A.A.'s Cofounder Dr. Bob - Special Website

For our website devoted exclusively to A.A. cofounder Dr. Bob - books, articles, photos, audios, go first to

http://www.drbob.info

Dick B.

Join Us in Cleveland - A.A. History Workshops Nov 5-8

Join Us in Cleveland!

The International Christian Recovery Coalitions Presents

The Dick B. A.A. History Workshops in Cleveland, Ohio

(Tentative Dates: November 5-8, 2012)

 

Why should you consider joining Dick B. and Ken B. in Cleveland in November for these A.A. history workshops? How is your success rate in carrying the message to those who still suffer?

 

That’s the trouble,” Clarence said, “They take it so casually today. I think a little discipline is necessary. I think A.A. was more effective in those days. Records in Cleveland show that 93 percent of those who came to us never had a drink again.  When I discovered that people had slips in A.A., it really shook me up. Today, it’s all watered down so much. Anyone can wander in now.” [DR. BOB and the Good Oldtimers, 261--emphasis added]

 

How much growth have you been seeing in terms of newcomers that are coming and staying?

 

The first Cleveland meeting started in June, 1939 [actually, May 11, 1939] at the home of Abby G. and his wife Grace. It was composed of Abby and about a dozen others who had been making the journey to Akron to meet at the Williams home. But Abby’s group presently ran out of space. . . .

These multiplying and bulging meetings continued to run short of home space, and they fanned out into small halls and church basements. . . .

We old-timers in New York and Akron had regarded this fantastic phenomenon with deep misgivings. . . . [T]here in Cleveland we saw about twenty members, not very experienced themselves, suddenly confronted by hundreds of newcomers . . . How could they possibly manage? We did not know.

But a year later we did know; for by then Cleveland had about thirty groups and several hundred members. . . . Yes, Cleveland’s results were of the best. [Alcoholics Anonymous Comes of Age, 21-22—italics in original; bolding added]

 

What was Cleveland doing? Mitchell K. wrote on page 108 of How It Worked: The Story of Clarence H. Snyder and the Early Days of Alcoholics Anonymous in Cleveland, Ohio:

 

Two years after the publication of the book [the first edition of Alcoholics Anonymous], Clarence made a survey of all the members in Cleveland. He concluded that, by keeping most of the ‘old program,’ including the Four Absolutes and the Bible, ninety-three percent of those surveyed had maintained uninterrupted sobriety. [Emphasis added]

 

Join us in Cleveland November 5-8, 2012! For details, please call Dick B. at 1-808-874-4876 or Ken B. at 1-808-276-4945; or email us at DickB@DickB.com.

The New Era of A.A. History and Our Letter to Whyte House

http://www.whytehouse.com/big_book_search/link.asp

Yours is a much appreciated and very important resource site. Glad to be listed.

Our 46 books, over 1200 articles on A.A. History and the Christian Recovery Movement are emphasizing some new points today:

(1) There is a new era of A.A. history developing right now; and it centers on the immense new historical information about the Christian upbringing of Bill Wilson, Dr. Bob Smith, and Ebby Thacher in Vermont.

(2) There was a hiatus in Bill W.'s Christian connections which ocurred when his girl friend Bertha Bamford was suddenly dead after surgery. And Bill blamed God, turning his back on God.

(3) The long years of drinking ended when Dr. Silkworth, Ebby, and others made it clear to Bill that the Great Physician Jesus Christ could cure him, and Bill went to the altar at Calvary Mission. There he made his decision for Jesus Christ, soon wrote he was born again, and then cried out to God for help at Towns, and not only was cured but never again doubted the existence of God.

(4) From that point, Bill's convictions about conversion, a religious experience, and service became his major contribution, while Bob called up his immense childhood training in the Bible and Christian Endeavor.

(5) The two men put together the highly successful "old school" A.A. Christian fellowship founded in Akron in 1935.

See www.dickb.com/drbobofaa; www.dickb.com/conversion; and our new book "Bill W. and Dr. Bob, the Green Mountain Boys: The Roots of Early A.A.'s Original Program." Be sure to see all three and then compare with the personal stories of the First Edition that have now been restored to conference-approved status. God Bless, Dick B.

www.dickb.com; dickb@dickb.com

Learning Recovery from the Christian Upbringing of A.A.'s Cofounders

The Compelling Recovery Need to Hear and Apply What Bill W. and Dr. Bob Learned in Youth

 

Faith in God and Serving Others to Overcome Problems

 

Dick B.

Copyright 2012 Anonymous. All rights reserved

 

The New Era findings from the September A.A. History Workshops in Vermont

 

·         A theme in Proverbs 22:6 well worth remembering:

 

Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart  from it.

           

Many of us learned the hard way that training offered in loving concern for a  youngster’s future well-being is not always a guarantee of performance in renegade years. But many of us who trod the road of alcoholism and addiction—if we survived to change—found that service to God and help for others in A.A. often brought us back to better beginnings. These virtues, if remembered and revived, built the belief in God and joy of serving others back to a useful, long-standing lesson from which we no longer needed or wanted to depart. Yes! What was taught from the Good Book could be applied in a new life, Teaching to the young, often long-forgotten, ignored, and rejected in miserable times.

 

·         Whence came the common thread of training in the lives of Bill Wilson and Bob Smith?

 

Grandparents – on both sides

Parents

Congregational churches

Sunday school

Rigid Academy requirements—daily chapel, sermons, Scripture reading, hymns,  prayer meetings, church, Bible studies, prayer meetings, and Christian curricula

Christian activities fostered by or stemming from church and school—the Young Men’s Christian Association and United Christian Endeavor Society.

