George Butterfield

[Dustparticle]

There was a brother who gave Rutherford $5,000 and since Rutherford knew that most of the Board of Directors would not approve the finance of the The Finished Mystery book, Rutherford use that money for it. This brother was known as George Butterfiield. Not only Butterfield did this,  he gave brother Alex McMillan $10,000 to reopen Bethel in Brooklyn New York too. 1975 Yearbook 120-121. I might add that $15,000 is valued at $318,781.03 today. It is amazing how Jehovah can used people to accomplish his will.

[rocket]

The Bro. Butterfield I know of from that era was also deep into pyramidology like many Christians early 20th century. Of course this was before Bro. Rutherford pointed out in the Watchtower issues of November 15 and December 1, 1928, made clear that Jehovah needed no stone monument built by pagan pharaohs and containing demonic signs of astrology to confirm the witness given in the Bible.

 

Pictures below are from a family album though no relation to Bro. Butterfield. Being a wealthy man he made these miniature pyramid headstones to sell. Don't know if he was involved in making the pyramid located in the same cemetery as C.T. Russell is buried but that one is not a headstone and it was not made until 5 years after his death.

What is interesting to note about our JW history is that when we see that correction is needed we make it. There are still factions of Christendom that still believe in pyramidology.

 

 

 

[Brother_Bliss]

9 hours ago, Dustparticle said:

There was a brother who gave Rutherford $5,000 and since Rutherford knew that most of the Board of Directors would not approve the finance of the The Finished Mystery book, Rutherford use that money for it. This brother was known as George Butterfiield. Not only Butterfield did this,  he gave brother Alex McMillan $10,000 to reopen Bethel in Brooklyn New York too. 1975 Yearbook 120-121. I might add that $15,000 is valued at $318,781.03 today. It is amazing how Jehovah can used people to accomplish his will.

 

Since you provided the reference to the 1975 yearbook, I had to look it up. What an interesting read! It's not often that I bother to read anything in older yearbooks. I was born in '75, so I don't have too much invested in that year, lol.

 

It did mention that George Butterfield was "a person of considerable means". According to my inflation calculator here, $10,000 in 1920 equals $130,435.98 in 2018. A generous amount indeed, and it was certainly put to good use.

[jwhess]

Br. Bob, I think Dusty was using 1917 as the reference date. That was the publishing date of the Finished Mystery.  The need for the money would have been at least a year earlier.  I used 1917 and came up with an equivalent of 319,000 dollars.  All of these calculator apps are approximate.  Still a very large amount of money to donate.

 

It is interesting that He came to Brooklyn on a train from Texas alone (no bodyguard) carrying all that money in a 'hidden money-belt' under his shirt.  He said that he hadn't got any sleep for the whole journey.  Brave as well as rich, Br. Butterfield had a lot of faith and trust in Jehovah's protection.