Brother Russell was the person in the 1800's to find 1914

This is easy one to read in print, but in some cases impossible to prove to some. This is in fact one of the most discussed history topics I have. But what I find difficult is I can show it to someone, they can read it and it is still no, Brother Russell was the one to find it.

So, let's jump in the time machine and go back to, oh, let's go back to 1864. Up to this time the King James Version was the go-to Bible, it was based on the textus receptus, or common received text used at the time to translate most Bibles. As with all Bibles that used the textus receptus it used the phrase "what will be the sign of your coming" at Matthew 24:3 and at 2 Thessalonians 2:1 the King James also used "by the coming of our Lord Jesus." (I will discuss Brother Russell's understanding of 2 Thess 2:1 from the Diaglott in another post.)
Notice in both places (there are others) the King James referred to Jesus as "coming" or as was understood then and some do now, Jesus returning to Earth in the flesh. 
However, all that changed in 1864, and Brother Russell had nothing to do with it. Jehovah did, and later Russell was directed to that information.
What happened in 1864?

Benjamin Wilson did a word for word interlinear translation of the New Testament from the original Greek called the Empathic Diaglott. This was a first of its kind. A translation like no other. Wilson went to the oldest known Greek Bible manuscripts (bypassing the textus receptus) and did a direct word for word translation from Greek to English, and as we say today when we get lots of news, our phone blows up, the Diaglott blew up the religious world. 

The Diaglott gave birth to hundreds of new religions, including every division of the number crunching Adventist, only the largest group has survived, as most died out quickly. So now what made the Diaglott so special.
Again, let's go back to those 2 verses Matthew 24:3 and 2 Thess 2:1. The word the King James had as coming was NOT coming, a mistranslation indeed, it was "parousia" in Greek, in English, presence. 
Who were some of the people that obtained the Diaglott and understood fleshly coming vs presence?
George Storrs of Brooklyn, he later teamed up with Charles Russell, was publishing "The Bible Examiner" and he thought 1870 would be the presence of the Lord. (Divine Purpose page 14)
H.B. Rice, who published "The Last Trump" (trumpet), also looked to 1870. (Divine Purpose page 14)
And a third group, "this time of disappointed Second Adventist looking to 1873 or 1874. his group was headed by N.H. Barbour of Rochester N.Y. publisher of "The Herald of the Morning." (Divine Purpose page 14)
Lastly Charles Russell....but let's see how he met the Diaglott.

Anyone can quickly grasp the massive change in meaning. At this point I want to remind everyone; Russell did not translate this or ISBA did not change the word from coming to presence. This was a Bible translation that discovered the word "coming" in the King James was mistranslated.
With the proper understanding of the word "presence" the return of the Lord took on a new understand. Even when the sun is covered by a cloud, we are aware of its presence, we don't have to see it.
As a child playing in his room, he is aware of his father's presence elsewhere in the house. Could the same be with the Lord? Did Jesus have to physically, in flesh return to Earth? Or could He direct His presence to the Earth? This was a great earthquake as it were in 1864 and things were just starting to get shaken up.
So how does this all tie into 1914? Using the book of Daniel the Bible clearly points to 1914, but for what reason?
Now this Jesus returning in presence was really making 1914 look different. But no, no one thought Jesus would be enthroned at King in 1914, but something else. 

Let's move forward to 1876; quoting from the book "Divine Purpose" page 18.
"At this point in time Russell and his group understood that Jesus would not be returning in the flesh, but invisible, yet His presence would be known."
"Then, in 1876, while Pastor Russell was in Philadelphia on a business trip, he happened to come across a copy of "The Herald of the Morning"...published by N.H. Barbour of Rochester N.Y. He was surprised and pleased to note that here was another group that expected Christ's return invisibly."
Russell when to meet with Barbour and continuing on from the Divine Purpose book.
"It seems that one of Barbour's group had come into possession of Benjamin Wilson's Diaglott translation....that was the clue that had led Barbour's group to advocate...an invisible presence of Christ." (Divine Purpose page 18)

That is a lot, but I still don't see 1914.
As I mentioned, through prophecy and a study of Daniel you can get 1914, and Russell was like many Bible students of his day, numbers met a lot in the Bible, including the number 40. The number 40 shows up a lot in the Bible and that is an entire other post. But when these groups arrived at 1914 they subtracted 40 years to get the year 1874.
Like many others, Russell arrived at 1914, but He believed that 1914 was the rapture, not Jesus being enthroned as king. (I will make another post about Russell's understanding of 1914, this one is getting long.)
So if the rapture of the bride class is taking place in 1914, then the gathering work has to take place before that. So Russell and others subtracted 40 years. (40 being based on repeated appearance in the Bible.) So the gathering work started in 1874, Russell's worldwide preaching campaign and his motivation for starting The Watchtower and IBSA and Watchtower Org. These were founded to preach to the world to find the remaining bride class before the rapture of 1914.

Later Watchtower bought the plates and printing rights to the Diaglott. Some other religious organizations wanted to obtain them to get it off the market or to charge a large fee for a copy. Watchtower wanted to distribute it free, so everyone could have accurate understanding.