Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 09.djvu/214

 RUSSELL

RUSSELL

RUSSELL, Jonathan, diplomat, was born at Provitlence, K.L, Feb. 21, 1771; son of Jonathan and Abigail Russell. He was graduated at Riiode Lsland college, A.B., 1791, A.M., 171)4; studied law and entered business. He became greatly interested iu politics; was charge d'affaires in Paris, 1810-11; in London, 1811-12, and on Jan. 8, 1814, was appointed to negotiate a treaty of peace with Great Britain at Ghent. He was min- ister plenipotentiary to Sweden, 1814-18, and upon his return to the United States he made his home in Mendon, Mass.. and was a Democratic representative from Massachusetts in the 17th and 18th congresses, 1821-25. Mr. Russell was twice married; first, ou April 3, 1794, to Sylvia Amidon, who died, July 10, 1811, and secondly, on April 2, 1817, to Lydia, daughter of Barney Smith. Mr. Russell by both marriages had eight children; one of them, Jonathan Russell, was con- sul at Manila several years. He received from Brown the honorary degree of LL.D. iu 1817, and is the author of several addresses and orations that have been preserved. He died in Milton, Mass., Feb. 17. 1832.

RUSSELL, William, representative, was born in Ireland. He immigrated to the United States, and settled at West Union, Adams county, Ohio. He was a representative in the state legislature, 1809-10 and 1811-13; state senator, 1819-21; a Jackson Democratic representative from the filth district' of Ohio in the 20th, 21st and 22d con- gresses, 1827-33, and was defeated in 1832 as a candidate for the 23d congress. He removed to Portsmouth, and was a Whig representative from the seventh Ohio district in the 27th congress, 1841-43. He died at Portsmouth, O., Oct. 2, 1840.

RUSSELL, William Augustus, representative, was born at Wells River,Vt., April 22, 1831; son of William and Almira (Heath) Russell, and a de- scendant of English ancestry. He removed with his parents at an early age to Franklin, N.H., where he attended the academy; worked in Peabody & Daniels' paper mill during vacation until 1847; attended a private scliool in Lowell, Mass., 1847- 48; worked in his father's paper mill at Franklin, N.H., 1848-51, becoming a partner in 1850, and removed the mills to Lawrence, Mass., assuming entire control of the business, which he extended by leasing two mills in Belfast, Me., in 1856; purchasing another mill at Lawrence in 1861, and establishing in 1869 a wood-pulp mill, tiie first of its kind, in Franklin, N.H. He purchased the Fisher and Aiken paper mills in Franklin in 1879, and located large mills at Ph-Hows Falls, Vt., pur- chasing the entire water power and building a dam. He extentled his interests in paper mills to other i)oints in Maine and to St. Aiitliony's Falls, Minn., and on the organization of the Int(-rna- tional Paper company in 1897 became a director

and president of the company, resigning in No- vember, 1898, on account of failing healtli. He was a Republican alderman of Lawrence, Mass., in 1867; a representative in the state legislature in 1808; a delegate to the Republican national conventions of 1868 and 1876, and a Republican representative from the seventh Massachusetts district in the 46tli and 47th congresses, 1879-83, and from the eightli district in the 48tli congress, 1883-85, declining re-election in 1884, and serving in the 46th congress on the committee on com- merce and on a sub-committee to investigate the decline of American commerce, his report result- ing in a change of the state laws in relation to the taxation of property in ships, and on the com- mittee on ways and means in the 47th and 48th congresses as a protectionist. He was married, first, Feb. 1, 1859, to Elizabeth Haven, daughter of William A. Hall of Bradford. She died, Dec. 18, 1866, leaving three daugiiters; and he was married, secondly, June 25, 1872, to his first wife's sister, Frances Spafford Hall, by whom he had two sons, William A., Jr., and Ri(hard Spafford, and one daughter, Elizabeth H. Mr. Russell made his winter home in Boston, Mass., from 1885, and died there, Jan. 10, 1899.

RUSSELL, William Eustis, governor of Mas- sachusetts, was born in Cambridge, Mass., Jan. 6, 1857; son of Charles Theodore and Sarali Eliza- beth (Ballister) Russell; grandson of Charles and Persis (Hastings) Russell, and of Joseph and Sarah (Yendell) Bal- lister, and a descend- ant of William and Martha Russell, who were iu Cambridge in 1645. He was gradu- ated from Harvard, A.B., 1877, and from Boston university, snmma cum laude, LL.B., 1879, and en- tered his father's law office. He was a member of the Cam- bridge common coun- cil, 1881-82; of the board of aldermen,

1882-84, and was mayor of Cambridge, 1884- 87. He was married, June 3, 1885, to Margaret Manning, daughter of Joshua A. and Sarah (Hodges) Swan of Cambridge, Mass. In 1888 and 1889 he was the unsuccessful Democratic candi- date for governor of Massachusetts, but was elected in 1890, serving by re-election until 1893. and being the youngest governor ever elected in IMassacliusetts. He became very popular, and was prominently mentioned as a candidate for President of the United States. He attended the

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