Genealogical and family history of the state of New Hampshire : a record of the achievements of her people in the making of a commonwealth and the founding of a nation, Vol. II, Part 73

Author: Stearns, Ezra S; Whitcher, William F. (William Frederick), 1845-1918; Parker, Edward E. (Edward Everett), 1842-1923
Publication date: 1908
Publisher: New York : Lewis Publishing Co.
Number of Pages: 874

USA > New Hampshire > Genealogical and family history of the state of New Hampshire : a record of the achievements of her people in the making of a commonwealth and the founding of a nation, Vol. II > Part 73

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tain Richard Emery's company, Colonel Nathan Me serve's regiment. This company with others was posted at Fort William Henry, near Lake George, and the massacre by the Indians that followed the capitulation of the fort is familiar to all readers of Cooper's "Last of the Mohicans." In this fright- ful slaughter Lieutenant Russell was wounded and made a prisoner. He was carried to Halifax, Nova Scotia, where he died in 1757. Pelatiah Russell married, probably about 1748, Olive Moor, daughter of Major Samuel and Deborah (Butterfield) Moor, born April 13, 1729, at Litchfield, New Hampshire. They had five children: Reuben, who died at the age of four; Olive. Pelatiah, John, and Moor, whose sketch follows. On September 23. 1758. the year after Pelatiah Russell's death, his widow, Olive Russell, presented to the provincial legislature her account for the clothing lost in the service. She was allowed one hundred pounds for the same, and for three months extra pay on account of her husband's captivity. Mrs. Olive Russell afterwards married a second husband, Timothy Barnes.

(V) Moor, youngest child of Pelatiah and Olive ( Moor) Russell, was born in Litchfield. New Hamp- shire, October 30, 1757. His father died about the date of his birth, which is the reason for the lack of knowledge of his early history. In 1775 Moor Russell was a soldier in the siege of Boston, and took part in the battle of Bunker Hill. In the Jat- ter part of that year he moved to Haverbill, New Hampshire, where he lived for a quarter century. On October 12, 1776, he enlisted from Haverhill in a company of rangers commanded by Captain Josiah Russell, of Plainfield, New Hampshire. Mr. Russell served with this company on the northern frontiers, and was discharged December 1, 1776. JIe also served in Captain Timothy Barron's com- pany in Colonel Bedel's regiment from April 13, 1777, to April 1, 1778. He was granted a pension in 1833, being at that time eighty years of age. He owned a large and well tilled farm in the southern part of Haverhill, where he soon became an influ- ential citizen. He was one of the men who secured the incorporation of Haverhill Academy in 1794, was representative in 1799 and 1800. selectman in 1800, and moderator in 1801. During the latter year he moved to Plymouth, New Hampshire, where he had established a store three years previously. The last half century of his long life was spent in that town, where he became more prominent even than at Haverhill. He was elected state senator in 1801- 2-3 and again in 1810-11-12. He was selectman of Plymouth in 1805 and 1823, and representative in 1823-4. completing a service of ten years in the state legislature. He was one of the incorporators of the first bank in Grafton county, known as the Coos and later as the Grafton Bank of llaverhill. At the time of Mr. Russell's removal to Plymouth the place was coming into prominence as a market and political center for the surrounding country, and Mr. Russell contributed as well as derived prosperity in connection with the general develop- ment. He was the founder of the oldest mercantile house in the region, an establishment which has been a trading mart for more than a century. In early times the goods were bought in Portsmouth and later in Boston, and were drawn by team to Plym- outh and there exchanged for products which had been brought in by the surrounding farmers, As in all general stores of an carly date, the stock em- braced every kind of a commodity from a cart wheel to a cardamon seed. Besides managing his regular

