The Wikipedia article doesn't mention Russell's refusal to send his ex-wife
the raise in alimony payment the court agreed to. Some significant highlights
in Charles' divorce from Maria Frances Ackley Russell:
- the marraige was an 18 year celibate marraige based on a mutual commitment
to writing the literature that Russell put out. She played a significant role
in the success of his business as a contributer and associate editor.
- She quoted him as claiming to be adulterous, which he denied, and she didn't
pursue the charge.
- Charles said he disapproved of her becoming a supporter of women's rights,
overly-ambitious, and had Satanic mental illness to the degree that her word
wasn't reliable.
- He wrote that it would be improper to say things like "Good morning" to her
(a precursor to current JW shunning rules).
- She sought a limited divorce because it bought support. The court decided
Charles falsified events--the dispute over editorship began after the couple had
seperated, Maria didn't seem mentally ill, etc.--and decided in her favor over
the divorce, including about her claims about his cruelty.
http://www.exjws.net/vg2.htm
The web site at the next link is helpful if you'd like to try to convert the
cash amounts given in the articles listed above into the values they have today.
http://www.ex.ac.uk/~RDavies/arian/current/howmuch.html
According to one calculator found there, "measuringworth.com.," $1,200 in 1909
is worth $27,432 in 2006 U.S. dollars. The overall income of Russell's organi-
zations was in the millions in 1909, according to the same articles.
Another thing the exjws article shows is that Russell established a negative
view of charity practiced by Catholics and Protestants, which was continued in
later Watchtower incarnations with the recommended charity being to spread
Watchtower literature and send all the money to the Watchtower organization, for
which followers aren't paid, or help other JWs. (This self-centered variation
of the Golden Rule applies to JW outlooks on defense, too.)
In 1917, Rutherford became the president of the Watch Tower with about as much
respect for Charles' will as Charles had for the legal decision about his ali-
mony.
In 1929, Rutherford, estranged from his wife Mary and son Malcolm, and who'd
been Charles' lawyer, showed he shared Rusell's outlook on the importance of
himself and his business verses that of a seperated spouse, though. He had a
mansion, Beth-Sarim, "House of the Princes," built at 4440 Braeburn Road, San
Diego, CA, to live in till Abraham, etc., whom he'd prophesized would come back
to life, came to claim it. They didn't show up, nor did his wife and son at his
funeral.
http://www.freeminds.org/history/mystery_years.htm