Genealogy Story – The Russell Family in 1920

Walter James Russell (my great-great-grandfather) was born in Dutchess County, NY, in 1852. He was married twice (his first wife, Lois, dying at the age of 28), and had a total of 10 children, six with his first wife and four more with his second wife, Cornelia. Walter died in 1895 at the age of just 43 and Cornelia died just 2 years later at the age of 36. The next several years were somewhat disorganized with the older children getting married and having families and the youngest children in an orphanage. One, Gertrude, had passed away in 1903. But by 1920, all of the remaining children would have been adults. Thus, I thought it might be instructive to look at where all of them were when the 1920 census was taken and what the circumstances of their lives were by then. I’ll address them from oldest to youngest and include any remarks about their children who may have been old enough to be living by themselves (either married or unmarried) by then. All the surnames are Russell unless otherwise noted. I’ve given the exact address from the census and a current picture of each place where family members lived (if the building is still standing over 100 years later).

·       Louis, 49, had married in 1892. (I’ve told his story here and here, before.) He and his wife, Anna, had six children before she passed away at the age of 32 in 1903 (one of their children passed away a few years later). Louis remarried in 1910 to a woman, Helen, who had four children from two prior marriages (three still living). Prior to 1920, one of her other children also passed away, but between them they had seven living children in 1920. While both Louis and Helen had been living in New Milford, during the war Louis had begun working in Waterbury. He and Helen can be found there in the 1920 census. His two youngest daughters, Loretta and Pauline, are living them, as is Juanita Woodcock, Helen’s granddaughter through her deceased oldest daughter, Lola. Their other children are elsewhere:

[1318 E Main St, Waterbury, CT]

 

o   Erskine, 26, had married in New Milford, but he was now in Bridgeport with his wife, Vera, and their young daughter. Vera was also pregnant as my father was born to the family later in 1920. I’ve written more extensively about Erskine here.

[754 Norman St, Bridgeport, CT]

 

o   Linus, 22, was a victim of mustard gas in WWII. He returned to the US on a hospital ship and in 1920 was in the first of a series of mental institutions where he spent the remainder of his life – the Connecticut State Hospital for the Mentally Insane in Middletown, CT. You can read more about him here.

[Connecticut State Hospital, Middletown, CT]

 

o   William, 20, was placed with a family who lived on a farm outside of New Milford when his mother passed away. He chose to remain there when Louis remarried. He married two years after the 1920 census and remained in New Milford for the rest of his life.

 

o   Eva [Pulver] Peet, 27, was living with her husband and two children in Waterbury, just a few miles from her mother, Helen, and stepfather, Louis. They would eventually move back to New Milford. I’ve shared other information about her before.

[927 W Main St, Waterbury, CT]

o   Marguerite [Waldron] Lewis, 22, was living in New Milford with her husband and their 8-month-old son. The family was living with her husband’s parents.

[Grove St, New Milford, CT]

·       Mary, 48, cannot be found. It is unknown what happened to her.

 

·       Martha Jane [Russell] Bradley, 45, was living in Greenwich with her husband, Erskine, and 5 of their 7 children. Also living with them was her brother James (see below).

[129 E Elm St, Greenwich, CT]

 

o   Alfred, 24, had been married for nearly 3 years. He and his wife and one son were living in New Milford.

[Grove St, New Milford CT]

o   Adrian, 20, was living and working at the YMCA in Greenwich. However, he was preparing to go abroad to Japan the following year where he would be working with the YMCA there as a missionary for 3 years.

[YMCA, Greenwich, CT]

 

·       Charlotte [Russell] Hoyt, 43, was living in Milford with her oldest son. Her husband had died the previous year in a work-related accident.

[76 Oak Ave, Milford, CT]

o   Charles Hoyt, 28, was living in Norwalk with his wife and son.

[59 Lexington Ave, Norwalk, CT]

 

o   Josephine [Hoyt] Wheeler had married, then divorced her husband, but she had died in 1919. It is not known where her young daughter was living in 1920, but in 1930 she was living with her grandparents in Fairfield.

 

o   Hazel [Hoyt] Hosford, 19, recently married, was living in Stratford with her husband and 2-month-old son.

[1455 Broad St, Stratford, CT]

 

·       George, 42, was living on a farm in Washington, CT, with his wife, Florence, and 2 of their 3 children.

[Hollow Rd, Washington, CT]

o   Andrew, 19, was living in Washington, DC, as a chauffeur with a family. He would marry the daughter of that family 3 years later.

[1200 I St NE, Washington DC]

 

·       Earl, 29, was living with his wife, Ethel, and mother-in-law in Bridgeport. They remained there the rest of their lives and were childless.

[483 Noble Ave, Bridgeport, CT]

 

·       Silas, 28, was still serving in the military (coastal artillery) in 1920. He was stationed at Fort Banks, MA, just to the east of Boston’s Logan Airport. Following his discharge in 1925, he returned to CT where he lived in Darien in the Fitch Home for Veterans.

[Bldg 45, Fort Banks, Winthrop, MA]

 

·       James, 26, had served in WWI. Following his discharge, he was living temporarily in Greenwich with his older half-sister Martha (see above). He was engaged and would marry the following month. His fiancée, May/Mary, 27, was also living in Greenwich with her uncle and aunt, even though her parents were only a few miles away (also in Greenwich). James and Mary would go on to have 3 children before he passed away just 7 years later. I’ve shared before about an encounter between May and James’ brother, Louis. So, it appears that there were regular visits between the family members in this part of CT and those living elsewhere (Louis was living in Waterbury at the time).

[129 E Elm St, Greenwich, CT]

·       Edith, 24, was not listed in the 1920 census. She was working as a “child nurse” for a family in the Forest Hills (Queens) section of NYC and had left earlier that year to accompany the mother and young son on a voyage to India and Ceylon (Sri Lanka). You can read more about her here.

 

Except for Silas (who was in the military in MA), Edith (who was on a ship to India), and Andrew (who was in Washington, DC), all the rest of the family was in western CT – in Waterbury, Milford, New Milford, and the various towns along the SE coast of the state. And there was continued contact between all the siblings and the cousins.

In the years since then, the family, like many families in the US, has continued branching out and moving to other places in the country. There are now family members living in all four corners of the US, from Maine to Florida to the west coast. But there is still continued contact. Even today, over 100 years later, I am still in contact via email and/or social media with various cousins from nearly every branch of the Russell family tree as documented above.