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business Mr. Russell was a farmer and a general dealer in lumber, and cattle. He contributed liber- ally to the support of the church, and was one of the first merchants to give up the sale of liquors, universal at that time. He was a member of the executive committee of the Grafton County Bible Society, and was associated with the benevolent organizations of his day. On December 23, 1790, Moor Russell married Elizabeth Webster, daughter of Colonel David and Elizabeth (Clough) Webster, who was born at Plymouth, July 8, 1773. They had eleven children: Nancy, David Moor, Catherine, Eliza, William Wallace, whose sketch follows; Mary, Walter Webster, Jane Augusta, Julia Ann, Charles James and Julia Ann. Of the daughters, Nancy Russell married John Rogers, of Plymouth, and their youngest child became the wife of Dr. William Jewett Tucker, president of Dartmouth College. Catherine Russell married her cousin. Samuel C. Webster, of Plymouth, a lawyer, and speaker of the New Hampshire house of represen- tatives in 1830. Eliza Russell married Benjamin G. Edmonds, and lived in Brooklyn, New York; Mary Russell married Elijah Maynor Davis, and lived in Barnet, Vermont; and Jane Augustua married Dr. Milo Jewett, first president of Vassar College. Julia Ann Russell, the youngest child and the second of that name, married Dr. Samuel Long, of Plymouth. Moor Russell, the father, died at Plymouth, Au- gust 29, 1851, after a long and useful life of nearly ninety-six years. Longevity seems to be a charac- teristie of the family, for his daughter Eliza (Mrs. Benjamin G. Edmonds), who died in Brooklyn, New York, in 1899, had nearly completed her hun- dredth year. Mrs. Moor Russell died June 4, 1839. (VI) William Wallace, second son and fifth child of Moor and Elizabeth ( Webster) Russell, was born at Plymouth, New Hampshire, May 15, 1801. In youth he was a clerk in the store of his father, and later in that of his elder brother, David Moor Russell, becoming a partner in 1826. The brother retired from business and moved to Ala- bama in 1833, and for the next two years William Wallace Russell was sole proprietor. From 1835 to 1869 he managed both the brick and the depot stores in company with different partners. During this time the eight-horse teams hauling goods from Ports- mouth and Boston were displaced by the railroad. Mr. Russell was a trustee of Holmes Plymouth Academy, and a liberal patron of every good cause. An indulgent father, an upright citizen, and a gen- erous friend, he was respected for his integrity and unblemished character. In politics he was first a Whig and then a Republican, and he attended the Congregational Church. On November 9, 1826, William Wallace Russell married Susan Carleton Webster, daughter of Humphrey and Phebe (Pet- tingill) Webster, who was born June 3, 1804, at Salisbury, New Hampshire. (See Webster). They had seven children: William Wallace, Alfred, Ellen, George Punchard, Ellen Amanda, Henry Martyn, and Frank Webster, whose sketch follows. Of these children, Deacon William W., the eldest became a partner in the hereditary firm; Alfred, one of the most distinguished men born in Northern New Hampshire, was graduated from Dartmouth in 1850. and was a leading lawyer in Detroit for more than fifty years, serving as United States district attor- ney in Michigan from 1861 to 1869. He died May 8, 1906. George P. was also a lawyer in Detroit, but died at the early age of thirty-two just at the dawn of a promising career; Ellen and Henry Mar-

tyn Russell died under two years. William Wal- lace Russell died September 3, 1872, and his widow died September 15, 1875.

(VII) Frank Webster, fifth son and seventh and youngest child of William Wallace and Susan Carl- ton (Webster) Russell, was born at Plymouth, New Hampshire, June 22, 1847. His education was ob- tained in five different states. He first attended Miss Gilmore's private school at Concord, New Ilampshire, and then went to

