George W. Russell

RUSSELL, MAFFETT, SHEETS, HOLLER, WINSLOW, BRADFIELD, BOWMAN, CALDWELL, BARNGROVER, SMITH

Posted By: Becky Russell-Dye (email)
Date: 3/23/2004 at 07:12:24

GEORGE W. RUSSELL

George W. Russell, who is now living retired on section 4, Polk township, was born in Johnson county, Indiana, on the 12th of May, 1839. his parents being Thomas and Sarah (Maffett) Russell, who were married in Morgan county, Indiana. The mother was born in Indiana and was of American descent and the father, whose birth occurred in Kentucky, was of Irish lineage and was engaged in agriculture. He went from Indiana to Montgomery county, Illinois, in 1859, where he took up farming and resided until his death, on the 25th of November, 1865. His wife had been in ill health for some months previous to his death and her condition was so alarming that a short time before passing away Mr. Russell foretold that she could not long survive him, the prediction coming true as her death occurred December 5, 1865.
George W. Russell received his education in the district schools of Indiana and up until his father's death assisted on the home farm. In 1866, however, he came to Iowa but after a three-week stay removed to Illinois until he returned permanently in 1868 to this state. After residing for a year in Keokuk county he came to Jefferson county and located upon the farm where he now resides. The sixty acres which formed the nucleus of this property was purchased January 23, 1869, and today the farm contains one hundred and twenty acres, all of which has been much improved and is in a high state of cultivation. In 1900 Mr. Russell retired from active farming and in the following year he suffered the severe misfortune of losing his eyesight. Since his father's retirement George T. Russell has assumed complete charge of the management of the homestead and today is carrying on general farming and stock-raising successfully.
Mr. Russell was married November 4, 1869, to Mrs. Adaline (Sheets) Holler, the widow of Hiram Holler, an agriculturist of Keokuk county, and a daughter of Samuel and Phoebe (Winslow) Sheets. Her father was born in Pennsylvania and her mother near Fall River, Massachusetts, their marriage occurring in Holmes county, Ohio. In 1852 they removed to Iowa, locating in Keokuk county on the farm which was their home until their deaths on November 26, 1869, and February 10, 1896, respectively. Their two sons, Seymour and Leander, both served in the Civil war, enlisting from Keokuk county, and the former gave up his life for the Union cause in the battle near Little Rock, Arkansas. When Mrs. Russell first came to Iowa she went to Ottumwa on business when there was but one house in that place and also but one between Fremont and Fairfield. Because of the unsettled condition of the near-by country it was necessary for the family to bring their provisions mostly from Keokuk. Mrs. Russell had one child by her first marriage, Eliza Irene Holler, who became the wife of S.H. Bradfield, deceased, a farmer of Polk township, and to them three children were born. Hiram W., Vern T. and Levi G. To Mr. and Mrs. Russell five children have been born. Minnie Belle, the eldest, is the wife of Eugene B. Bowman, a blacksmith of Packwood, Iowa, and they have been the parents of six children, Ray, Lucy, Mary, Ruth, Samuel and Hazel, deceased. Samuel Oscar, who is engaged in farming near Birmingham, Van Buren county, Iowa, married Miss Rose Caldwell, of Abingdon, and to them four children have been born, William, Olive, Gaylord and Gilbert. Mary Frances died at the age of ten years and six months. Lucy May, who wedded William Barngrover, a carpenter of Polk township, has been the mother of three children, Lowell, deceased, and David Earl and Dennis Vearl, twins. George Thomas resides at home on the farm with his parents and married Grace Ethel Smith, a daughter of David Smith, of Linby, Iowa. To them two children, Nellie Leona and Milton Clark, have been born. George T. Russell is a republican and holds membership in Justice Lodge, No. 230, A.F. & A.M., of Ollie, and Lodge No. 173, I.O.O.F., of Ioka. His wife belongs to the Rebekahs. Mr. and Mrs. G.W. Russell also have two great-grandchildren, Aura and Clarice V. Bradfield, the children of their granddaughter, Mrs. Vern T. Bradfield, who resides in Abingdon.
In politics Mr. Russell is a stanch republican and in religious faith he and Mrs. Russell hold membership in the Baptist church. He is also a member of Justice Lodge, No. 230, A.F. & A.M., Ioka Lodge, No. 173, I.O.O.F., and has served as a school director in his home district for several years. For two terms he devoted his entire time and efforts to the cultivation of his property and during that time won a good measure of success, which was due to his perseverance, industry and good judgment.

From the "History of Jefferson County, Iowa" - 1912, Volume II, Pages 386-388