Charles Taze Russell

Charles Taze Russell 1852-1916, founder of the movement whose followers are known as Russellites, as Bible Students, and (since 1931) as Jehovah's Witnesses , b. Pittsburgh, Pa. There he predicted (1872) the second coming of Christ and the millennium. In 1878 he organized his followers as an independent church. His teachings were spread through the Watch Tower, which Russell began to publish in 1879. In 1909 he moved his headquarters to the Brooklyn Tabernacle, New York City. Russell was involved in scandals, which somewhat tarnished his reputation, but his sect, nonetheless, flourished. His writings are contained in a series of books under the title Millennial Dawn (6 vol., 1886-1904).

Russell, Charles Taze (1852–1916), founder in 1881 of Zion's Watch Tower Tract Society, the forerunner of the organization now popularly known as Jehovah's Witnesses (q.v.). A draper in Pennsylvania, he was active in the Congregational Church before he encountered Adventism. He came to reject the doctrine of eternal punishment, to believe that the Second Coming of Christ had taken place in 1874, and to expect the end of the world in 1914. His publications attracted others who regarded him as their Pastor, though he was never ordained. He began publishing the magazine Zion's Watch Tower in 1879. Under his presidency the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society (as it was renamed in 1896) developed into a flourishing business, despite his involvement in various scandals.