Russell
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Among the Pioneers James Vaugh Russell was born in Russellville, Logan county, Kentucky in the year 1827. His father was Hiram Russell, and his mother's maiden name was Matilda Graham. Mr. Russell was married to Nancy Jane Harper, Oct. 3rd, 1849. At the age of 33 years he, with his family, moved to Collin county, Texas, and settled one-fourth mile of where the town of Wylie is now located. John Harper, a brother of his wife, lives in Clear lake, about four miles northeast of Wylie. To Mr. and Mrs. Russell were born seven children, three of whom are living to-wit: John Russell of Wylie, a farmer; W. Fount Russell, a fruit grower and truck gardener two miles north of McKinney, and James W. R. Russell, a dry goods salesman of Corsicana. Mr. Russell joined the Mexican army in Polk county, Missouri, in the year 1846. He was in Company K, Halls' Regiment. Was in the battle of Santa Cruz, the last battle fought in Mexico. At that time he was under Sterling Price. The result of that battle was 2,000 Mexicans captures and 492 wounded. Uncle Jimmie says he is the last one left of his Regiment. Mr. Russell was also a member of Capt. J. M. McKinney's Company, Fitzhugh's Regiment in the great Civil struggle between the States. He has never held an office, never asked for one; Is a member of the Christian church at Wylie, does not belong to any lodge, finds farming more interesting to him than any other occupation as he has always followed that for a living. There is nothing very startling in this short sketch, just a short story of a man who has seen this State change from the ox team to the automobile, from the Scythe blade to the self-binder. The log cabin to the beautiful mansions that now adorn our county. This sketch might be interwoven with many a hardship and hazardous undertaking but Uncle Jimmie prefers to let it go at that. Wylie Rustler, 1912 A Grand Old Man - Above the Age of Ninety Passes Away - 1920 J. V. Russell, familiarly known as "Uncle Jimmie" passed away on the evening of March 24th, at the home of his son, W. F. Russell, after an illness of then days; and was laid to rest in the Wylie cemetery beside the body of his wife who had preceded him to the great beyond by fifteen years. Funeral services were conducted by Rev. Glover, pastor of the Christian church of Plano, and the body was followed to the cemetery by a large concourse of sorrowing friends. James Vaughn Russell was born Sept. 15, 1827 in Logan county, Kentucky, near the little town of Russellville. When but a child he moved with his parents to Missouri, and settled near the town of Buffalo. When the war between this country and Mexico was declared, he enlisted as a private at Independence, Mo., was in the field until peace was declared. His command traversed the state of Kansas, Colorado and into New Mexico with headquarters in and around Albuquerque, N. M., most of the time. While he was never engaged in battle directly with the Mexican forces he was in quite a number of serious Indian fights, and could talk for hours relating the various encounters. He was personally acquainted with Gen. Fremont, Kit Carson and other noted pioneers who joined hands in ridding our western country of the Mexicans and Indians. When the "Gold Fever" struck the nation in Forty Nine, Uncle Jimmie joined a caravan to the new Eldorado walking most of the way from Missouri to California. He spent four years in the Placer mines, returning to Missouri by way of the Isthmus of Panama in 1853. On account of the bush whacking in Missouri at the outbreak of the civil war, he loaded his family up and started to Texas, landing in McKinney, Texas, on August 10, 1861. Directly after arriving here he joined the Confederate forces and fought throughout the four long years of that memorable struggle. His field operations being Arkansas, Louisiana and Texas. Some time in the fifties, he confessed Christ as his Savior and identified himself wit the Christian church. He was a charter member of the Cotton wood Church, organized directly after the close of the war and hiss membership has been there and a Wylie ever since. In 1849 he was married to Miss Nancy Jane Harper and to that union were eight children, three of whom survive. They are W. F. and J. W. of this place and J. H. of Crowell, seventeen grandchildren and eleven great grandchildren also survive. Mrs. Russell Passes Away in Collin Hospital
