As I have said before, there was no "Jehovah's Witnesses" religion back then. There is no indication that either Conley or anyone else associated with the Watch Tower at that time had any concept of either accepting or rejecting a religion,such as the Jehovah's Witnesses.
However, much of the above appears to out of someone's imagination.
William Conley was the first president of the Watch Tower Society before it was incorporated; this information is freely available on many different websites owned by Bible Students. the last mention of him in the pages of the Watch Tower is in that of a letter published in the Watch Tower of June 15, 1894 (there evidently was a special issue of June 11 which has been combined with the June 15 issue). However, most Jehovah's Witnesses are probably not aware of William Conley.
I do not know of anytime that Russell ever said anything about Armageddon as coming in 1881. Russell, at that time, believed that Armageddon -- the time of trouble -- had started in 1874, and that it would last until 1914. As far as I know, no one was expecting Armageddon to come in 1881. Russell adopted this teaching from Barbour; he later believed that Armageddon had not yet started, but that it would begin a few years before 1914 and end in 1914; in 1904, Russell adopted a view similar to some of his associates that Armageddon would not start until 1914, and would continue for some time after 1914.
Much of what is being circulated about Conley, however, is out people's imagination (as such is often done as related to Russell). I do not know to what extent Conley rejected Russell's views, but there were many who rejected Russell's views on many points who were associated with the Bible Students movement. The idea that Russell swindled Conley out of thousands of dollars is, to say that least, unfounded.
Are you an International Bible Student?
What's your point?
My point was that William Henry Conley was associating with people of many denominations, AND he donated money to many denominations AND he stopped giving Charles Taze Russell donations, shortly after his failed predictions. Why would Russell take Conley's name off as the first president, if Conley still believed in Russell's teachings?
Charles Taze Russell measured pyramids to predict the end of the world in 1874. When his prediction did not come true, he said Jesus took his throne in 1874 "invisibly" and that Armageddon would come in 1878, 1881, 1914, and 1915. None of those predictions would come true, though.
Here's the quotes:
"The 'grand gallery' measures
1874 inches long at the top,
1878 inches long at a groove cut in its sides about midway between bottom and top and
1881
inches at the bottom. Now notice these three distinct dates(
1874, 1878, 1881) are marked by the pyramid"-Charles Taze Russell Zion's Watchtower
"There is no reason for changing the figures; they are God's dates, not ours;
1914 is not the day for the beginning, but the end!"-Charles Taze Russell
Zion's Watchtower
"However, in 1912, he back-pedalled somewhat:
[FONT=trebuchet ms,arial,helvetica]"...he wrote that, while the prophecy remains valid,
the power of the Gentiles could end either in October 1914 or
in October 1915." [/FONT]
"The Gentile Times prove that the
present governments must all be overthrown about the close of
A.D. 1915"-Watchtower, Nov 1914
"The end of 6000 years is
1873."-Charles Taze Russell Zion's Watchtower
Charles Taze Russell is the founder of the Jehovah's Witnesses.
He referred to God as Jehovah, rejected the trinity, and referred to Jesus as a god, just like the New World Translation.
"Yes, we believe our
Lord Jesus while on earth was really worshipped, and properly so.
While he was not the God,
Jehovah,
he was a god."-
Charles Taze Russell Watchtower
"When the Watch Tower Society was founded in 1881,
William Conley donated $3500 (70%) of the $5000 original capital. Joseph Russell donated $1000 (20%), with Charles Taze Russell donating only $500 (10%)."
when Conley's friend
Charles Taze Russell fell under the spell of Nelson Barbour and
started teaching that Christ had invisibly returned to the vicinity of the earth in 1874, and when Russell started predicting
the Rapture for Passover 1878, and then 1881, Conley evidently must have put some amount of faith in Russell.
"However, sometime
in 1882 Conley evidently decided that he would make no more "large" contributions to finance Russell's schemes. From latter 1882 until the mid-1890s, the Watch Tower Society reported receiving very few donations, and as a result conducted minimal activity during that ten year stretch."
"
William Conley and his wife Sarah (who also will always be noted as being two of the five original "Bible Students"),
no longer supported nor believed in the teachings of the Watch Tower Society."
http://www.amazon.com/Index-Watchtower-Errors-1879-1989/dp/0801077567#reader_0801077567
http://www.freeminds.org/organization/pre-russell/russell-not-first-president-of-watchtower.html