An unswerving discipline--common to both cofounders in their early sobriety efforts--in following each of these in their younger years.

 

·         Whence came temptations, drunkenness, addiction to sedatives, disgraceful behavior, darkness, disaster?

 

The Book of James was favored by Bill Wilson, Dr. Bob Smith, and Anne Smith. And of these it said:

 

My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh  patience (1:2-3)

 

If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given  him. But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed. For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord. A double-minded man is unstable in all his ways (1:5-8)

 

Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him. Let no man say when  he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man. But every man is tempted when he is drawn  away of his own lust, and enticed. Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin; and sin, when  it is finished, bringeth forth death. Do not err, my beloved brethren. . . . But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves (1: 12-16, 22)

 

·         The discord so commonly resulting from errant behavior and disdain for truth

 

It often means: Blame whom you will. Say, “I’ll never do that again.” Fly blind. Reject guidance. Adopt a trial and error path. Follow the trails of erring friends. Embrace no successful direction. Make every conceivable mistake. Rise to do it all over again. Ignore the real enemy—whether you recognize it as excessive drinking or the devil’s doing.

 

And: Consider the failed, yet determined, repetitive path of self-knowledge, willpower, fear, with reliance on and trust in human resources. Coupled with ignoring the solid training received in early years. Stand fast with your life self-centered, instead of reliant on God-sufficiency.

 

Again these verses in James show the real battle and the real solution:

 

From whence come wars and fightings among you? Come they not hence, even of your lusts that war in your members? Ye lust, and have not: ye kill and desire to have, and cannot obtain: ye fight and war, yet ye have not, because ye ask not. Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts. Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God. Do ye think that the scripture saith in vain, The spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy. (4:1-5)

 

·         Bob’s Turning Point: From temptation and seeming blindness to the power of God

 

In The Co-Founders of Alcoholics Anonymous: Biographical Sketches Their Last Major Talks, Dr. Bob  told of his return to his training in the Good Book as a Vermont youngster:

 

I had refreshed my memory of the Good Book, and I had had excellent training in that as a youngster (12)

 

I’m somewhat allergic to work, but I felt that I should continue to increase my familiarity with the Good Book, and also should read a good deal of standard literature, possibly of a scientific nature. So I did cultivate the habit of reading. I think I’m not exaggerating when I say I have probably averaged an hour a day for the last 15 years (13)

 

. . . we were convinced that the answer to our problems was in the Good Book (13)

 

We already had the basic ideas [for the Twelve Steps], though not in terse and tangible form. We got them, as I said, as a result of our study of the Good Book (14)

 

Now to Bill and Bob: In addition to their partiality toward the Book of James, Bill and Bob both said that Jesus’s Sermon on the Mount contained the underlying spiritual philosophy of Alcoholics Anonymous. Matthew 6:23-24 of that Sermon states:

 

But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness. No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one and love the other: or else he will hold to the one and despise the other

 

Now to Corinthians: One historian claimed that Bill Wilson favored Corinthians, and it is certain from Dr. Bob’s words that 1 Corinthians 13 was considered to be absolutely essential. Anne Smith said that the Bible should be the main Source Book of all. And the following verses from Corinthians tell the source of the problem and the rescue the Bible made available:

 

Therefore seeing we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we faint not. But have renounced the hidden things of dishonesty, not walking in craftiness, nor handling the word of God deceitfully; but by manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God. But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost.  In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them (2 Corinthians 4:1-4)           

 

There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way  to escape, that ye may be able to bear it (1 Corinthians 10:13).

 

Ye cannot drink the cup of the Lord, and the cup of the devils: ye cannot be partakers of the Lord’s table, and of the table of the devils (1 Corinthians 10:21 )

 

I’ve seen Christian AAs refrain from quoting the Bible and even lambasting those who do. But when you see how often Dr. Bob quoted it, you need not timid. When asked a question about the A.A. program, his usual response was: “What does it say in the Good Book?” And that’s what this is all about. In brief, go to God. Resist temptation. Kick the devil out of the picture. Clean house. And God will help you escape.

 

·         The simple answer to drunkenness found, once again, in the Book of James

 

Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded. . . . Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up (James 4:7-8, 10)

 

·         How the Christian upbringing of Dr. Bob and Bill in their younger years was restored to their minds. This occurred when they had become the lowest of the low, the worst of the worst, and in such horrible shape that they sought a return to their training as youngsters, stuck with it, and acted upon it.

 

In so doing, Bill took advice from those who knew that a relationship with God through Jesus Christ was the key to success—His advisers included Dr. William Silkworth, Rowland Hazard, Shepard Cornell, Cebra Graves, and Ebby Thacher.

 

In so doing, the cofounders paid heed to catalysts who had adopted the biblical injunctions that God’s will was that all men be saved and come to a knowledge of the truth. The biblical ideas with which the cofounders could renew their minds produced knowledge fostered by Calvary Rescue Mission and Rev. Samuel M. Shoemaker, Jr. in New York; and Henrietta Seiberling and her small circle of friends (including Anne Smith) in Akron.

 

Part of the essential return by A.A. cofounders to biblical truth was galvanized by  the successful messengers who could attract the attention and submission of other drunks—Ebby Thacher to Bill Wilson, and Bill Wilson to Dr. Robert Holbrook Smith.

