Early life
A Merchant's Son in Allegheny
Charles Taze Russell was born on February 16, 1852, in Allegheny, Pennsylvania, a city now part of Pittsburgh. His parents, Joseph Lytel Russell and Ann Eliza Birney, were Presbyterians of Scots-Irish descent. His mother died when he was nine. As a boy he joined his father in a growing business of men's clothing stores, and he proved a capable merchant.
The family later joined a Congregational church. As a teenager Russell was troubled by the doctrine of eternal punishment and by the teaching that God had predestined most people to it. By his own account he nearly gave up on the Bible altogether and looked into other religions.
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