Charles Taze Russell

Lore & Background

Charles Taze Russell was born to Scotch-Irish Presbyterian parents in Allegheny, Pennsylvania. His mother died when he was nine. As a teenager, he left the Presbyterian Church for the Congregational Church and began chalking Bible verses on fences and sidewalks. At age sixteen, a discussion with a friend led him to question Christianity, but after investigating other religions, he found no answers. In 1870, at age eighteen, he attended a presentation by Adventist minister Jonas Wendell, which renewed his belief in the Bible. Around 1870, Russell and his father formed a group to study the Bible analytically, concluding that doctrines such as the Trinity, hellfire, and inherent immortality of the soul were not scriptural. In 1876, he met Adventist writer Nelson Barbour and sponsored Barbour's lectures. Russell sold his five clothing stores for about $300,000 to support their work. After a failed prophecy in 1878, Russell and Barbour split over the issue of Christ's ransom. Russell then started his own magazine, Zion's Watch Tower and Herald of Christ's Presence, in July 1879. He married Maria Frances Ackley in 1879; they separated in 1897 and divorced in 1906. Russell wrote approximately 50,000 pages of articles, books, and sermons. His six-volume Millennial Dawn series (later Studies in the Scriptures) saw nearly 20 million copies printed and distributed worldwide during his lifetime.

Reader's Guide

Charles Taze Russell's significance lies in his role as the founder of the Bible Student movement and the Watch Tower Society, which later gave rise to Jehovah's Witnesses and several independent Bible Student groups. His prolific writing—totaling about 50,000 pages—and his magazine Zion's Watch Tower spread his interpretations of biblical prophecy and chronology, particularly his belief in the invisible return of Christ. The Watch Tower Society ceased publishing his writings in 1927, but independent groups continue to do so. After his death, a leadership crisis under Joseph Rutherford led to a major schism: by 1931, as many as three-quarters of the approximately 50,000 Bible Students had left the Society. Those who remained adopted the name Jehovah's witnesses in 1931, while those who left formed groups such as the Pastoral Bible Institute (1918), the Laymen's Home Missionary Movement (1919), and the Dawn Bible Students Association (1929). Russell's legacy is thus one of both founding a movement and inadvertently sparking its fragmentation.

Did You Know?

• Russell began publishing Zion's Watch Tower and Herald of Christ's Presence in July 1879.
• He wrote approximately 50,000 pages of articles, books, tracts, pamphlets, and sermons.
• Nearly 20 million copies of his six-volume Millennial Dawn series were printed and distributed worldwide during his lifetime.
• After his death, a schism resulted in as many as three-quarters of the 50,000 Bible Students leaving the Watch Tower Society by 1931.