victoria had been married for 11 years, i.e. since 1888-1889. All in all, I think Bonnie's mother was indeed "Victoria Pauling".

    In the 1900 census, there was a John Pauling, 61, born in October 1838 in Scotland, whose parents were born in Scotland and Ireland, living in Hinckley, Pine, Minnesota, with his wife Hanise Pauling, 55, born in July 1844 in Canada-Eng. (whose parents were also born in Canada-Eng.), with their sons Charles Pauling, 22, born in Nov. [?] 1878 in Iowa (whose parents were born in Scotland and Canada-Eng.) and John Pauling, 31, born in October 1868 in Iowa. All of this matches the info in the 1880 census very closely. John Pauling Jr. was already married to Annie Pauling (born in April 1874 in New York), 26, and they had a son named Douglas Pauling, born in Iowa in March 1892.

    There were seven Marjorie Boyds in New York in the 1920 census but none were born in Iowa. No other Marjorie Boyd in the census had Iowa as a place of birth.

  • Leolaia
    Leolaia

    Hey, check out the profession for "Lenore Pauline" in the 1900 census for Waterloo, Black Hawk, Iowa. It says "Stenographer -- At School". Looks like with Nora, Jean and Bonnie it was a family of stenographers!

    Also, it is interesting that John Pauling in the 1900 census was living in Hinckley, Pine, Minnesota, whereas John Boyd and Victoria Boyd in the 1910 census were living in St. Paul, Ramsey, Minnesota. These towns are 74 miles apart. Looks like Victoria Boyd first went up from Iowa to Minnesota where her father moved, and then later on she moved down to Texas where she lived in the same neighborhood as Blanch Horbolt Balko.

  • Merry Magdalene
    Merry Magdalene

    Love it, Leo! Thanks for digging.

  • Lady Lee
    Lady Lee

    Keep the posts on topic please

  • Merry Magdalene
    Merry Magdalene

    I just noticed that Van Amburgh was from Minnesota. Perhaps he knew the Boyds and/or Paulings from there...hmmm...

  • Leolaia
    Leolaia

    It's an attractive thought since Bonnie started out at Bethel as Mr. Van Amburgh's secretary, but the timing doesn't really work.

    William E. Van Amburgh was born in Leon, Goodhue, Minnesota on 8/28/1863 and moved with the rest of his family (his father was a Civil War veteran and in fact, was off fighting the war when his son was born) to Northfield, Rice, Minnesota in November 1873. Then he was officially received into the Northfield Methodist Church in June 1875 and was admitted to the general convention in September 1877. After graduating high school, he attended the local Carlton College in 1882 and 1883 and then subsequently got a job at a railroad company. Then he married Ada May Wood on 9/28/1887 and lived in Northfield for a few more years until he was relocated to Huron, Beadle, South Dakota. He was removed from the Northfield church membership on 12/23/1891 and was received into the Huron United Methodist Church membership on 1/3/1892. There he lived for the rest of the decade. He was elected church steward on 10/10/1892 and helped run the local YMCA in Huron. Then in February 1896 he first read Russell's literature and he quit the Methodist church later that year. His wife Ada died from consumption on 3/25/1897 and William later became an assistant part of the time in the Pennsylvania headquarters in 1898-1899. He however was still living in Huron in 1900 (residing at the home at a Mr. Theron R. May, where he was still employed as a railroad agent), but quit his job later that year and moved to Brooklyn, Kings, New York where he was elected to the Watchtower Society board of directors in August 1901.

    On the other hand, John Pauling and his family lived in Waterloo, Black Hawk, Iowa in the 1880s and did not move his family to Minnesota until sometime between 1892 and 1900 (since his grandson Douglas Pauling was born in Iowa as late as March 1892). In 1900 they lived in Hinckley, Pine, Minnesota. At this time, Victoria Pauling Boyd and her daughter Marjorie = Bonnie? lived in Black Hawk, Waterloo, Iowa. It isn't until the 1910 census that we find Victoria and her daughter Bonnie Boyd living in St. Paul, Ramsey, Minnesota. By 1900 and 1910, William Van Amburgh had long been gone from Northfield, Rice, Minnesota...having since moved to South Dakota, Pennsylvania, and then New York. However, his parents Daniel and Fannie still lived in Minnesota so perhaps they may have had some contact with the Paulings or Boyds. And yet, neither of them were even in the same county as the elder Van Amburghs.

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