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coming to America. At the time C T. Russell’s mother died a town named Ackley had
been staked out in 1857, but the Civil War had interfered with construction plans. A
Presbyterian congregation had been formed in the area during the early 1860s in the
Ackley area, which indicates some settlers had arrived. What connection did the
Russells have with the Ackleys years before Charles T. and his father married Ackley
sisters? Who are the Ackleys? Maria Ackley, who was Charles T. Russell’s wife, was
well-educated and an excellent writer. Interestingly, in the 19th century she believed a
socialist revolution was coming. She wrote, "This great revolution has not yet come, but
where is the statesman or the intelligent citizen that does not see it coming?" (Russell,
Maria. This Gospel of The Kingdom, p. 26.) She was the ghost writer and ghost editor
for much of her husband Charles Taze ‘ s work. Her family was well-off. William Ackley,
the land speculator/seller in Iowa, traces his ancestry back to Prence Doane and
Elizabeth Godfrey. Elizabeth Godfrey in turn was the great-granddaughter of William
Brewster of the Mayflower fame. The Ackleys were Puritans to begin with and seem to
have been concentrated in the Connecticut area, and from there their family members
moved out into NY and PA. Another Ackley (1832-1881) at that time was Richard
Thomas Ackley, a Freemason who worked for the Miller, Russell and Company store in
Salt Lake City in 1858 soon after the Mormons built Salt Lake City.
LEADS
Of course, these are all simply tantalizing leads for the investigator but nothing solid.
There seems to be much more to Charles Taze Russell than the little that the public has
been told. In the next few chapters we will attempt to dispel some of the mystery
surrounding the man.
God’s "Anointed Seed"
In 1852, the Joseph Lyttle Russell family had a baby who they gave the same name to
as his uncle had. This baby, named Charles Taze Russell had a brother Frank who was
two years older, but Charles ended up the favorite of his father. Later Charles would
get a sister Margaret M. Both Charles T. and his sister Margaret spoke on various
occasions that his had been chosen before his birth for the work that he was to carry
out.1 Margaret referred to her brother as the greatest man alive "a giant unmatched."
She stated that he had been chosen for his religious work before his birth. Perhaps,
Charles’ Russell family, and his father Joseph L., (like Joseph Kennedy who had goals
for his son to be president) had goals for Charles. If Charles had been encouraged to
meet such expectations and had gone forward, then that could account for his sister’s
great admiration for him. He had fulfilled her father’s wishes. At the Put-In-Bay
Convention his sister Margaret had outlined how God planned and chose her brother.
First God had planted a seed with the early church. But the seed had laid dormant for
centuries. "In due time", she says, the seed of truth grew and was watered according
to God’s plan. During the Dark Ages the seed of truth was barely kept alive waiting for
God’s Chosen One to bring it to fruition. When it was time, God "anointed the eyes" of
her brother at age 17, and "God’s smile of favor rested upon him." Margaret said her
brother was the one, the faithful one who God could depend upon, the "one despite the
burden and heat of the day" would remain faithful to God.2
NOTES
1. C.T. Russell is noted to have privately admitted his belief that he was chosen for his
great work before his birth. The Finished Mystery. The Watchtower Bible & Tract Soc.
1917, p. 53. A testimony speech given by his sister at the Put-In-Bay Convention where
she said similar things is commented on the The Laodicean Messenger, pp. 179-180.
2. The Laodicean Messenger, pp. 179-180.
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