 

Victory through that turnabout soon enabled the cofounders to say boldly, in Bill’s case: “the Lord has cured me of this terrible disease,” and, in Dr. Bob’s case: “Your Heavenly Father will never let you down!”

 

Throughout their exposure to the Gospels, Sunday school lessons, YMCA examples, Christian Endeavor examples, and Salvation Army examples, both cofounders seized on the important factor of service to others—the concept that brought Bill to the telephone when he called to Henrietta Seiberling, and the demonstration of Bill’s witnessing that arrested Dr. Bob’s attention at Henrietta’s Gate Lodge Home in Akron.

 

·         The new Akron A.A. Christian program of recovery:

 

Built upon the biblical wisdom, experience, successes, and encouragement from a host of others—Dr. William D. Silkworth, Dr. Carl Jung, Professor William James, conversions, rescue missions, great Christian evangelists, the Salvation Army, the Young Men’s Christian Association, and United Christian Endeavor Society.

 

·         The successful record of ministering the power of God to alcoholics and addicts:

 

Was in place and working long before A.A. became an idea—The earlier ministries and successes existed from the very beginnings of the YMCA in London; the work in the London slums of the Salvation Army, the healings through evangelists like Moody, Sankey, Allen Folger, and F.B. Meyer; the remarkable work of the rescue mission movement brought to the fore by Jerry McAuley and the Water Street Mission; and the relevant love and service program of Christian Endeavor.

 

·         Compare the contemporary techniques that were falling short when Bill and Bob founded Alcoholics Anonymous in 1935.

 

Treatment:

 

A long history of treatment techniques that caused leading specialists like Dr. William Silkworth to conclude that alcoholism was “medically incurable;” that caused Dr. Carl Jung to tell Rowland Hazard that he could not help someone with an alcoholic mind like that of Rowland, and the efforts reported in detail much later by such researchers Dr. Howard Clinebell and William White.

 

Prohibition

 

Anti-Saloon Leagues and Temperance Meetings

 

Punishment by courts, jails, and correctional institutions

 

Relegating the drunk to down-and-out status in missions and personal degradation in the street.

 

Detachment—which, described in language used in Al-Anon--says: “I didn’t cause it. I can’t control it. I can’t control it.

 

Enabling and facilitating the drunk’s destructive behavior often coupled with efforts to control and restrain the drunk– fruitless caring for the drunk or admonishing and shaming him without useful purpose.

 

Ridicule. Admonishing. Threatening. Abandoning.

 

Countless tinkering with societal remedies in the form of grants, government research, revolving-door treatment programs, pharmaceuticals, vitamins, and statistical surveys.

 

·         What succeeded was the early A.A. Christian Fellowship program that emphasized:

 

One recovered drunk carrying a message to another without charge.

 

Qualifying the newcomer as to his serious intentions to quit for good and do anything necessary to overcome the malady.

 

Insisting on belief in God and coming to Him through Jesus Christ

 

Hospitalizing the suffering soul briefly, but accompanied by visits from other drunks, from Dr. Bob, reading of the Bible to the patient, and then surrender to God through Christ

 

Offering drunks free lodging thereafter in homes, accompanied by family involvement, and attendance at daily fellowship meetings.

 

Learning and obeying the will of God

 

Growing in knowledge and application of the love and power of God through prayer meetings, Bible studies, seeking God’s guidance, using Quiet Time and devotionals, and reading Christian literature.

 

Seeking out newcomers to help them get straightened out by the same means

 

Fellowship and comradeship (optional but recommended)

 

Attendance at a weekly religious service (optional but recommended)

 

·         The challenge to incorporate strong, new, Christian recovery efforts based on early A.A.’s First Century Christianity principles, practices, and victories

 

You can’t know those early principles, practices, and victorious ideas unless you learn them from using. To that end, we suggest:

 

(1)   Conference-approved literature like a) DR. BOB and the Good Oldtimers, b) The Co-Founders of Alcoholics Anonymous: Biographical Sketches Their Last Major Talks, c) the Personal Stories in the First Edition of Alcoholics Anonymous, d) Alcoholics Anonymous Comes of Age, and e) The Language of the Heart.

 

(2)   Accurate, thoroughly researched, and documented Dick B. Alcoholics Anonymous History titles such as a) Dr. Bob of Alcoholics Anonymous, b) The Conversion of Bill W., c) The Dick B. Christian Recovery Guide, d) Anne Smith’s Journal 1933-1939, e) Dr. Bob  and His Library, f) The Books Early AAs Read for Spiritual Growth, g) The Oxford Group & Alcoholics Anonymous, h) New Light on Alcoholism, i) The Good Book and the Big Book, j) The Good Book-Big Book Guidebook, k) The James Club, l) By the Power of God, m) Cured!, n) When Early AAs Were Cured and Why, o) The Akron Genesis of Alcoholics Anonymous, p) The Golden Text of A.A., q) Good Morning!: Quiet Time, Morning Watch, Meditation, and Early A.A.,

 

(3)   The latest Dick B. recovery guides: a) Stick with the Winners How to Conduct More Effective 12-Step Recovery Meetings Using Conference-approved Literature: A Dick B. Guide for Christian Leaders and Workers in the Recovery Arena; b) God, His Son Jesus Christ & the Bible: The Long-Overlooked Big Book Personal Stories in the First Edition of ‘Alcoholics Anonymous; c) Bill W. and Dr. Bob, the Green Mountain Men of Vermont: The Roots of Early A.A.’s Original Program; d) The Dick B. Handbook for Christian Recovery Resource Centers Worldwide; e) The Early Manuscripts at Stepping Stones Compiled by Dick B.; f) the 27 Video Class, “Stick with the Winners.”

