Genealogy Story - Silas Russell descendants

Much of my ancestry research recently has been in trying to build out the descendant tree from my great*3 grandfather, Silas Russell (1803-1886).  He is the first in my Russell lineage to come to Connecticut (from just over the border in NY).  My initial research was just on his youngest son, Walter Russell, my great*2 grandfather, but recently I expanded to include all of Walter's siblings. Silas and Walter each had large families (8 and 10 children respectively).  While some of these lines did not contribute much to the Russell family (by dying young, or having no children or grandchildren), others were quite prolific.

Silas and his wife Hester had a total of 732 descendants (that I've discovered so far).  Some lines still require more research, particularly females from the late 1800's where I have not been able to find marriage records and so I do not know what happened to them.  Other lines have yielded many ancestors and distant cousins.  It is particularly gratifying when I am able to locate other living relatives who are able to help with my research - often because they have their own family trees in ancestry.com that I can draw information from.  In those cases I am often able to work jointly with them.  Below are listed the major family lines, in each case showing the number of descendants I have documented in that branch and the cousin(s) that I am working with to flesh out the total descendant list.

Silas (732)

  Eliza (237) Kim Iezzi

  Rebecca (97)

     Edwin (51) Judy Weir

     Catharine (42) Ellen Dunn, Lynn Evans

  Theodore (80) Raymond Abruzzi

  Walter (302)

     Louis (131) myself

     Martha (77) Pam Otomo

     George (42) George Russell

     James (43) Jessie Thompson etal

The only line from all of Silas' children that continues to produce descendants with the last name of Russell is via Walter.  All his other children either were female or only produced females at some point in the tree.  The following are the "living" branches with the Russell surname.

Through Louis Russell (above)

   Erskine -> Vernon -> Alan (me) -> Chris -> Aryon (b. 2004), Tiernan (b. 2006)

   William -> William -> Timothy -> Keith -> Logan (b. 2003)

   William -> William -> Donald -> Douglas -> Joseph (b. 2006)

Through George Russell (above)

   Andrew -> George -> George -> Ian (b. 2002)

So, while there are a few other older individuals who might possibly have children who will carry on the Russell surname, at this point these five are the only ones who can pass on the Russell name into the 21st century.