Russell Ramblings: Russells, Russells, everywhere

Tracing family lines in the US can be an interesting process. That is especially true with family names that have had a long history. On my mother’s Pierpont side, where the family name goes back to the late 900s, there are apparently only two instances where family members came to the US. One was the two brothers, John and Robert, who came to Boston in 1640 as part of the Great Migration (*1) and who were the forebears of all the New England Pierponts. The other is Henry Pierpoint who came to Virginia in 1623 (*2). I can trace my line through the New England Pierponts all the way back to the origin of the family name (*3), but the Virginia line, while almost certainly connected, cannot be traced that far.

But the Russell family name goes back equally as far as the Pierpont name – to Normandy, France in the early 1000s. However, the Russells seem to have scattered widely about the British Isles over the next several centuries and more of them came to America. One was Robert Russell who also came to Massachusetts during the Great Migration (*3). Like the New England Pierpont line, his family tree can be traced all the way to the origin of the family name. I initially thought this was my own family line, but later discovered that there had been a lot of confusion about two individuals with the same name and that my lineage was through my great*6 grandfather, Robert Russell, who came to New York from Scotland around 1750 (*4). Robert was part of the Clan Russell in Scotland (*5). While this clan also claims that they are descendants of the original Russell/Rozel/Roussel family in Normandy, an exact lineage has not be determined.

But while there are only two Pierpont lines in the US are there other Russell lines other than these two? I was recently contacted by a “cousin”, Chad Russell, who wondered how we might be connected. Let me show what I found about his family line.

Chad Russell Ancestry

· Chad

· Donald V (1940-) b. Wyoming

· Jasper E (1901-1962) b. Colorado

· Silas Alexander (1863-1940) b. Marysville, KS

· James Joseph (1841-1898) b. Miller, MO

· Abraham Frank (1815-1859) b. Washington County, VA

· Joseph (1790-1859) b. Washington, VA

· John, Sr. (1758-1821) b. Washington, VA

· William J (1735-1793) b. Culpeper, VA, Brig. Gen. (*6)

· William R (1708-1777) b. Orange, VA, Lt. Col.

· Adam (1693-1716) b. Edinburgh, Scotland

· John (1673-) b. Scotland

· James (1650-) b. Scotland

· Robert (?) b. Scotland

Chad’s line goes back not to MA or NY, but to VA where one of his ancestors came to America around the beginning of the 1700s from Scotland. Thus, he is also descended from the Clan Russell in Scotland (exact connections to me not determined), but through a different immigrant.

This got me wondering about other “famous” Russells and what other immigrants might have that same Russell surname. Here are some that I investigated.

Charles Taze Russell

Charles Taze Russell was the founder of the Watch Tower Society in 1881, which was the forerunner of the Jehovah’s Witnesses. As noted in his biography on Wikipedia (*7), Charles father’s Joseph Lytel Russell was an Irish immigrant from Northern Ireland to Philadelphia in the mid-1850s. This is entirely different line of the Russell family.

Charles Marion Russell

Charles M. Russell was a well-known painter of the Old West (*8). I was able to trace his family back to its immigrant beginnings:

· Charles Marion Russell (1864-1926) b. St. Louis, MO

· Charles Silas Russell (1833-1917) b. St. Louis, MO

· Joseph Russell (1786-1850) b. Rockbridge Co, VA

· Joseph Russell, Sr. (1757-1817) b. Mountain Falls, VA

· Gen. William J Russell (1735-1793) b. Culpeper, VA

Here it intersects with Chad’s family tree above. This make Charles M Russell the 3^rd cousin, 4 times removed of Chad.

William Hepburn Russell

William is the founder of the Pony Express (*9). Although he is thus associated with the Western US, he was born in Vermont. Let’s trace his family tree:

· William Hepburn Russell (1812-1872) b. Burlington, VT

· William Eaton Russell (1785-1814) b. Addison Co, VT

· Benjamin Russell (1755-1829) b. Ashford, CT

· Benjamin Russell (1729-1754) b. Ashford, CT

· Benjamin Russell (1702-1754) b. MA

· Benjamin Russell (1677-1754) b. Andover, MA

· Robert Russell (1630-1710) b. England, d. Andover, MA

Robert was the original Russell who came during the Great Migration (*3).

Jane Russell

Ernestine Jane Geraldine Russell was a famous actress in the 1940s (*10). Here is her family tree:

· Jane Russell (1921-2011) b. MN

· Roy William Russell (1890-1937) b. Grand Forks, ND

· William Douglas Russell (1860-1941) b. Ontario, Canada

· Alexander Russell (1820-1913) b. Scotland

Rosalind Russell

Catherine Rosalind Russell (1907-1976) was born in Waterbury, CT (the same town I was born in) to Irish immigrants, James Edward and Clara Russell (*11).

African-American Russells

There are a number of famous Russells who were born in the southern US and who were descended from African American slaves. Their surnames came from their owners pre-Civil War. These include:

· Nipsy (Julius) Russell (1918-2005), comedian, born in GA, descended from Ephrain Russell (abt 1858)

· Bill (William) Russell (1934-), basketball player, born in Monroe, LA

Conclusions

Above I have documented several separate Russell family lines in four separate categories:

· English immigrants descended from Robert Russell who can be traced back to the original Baron Rozel in Normandy

o William Hepburn Russell

· Scottish immigrants from the Clan Russell

o Myself

o Chad Russell

o Charles Marion Russell

o Jane Russell

· Irish immigrants who are possibly part of the same ancestry, but for which no documentation or claim exists