 

·         For discussion,  revision, expansion of the New Era of A.A. History

 

Funds for:

 

            Free distribution of books, articles, reprints

            Costs of radio, videos, websites, YouTube, Forums, Blogs, Interviews

            Training the trainers in leadership workshops and meetings

            Consulting on setting up new fellowships, meetings, classes, approaches

 

Christian Recovery Resource Centers

 

Christian Recovery Fellowships

 

Old School A.A. Meetings, Groups, Fellowships, and study groups

 

Printing and free distribution of flyers

 

            Volunteers

 

            Networking

 

            Speakers Bureau

Vermont Treasure House of A.A. Historical Beginnings

Vermont

A.A.’s Treasure House of Christian Beginnings

 

A Project of International Christian Recovery Coalition

 

By Dick B.

© 2012 Anonymous. All rights reserved

 

In Appreciation and in Summary

 

We all deeply appreciate the effort and devotion of A.A. Archivist Jim H. of Auburn, Washington. Jim traveled and researched with us, and drove us around Vermont to St. Johnsbury, Northfield, Manchester, East Dorset, Rutland, Emerald Lake, and Burlington. He also drove us to Gill, Massachusetts, where the Moody Mount Hermon School is located. Jim took pictures and even some video throughout our trip, and has now posted on the Web hundreds of pictures of cities, towns, schools, churches, academies, libraries, books, articles, pamphlets, wall plaques, photos, histories, manuscripts, newspapers, participants, hotels, motels, restaurants, and inns in every place our cadre of recovery leaders and workers held workshops. There are still more photos to be gathered from participants. There is still processing in progress and work to be done on labels. But Jim’s efforts constitute the greatest single assemblage of visual history of the role God, His Son Jesus Christ, and the Bible played in the origins, history, founding, original program, and astonishing successes in Alcoholics Anonymous history and the Christian Recovery Movement in New England. Those photographed items show the stage set for the Christian upbringing of A.A. cofounders as well as the “Christian fellowship” they founded in Akron, Ohio, in June, 1935.

 

Preliminary Presentation of Vermont Historical Slide Show Photographs

 

http://goo.gl/U3cYE

 

http://goo.gl/11QJt

 

http://goo.gl/3xJkp

 

http://goo.gl/gx19v

 

http://goo.gl/hi8O7

 

http://goo.gl/a9mTS

 

http://goo.gl/0aXlo

 

http://goo.gl/xRGNL

 

http://goo.gl/AlFqd

Among the Historical Pictures Included

 

As indicated, there is lots of work still to be done in labeling, describing, identifying, etc. And there are many more photos to be added from the work of other Workshop participants.

 

The following subjects and others are or will be included:

 

Burlington, Vermont: our arrival and kickoff of the workshops on Sept. 2.

 

St. Johnsbury, Vermont: center of Dr. Bob’s boyhood Christian upbringing, Sept. 3-5

            Fairbanks Inn--many historical photos

            Fairbanks Scales Plant--many photos and paintings

            Fairbanks family members, homes, patents, and gifts

            Dr. Bob’s boyhood home at 20 Summer Street (now 297 Summer Street)

            Summer Street School--where Dr. Bob attended

            North Congregational Church--where the Smith family attended

                        Pictures of participants with Pastor Jay Sprout

                        Pictures of the Dr. Bob Core Library and the resource binder subjects

                        Pictures at dedication of the library by Pastor Sprout

                        Pictures of the sanctuary, baptismal font, pews, organ, pulpit, and windows

                        Pictures of the church itself--located on Main Street

            Fairbanks Museum--location of thousands of historical records, papers, and manuscripts

Young Men’s Christian Association building and activities (building destroyed by later

fire)

            Courthouse where Bob’s father, Judge Walter P. Smith, was Probate Judge

            Firehouse and public offices across the street--where we obtained Bob’s birth certificate

            Athenaeum--beautiful library containing newspapers on microfilm and many items

            St. Johnsbury Academy and Grace Orcutt Library

            Photos of workshop participants and the restaurant where they dined together.

            Village Welcome Center and new location of Town Offices

Panoramic views of village, signs, and well-known historical locations including banks,

 hotels, and railroad

The importance, significance, influence, and activities involving the “Great Awakening” of 1875 in St. Johnsbury, Evangelists, the YMCA, the Salvation Army, Congregationalism, churches, and the United Society of Christian Endeavor are thoroughly covered and documented in Dick B. and Ken B., Dr. Bob of Alcoholics Anonymous: His Excellent Training in the Good Book as a Youngster in Vermont; and their new book, Bill W. and Dr. Bob, The Green Mountain Boys of Vermont: The Roots of Early A.A.’s Original Program

 

Northfield, Vermont--location of Norwich Military Academy attended by Bill W. and Ebby Thacher--September 6

Kreitzberg Library--filled with pictures, plaques pamphlets, records, books, histories,

curricula, religious emphasis, chapel data, and more.

            More data pertaining to Bill W. still to arrive.

