The Russell Family History

Charles Taze Russell (hereafter abbreviated as CTR) plays such a large role in early Watch Tower history it is not surprising that his family history is of interest. This article endeavours to fill in some of the gaps in the usual histories. It will also include links to other articles on this blog that provide further details.

Russell is a Protestant name. There were many Russells in what is now known as Northern Ireland at the start of the 19^th century. Other common names were Lytle (or Lytel) and Tay or Tays (possibly named after the Scottish river Tay). It was common for a former surname, perhaps of a mother, to be preserved as the middle name in the new generation. This helps explain names like Joseph Lytle Russell and Charles Tays (or Taze) Russell. This can also assist in tracing a family tree backwards. It was also common, as it is today, for forenames to be repeated down through the generations. Of course, when people had large families, they soon ran out of repeatable forenames.

We are told that the Russell family were of Scots-Irish ancestry; early records saying Scotch-Irish ancestry.

The pressure on Presbyterians to join the Church of England caused some from the Scottish lowlands and also Northern England to immigrate from the 17^th century onward. The Highland Clearances forced many others in Scotland to leave home, and the British Government was keen to encourage more to move to Ireland with land grants like the Plantations of Ulster. On the one hand it damped down tensions and poverty in Scotland and the borders, and on the other it helped dilute both the language and Catholic faith of the native Irish. The political consequences of those policies are still with us today.

The Protestant communities that then developed in Northern Ireland were predominantly Presbyterian from their Scottish roots. As conditions became difficult in this new home more and more went to America. The term Scots-Irish eventually came to be a term used in America to identify this wave of Protestant immigrants. It distinguished them from the large numbers who came from Ireland a little later due to the potato famine. The latter tended to be Roman Catholic.

So the Russell family may have literally come originally from Scotland, or they may just have been lumped into the catch-all title Scots-Irish. Either way, they were Protestants, Presbyterian, who lived in the region of County Donegal (from Charles Tays Russell’s grave marker) and Londonderry (from Joseph Lytle Russell’s newspaper obituary). Donegal and Londonderry border on each other. Today Donegal is the most northern county in the Republic of Ireland, and Londonderry (often shortened to Derry) is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland.

A key industry in Northern Ireland was making what is still called today, Irish linen. In the early part of the 19^th century Northern Ireland hand-spinning faced severe competition from machine-spinning as the industrial revolution trampled all before it. Even so, prior to the First World War, Belfast was the largest linen producing area in the world, and had the nickname, Linenopolis. But changing times in the early 19^th century would cause some in the industry to look to America. So we have Charles Tays Russell who reportedly came to America to work with Irish born Alexander Turney Stewart, who made his fortune importing Irish fabrics, before later cleaning up making uniforms for the Union side in the American Civil War. There will be more about Charles Tays later. One step further on we have Charles Tays’ one time business partner, his brother Joseph Lytle Russell, establishing a haberdashery store – a business that was expanded in due course with his son, CTR.

To establish the family tree of Charles Taze Russell, there are two key documents. First, there is a family tree prepared by one Robert Speel. Robert was a descendant of the Russells through CTR’s half sister, Mabel. Mabel, the daughter of Joseph Lytle Russell and his second wife Emma Ackley, married Richard Packard. One of their daughters, Mildred, married a Robert Speel. Their son was also called Robert and the family tree most readers here will have seen is credited to one of the Roberts.

It is a labor of love, prepared before the internet provided access to documents. Its main resource, apart from word of mouth of living relatives, was the Last Will and Testament of CTR’s Uncle, Charles Tays Russell. This uncle of CTR (after whom he was named) did not marry and left a number of bequests. His estate was divided out between surviving siblings and in some cases, their children. This document gives us names and also locations for these people in the 1870s.

Understandably the family tree is incomplete. It also contains one glaring error in the first section reproduced below.

2b is listed as Sarah Russell (1799-1846) one of children of Thomas and Fannie Russell.

