Person:Joseph Russell (54)

Joseph Russell of Hawkins County, Tennessee made his Will on November 20,1816. He died at Rogersville in that county on May 27, 1817. His estate was settled by August 1817. The Will does not name his wife; she is referred to in the Will as his widow. She died on March 16, 1822 in Rogersville. The following children were named in the Will: Joseph, William, Alexander, Benjamin, James, Betsy (Mrs Jacob) Myers, Moses and Polly. There were two negroes. Jacob Myers was to receive certain blacksmith equipment that he already had in his possession. Son Joseph and his mother were to execute the estate. Joseph signed the Will with his mark. Witnesses were Jno A. Rogers, James Ragan and William Bradley. [A transcription of the Will is in Note 1.] [Sources and Notes: Death dates and locations from user submitted data displayed on familysearch.org. Karen Carty, a descendant of Joseph's daughter Elizabeth, saw two gravestones in the Old Presbyterian Cemetery in Rogersville; one was for J C Russell and the other for M C Russell. Joseph's estate was settled in August 1817, according to "The Old Gravois Coal Diggings", by Mary Joan Boyer, 1952, page 5.]

Land, property tax and other records provide the following information about Joseph:

• On May 5, 1777 Lord Fairfax granted Joseph, an "assignee of William Russell a certain tract . . . on the Waters of Cedar Creek . . . described in metes and bounds "on level ground Adam Shriver's Corner in the said William Russell's line", with references to Michael Poker's Corner, 39 acres in all in Frederick County. This parcel was identified in 1772 and 1773 by surveyor Richard Rigg. Joseph Russell and Michael Poker were the chain carriers for the surveyor. William Russell signed the assignment with his mark. William was Joseph's father. [Sources: copy of grant from Library of Virginia online images; and Joyner's Abstracts of Virginia's Northern Neck Warrants & Surveys - Frederick County 1747-1780 (Volume II) p.135.] [Note: Joseph sold this tract of land to Henry Richards in 1785; see below.]

• On May 29, 1777 Joseph's father William made his Will. One Will provision gave Joseph a 100 acre parcel of land called Dyer's Place. William had purchased Dyer's Place in 1763 from John and Elizabeth (Campbell) Dyer. The 1763 conveyance documents show that Dyer's Place adjoined William's other land. As explained in the notes for William Russell, his land was on Duck Run, which drains into Cedar Creek. [Note: Joseph sold this tract of land to Henry Richards in 1785; see below.]

• 1777 - By tradition Joseph is said to have married Margaret Campbell in 1777. There apparently is no bible record, and the surviving Frederick County, Virginia marriage records do not include a marriage bond or minister's report of this marriage. The land transaction in 1785 (below) identified Joseph's wife as "Margaret". An open question is whether Elizabeth Campbell Dyer was related to Joseph's wife.

• 1778 - Joseph and Margaret's son William was "born in Frederick County, VA June 3, 1778". [Sources: memorial marker for William Russell in Bellefontaine Cemetery in St. Louis, Missouri.]

• 1781 - Their son Alexander was born in 1781. [Source: Death information at Belleview Presbyterian Church Cemetery near Caledonia, Washington County, Missouri, from an online book by Adella Breckenridge Moore, published by Elmwood Press Print, Farmington, Missouri (hereafter "Belleview Cemetery").] [Note: Alexander's birth date was given as August 20, 1781 by several unsourced online resources (e.g., Marion Doss site on WorldConnect).]

• 1782 - Joseph was included on Joseph Longacre's head of household tax list for Frederick County, Virginia: "Joseph Russell, 4 whites". The next entry on Longacre's list was Moses Russell. Bernard (sic) Desponet (married to Joseph's sister) was nearby.

• 1782, October Court term in Frederick County: "Joseph Russell for 102# flour for Cont. 12s9"; no other Russells and no Disponet's were listed; there was a claim by Henry Richards. [Source: p. 18, Virginia Public Claims, Frederick County, by Abercrombie & Slatten.]

• 1783 - Son Joseph was born November 14, 1783 in Shenandoah County, Virginia. He was the third child. His father was "an old settler of Virginia." [Sources: Illinois Genweb (for Jersey County) Biography; and gravestone in Oak Grove Cemetery in Jerseyville, Jersey County, Illinois.] [Note: The exact birth date is given by several unsourced online resources (e.g., Marion Doss site on WorldConnect).]

• 1783 - Twin brother Benjamin was born November 14, 1783. [Note: The exact birth date is given by several unsourced online resources (e.g., Marion Doss site on WorldConnect).]

• 1785 - The 1785 Shenandoah County "Heads of Family" tax list by Samuel Porter listed: "Joseph Russell 6 2 1". Samuel Porter enumerated the part of the county "included Mt. Olive and Tom's Brook, and the adjacent portion of the [North Fork of the Shenandoah] river". The area of Porter's work appears to have included part of Cedar Creek from the Duck Run area west to the "upper drains of the creek". In addition to Joseph, the Porter list included a James Russell (8 1 2) and a Christopher Disponent (sic) (8 1 2). [Source: pp. 228-229, "A History of Shenandoah County, Virginia, by John Walter Wayland; the three numbers in the lists are # of persons, # of dwellings, and # of additional dwellings.] [Note: The Virginia county tax lists from the mid-1780's, including that for Shenandoah County, were used to "reconstruct" the 1790 Federal census that was destroyed during the War of 1812.]