Phillips Academy, Andover, Massachusetts, studied at the Boston Latin School two years, and later at the high school in Detroit, Michigan, and at the Commercial Insti- tute, New Haven, Connecticut. In 1864, at the age of seventeen, he was appointed to the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York. He was graduated in the class of 1868, receiving a com- mission of second lieutenant in the Sixth United States Cavalry, and was stationed in the south and west. In June. 1872, he resigned his commis- sion and returned to Plymouth to take his place in the business founded by his grandfather, Moor Rus- sell, in 1798. He was a partner with his brother William and Samuel C. Webster until the death of Mr. Webster in. 1883. From that time till the death of Deacon William Russell in 1892, the two brothers continued the business, and since then Major F. W. Russell has been the sole survivor. Although resigning a continuous military career. Major Russell has rendered efficient service in the New Hampshire National Guard, besides serving throughout the Spanish war. In 1884 he was com- missioned a captain and aide on the staff of General Daniel M. White, and from 1885 to 1889 he was an assistant inspector-general with the rank of major. On April 27, 1898, he was commissioned first lieutenant, and on May 3, 1898, he was made captain of Company G, Third Infantry, of New Hampshire. The Spanish war broke out at this time, and he was mustered into the United States service on May '11, 1898. and was promoted to major of the first New Hampshire Infantry on July 2, 1898. Major Russell's oldest and third son also served in this regiment during the war, while the second was a student at West Point. Major Rus- sell was mustered out with his regiment, October 31, 1898; and in a reorganization of the National Guard he was commissioned major of the Second Infantry, March 7, 1899, retaining his commission till 1904, when he declined further service. Major Russell is a loyal son of Plymouth, and a ready supporter of all measures conducing to the public good. In politics he is a Republican, and he at- tends the Congregational Church. On October 1. 1873, Frank Webster Russell married Louisa Web- ster Hall, daughter of Philander and Louisa Au- gusta ( Webster) Hall, of Plymouth, who was born June 10. 1850 and died May 6, 1905. They have eight children: Clara Louisa, William Wallace, George Moor, Susan Carlton, Walter Hall, Louis Webster, Henry and Mary Louise. Of these chil- dren the eldest and the youngest, both daughters, each died at the age of three days. William Wal- lace Russell, born May 22, 1876, was graduated from Plymouth high school in 1891, and from the Holderness School for Boys in 1893. He was a bank clerk from 1893 to 1898, he was for a time clerk in the office of Honorable John L. Bacon, state treasurer of Vermont and is now ( 1907) cashier of the National Bank of White River Junction, Ver- mont. He served in the First New Hampshire In- fantry during the Spanish war, and was promoted

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to quartermaster sergeant of Company K, and to sergeant major of the regiment, and afterwards was commissioned second lieutenant. George Moor Russell, born April 28, 1878, was graduated from the Plymouth high school in 1894, and from Holder- ness School for Boys in 1896. He entered the United States Military Academy at West Point in 1897, and was graduated in 1901. He is the first lieutenant of the Fifteenth United States Cavalry, and has been stationed at Fort Leavenworth and other forts in the west, and 1903-05 was at Mala- bang, in the Philippine Islands, and is now (1907) instructor in the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York. Susan Carlton Russell, born October 31, 1879, was graduated from the Plymouth high school in 1896, and from the State Normal School in 1898. She attended Abbott Academy at Andover, Massachusetts, for one year, and was graduated from Vassar College in 1904. She taught for a time at Livingston Park Seminary, Rochester, New York. Walter, Hall Russell, born May 21, 1882, was graduated from the Holderness School for Boys in 1900, and from Dartmouth Col- lege in 1904, and from the law department of the University of Michigan in 1906. . He was a trum- peter of Company K, First New Hampshire In- fantry, during the Spanish war and is now prac- ticing law at Detroit, Michigan. Frank Henry Rus- sell, the youngest son, born June IS, 1887, died May 2, 1904, while a member of the senior class in the Plymouth high school.

RUSSELL There can be no doubt of the con- nection between this branch of the Russell family and the one whose history has been previously written. The large num- ber bearing the name. resident in Andover, renders extremely difficult the distinction of individuals.

(1) Jonathan Russell was born at Andover, Massachusetts, in 1757, and removed to Nelson, New Hampshire, about 1780. He settled in the neigh- borhood town of Dublin about 1790. He married Rachel White, of Nelson, soon after coming to that town. She was born in 1758. They had ten chil- dren : Ilepzibah, born March 17, 1783, died in . May, 1834. Jonathan (2), whose sketch follows; Elias, died young. Sally, married Asa Metcalf, of Marl- borough, New Hampshire. Abner, married Betsey Herrick. Nancy, married Davis Ileaton of Keene. Iluldah. Eben, married Olive Newell. Amelia, married Alvin Keyes of Putney, Vermont. Mary, married Proctor Keyes. Jonathan Russell died in April, 1834. His wife died June 1, 1821.

