Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 09.djvu/210

 RUSSELL

RUSSELL

1879); TJiOtnas Conrin: A Sketch (1N:<1): C/iarac- teristics (1S84); .4 Club of One (1887); In a Club Corner (18t»0), and Snb-Cieluin: A Sky-Built Human World (189;{).

RUSSELL, Benjamin, journalist, was born in Boston. Mass., Sept. 13. 1761; son of John Rus- sell. In August. 1775. he was apprenticed to I-«iiah Thomas of Worcester, publisher of the Massachusetts Spy. and in 1780 he substituted in the Continental army for his employer, who had been drafted. He joined the army at West Point, and was one of the guard at the execution of Major Andre. At the expiration of his service he returned to Worcester, was released from his in- denture, and in March 24. 1784. with William War- den, began publishing the Massachusetts Centinel. In 178.5 he became sole owner and editor, changed the name of the paper to the Columbian Centinel, and continued to edit and publisli it for forty- four years. During the crisis that followed the treaty of Versailles, and through the trying times of Shays's rebellion, when other papers were stirring up sedition. Russell stood for nationalism, and gave the administration of Washington his unlimited support. He made a specialty of local news, which he gathered on street-corners and in public meetings, and to procure foreign news he visited every vessel that came to Boston. During the exile of Louis Philippe and other noblemen to this country, Mr. Russell made life- long friendsliips. He received an atlas from Louis Philippe, which later proved a great aid when he was editing the war news from Europe. In 1793 he started the Boston Gazette. He retired from the Centinel in 1828 and from the Gazette in 1830. The Centinel is considered the best type of the early political newspaper of the United States. The most eminent federalist statesmen and writers contributed to its columns and it wielded no little influence in the early his- tory of New England. It was united with the New England Paladium in 1830 and with the Boston Gazette in 1836. In 1840 it became merged in the Daily Advertiser. Mr. Russell was a member of the state senate, of the governor's council, and of the constitutional convention of 1820. He published all the laws and oflScial documents of the first congress, 1789-91, intend- ing that the work should be gratuitous, but a few years later, when the treasury could afford to pay, he was presented with $7,000. He died in B<»ston, Mass.. Jan. 4, 184.'}.

RUSSELL, Charles Addison, representative, was lx)rn in Worcester, Mass., March 2, 18.52; son of Isaiali Dunster and Nancy (Went worth) Rus- sell; grandson of Moses and Betsy (Dunster) Russell, and of Jason and Mary (Meriam) Russell, and a descendant of Henry Dunster (q. v.), first president of Harvard college. He was graduated

from Yale college, 1873. and was city editor ofllie Worcester Press until 1870. wlien lie btcaine con- nected with the Sjyy. He was married in May, 1879, to Ella Frances, daugiiter of Sabin L. and Deborah (Mitcliell) Sayles of Killingly, Conn. He engaged in business as a wool merchant; was aide-de-camp with the rank of colonel on Gover- nor Bigelow's staff, 1881-82; a representative in the state legislature in 1883; secretary of state of Connecticut, 1885-86, and a Republican repre- sentative from the third district of Connecticut in the 50th-56th congresses. 1887-1901. He died in Killingly, Conn., Oct. 23. 1902.

RUSSELL, Daniel Lindsay, governor of North Carolina, was born in Brunswick county. N.C., Aug. 7, 1845; son of Daniel Lindsay and Caroline Elizabetli (Sanders) Russell, and grandson of Thomas and Abiah (Ward) Russell, and of David Ward and Alice (Mitchell) Sanders, and a descendant of the' Rev. David Lind- say, who came from Glasgow, Scotland, about 1658, and set- tled on the Rappahan- nock river in Vir- ginia, and of Gen. William Russell, who came to Virginia in 1710 with Gover- nor Spots wood. His father was a Whig representative in the state legislature for

several terms, and liis grandfather, the Hon. David Ward Sanders of Onslow county, was a member of the state constitutional convention of 1835. and a member of Guv. Vv^illiam A. Graham's council, 1845-49. He was a student at the Bingham school; attended the University of North Caro- lina, 1860-61; was captain in the Confederate army; was a representative in the state legisla- ture, 1864-66, thus being twice elected before he was twenty-one, and was admitted to the bar in 1866. He was married, Aug. 16, 1869, to Sarah Amanda, daughter of Isaac Newton and Sarah Caroline (Burns) Sanders of Onslow county, N.C. He was judge of the superior court for the 4th judicial circuit, 1868-74; a representative from Brunswick county in the state legislature, 1876- 77, and a National Greenback representative in the 46th congress, 1879-.S1. He resumed the practice of law at Wilmington in 1881, and in 1896 was elected governor of North Carolina by tiie Republicans by a plurality of nearly 0000. serving, 1897-1901. His administration was mark- ed by a conservative but independent cour.se, and at its close he resumed the practice of law.