 

Gill, Massachusetts--location of Dwight L. Moody schools and Mount Hermon home—Sept. 6

Schauffler Library--filled with archives and books about the schools, the teachers, Vermont people and evangelists and students who attended, visited, taught, or spoke. YMCA activities; Christian Endeavor; school news; and Moody speeches and events

Place where Dr. Bob’s foster sister, Amanda Carolyn Northrop, taught,

Place where Professor Henry Drummond taught and delivered his famous talk on

            1 Corinthians 13. Extensive material by him.

Place where Colonel Franklin Fairbanks of St. Johnsbury frequently visited, held

meetings, and became a trustee of the school

Place where F. B. Meyer, the evangelist and Christian Endeavor-YMCA leader spoke.

Place where Dr. Robert E. Speer, author of The Principles of Jesus (origin of A.A.’s Four

            Absolutes), taught and later became Vice President.

“Launching pad” from which Dwight L. Moody and his partner Ira Sankey visited and

held revivals and meetings in Burlington, St. Johnsbury, and other Vermont locations.

 

Manchester, Vermont--Sept 7-8

            Location of Burr and Burton Seminary, attended by Bill Wilson, Ebby Thacher, Bill’s

girl-friend Bertha Bamford, and Reverend Perkins’s son Roger.

            Location of the home of Rev. Sidney K. Perkins, pastor of the First Congregational

Church where Ebby boarded with Rev. Perkins and got to know his son Roger quite well.

Location of First Congregational Church of Manchester, where Burr and Burton “scholars” (i.e., students) attended each Sunday and for special events; and whose members actually help found the East Dorset Congregational Church where Bill Wilson and his family attended.

Location of the huge Burnham “summer home,” where Lois Burnham, her brother

Rogers, her father Dr. Clark Burnham, and other family members lived half of

the year as “summer people” and then went on to spend much time at their bungalows at Emerald Lake, Vermont (quite near East Dorset) where Bill met Lois and became engaged to her, and where the Thacher family became good friends.

Location of the adjacent, large, George Thacher “summer home,” where the Thacher family (including Ebby Thacher) lived half of the year; where Ebby got to know his Oxford Group mentors Rowland Hazard, Shep Cornell, and Cebra Graves; and where the Thachers also summered at Emerald Lake near the Burnham bungalows.

            The Manchester Journal newspaper contains many articles about these personalities

The Mark Skinner Library is where our workshop people did a good deal of research on Manchester, Burr and Burton, the Congregational Church, Bill Wilson, Rev. Perkins, and the Burnhams, Thachers, and Bamfords.

Zion Episcopal Church, where Bertha Bamford’s father was rector; where there is a memorial plaque about Bertha and her death; and where Bill Wilson and Roger Perkins were pall bearers at Bertha Bamford’s funeral.

The Manchester period, people, and events are well covered in the Dick B. and Ken B. Book, Bill W. and Dr. Bob, the Green Mountain Boys of Vermont; Dick B.,  The Conversion of Bill W.: More on the Creator’s Role in Early A.A.; and some excellent histories of Burr and Burton, First Congregational Church, and Vermont people.

 

East Dorset and Emerald Lake, Vermont—Sept. 7 and 8

The East Dorset Congregational Church, the Wilson House, the Griffith House and Library, and nearby Mount Aeolus all played important roles in the Christian upbringing of Bill Wilson, the church and Bill’s parents, the church and Bill’s grandparents, and the Sunday school itself, as well as Bill’s Bible studies with his maternal grandfather (Gardner Fayette Griffith) and his friend Mark Whalon.

The events are well covered in Dick B., The Conversion of Bill W.; and Dick B. and Ken B., Bill W. and Dr. Bob, the Green Mountain Boys, as well as Dick B., The Dick B. Christian Recovery Guide, 3^rd ed. (2010).

            More photos and reports are yet to come.

 

Rutland, Vermont—Sept. 8

This is the town to which Bill’s parents, Bill, and his sister moved and where they lived from about 1902 to 1905.

We have photos of the Wilson home on Chestnut Street, the Longfellow School where

Bill attended.

We also have photos of the nearby Grace Congregational Church and are working with its pastor and others to see if there are records of attendance or activity by any of the Wilsons during the period of their Rutland residence.

 

Burlington, Vermont—Sept. 9: We researched extensively at the Bailey Howe Library on the Central Campus of the University of Vermont at Burlington. The library contains a wide variety historical records on Moody, Congregational Churches, and other locations.

A.A. Big Book 1st Ed Personal Stories:God, Jesus Christ, Bible

Christian Recovery Radio Interview of A.A. Historian Dick B.

on

www.ChristianRecoveryRadio.com

 

By Dick B.

© 2012 Anonymous. All rights reserved

 

Dick B.’s Radio Interview on September 22, 2012, will cover the newly-released book by Dick B. and Ken B., God, His Son Jesus Christ, & the Bible in Early A.A.: The Long-Overlooked Personal Stories in the First Edition of Alcoholics Anonymous.

 

The personal stories by “old-school,” early A.A. pioneers have been in limbo for decades. Yet they show exactly how those individuals practiced the early A.A. “Christian fellowship” program founded in June of 1935. Piece by piece the stories were removed after the first edition and their removal left AAs in a quandary as to what their original program looked like and whether it could be applied today.

 

The early program is summarized on page 131 of DR. BOB and the Good Oldtimers. The sixteen principles and practices of the early AAs are specified and explained in The Dick B. Christian Recovery Guide, 3rd ed., 2010.