( II) Jonathan (2), eldest son and child of Jona- than (1) and Rachel ( White) Russell, was born in Roxbury, New Hampshire, January 26, 1785. He lived most of his life in Ilarrisville. He mar- ried, January 2, 1800, Mary Lewis, of Marlborough, New Hampshire, who was born December 14. 1787. They had two sons: Lyman, born November 5. ISO8, who married Ursula Mason, March 16, 1837; and James L., whose sketch follows. Jonathan (2) Russell died September 10, 1848.

(III) James L., younger son of Jonathan (2) and Mary ( Lewis) Russell, was born October 30. 1814, in Pottersville (now Chesham), in the town of Harrisville, New Hampshire. Ile lived in Pot- tersville on a large farm, and was also a contractor. Ile was a Democrat in politics. Ile belonged to the Methodist Church, and sang in the choir for many years. He was an upright man, of amiable dispo- sition, and was highly respected in the community.

On October 31, 1839, he married Anna P. Mason, daughter of Rev. Samuel and Mary ( Willard ) Mason, who was born April 5, 1822. She was a sister of his brother Lyman's wife. Their father was the Baptist minister at Pottersville, and their mother was a cousin of Frances B. Willard. Mrs. Russell, like her husband, was a member of the Methodist Church. They had five children: 31. Ca- lista, who married Samuel D. Bemis, of Chatham, New Hampshire; Albert Lyman, mentioned below ; Edward S., died at twenty-one years; James Edson, died at twenty-three years; Adney, married Elwin Seaver, and lived in Chatham. James L. Russell died April 16, 1854, at the early age of forty years. Ilis wife survived him nearly forty years, dying in 1893.

(IV) Albert Lyman, eldest son aud second child of James L. and Anna P. (Mason) Russell, was born in Pottersville, (now Chatham), New Hamp- shire, July 16, 1843. He attended the common schools of Harrisville and Dublin, and also a busi- ness college in Boston. For a short time he was engaged in farming but he had a strong mechanical taste, and in 1863 went to Boston, where he entered an establishment for the manufacture of electric supplies. He made the first Bell telephone for the inventor, and constructed the first experimental line, from the factory to the house of Charles Williams in Somerville. He afterwards succeeded Mr. Wil- liams in the business, and built up a large and suc- cessful establishment. He employed about thirty people and conducted a business which amounted to about seventy-five thousand dollars a year. About 1883 he became a member of the Western Electric Company, which manufactured Bell telephone in- struments. In 1892 he retired from manufacturing and removed to Keene, New Hampshire, and in 1895 came to Chatham, where he remained until he died. During his later years he had a saw mill in Chatham, where he was engaged in the manufacture of lum- ber. He was a Democrat in politics, but never held office, though he was often urged to do so. He be- longed to the Universalist Church in Somerville. He was also a member of the Royal Arcanum in Somerville. Besides his own manufacturing, he was interested in many other electrical concerns. On December 23, 1842, Albert Lyman Lewis mar- ried Emma F. Williams, who was born in Clare- mont, New Hampshire, December 23, 1842, daughter of Charles Williams. They had three children : Grace Isabel, born September 24, 1868, died De- cember 27, 1874; Edward Grand, born April 4, 1872, who lives in Chesham, New Hampshire; and Percy Williams, whose sketch follows. Albert L. Russell died March 23, 1898, and his wife died May 27, 1906.

(V) Percy Williams, younger son and third child of Albert Lyman and Emma F. (Williams) Russell, was born in Somerville, Massachusetts, October 24, 1875. He attended the common and high schools in Somerville. He moved to New Hampshire with his father, and at the age of twenty-one he built a box factory in connection with his father's sawmill at Chesham. This box factory employs from twenty-five to thirty hands, and has a yearly output of from forty to fifty thous- and dollars worth of manufactured goods. Mr. Russell makes lock-corner pine boxes. lle does an extensive lumber business also, having a number of steam mills, and buying and operating lumber lots. He belongs to Peoquoit Lodge, No. 50, In- dependent Order of Odd Fellows, of Marlborough, and to Silver Lake Grange, Patrons of llusbandry,

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No. 105. of Chesham. Ile has been an officer of the latter organization. lle married Gertrude M. Derby, daughter of Milan Derby, who was born at Ches- ham, New Hampshire, September 15, 1875. They have one child, Earl Classon.