• 1785, Sept. 5, 6 - "Joseph Russell late of the County of Frederick but now of the County of Shenandoa (sic)" sold to Henry Richards (spelled both Richert and Richard in the conveyance documents) by lease and release his 100 acre and 39 acre tracts of land in Frederick County. Richards was identified as a blacksmith". The purchase price was 240 pounds. Both Joseph and his wife Margaret signed the release document with signatures (not X's) and the witnesses were Joseph Longacre and Daniel Brooks. [Sources: pp. 84-88 in Deed Book 21 (image from Library of Virginia microfilm); and summary from vol. 5, Frederick County, Virginia Deed Book Series, by Amelia Cleland Gilreath.]

• 1786 - Joseph and his family moved to Rockbridge County, Virginia by 1786. [Source: birth of son James on February 28, 1786 in Rockbridge County (from 1911 statement of descendant Charles Silas Russell found on page 17 of "Charles M. Russell, Cowboy Artist", a biography by Austin Russell, 1957, Twain Publishers, New York); and November 9, 1786 deed from Elizabeth Davidson, widow of John Davidson, and Samuel Davidson, son and heir of John, and his wife, to "Joseph Russell of Shannandoe County" for 300 acres (deed recorded in Rockbridge County deed book A, p. 362).]

• 1789 - Daughter Elizabeth was born on May 27, 1789. [Note: The exact birth date is given by several unsourced online resources (e.g., Marion Doss site on WorldConnect).] [Note: There are no birth or death dates on her grave marker at Belleview Cemetery in Washington County, Missouri, and her spouse appears without her in the 1850 census.]

• 1789 - Rockbridge County personal property tax enumeration included Joseph Russell. In his household there were no white males between the ages of 16 and 21, and no columns requiring the enumeration of other white household members. He had two "horses mares colts and mules". The tax district was that of enumerator John Gayley.

• 1792 - Son Moses was born in Rockbridge County on November 6, 1792. [Note: The exact birth date is given by several unsourced online resources (e.g., Marion Doss site on WorldConnect).]

• 1795 - Daughter Mary was born in Rockbridge County on January 26, 1795. [Note: The exact birth date is given by several unsourced online resources (e.g., Marion Doss site on WorldConnect).]

• 1800 - The Joseph Russell family moved to Hawkins County, Tennessee. [Source: Bio for Joseph Russell born 1783.] [Note: Neither of the two tax lists for 1801 for Rockbridge County (one of which was that of William Bradley) included Joseph Russell; the only Russell was John, a schoolmaster. The 1816 Will of Joseph Russell was witnessed by three persons, one of whom was a man named William Bradley.]

• 1810 - Joseph Russell was on the "Hawkins CO 1810 Tax List, Capt. Gillingwater's company." [Source: According to Sherrill's substitute census for Tennessee, this information on Joseph was found in Pollyanna Creekmore's "Early East Tennessee Taxpayers, Hawkins County 1809-12", at pp. 117-131 East Tenn. Hist. Soc. Quarterly.] [Note: the 1810 Hawkins County federal census has been lost.]

• 1810 - Joseph acquired an interest in land from Philip Marsletter and his wife of Alexandria, DC. The interest was a 1/3 share of Philip Marsletter in land he obtained from Adam Orth & wife "where Batlaza Orth formerly lived". [Source: Hawkins County Deed Book 3, p. 17, entry of Feb. 1, 1810.] [Note: In 1778 a jury member in Hawkins County was Adam Orth, gentleman of Lancaster, Penn.]

• 1813 - Joseph was involved in a land dispute with William C. Camp. [Source: Page 99 of Index of Hawkins County Chancery Court cases.]

• 1816, 1817, 1822 - see first paragraph of this Note.

1.   Transcription of Joseph Russell's Will (from original will image located online at familysearch.org) recorded in Will Book 1, pages 417 and 418, of Hawkins County, Tennessee:
   Will of Joseph Russell
   Dated Nov 20, 1816
   In the name of God Amen, I Joseph Russell of the County of Hawkins and State of Tennessee, being of sound mind and perfect memory but of infirm health have thought it expedient to make this my last Will & Testament and have bequeathed unto my widow during her natural life her choice of the building she now occupies or to have such made for her on any part of the land I have left to my son Joseph Russell as shall be comfortable and at his expense. Also the negro slaves by the name of Jinny & Tennessee, to be disposed of as she may think proper at her death. Also one riding Creature and two Cows to be delivered her out of my Estate. And my son Joseph is to find her a good sufficient maintenance. I also appoint her my Executrix to this my last Will & Testament. I give and bequeath unto my son William Russell one hundred dollars. Also unto my son Alexander Russell [here the word one is crossed out] I give and bequeath two hundred dollars. Also unto my son Benjamin Russell I give and bequeath three hundred dollars. Also unto my son James Russell I give and bequeath three hundred dollars. Also unto my daughter Betsy Myers wife of Jacob Myers I give and bequeath three hundred dollars to be paid in two years. But should the said Jacob Myers remove himself & family sooner the foregoing sum to be paid on leaving the County. I also give unto her husband an Anville Vice & Bellows which are now in his possession. Also unto my son Moses Russell I give and bequeath three hundred dollars. All of the foregoing sums are exclusive of has already been paid. Also I give and bequeath unto my daughter Polly Russell a negro girl called or named Lucy a mare called hers two Cows a bed with sufficient furniture or a horse to be? valued at one hundred dollars, and one thousand dollars to be paid in four years. And I give and bequeath unto my son Joseph Russell all my real and personal Estate except that which has heretofore been named. And desire him to be an Executor to act with his mother who has been appointed Executrix in a foregoing clause. And desire them to pay all debts justly due from my Estate and collect all debts due and faithfully pay off and perform all things required by this my last Will & Testament to all which I have hereby set my hand and seal this 20th day of 1816 sixteen.
   Joseph Russell [signed with his mark]