This Sarah is not one of the Russell children, but was the wife of James Russell, who is listed as 2a. James bought the family cemetery plot in the Allegheny cemetery in 1846, shortly before she died, and she was the first to be buried there. He followed one year later. However, he bought the plot with his wife in mind, not his sister. Realistically that makes more sense. If Robert Speel examined the burial registers at the Allegheny Cemetery he would not have found the correct relationship, because it is not listed. The register only gives her name, and then date and cause of death. Only by visiting the grave site and checking the surviving grave marker can we see that Sarah was the wife of James.

Sarah, wife of Jas. G Russell, died Dec 14, 1846

Photograph by the author

We now know a little more about her. That brings us to the second key document. It is entitled “Descendants of Thomas Russell and Fanny Grier of Londonderry, Ireland, as dictated by Aunt Sarah Russell Morris, Oct. 1900.” This can be accessed on the “Family Search” website under the family of Alexander Russell.

It is a typewritten document with a few pencilled notations on it.It particularly concentrates on the family of Alexander Russell (2e in the Robert Speel chart). The compiler, who is called Aunt Sarah Russell Morris, was born in 1834, so would have met a number of relatives or at least known about them while they were still alive. She was one of Alexander Russell’s daughters, so a first cousin of CTR, although there is no indication that they ever met.

In researching the Russell family history I made contact with living descendants of this branch of the family, who gave permission for me to use the document. Nonetheless, they could supply no extra information on the early days. I checked back on what I could, using Ancestry, and was able to independently verify much of the information on Alexander and his descendants. However, the further back you went and the further afield you went from Alexander and his immediate family then it became far more difficult to find supporting witnesses. Still, there is no reason to assume that Aunt Sarah made it all up. The information she provided raises a question or two, but we will raise these issues as we now go through her testimony to provide the fullest account we can of CTR’s extended family.

The family tree starts with Thomas and Fannie Russell (according to Speel) and Thomas and Fanny Grier of Londonderry (according to Aunt Sarah). This information may well have come from the notice of someone’s birth or marriage. Stating they were “of Londonderry” suggests they never made the journey to the United States. Their last child, Fanny or Fannie (who we know never left Ireland), died in June 1867, aged 55, so she was born around 1812. Unfortunately, going back from around 1812 there are a lot of Thomas Russells with wives named Fanny or Fannie in Londonderry, and it has not been possible as yet to establish which couple produced our particular dynasty.

One point of possible note: there was a Rev Joseph Lytle who was Presbyterian Minister of the 1^st Letterkenny Presbyterian Church from 1803 to 1841. His Uncle, also a Rev Joseph Lytle, was the previous minister of this congregation but died in 1805 and had no family This Lytle family came from Desertoghill Parish in East Londonderry. The tithe maps show six men named Thomas Russell in the Letterkenny area, so some of them could have been members of that church. Of course, it could all just be coincidence.

Aunt Sarah notes, as we have already, that Russell is a Protestant name. She stated that Thomas and Fanny had thirteen children, three of whom died in infancy.

The surviving ten children in (we assume) order of birth were as follows:

1.      James

2.      William

3.      Charles

4.      Joseph

5.      Thomas

6.      George

7.      Alexander

8.      Ellen

9.      Mary Jane

10.  Fanny

Let’s review them one by one.

 

James

James was the oldest who survived to adulthood, and was born c.1796. His register of death from 1847 simply states that he came from Ireland. He may have been the first to go to America, paving the way for others. His history, as given by Aunt Sarah, suggests a possible trail-blazer, a patriarch of the family, but he ended up in Pittsburgh and died comparatively young, five years before CTR was born. Aunt Sarah tells us that James married Sarah Ann Risk. We learn elsewhere in the document that the Risk family were Episcopalians in Faun, Ireland (which is most likely Fahan in County Donegal), and father George Risk (married to a Sarah) was an excise officer. We also note from the history of Alexander (below), who married Sarah Ann’s sister, Margaret, that James and Sarah were already a married couple in America in Elmwood Hill, New York, by 1832.

James’ history gives us a question for future research. Quoting directly from Aunt Sarah: “James was educated at Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland, conducted his Collegiate and Commerical Institute at Elmwood Hill, Bloomingdale, N.Y. now included in Central Park near West 103^rd Street.”

