AN OBSCURE SWISS WOODCUTTER

Sometime in the 1890’s, an obscure Swiss woodcutter named Adolphe Weber traveled to the United States. There, in Pittsburgh, he worked for Brother Russell as a gardener and obtained a deep knowledge of the Scriptures from him. After a time, Weber offered to return to Europe to evangelize the French-speaking countries. Brother Russell eventually accepted his proposition and agreed to finance the preaching work in French-speaking Europe.

Adolphe Weber was a simple man of peasantlike appearance. But, at the same time, he was a devout, mature Christian who knew well the English, French and German languages. Back in Switzerland, he inserted advertisements in French-language religious newspapers and magazines for Volume I of Studies in the Scriptures and booklets written by Brother Russell.

FIRST SIGNS OF INTEREST

On August 12, 1900, a Frenchman named Elie Thérond, living in a little place called Beauvène in central France responded to the advertisement and ordered the Bible literature. Elie recognized the ring of the truth and soon began spreading the message himself. Later, in 1905, his home became the first depot for filling orders of Watch Tower literature in France.

In 1901 Jean-Baptiste Thilmant, a grocer living in a Belgian mining village near Charleroi, also read one of Brother Weber’s advertisements and ordered Bible literature. By 1902 he organized in his home a small group of Bible students. This group later carried the truth into northern France, as we shall soon see.

In 1903 Brother Russell visited Europe again and made arrangements with Brother Weber to publish a French edition of Zion’s Watch Tower. It started as an eight-page quarterly edition, the first issue dated October 1903. In January 1904, it became a monthly periodical.

“CULTIVATING” FRENCH SOIL

As a result of Brother Weber’s advertising campaign in the press, more and more people were ordering and studying the Society’s Bible literature. During the summer, Weber would work in Switzerland as a woodcutter and gardener, distributing tracts and preaching among the French-speaking Swiss people. Then he would set off on long trips visiting people in France and Belgium who had ordered literature or had subscribed for the Watch Tower. During his travels he did gardening and odd jobs to earn his keep. As a consequence of Brother Weber’s devoted service, the truth began to spread in different parts of France.

In 1904, Brother Weber visited the Thilmant family near Charleroi, Belgium. He showed them how to distribute tracts outside Protestant churches, and encouraged them to extend their activities into northern France. Thus, in August 1904, Thilmant and his young daughter Joséphine traveled by train to the town of Denain in the mining region of northern France, where they distributed tracts and Watch Tower magazines outside the Baptist church. Several members of this church read the literature with interest and subscribed for the Watch Tower. These families soon started putting awkward questions to their Baptist minister, who finally told them not to come to his church anymore. They decided to meet together to study the Bible in the home of Jules Lequime, in Haveluy, near Denain. Incidentally, the children and grandchildren of these families in Denain​—the Lequimes, Vaucamps and Polards—​are still active Witnesses, two of the grandsons at present serving as circuit overseers in France.

In 1906, Brother Weber visited this group in Denain and helped them to get organized. The Denain Congregation soon began distributing tracts outside the Protestant church in the nearby town of Sin-le-Noble. In time, several families there became interested in the truth, including the Palmaert family. Brother Weber organized them into a group that met in the home of Victor Jupin, who died on November 15, 1969, after having served Jehovah faithfully for some 60 years.

EARLY PILGRIM VISITS

From December 1908 to February 1909, Weber made pilgrim visits to groups and isolated brothers in 20 departments or administrative districts all over France, including such large towns as Besançon, Grenoble, Valence, Bordeaux, Nantes, Rennes, Angers, Paris and Nancy. At this time, too, the truth began to penetrate the German-speaking region of Alsace-Lorraine. A brother Schutz was active in the town of Sainte-Marie-aux-Mines, and other Bible Students in the small town of Petersbach were distributing the publication Food for Thinking Christians in the German language.

In December 1909 and January 1910, three pilgrim brothers, A. Meyer, S. Seguier and Adolphe Weber, visited 34 towns in France and held meetings in many of them, including Roubaix, a large textile manufacturing town in the north of France, where a congregation was organized. The longest stopover was in Paris, from December 18 to 20, 1909, which indicates that interest was being developed by this time in the French capital. This same year, the French Watch Tower changed its name from Le Phare de la Tour de Sion (literally The Lighthouse of Zion’s Tower) to La Tour de Garde (The Watch Tower), the name by which it is still known today.

In 1910, the first issue in French of the “People’s Pulpit” tracts was published. The April 1910 issue of the French Watch Tower carried another “Call for Volunteers,” which stated: “We now have a large stock of People’s Pulpit tracts. 100,000 copies of the first tract have just been printed. This is a special issue that can be given to everybody.”

The year 1910 ended with another pilgrim trip throughout France by Brother Weber. He started his travels on December 22, 1910, and visited 30 groups of Bible Students in France, ending his trip on January 28, 1911. Immediately prior to his trip, on December 4 and 5, 1910, a general assembly of Bible Students in the north of France was held in Lens.

RUSSELL MAKES TWO MORE VISITS TO FRANCE

In 1911, the big event was a visit by the Society’s president, Charles T. Russell. On April 14, he spoke to a group of over 100 at an assembly held in Denain, and the following day to 70 in Lens. Bible Students from Belgium were also present at these assemblies. Brother Weber and Alexandre Freytag, another Swiss brother who was beginning to play a prominent part in the direction of the work in the French-speaking countries, assisted Brother Russell on these occasions.

From December 1911 to March 1912, Brother Russell made a tour around the world. The Souvenir Notes covering that trip says: “From Rome we went on to Paris, and here met with the little class of International Bible Students in that great city.” Among the arrangements Russell made while on this trip was provision for the opening up in June 1912 of what was called the “French Office” in Geneva, Switzerland. It was responsible for directing the work in France, Belgium and French-speaking Switzerland. Brother Russell put Emile Lanz, a Swiss dentist living in Mulhouse, Alsace, in charge of this branch office. Lanz enlisted the services of Alexandre Freytag, who helped with the translating of the French Watch Tower.

So Adolphe Weber, who had faithfully overseen the work in French-speaking Europe from its beginning at the turn of the century, stepped down in favor of the more educated Lanz and Alexandre Freytag. However, Brother Weber kept a good spirit and continued his yearly pilgrim visits to congregations and isolated brothers in the French-speaking territories. In December 1912, he set out on a long trip throughout France that took him into 42 towns and villages.

[Picture on page 41]

1900

Adolphe Weber, a Swiss woodcutter, started the preaching work in France