 

In this interview, Dick will read many excerpts from what is now A.A. General Service Conference-approved literature (as of the release of Experience, Strength & Hope: Stories from the First Three Editions of Alcoholics Anonymous.) Each excerpt will be from a testimonial by an A.A. pioneer in his own language and from his own point of view as to how he practiced the pioneer “old-school” program. Also, how he turned to God for help. And how he freely read the Bible, prayed, sought God’s guidance, endeavored to obey God’s will after having renounced liquor permanently. Once cured, these pioneers set about helping others apply the same program and get well.

 

These are not war stories. These are not “drunkalogs.” These are not recitals about the Twelve Steps and Big Book because, in early A.A., there was no Big Book, and were no Steps at all.

 

You will remember these pithy statements long after you have forgotten the endless, wearying, drinking tales that have become so commonplace in today’s 12 Step programs. You will remember them because they speak of the power and love of God. You will remember that the Lord cured them. And you will remember that their successes were grounded on the help they then provided to others.

 

Gloria Deo

 

 

Christian Upbringing of AAs Bill W., Dr. Bob, Ebby Thacher

The Christian Upbringing of A.A.’s Dr. Bob, Bill W., and Ebby Thacher

 

Dick B.

 

One of the most rewarding things about our recent Vermont Workshops was the discovery of the common and similar Christian upbringing Dr. Bob, Bill W., and Bill’s “sponsor” Ebby received in the State of Vermont long before Alcoholics Anonymous was founded and Alcoholics Anonymous History began.

 

We visited the North Congregational Church of St. Johnsbury, where the Smiths attended. The emphasis on salvation and the Word of God was quite apparent at the family level, the church confession, sermons, Sunday school, and Christian Endeavor that Bob attended. Also at St. Johnsbury Academy which Bob attended.

 

We visited the East Dorset Congregational Church of East Dorset and saw the same picture as we looked at the Christian principles and practices centered around the little white church that lies between the homes of Bill’s grandparents—the Wilsons and the Griffiths.

 

We visited the First Congregational Church in Manchester (where Ebby lived much of the year), attended Burr and Burton Academy, and where all students were required to attend, to go to daily chapel, and to study the Bible, and even to be present at Graduation exercises and other events. And where Bill attended for four years. Burr and Burton Academy had the same polity and so on.

 

Each had the same type of polity, creed, confession, and structure.

 

The First Congregational Church in Manchester actually assisted in establishing the East Dorset Congregational Church. Ebby Thacher boarded with Rev. Sidney Perkins—pastor of the Manchester church and befriended Roger Perkins, son of the pastor, who also attended Burr and Burton. Ebby had generations of Christian upbringing through his family and through the First Congregational Church and Burr and Burton.

 

We visited Norwich University, the military academy at Northfield where Bill and Ebby both attended. And there was the same emphasis on daily chapel, church attendance, and connections with the YMCA that existed in St. Johnsbury and Manchester.

 

There will be many more details in our forthcoming new book: The Green Mountain Boys, Bill W. and Dr. Bob.

 

dickb@dickb.com

Amanda C. Northrop - Dr. Bob's Foster Sister - Research Draft

Amanda C. Northrop – Dr. Bob’s Foster Sister – Research Draft

 

Dick B.

Copyright 2012 Anonymous. All rights reserved

 

[Research Work by Ken B.]

 

In our work preparing the Dr. Bob Core Library at North Congregational Church of St. Johnsbury, Vermont, we began to see references to Dr. Bob’s foster sister, Amanda C. Northrop. There were indications she lived with the Smith family. There were indications that she attended North Congregational Church with Judge and Mrs. Walter P. Smith, Robert Holbrook Smith, and Mrs. Smith’s mother. See Dick B. and Ken B. Dr. Bob of Alcoholics Anonymous, His Excellent Training in the Good Book as a Youngster in Vermont. (www.dickb.com/drbobofaa.shtml)

 

Little did we know much important information, we were going to find about Amanda in connection with our work on the September 2012 Alcoholics Anonymous History Workshops in Vermont.

 

But, piece by piece, my son Ken began unearthing the following facts of importance to Alcoholics Anonymous History:

 

 (1) Amanda was a teacher. (2) She taught for a short time at St. Johnsbury Academy where Judge Smith was an Examiner; where Mrs. Susan Smith, his wife, had matriculated, had taught, and had remained active as an historian and in alumni affairs; and where Dr. Bob had attended and graduated. (3) She had also taught at the famous Christian Evangelist Dwight L. Moody schools at Mount Hermon in Northfield, Massachusetts. (4) This was clearly another link in the Christian upbringing which was part of Dr. Bob’s youngster years in St. Johnsbury, Vermont. (5) More, in the form of correspondence and content, may become available; and, if so, will be included with this material in our forthcoming biography The Prince of all Twelfth-steppers: A Biography of A.A. Co-founder Dr. Robert Holbrook Smith, M.D. [a working title].

 

Meanwhile, we record the following documentation:

 

Amanda C. Northrop

 

The Social Studies: American Historical Association, National Board for Historical Service, National Council for the Social Studies [is on the cover of the bound volumes]

The History Teacher’s Magazine, Volume III, Number 6, Philadelphia June, 1912

 

(p. 136: “List of Members of History Teachers’ Associations. . . .

 

“Association of History Teachers’ of the Middle States and Maryland”)

 

p. 137:  “Amanda C. Northrop, Normal College, New York City”

 

[Source: http://books.google.com/books?id=BHoVAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA137&lpg=PA137&dq=%22Amanda+C.+Northrop%22+%22Normal+College%22&source=bl&ots=BnNjhcsnBK&sig=WmHDgHo4tHI0VtOsoeJ0qPunyWQ&hl=en&ei=lDNxSrHbKIPGsQOZnaXZCA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1  ; accessed 7/29/09]

 

 

Amanda Carolyn Northrop, “The Successful Women of America,” Popular Science Monthly, 64 (January 1904, 239-44.

