RUSSELL, John W.

RUSSELL, BLACK, SOULE, GAUNT, MAJOR

Posted By: Sharon R Becker (email)
Date: 2/13/2014 at 01:54:07

Biography ~ John W. Russell

"Biographical and Historical Record of
Ringgold and Decatur Counties, Iowa"
(Lewis Publishing Company (1887)), p. 590:

JOHN W. RUSSELL, hardware merchant of Garden Grove, Iowa, was born in Peoria, Illinois, in November, 1841. His father, WILLIAM RUSSELL, was born in Brandord, Conneticut, in 1797, and died in 1864, aged sixty-six years and six months. His mother, SUSAN BLACK RUSSELL, was born in Elmira, New York, and is still living, aged sixty-four years. Mr. RUSSELL traces his ancestry back to five brothers who came over from England and settled in Massachusetts and Connecticut. From these sprung a large number of RUSSELLs of Massachusetts and Connecticut of to-day. His great-grandfather was a noted minister of the Congregational church, and was one of the committee that founded Yale College. Mr. RUSSELL’s parents had two children - MARY JENNETTE and the subject of this sketch. JOHN was the oldest, and was reared on a farm, where he remained until eighteen years of age, at which time he commenced to clerk in a hardware store for MOSES PETTENGRILL. He remained with him three or four years, then clerked for Walker & McIlvanie. He afterward clerked for in a grocery store for a while, then took a trip to California, via Cape Horn. He settled in Garden Grove in 1872. Mr. RUSSELL owns 525 acres of land in Garden Grove Township in a good state of cultivation. It is mostly in grass and devoted to grazing cattle. He also owns a two-acre lot where he resides, and owns a third interest in twelve lots in Garden Grove, also city property in Peoria. He owns an elevator at the depot in Garden Grove with a large warehouse. He deals very extensively in farm and agricultural implements, keeping on hand about $3,000 worth of stock, and about $1,400 worth of hardware, and is commanding a large trade. Staring in l ife with almost nothing he has acquired a large property. He was married in Brooklyn, New York, in 1864, to HARRIET L. SOULE, who was born in Maine, in 1844, and died in 1865. They had one child, BRADLEY RUSSELL, who was born in Maine, in 1844, and died in 1865. He married his second wife, MARY F. GAUNT, in El Paso, Illinois. She was a daughter of JOHN D. and JUDITH (MAJOR) GAUNT, natives of Kentucky. Their children are - WILLIAM G., LAURA, JENNETTE, GEORGE S. and BESSIE G. Mr. RUSSELL was a member of the Masonic fraternity, Lodge 15, Peoria, also of Temple Lodge, No. 15, Peoria, also of Temple Lodge, No. 170, Garden Grove. He and his wife are members of the Presbyterian church. Politically his is a Democrat.

Submission by Sara LeFleur, Decatur County Historical Society Museum, January of 2014