The question? How did a poor Protestant boy (we assume) get his education at Trinity College, Dublin? The registers of intake at Trinity College are online, and a careful check reveals a number of Russells, but no Thomas. Of course, absense of evidence is not automatically evidence of absense, but it would be nice to track down his movements further if that is ever going to be possible.

By 1832 James is married to Sarah and they are living in Elmwood Hill, New York. Aunt Sarah records that “James and Sarah having no children ‘adopted’ Thomas Russell, son of (his brother) Alexander.” This Thomas Russell was born in 1833.

At some point James and Sarah moved from New York to Pittsburgh. There is a James Russell in the 1840 Pittsburgh census, but no guarantee it is the right one. However, Pittsburgh became a settled home for them because in 1846 he bought one of the first grave plots to go on the market in the new Allegheny Cemetery. Two of his brothers, Charles and Joseph, were living in the same area, and all of them were eventually buried in the family plot. Dying as early as he did, and having no children, James was to be forgotten by later generations.

For the history of this cemetery and the Russell plot see:

https://jeromehistory.blogspot.com/2019/09/the-russells-and-allegheny-cemetery.html

 

William

The second child was William. All we learn from Aunt Sarah is that he had no children. This suggests that he may have been married, but we have no further information. He is not mentioned as a beneficiary in the Charles Tays Russell will of 1872 so had probably died by then.

 

Charles

All Aunt Sarah tells us about the third child (who we know as Charles Tays Russell) is that he never married. It would appear that the New York branch of the family (Alexander et al) and the Pittsburgh branch never kept in close touch, at least after James died. Nonetheless, Sarah Ann (aka Aunt Sarah) was named in Charles’ last will and testament.

However, we know quite a bit about Charles Tays because he merited an obituary in the Pittsburgh newspapers when he died and left a reasonable trail for much of his life. Obituaries are always a little suspect because the one person who can verify their accuracy is not there to do so, but this is how his life was reviewed in his obituary from the Pittsburgh Post for December 27, 1875.

The key facts are that he came to New York and took lessons in business from A.T. Stewart in 1822 or 1823. The newspaper appears to read 1822, but most sources have Alexander Turney Stewart opening his first dry goods store in New York in 1823. Charles Tays then started his own business in Pittsburgh in 1831, eventually switched to brokerage and insurance in 1867. To this we can add that he joined the Third Presbyterian Church in Pittsburgh in 1834, was in business with Joseph Lytle Russell for a while, and left a swathe of bequests when he died, which helps us establish a family tree. For further details and to also read his last will and testament in full, see:

https://jeromehistory.blogspot.com/2019/02/the-other-charles-t-russell.html

 

Joseph

Line drawing of Joseph Lytle Russell by AG and BK based on an original photograph

Joseph is our main interest in this generation of the family of course. Aunt Sarah only gave him a sentence or two: “Joseph lived in Pittsburgh, Pa. By his first wife had a son Charles who became famous as a leader of the Russellite sect. By his second wife, Miss Ackley, had a daughter, Mabel.”

This suggests that Aunt Sarah probably never met Joseph or his son Charles. It also indicates that by 1900 when she gave her account that the perjorative “Russellite” was in common use.

Joseph’s history, coming to America at the very latest by 1843, joining the Third Presbyterian Church in 1845, as had his brother Charles Tays and sister Ellen before him, then becoming a US citizen in 1848 and marrying Ann Eliza Birney in 1849, is all documented here:

https://jeromehistory.blogspot.com/2020/04/2-pittsburgh-presbyterians.html

 

Thomas

All we know about Thomas from Aunt Sarah is that he loved poetry and engaged in sheep raising. He is not mentioned in Charles Tays’ last will and testament, which strongly suggests he had died before 1872.

 

George

All we have from Aunt Sarah is a name and no other details.

 

Alexander

Aunt Sarah was Alexander’s daughter, so her account of his life and family is the most comprehensive. We reproduce her comments in full.

