ALVA C. RUSSELL.

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         A capable representative of the agricultural interests of Louisa county is to be found in Alva C. Russell, who owns two hundred and sixty acres of land on sections 28, 29, 32 and 33, Elliott township. He is a native of this county, his birth having occurred on the 9th of November, 1867, he being the eldest son of the late William S. and Isabell (Kurts) Russell, the father a native of Iowa and the mother of Pennsylvania. Of this union there were born two other children: May, the deceased wife of T. L. Bailey, of Louisa county; and . . .

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. . . Myrtle, who is also deceased. The father passed away on the 23rd of December, 1910. Mr. Russell was a veteran of the Civil war, having enlisted and gone to the front in 1861 with Company K, Second Iowa Cavalry. He remained in the service three years, during which time he participated in the battles of Shiloh and Corinth, receiving his discharge at Rock Island, Illinois, in 1864.

         After the completion of his education Alva C. Russell turned his attention toward agricultural pursuits, this being the natural inclination of one who had been born and reared upon a farm. He now owns two hundred and sixty acres of Louisa county’s fertile land, which is well improved and in a high state of cultivation. He engages in general farming and stock-raising, in both of which ventures he is meeting with favorable results.

         On the 21st of January, 1892, Mr. Russell married Miss Zoie E. Gates, the eldest daughter of S. E. and Mary (Ogle) Gates, whose biographical sketch appears on another page of this volume. Three children blessed this marriage: Lillian, who was born on the 22d of August, 1893; Fred, whose birth occurred on the 29th of August, 1898; and Letha, who was born on the 2d of April, 1903, and died on the 2d of March, 1910.

         The family affiliate with the Presbyterian church and Mr. Russell is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. Ever since attaining his majority he has given his political support to the candidates of the republican party, but has never aspired to public honors or the emoluments of office, preferring to concentrate his energies upon the development of his personal affairs, in which he is meeting with deserved success.