The origin of the name of Rust is ob-

RUST scure. Bardsley thinks it may have been derived front Le Rous, signifying a ruddy or russet complexion, which in its various forms of Rous, Rouse, Rowse and Rosse is familiar to those who have spent much time over mediaeval records. Another theory is that it may have come direct from Holland or Low Dutch dialect in which Kust signifies rest or repose. The earliest mention of the family in England refers to one Hugh Rust, who was living there in 1312. Dr. George Rust, a native of Cambridge, England, where he took the Bachelor of Arts degree in 1646, was made bishop of Dromore, Ireland, in 1667. He is buried in the choir of the cathedral at Dromore, in the same vault with his friend, Jeremy Taylor.

(I) Henry Rust, the first American ancestor, came from Hingham, Norfolk county, England, somewhere between 1633 and 1635, and settled in Hingham, Massachusetts. He became an inhabitant of Boston, March 31, 1651, and was a large owner of property there. In 1653 he owned a tract on the corner of Summer and Hawley streets, which after- wards became the site of the Seven Star Inn, and still later, 1734, the location of Trinity Church. In 1889 about one-quarter of Henry Rust's original property was sold for three hundred and fifty thous- and dollars. Henry Rust was a glover by oc- pation, and the Seven Stars was the sign of the shop when Rust's son-in-law, Robert Earle, sold it in 1698. Henry Rust and his wife were admitted to the First Church in Boston, December 20, 1669. The name of his wife nowhere appears, but it is thought they were married in America, as the bap- tism of the first child does not oceur till Henry Rust had been in this country for three years. There were six children: Samuel, baptized in Hingman. Massachusetts, August 5. 1638. Nathaniel, whose sketch follows. Hannah, baptized in Hingman, No- vember 7, 1641, married Robert Earle. Israel, bap- tized in Hingman, November 12, 1643. Benjamin, baptized April 5, 1646. Benoni, died October 13, 1649. From the three sons, Samuel, Nathaniel and Israel, the entire Rust family in America has sprung. Samuel settled in Boston, Nathaniel in Ipswich, and Israel in Northampton. The date of the death of Henry Rust is not known, but it must have oceurred between January, 1684, and 1685, according to the conveyances of the Boston property.

( Il) Nathaniel, second son and child of Henry Rust, was baptized in Hingham, Massachusetts, Feb- ruary 2, 1639-40. He removed to Ipswich in early life. and remained there until his death at the age of seventy-three. He took the freeman's oath May 27. 1674, and was appointed quartermaster in the expedition to Canada, June 19, 1690, and was rep- resentative to the legislature in 1690 and 1691. March 23, 1692-93, he was appointed one of the selectmen to "lay out more town," and we find that he bought a lot of land from William Wilson "with ye rocks thereon." He seems to have been much engaged in the settling of estates from which we may infer that he stood well with his fellow citi- zens. Like his father, he was engaged in the manu- faeture of gloves, and was sometimes known as Nathaniel the Glover, to distinguish him from his son and namesake. Nathaniel Rust married Mary

Wardell, daughter of William and Alice Wardell, and they had seven children: Mary, born June, 1064. married Captain Daniel Ringe. Nathaniel, whose sketch follows. Margaret, born February 7, 1669, married Samuel Williams, of Salem. Elizabeth, born March 14, 1672, married William Fellows. Dorothy, born March 10, 1682, died in infancy. John, born July 9, 1684, married Sarah Potter. Sarah, born in Essex in 1686, married Lieutenant Thomas Hart, of Ipswich. Mercy, born November 14, 1700, mar- ried Thomas Norton. Nathaniel Rust died in Ips- wich, December 23, 1713, aged seventy-three years, and his widow died July 7, 1720, aged seventy-eight years.