“Alexander came to the U.S. as a young man and married Margaret Risk, who was visiting her sister Sarah Ann Russell, wife of James, at Elmwood Hill; they were married June 21^st 1832 by Rev. Mr. Alburtis at Bloomingdale, N.Y. They lived in a cottage near Elmwood Hill where their son Thomas Grier was born in 1833; they then moved to Patterson, N.J., and lived there seven years where they kept a grocery store. The following childten were born in Patterson; Sarah Ann in 1834, George in 1836, who died in 1843, and Francis Grier in 1839. The family then moved back to New York, living at first at Elmwood Hill, Bloomingdale, where Cornelia Stewart, named for Mrs A.T. Stewart, was born in 1840. Alexander Russell after his return to New York became a contractor in painting houses and churches. The family moved to 26^th Street, near Sixth Avenue and lived in the house of lawyer Holt, a batchelor who boarded with them; they later move (sic) to Broadway very near St. James Hotel; they attended the Dutch Reformed Church on Fifth Ave and Twenty-First Street where Alexander Russell was an elder for fourteen years.

Another son, George Alexander, was born in New York in 1845, he died in 1848. Margaret Risk Russell died May 30, 1853, aged 45 years.”

As yet we have not traced a record of his death, but he appears to have died some time between 1872 and 1878. He is mentioned in the Charles Tays will written in 1872, but by 1878 the bequest is being divided between his surviving children.

Here is Alexander’s photograph. His full name was Alexander Grier Russell.

Ellen

Aunt Sarah’s summary of Ellen’s life reads: “Ellen was governess in the family of Rev. Dr. Riddle of Pittsburgh, Pa.; she moved with them to New Jersey and died in New York City, in Alex’r’s house.” It noted that Ellen never married.

From the mid-1830s through to the 1850s a Rev Dr Riddle was very active with the Third Presbyterian Church in Pittsburgh, but then later moved to New Jersey. An obituary for David H Riddle (1803-1888) in the Public Weekly Opinion (Chambersburg, Pennsylvania) for 20 July 1888, stated: “Dr Riddle was pastor of the Third Presbyterian church of Pittsburgh for more than twenty years, and afterwards of the Presbyterian church in Jersey City.”

We have already noted that Charles Tays Russell joined the Third Presbyterian Church in Pittsburgh in 1834, the year it was founded. The same registers show that a Miss Ellen Russell joined this church on November 17, 1937, by certificate. This means she came from another church with a letter of recommendation. There is a pencilled note in the register that she died in 1860.

 

Mary Jane

Mary Jane Russell was obviously not Aunt Sarah’s favorite person. Her summary of Mary Jane’s life states: “(her) “hobby” was cats; she kept house for her brother Alexander after his wife’s death; later she lived alone in Pittsburgh and died there. She was peculiar and very strict; she though much of pedigree, etc.”

Alexander’s wife died in 1853. As noted above, Alexander himself died sometime in the mid-1870s. A trust fund was set up for Mary Jane’s support from the estate of Charles Tays Russell, but it ran short and in 1886 there was a need for a family decision to dip into the capital. At this point Joseph Lytle Russell in Pittsburgh took responsibility for managing her affairs, but almost immediately thereafter Mary Jane died. She was buried in the family plot in the Allegheny cemetery, but no grave marker was provided.

For further documentation see the link below:

https://jeromehistory.blogspot.com/2019/03/mary-jane-russell.html

 

Fanny

All Aunt Sarah can tell us is that Fanny married a Mr Harper.

Fanny never left Ireland. When she died in 1867, her death certificate gave her age as 55, so her approximate year of birth would be 1812. Her husband, Alexander Harper, was a farmer and they were then living at Castlefinn, Co. Donegal. Alexander was illiterate and had to sign he was present at the death by making his mark.

Charles Tays’ will in 1872 noted that Fanny had already died and made bequests to six surviving children. It also noted where the six were in 1872, to the best of Charles Tays’ knowledge. Four had gone to America and two remained in Co. Donegal.

See again:

https://jeromehistory.blogspot.com/search?q=the+other+charles

 

In 1891, CTR, our main subject, visited Ireland for the first time. However, there is no indication that he met any extended family members, assuming he even knew who they were by this time.