Mrs. Nannie Russell of 215 Graham Street, died at 6:30 a.m. Monday in Collin Memorial Hospital. Funeral services are 2:30 p.m. Tuesday in Crouch-Moore Funeral Chapel conducted by Rev. Ray Williams, Chas. Cutts and S. D. Lindsey, with burial in Pecan Grove Cemetery. Pallbearers: Ricky Russell, Grover Russell Jr., Floyd Russell, Steve Seals, James Goode and Danny Goode. She was born July 9, 1887, in North Carolina and was a member of King Memorial Baptist Church here. Surviving are a daughter, Mrs. Haskell Goode, McKinney; three sons, E. H. And G. C. Russell , McKinney; K. E. Russell, Fairview; eleven grandchildren and eleven great-grandchildren. Vera Russell Services for Vera Mae Russell, 89, of McKinney, who died Tuesday at Life Care Center in Plano, were held today in the chapel at Horn-Harris-Crouch-Belew Funeral Home with Louie Sullivan officiating. Burial was in Pecan Grove Memorial Park under the direction of Horn-Harris-Crouch- Belew Funeral directions. Mrs. Russell was born March 6, 1903, in Florence, the daughter of Frank A. Young and Willie Jones Young. She married Luster E. Russell on Oct 31, 1943, in Dallas. She farmed and was a homemaker. She was a Baptist and a member of the North Texas Square Dance Association. Mrs. Russell is survived by many friends and relatives. Pallbearers were Ernest Curlin, Billy Lewis, Larry Davis, Bill Gant, Jim Smith and Jerry Hutson. |
Joseph Russell 1799 - 1882
Joseph Russell was born in north Carolina on December 31, 1799, according to his tombstone in the Bowman Cemetery, northwest of Plano. Collin County, Texas. The 1850 federal census of Collin County would have him been born in 1801. The 1880 census gives the information that his mother, whose name we do not know, was also born in North Carolina, and his father in Pennsylvania. We believe his father was the Thomas Russell whose name appears on the Romny payrolls of Captain William Hatcher's company of Virginia on November 2,, 1775. Two things support this conjecture; first, the tradition of several famlies agree that they enjoyed close fellowship with this Russell family in Virginia long before the fa,lies of John D. Brown and William Beverly began their migration to Texas; and second, there is listed on the above payroll of John Beverly, thought to be the father of William Beverly. In January 1880, William Beverly wrote, "father John Beverly, was born i Virginia in 1743, and died August 23, 1829. He was a captain in the Revolutionary War - - - my son, John Beverly, was born in Roane County Tennessee on July 6, 1829, and came to Texas with me." During his childhood, Joseph Russell lived in North Carolina, Virginia, and Tennessee. As a young man, he moved to Missouri, about 1823, possibly in Kentucky, Joseph married Elizabeth Trey, born April 16, 1803, in Madison County, Missouri. She was the daughter of Levin (Leavin) Grey, whose name appears on the 1800 tax list on Madison County, and his name did not appear on the 1790 list. Joseph and Elizabeth had five children, all born before the family came to Texas. Family tradition says the family was at Independence, Jackson County, Missouri. The promise of new land in Peter's Colony, south of Red River, caused Joseph to move into Texas in 1845. The john D. Brown family were traveling companions. With Joseph Russell were: his wife Elizabeth, his widowed daughter, Mary Russell Stone and her three year old daughter, Nan Stone; Joseph's two unmarried daughters, Elizabeth and Isabel; his married daughter, Nancy and her husband Samuel P. Brown, son of John D. Brown. Also traveling with the group was a single man, James Stone, who was probably a brother of Mary Russell Stone's deceased husband. James Stone received three hundred and twenty acres in Peter's Colony which he sold unlocated after 1850. Members of the John D. Family were William, A., Robert H., Eliza, Elizabeth, Sera, and Charles M. The group crossed the Red River into Texas at Old Warren, north of Bonham, on December 18, 1845. When they came to the river, Isabel Russell, 13 years old, wanted so much to be the 'First girl in Texas" that she jumped down from the wagon and mounted her horse and rode across at a gallop through the shallow water of the ford. Although the water was shallow here the river was dangerous because of quicksand. She had to ride right back because the men decided to wait until morning to cross with the wagons. All wagons were lightened as much as possible so they could cross quickly to avoid bogging down in the quicksand. After the successful crossing the Russell and Brown families soon parted company for a while, the Browns going west to Old Buckner; the first county seat of Collin, but soon on the Cottage Hill community area where they settled. The Russells with their son-in-law Sam Brown and with James Stone, moved on southward to a point three miles north of present Plano. Joseph Russell's 640 acres in Peter's Colony grant was patented in two tracts, about a mile apart with Rowlett Creek running through both tracts. First, the family