(III) Lieutenant Nathaniel (2), eldest son and second child of Nathaniel (1) and Mary ( Wardell) Rust, was born in Ipswich, Massachusetts, March 16, 1667. At the age of seventeen he married a girl two years his senior, and they had a family of eleven children. In 1690 he took part in the expedi- tion to Canada, where he probably gained his mili- tary title, and in 1695 was invited to open the first free school ever taught in Chebacco, now Essex, Massachusetts. He was so successful as a teacher that the committee invited him to stay in this capac- ity, and the town granted him a quarter aere of land to build his house on. Master Rust, as he was called then, also taught the first grammar school in Essex. The first school house was built in 1702 near "a shrubbed white oak." March 19, 1707, Na- thaniel (2) Rust was one of five men elected trus- lees of the town for the ensuing year. Their duties were to select persons whom they "shall think fit to ring ye Bell sweep ye meeting-house and set up a bason of water for the baptizing of children when there shall be Ocasion for ye same to be paid in Graine out of ye change rate." February 22, 1684, Nathaniel (2) Rust married Joanna, daughter of Quartermaster Robert Kinsman, son of Robert and Mary ( Boreman) Kinsman. She was born April 25, 1665. The eleven children of Lieutenant Na- thaniel (2) and Joanna (Kinsman) Rust were: Nathaniel, born 1685, married Miriam Andross, Henry, whose sketch follows. Robert, born

about 1688, married Rachel Ingalls. Joannahı, born about 1690, married Jeremiah Thompson. Moses, born about 1692, taught school in Essex. Margaret, born about 1694, married

George Stimpson. Joseph, born 1696, married Rachel Choate. Benjamin, born 1698, inarried Mar- garet Shuburn. Dorothy, born 1700, married Cap- tain Jeremiah Foster. Mary, born 1702, married Moses Foster, brother of Jeremiah. Peletiah, born about 1706, married Rebecca Gogh, and was in the siege of Louisburg. Lieutenant Nathaniel (2) Rust died at Chebacco in Ipswich, Massachusetts, Sep- tember 9, 1711, and the inventory of his estate amounted to one hundred and ninety-three pounds, six shillings and sixpence. His widow, Joanna Rust, afterwards kept tavern in Ipswich, where she died January 28, 1733.

(IV) Rev. Henry, second son and child of Lieu- tenant Nathaniel (2) and Joanna (Kinsman) Rust, was born in Ipswich, Massachusetts, in 1686, and was graduated from Harvard College in the class of 1707. He was the first of his line to move to New Hampshire, coming here in April, 1718, to be settled as the first minister in Stratham, where he remained thirty-seven years. Rev. Henry Rust swore allegianee to George II in 1727. Among other records in which his name appears is the purchase of some land in Exeter in 1722, and the loss of a negro

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woman by death on February 16, 1741-42. About 1719 Rev. Henry Rust married into one of the prominent families of the state. His wife, who was Ann Waldron, daughter of Colonel and Judge Richard Waldron and his second wife, Eleanor (Vaughan) Waldron, of Portsmouth, was born August 27, 1698. She seems to have been held in more than usual esteem by her friends, or else commiseration was excited by her early death at the age of thirty-five, after having borne seven chil- dren. Her tombstone in the old Stratham ceme- tery is conspicuous for its size and solidity, for its consists of a block of solid masonry, six feet long. two feet wide, and three feet high. Upon the top of this pile rests a slab, bearing the following quaint inscription : "Interred here lyes Mrs. Anna Rust, the Desirable Consort of the Rev. Mr. Henry Rust,

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Genealogical and family history of the state of New Hampshire : a record of the achievements of her people in the making of a commonwealth and the founding of a nation, Vol. II, Part 73

Author: Stearns, Ezra S; Whitcher, William F. (William Frederick), 1845-1918; Parker, Edward E. (Edward Everett), 1842-1923 Publication date: 1908 Publisher: New York : Lewis Publishing Co. Number of Pages: 874

Author: Stearns, Ezra S; Whitcher, William F. (William Frederick), 1845-1918; Parker, Edward E. (Edward Everett), 1842-1923
Publication date: 1908
Publisher: New York : Lewis Publishing Co.
Number of Pages: 874