Disconnected Russells – The James Walter Russell Family

My great-great-grandfather was Walter J. Russell. He was the first of my Russell ancestors to be in Connecticut – he was born in Dover, Dutchess County, NY in 1852 but moved to CT sometime shortly after the Civil War. He married his first wife, Lois Ann Cook, on May 29, 1870 in Kent, Litchfield County, CT when he was just 18. Their first child, my great-grandfather Louis Morgan Russell, was born on August 26, 1871.

Walter and Lois had six children together before Lois passed away in 1883 at the age of just 28. Walter married again a few years later to Cornelia Sutphin in 1885 in New Milford, CT. He and Cornelia had four children. One of these was James Walter Russell who was born in 1893. On September 27, 1895, Walter passed away at the age of 43. Just two years later Cornelia also passed away at the age of 39.

The children of Walter and his first wife Lois had either left home by then or were old enough to be on their own. But the four children of Walter and his second wife Cornelia were younger. The oldest of the four, Earl, was 7 and he was taken in by some family friends. But the youngest three, Silas, James, and Edith were placed in an orphanage in Winsted, CT. They were ages 6, 4, and 3 respectively. Because of both the age differences and the physical separation, the four young children of Walter and Cornelia rarely saw their older half-siblings again.

Three of these children, Earl, Silas, and Edith, lived into their eighties. Earl married but never had any children, Silas never married, and neither did Edith. James married in 1920 and he and his wife had three children, Donald born in 1922, Shirley born in 1924, and Robert born in 1926. James then passed away in 1927 at the age of just 33, leaving his wife to raise their three young preschoolers.

Donald married and had four children – all girls – so there are none to pass on the Russell family name (see correction in comments). Shirley married and also had four children, but they will not pass on the Russell family name either. Robert married and also had four children – three of them are girls and will not pass on the Russell family name, and the lone male offspring has no children and so he will not pass the Russell family name along either.

Thus it appeared to this portion of the greater Russell family that not only were they cut off from any of their Russell relatives, but that the Russell family name was going to die out with them. Donald, Shirley, and Robert never knew their father well as he died when they were so young. And the only two relatives from his side of the family who they knew at all well, Earl and Silas who lived in the area, had no offspring. And despite there being a total of twelve children born to the three children of James, none of them would be passing along the Russell name to the next generation!

My cousin George Russell had heard about this “missing branch” of the Russell family tree from his father and had visited Robert in CT about 20 years ago. And based on some information that I received from him I had done some genealogical research and filled in some of the above story. It was just three years ago that I contacted them and introduced myself. I have since friended many of the family on Facebook and have stayed in touch with them. Sometime in the next few weeks I will be making a trip to that part of CT and meeting face-to-face with my long-lost cousins. Robert is still living at age 89, although his memory is fading. Although he is younger than my father would be, he was a first cousin to my grandfather (because of the 20+ year difference in age between my great-grandfather Louis and Robert’s father James).

I can’t do anything about the dying out of the Russell family name in this branch of the family, but at least through my genealogical research I have been able to connect them back in to the larger Russell family. I’m looking forward to meeting my cousins!