settled on the lower easterly tract near Old Indian Hole, a deep water hole at a sharp bend of the creek on Muncy 640 acre tract which adjoined them on the north. If the Russells did not know, they surely heard that less than a year before the Muncy family had been savagely murdered and mutilated by Indians at that spot. Although that tragic event is said to have been the last great Indian depredation in Collin County, the Russells lived in constant fear and dread of the Indians who frequently came to the cabin demanding food. Elizabeth tried to keep hot bread baked to appease them because they seemed to favor that. When they demanded meat, she gave them a cow. The Russell family suffered a grievous loss when their young married daughter, Nancy died. This was two weeks after the crossing into Texas. Her death is believed to have resulted from a combination of premature childbirth complications, the rugged trip and the severe winter weather. There was no wood with which to build her coffin. Her saddened family had to tear apart the bed of a wagon for her father to fashion a coffin. They lined it with one of her mother's handmade quilts, and buried Nancy on the new land just after Christmas, 1845. Her young widower, Sam P. Brown returned to his family at Cottage Hill, but kept in close touch with the Russells. In 1846, he married their widowed daughter, Mary Russell Stone. He took her and her daughter Nan to settle in Dallas County where they were living at the time of the 1850 census was taken. By that time they had two little boys of their own. On November 15, 1847, the first Methodist church in Collin County was organized in the Joseph Russell home. On the 100tth, anniversary of the Methodist Church of Plano, the church published a history which says in part: There were thirteen charter members, Joseph Russell, his wife Elizabeth, his son and three daughters. Also, John D. Brown, his wife Rebecca, their two sons and two daughters, and James Stone. The first 100 years of history and growth was commemorated in a sermon by Bishop Charles C. Selecman at the morning service. In the afternoon, Mr. Wallace Hughston a great grandson of Joseph Russell gave the response the welcome address. . . . Sometime before 1850 the Russells moved to their other tract of land about a mile and a half west. This second tract was in a fork formed by West Rowlett Creek which passed through the northwest corner, and by what is now called Russell Branch which passed through the southwest corner of the tract. The house they built there, which no longer stands, was their heir home the remainder of their lives. Death claimed the life of Mary Russell Stone Brown in the early part of 1856. In March 1856, Nan chose Sam P. Brown as her guardian, and her estate was valued at $500.00. She was fourteen years old, and later that same year she married Frank F. Morrill of the Cottage Hill community living there the remainder of their lives and rearing a family of six children. Isabel "Ibby" Wilburn Russell (Jan. 5, 1832- April 20, 1911) married Reverend John Beverly, Methodist minister, son of Captain William Beverly and Nancy DeLozier, April 11, 1849, and lived about two miles and a half south of their parents home. Their first of twelve children, Joseph William was born May 2, 1860 and died in 1934. Joseph and Elizabeth gained another of the Brown boys as a son-in-law on Jan. 2, 1850, when their daughter Elizabeth (b. March 22, 1834 - Nov. 23, 1910) married Robert Harvey Brown, a brother of Sam. The young newly married couple were living in the Joseph Russell household when the 1860 census was taken. Joseph Warren Russell married Julia Ann Bowman, in March 1867. She was born February 1, 1840. On September 4, 1868, their only child John Joseph "Little Johnny" Russell was born and his mother Julia died the following. Less than four years later the child was orphaned when his father Joseph Warren Russell died February 16, 1872. On March 22, J. W. Bowman was made guardian of "Little Johnny." Johnny often stayed with his grandparents Russell before their deaths a few years later. Joseph was a farmer and a carpenter. He and Elizabeth lived long happy lives together, dying within a few years of each other. Elizabeth died December, 2, 1876, and Joseph on November 10, 1882. His last few years were spent in blindness; the 1880 census states that he was blind then. His death resulted from an accident due to the handicap. He was visiting at the home of a relative in Pilot Point, Denton County, and was sitting in a rocking chair on the porch. Failing to realize he was near the edge of the porch, he rocked over the side and died of the resulting injuries or shock. He and Elizabeth are buried in the Bowman Cemetery. |