 

[Source: http://books.google.com/books?id=dZ8VAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA239&lpg=PA239&dq=%22Amanda+Carolyn+Northrop%22&source=bl&ots=nJcMQPrMOe&sig=P6YzuUmG7sGm46FY_HTT7YqgVhI&hl=en&ei=d89xSqapJoH-tQPEvPjzCA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=7 ; accessed 7/30/09]

 

 

“American Family Immigration History Center at Ellis Island”

 

First Name:                                      Amanda C.

Last Name:                                       Northrop

Ethnicity:                               

Last Place of Residence:                            New York, N.Y.

Date of Arrival:                               Aug 01, 1923

Age at Arrival:   64y     Gender: F   Marital Status:  S

Ship of Travel:                                 President Adams

Port of Departure:                           United States

Manifest Line Number:                             0023

 

[Source: http://www.ellisislandrecords.org/search/passRecord.asp?LNM=NORTHROP&PLNM=NORTHROP&last_kind=0&TOWN=null&SHIP=null&RF=263&pID=602196010136&MID=05488420100935106112& ; accessed 7/30/09]

 

 

“Northups & Families”

 

ID: I11670

Name: Amanda Northrop

Sex: F

Birth: 19 JUN 1858

Death: Unknown

Fact 6: Teacher

ADDR: Northfield Massachusetts USA

[[The Northrup-Northrop Genealogy (1908) says “resides at Northfield, Mass.” ]]

 

Father: Abraham Northrop b: 30 OCT 1811 in Fairfield, Vermont

Mother: Rebecca Potter b: 19 DEC 1824

 

[Source: http://worldconnect.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=rnorthorp&id=I11670 ; accessed 7/30/09]

 

 

“Northrups & Families”

 

ID:  I11655

Name: Abraham Northop

Sex: M

ALIA: Abraham /Northrup/

Birth: 30 OCT 1811 in Fairfield, Vermont

Death: 25 JUL 1864 in Fairfield, Vermont

 

Marriage 1 Rebecca Potter b: 19 DEC 1824

 

          Married: 9 FEB 1847 in Bakersfield, Franklin Co., Vermont

 

Children

1.       Ella A. Northrop b: 28 DEC 1848 in Vermont

2.       Jane B. Northrop b: 15 MAR 1852 in Vermont

3.       Octavius P. Northrop b: 14 AUG 1855 in Vermont

4.       Amanda Northrop b: 19 JUN 1858

5.       Abbie L. Northrop b: 28 MAY 1862 in Vermont

 [Source: http://worldconnect.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=rnorthorp&id=I11655 ; accessed 7/30/09]

 

One of the sources for the information on the family of Abraham Northrop (including Amanda) is: A. Judd Northrup, The Northrup-Northrop Genealogy (New York: The Grafton Press, 1908), 177-78. Available online: “Abraham Northrop, 177-78” http://books.google.com/books?id=PMI6AAAAMAAJ&dq=Northrup-Northrop+Genealogy&printsec=frontcover&source=bl&ots=VPvMnJkGb-&sig=WU7MP50e4k0E7H6uHybaCEhBjPo&hl=en&ei=1s9xSq6DBY-KsgOCytCaDg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=3 ; accessed 7/30/09]

 

 

Census – US Federal 1860

Vermont – Franklin [County] – The Town of Fletcher, page 3:

 

1.       Northrop, Amanda (b: 1858*)

a.       Household:          Northop, Abraham (b: 1812*)

Northrop, Rebecca (b: 1825*)

Northrop, Ella (b: 1849*)

Northrop, Jane (b: 1853*)

 

[Source: http://www.footnote.com/search.php?s_given-name=Amanda&s_surname=Northrop&xid=250sub%3DBoxFirstRun&query=&x=41&y=17&nav=4294966299&id=33169310 ; accessed 7/30/09]

 

 

Abraham Northop

 

Birth:                   unknown

Death:                  Jul. 28, 1864

Age             52 yrs., 9 mos.

Wife:          Rebekah Potter  d 1880

 

Burial:                 Bradley Cemetery, Fairfield, Franklin County, Vermont

 

Rebekah Potter Northrop

 

Birth:                   unknown

Death:                  Oct. 15, 1880

 

Wife of Abraham Northrop age 55 yrs., 10 mos.

 

Family links:       Spouse: Abraham Northrop (____ - 1864)

Burial:                 Bradley Cemetery, Fairfield, Franklin County, Vermont

 

 

American Historical Association: Officers, Committees, Act of Incorporation, Constitution, List of Members, February, 1904

 

(In the “List of Members” section—which is alphabetically arranged by last name)

Northrop, Amanda Carolyn, 315 Riverside Drive, New York, N. Y.  (p. 54)

 

[Source:  http://ia341030.us.archive.org/0/items/officersactofinc1904ameruoft/officersactofinc1904ameruoft.pdf ; accessed 7/30/09]

 

(The same listing as below is also found on page 57 of the February, 1905, equivalent document)

(Her address is given as “19 East 41st St., New York, N. Y.” in the February, 1907, equivalent)

 

(American Historical Association Handbook, 1911:  p. 85: “Instr. hist., Nor. Coll., 19 E. 41st St., New York, N. Y.  me,  p”  [“me” = mediaeval history, western Europe; “p” = political science, government, and law])

