Hon. Frank W. Russell

RUSSELL, BARNES, FERNALD, LORD

Posted By: Sharyl Ferrall (email)
Date: 6/18/2009 at 08:48:13

Hon. Frank W. Russell

Hon. Frank W. Russell is a leading and influential citizen of Winnebago county. He represented his district in the thirty-fourth general assembly and has long been an active factor in guiding the political interests of this section. He is now actively engaged in farming, although he makes his home in Forest City, and in business as well as in politics his position is one of prominence. He was born in Cook county, Ilinois, January 4, 1859, a son of William and Ann (Barnes) Russell. The father was a native of Wakefield, New Hampshire, and represented one of the old colonial families that was represented in the Revolutionary war. The mother was the first white child born in Elk Grove, Cook county, Illinois, to which district her parents removed from Montpelier, Vermont, making the journey in a wagon drawn by a yoke of oxen. This was about 1832, at which time the present site of Chicago was nothing but a swamp. It seemed very undesirable as a location, so the family went out twenty miles to secure what appeared to be more valuable land. Mr. and Mrs. Russell continued residents of Cook county throughout their remaining days. In the early years he was a railroad man and became a conductor on the Chicago & Northwestern, serving in that capacity on the first train to run over the Wisconsin division of the road. In later years his attention was given to farming.

Frank W. Russell was educated in the common schools of Cook county and in the high school of Arlington Heights, Illinois. He was reared to farm life and had the usual experiences of the farm bred boy who early becomes familiar with the best methods of tilling the soil and caring for the crops. After attaining his majority he continued on the old homestead and cooperated with his father in its further development and improvement until he reached his twenty-ninth year. It was on the 22d of February, 1888, that he was united in marriage to Miss Annie Fernald of Arlington Heights, Illinois, a daughter of John and Olive (Lord) Fernald, both natives of Maine. After the father's death in 1867 the mother married again and removed to Illinois. Still later she came to Forest City and in 1900 she passed away. the spring following his marriage, Mr. Russell came to Iowa, taking up his abode on a farm in Newton township four and a half miles west of Leland. There he purchased two hundred and forty acres, on which he resided for twenty-two years. In the meantime, however, he had purchased an adjoining eighty acre tract, making his home farm one of three hundred and twenty acres. Upon this place he engaged in the cultivation of the cereals best adapted to soil and climate and also made a specialty of the buying and feeding of stock. He fed all of the grain which he raised on his farm and became one of the best known live stock dealers in this section of the state. His business affairs were always carefully and wisely managed and conducted and in all of his undertakings he displayed sound judgment and keep sagacity. In 1910 he left the farm and removed to Forest City but continued to cultivate his land and is still numbered among the active agriculturists of this part of the state. He is also a stockholder in the Farmer Cooperative Creamery at Thompson and for the past eighteen years he has served as the president of the Farmers Mutual Fire & Lightning Association of Winnebago county. His judgment is sound and his discrimination keen and what he undertakes he carries forward to successful completion.

Mr. and Mrs. Russell worship at the Congregational church. They occupy a very enviable position in social circles and enjoy the good will and confidence of all who know them. In politics Mr. Russell is a republican. He was a member of the school board of Newton township for many years and when he removed to Forest City he was appointed a member of the city school board and in March, 1917, was elected to that office. At the November election of 1910 he was chosen to represent his district in the state legislature, serving through the thirty-fourth general assembly with distinction and honor, his record being one which was entirely satisfactory to his constituents and reflected credit upon himself, showing him to be a man of progressive spirit and actuated by high civic ideals.

Source: History of Winnebago and Hancock counties, Iowa, 1917, Vol. II, pg 40-42