Page:History of Richland County, Ohio.djvu/743

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��CITY OF MAKSFIELD.

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��building south of the present European Hotel, in which place for many years he did a large and extensive business, it being the chief hardware store in the city. During his residence in this city, he was prominent in all public and charitable enterprises, and his name was generally found at the head of the list of those citizens who petitioned and subscribed in the interest of the city and its inhabitants; he was one of the founders of the Mansfield Gas-light Company, and served as one of its offi- cers, and was elected on an independent ticket as Mayor of the city, in which capacity he gave universal satisfac- tion ; for many years he was an active member and officer of the Richland Co. Agricultural Society, the success of which was due in a great measure to his efforts. He was married in Mount Vernon, Ohio, to Miss Lucinda Murphy, of that place, Jan. 14, 1844 ; five children by this marriage are living — .John Bent- ley, now a resident of Tiffin, Ohio, where he holds the position of Teller in the Tiffin National Bank ; Charles C., of the firm of Bush & Runyan, plumbers and gas- fitters in this city ; Robert Mead, iron-roofer and painter, now in the employ of the Aultman & Taylor Co.. and two daughters, Almeda and Mary E. B. S. Runyan died in this city Jan. 1*2, 186'» ; R. Mead Run- yan was married in INIansfield, Jan. 20, 1875, to Miss Ida Boyle ; two sons were born to them — Frank, born in 1876, died March 18, 1878; Harry was born Jan. 15, 1877.

RUSSELL, REV. FRANK, Pastor Congregational Church. (The first part of this sketch was taken from the 3d vol. of the History of the city of Brooklyn, and the rest was written by a lay member of Mr. Russell's church, with the aid of the records). Rev. Russell was born May 19, 1840, at Marion, Wayne Co. N. Y., the eighth of nine children, all boys, and all reared to man- hood by the same parents; his father was a well-to-do farmer, and when Frank was 10 or 11 years of age, lost nearly all his property by the failure of business firms, who had used his name as security ; Mr. Russell's edu- cation was procured by his own eS"orts ; he taught school during the winters when he was 15 and 16 years old, and an academy in Niagara Co., when 17; at the same time taking his college-fitting from his 13th to 17th year, at the Collegiate Institute at Marion. In 1858, being prepared for the sophomore year in Yale College, he went to Phillips Co., Ark., with the determination of earning sufficient money by teaching to defray the ex- penses of the college and seminary courses. Associated with an elder brother, he was soon at the head of an academy which flourished beyond all expectation, and became the organizer of the first teachers' associations and normal work ever known in that part of the State. His home was with an eminent physician, where he improved an excellent opportunity of studying medi- cine, the advantages of which have been perceptible in all his subsequent work. He remained teaching with increasing success in every respect until the entrance of the Union army in the summer of 1862, when every dollar, all personal property, library, horses, etc., and even wardrobe, were lost amid the ravages of war. Three of Mr. Russell's brothers were in the army, one of whom was killed when leading the 2d Kansas Regi- ment, of which he was Lieutenant (^olonel. Mr. Rus- sell made his way to Michigan, became Instructor in

��Adrian College, where with highest honors he also took his degree in 1864, under Dr. Wahan; he entered Union Seminary in New York City the same year, con- tinued his self-support by teaching the classics and phonography, doing mission work, speaking and writing. Married the daughter of a clergyman in 1866; gradu- ated in 1867, and removed at once to Philadelphia, where, during his last Seminary year, he had gone weekly to preach to an unorganized congregation. He was greatly blessed in his labors, organized Plymouth Church, and on that occasion was both ordained and in- stalled Pastor, his friend. Dr. J. P. Thompson, preach- ing the sermon. He was unwearying in raising funds for the new building, which was built and dedicated at the corner of Nineteenth and JNlaster streets. j\lr. Rus- sell left this work, and was called to what was then the Fifth Avenue Congregational Church in Brooklyn, N. Y.; in April, 1868, very soon after, by a difficulty it had been rent in twain. One year from this division it was re-united with added forces, under the name of the Park Congregational Church, and Mr. Russell was in- stalled Pastor, his own previous Pastor, Rev. Henry Ward Beecher, preaching the sermon. A new build- ing was erected on the corner of Sixth Avenue and Seventh street, he raising therefor over $9,000 outside the parish. After over five years of active labor here, his home was broken up by the death of his estimable wife, when at the suggestion and aid of his generous and loving people, he left his two young children in appro- priate care, and traveled in Europe, returning at the close of 1873; he very soon removed to the charge of the First Congregational Church in Kalamazoo, ^lich. In May, 1876, Mr. Russell was married to a daughter of Judge Henry, of Detroit. He found his church the eighth in size of the churches of that order in the State, and after it had be'jome the fourth in size and the church for the first time in twenty-two years en- tirely relieved of debt, he was visited with the sad calam- ity of the burning of his dwelling with almost its en- tire contents, including his fine library of over 1,100 volumes, and over 16,000 pages of manuscript, and also a valuable cabinet of minerals and curiosities. In the prime of his strength, his wife and children all in ex- cellent health, Mr. Russell was soon called to his pres- ent charge in Mansfield, where he was installed Pastor on the 15th of May, 1878. The pastorate of Mr. Rus- sell in Mansfield has thus far been marked by an earnest and systematic efi'ort to promote the best interests of the church and the community. He has shown himself to be a severe student, and a zealous, painstaking laborer in the Master's vineyard ; his methods are practical, and his manner of teaching and preaching attractive and impressive ; his sermons are the result of thought and exhaustive preparation, and are fully committed and delivered extempore, entirely without notes ; his interest in the reform and philanthropies that seek the good of the community, calls him to im- press upon them the peculiar bent of his mind, and systematic and business-like efforts characterize the movements, which are quickened and expanded by the influence of his skillful touch, and made to bud and blossom with promise ; within a year from the com- mencement of Mr. Russell's labors in the church, oc- curred the heroic and wonderfully successful struggle

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