 

 

Woman’s Board of Missions. Receipts from August 18 to September 18, 1894 

Vermont. Vermont Branch

“St. Johnsbury, North Ch. . . . Miss Amanda C. Northrop”

 

[Source: Life and Light for Woman, Vol. XXIV. November, 1894. No. 11., 531: http://books.google.com/books?id=W7EPAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA531&dq=%22Amanda+C.+Northrop%22+Smith&ei=GvFxSp3aGIrEkgS1u4XlDg ; accessed 7/30/09]

 

 

------------

 

Syllabus and Index: The Journal of American History, Volume X, 1916

 

 The Founders of the National Historical Society

Original Life-Member Founders (pages 90-96)

Original State Advisory Board Founders (pages 96-97)

Original Founders (pages 97ff.)

New York (pages 121-25)

 

Northrop, Miss Amanda Carolyn, New York City. Assistant Professor of History Hunter College; Member American Historical Association, National Geographical Society.   [page 124]

 

[Source: http://ia340914.us.archive.org/0/items/journalofamerica10natiuoft/journalofamerica10natiuoft.pdf ; accessed 7/30/09]

 

 

The Saint Johnsbury Academy

Listing of trustees, teachers, and students

Academical Year Ending June 1883

 

Northrop, Miss Amanda C.   Assistant for the year

 

[Source: http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~nekg3/schools/school_st-johnsbury-academy-1883.htm ; accessed 7/30/09]

 

 

The Saint Johnsbury Academy

Listing of trustees, teachers, and students

Academical Year Ending June 1884

Saint Johnsbury, Vermont

 

          Northrop, Miss Amanda C.   Teacher of Mathematics, English & Penmanship

 

[Source:  http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~nekg3/schools/school_st-johnsbury-academy-1884.htm ; accessed 7/30/09]

 

 

Hand-Book of the Northfield Seminary and the Mt. Hermon School (Chicago: Fleming H. Revell, 1889)

 

“1885-86 [centered subheading]

 

“With the seventh year came as new teachers, Mary C. Strong, B.S.; Lizzie M. Larned, B.A.; Amanda C. Northrop (Wellesley); . . .”   [page 43]

 

[Source: http://books.google.com/books?id=YJU4AAAAMAAJ&pg=PA196&lpg=PA196&dq=%22Northfield+Seminary%22+Northrop+Amanda&source=bl&ots=XeysT_qD-l&sig=m_hp4V1n4vB-ZN4NSUeHd1cHbPM&hl=en&ei=9RBySsfKGJCIswO_h9HHCA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1#v=onepage&q=Northrop&f=false ; accessed 7/30/09]

 

Under the centered subheading of “Teachers” on page 196 is stated:

 

Northrop, Amanda C.   Wellesley . . . . 1885-89

 

[Source: http://books.google.com/books?id=YJU4AAAAMAAJ&pg=PA196&lpg=PA196&dq=%22Northfield+Seminary%22+Northrop+Amanda&source=bl&ots=XeysT_qD-l&sig=m_hp4V1n4vB-ZN4NSUeHd1cHbPM&hl=en&ei=9RBySsfKGJCIswO_h9HHCA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1#v=onepage&q=Northrop&f=false ; accessed 7/30/09]

 

 

The Wellesley Magazine, Vol. III. Wellesley, June 29, 1895. No. 9

 

[Centered subheading: “Annual Luncheon of the New York Wellesley Club” (page 505)

 

“The Wellesley Club of New York held its second annual luncheon at the Plaza Hotel, fifth Avenue and Fifty-ninth Street, on Saturday, May 11, at 1 o’clock.” ]

 

Miss Amanda C. Northrop, ’84-85, has been teaching in Mrs. Lockwood’s school, 150 East 37th Street, New York.   [page 506]

 

[Source: http://books.google.com/books?id=gLMAAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA506&lpg=PA506&dq=Wellesley+Northrop+%22Amanda+C.%22&source=bl&ots=4psSpOEi3u&sig=EH_C3OLt1u8Tlf590AUUnvnqJnc&hl=en&ei=qRNySuamC4vssQPjxrHaCA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=4#v=onepage&q=&f=false ; accessed 7/30/09]

 

 

The Wellesley Magazine, Vol. VIII. Wellesley, June, 1900. No. 9.

 

Miss Amanda C. Northrop, Sp. ’84-85, has obtained a position in the Misses Rayson’s School, 176-180 West 75th Street, New York City   [page 526]

 

[Rayson’s (Misses) School Library, 176-180 West 75th Street, New York City.  Miss Amy Rayson, Principal.

History.—Founded 1895; school library; supported by School.]

 

 

“Hunter College History & Milestones”

 

February 14, 1870: First classes are held on rented premises, above a carriage shop, at 691 Broadway. Hunter’s official founding date.

 

April 26, 1870: State Legislature changes name of the Female Normal and High School to Normal College of the City of New York.

 

1902: The Normal College receives provisional Regents accreditation and state recognition of its degrees.

 

December 23, 1908: Full State recognition of Normal College B.A. makes degree equal to degrees awarded at other women’s colleges.

 

April 4, 1914: State Legislature authorizes change of college name to Hunter College of The City of New York.

 

February 1920: Hunter celebrates its 50th Anniversary

 

[Source: http://www.hunter.cuny.edu/news/milestones.shtml ; accessed 7/30/09]

 

 

dickb@dickb.com

 

Gloria Deo