Connecting the Dots: Latest Addition to the Jehovah's Witnesses Project

Four years ago, I started the Jehovah's Witnesses project on WikiTree, and it's grown into something I never quite expected. What began as a way to document my own family's connections has become a sprawling network of profiles, relationships, and historical events that keep revealing new genealogical treasures.

A Personal Connection to History

This latest page holds special meaning for me. My mother traveled to the 1950 Theocracy's Increase International Assembly from Washington State with her parents - she was just 13 years old. Like so many family stories, the details were always a bit fuzzy until I started digging into the historical record. Now I have the full picture of what she experienced that August week at Yankee Stadium.

Building the Foundation for Bigger Stories

The Theocracy's Increase assembly page serves as an anchor point for several major research projects I've been working on:

Holocaust Survivors and Victims: I'm creating profiles for Jehovah's Witnesses who were imprisoned for their religious beliefs and marked with the Purple Triangle - both those who survived and those who didn't. Many survivors attended this 1950 assembly, making it a crucial gathering point for documenting their post-war lives and family connections.

The 15th Gilead Class: I've already created profiles for all 120 graduates of the Watchtower Bible School of Gilead who were part of this assembly. Having their graduation ceremony documented here helps establish the timeline and context for their subsequent missionary assignments around the world.

International Missionaries and Delegates: Beyond the new Gilead graduates, the assembly drew missionaries already serving in the field, branch servants (who oversaw the work in their respective countries), and delegates from 67 different countries. These weren't just visitors - they were representatives of growing congregations worldwide, many returning to share reports of expansion in their home territories.

Notable Figures: Key speakers and organizers like Nathan Knorr, Frederick Franz, and Grant Suiter all have their own WikiTree profiles. This assembly page helps document their roles and relationships during a pivotal moment in the organization's history.

Why This Approach Works

What I love about building these comprehensive event pages is how they create connection points. Once I get profiles linked to WikiTree's global tree, I can use the relationship finder to trace connections between people who might never have known they were related.

Imagine discovering that your great-uncle who survived Dachau was connected through the global tree to someone whose grandmother graduated from Gilead that same year. These aren't just coincidences - they're the kind of relationships that help us understand how our families navigated major historical moments.

The Broader Research Impact

I'm still working through passenger manifests from the Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth, plus an Air France flight from Germany with 44 passengers, cross-referencing names with my growing database of Gilead graduates, notable figures, and international missionaries. Some of these attendees were Holocaust survivors rebuilding their lives, new missionaries beginning assignments, or seasoned field workers and branch servants returning to share reports from countries where the preaching work was expanding rapidly.

The housing arrangements alone tell incredible stories. Over 9,000 hotel rooms plus thousands of private homes - families from 67 countries staying with New York area Witnesses. Some of these connections lasted for decades, creating correspondence and relationships that show up in family collections today.

The Personal Research Journey

Working on projects like this reminds me why I started the Jehovah's Witnesses WikiTree project in the first place. It wasn't just about documenting a religious community - it was about preserving the human connections that shaped families across generations and continents.

My mother's experience as a 13-year-old traveling across the country to attend this assembly is now part of a much larger historical narrative. Her profile connects to Holocaust survivors, Gilead missionaries, and thousands of other families who were part of this pivotal moment.

What's Next

I'm continuing to build out the associated pages - more Purple Triangle profiles, additional Gilead classes, and notable figures who shaped the community. Each profile added to the global tree creates new potential connections for other researchers.

If you're working on Jehovah's Witnesses family lines, particularly from this era, check out the relationship finder once you get your profiles connected. You might be surprised at the connections that emerge when individual family stories become part of the larger historical picture.

The 1950 assembly page is live on WikiTree now, along with the related Holocaust and Gilead pages. Another piece of the puzzle is in place, with many more to come.

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Sometimes the best family history discoveries come from understanding the communities and events that shaped entire generations.

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