"364. Russell (Atwater), son of Reuben; lived at Wallingford; m. Oct. 24, 1790, Clarissa Chapman, b. Nov. 23, 1762. Removed to Blandford, Mass., and engaged in mercantile pursuits. While on a business trip to New York in 1798 he was induced by a man named McCormick, with whom he had dealings, to purchase parts of the towns of Russell, Pierrepont and Hopkinton, N. Y., and to become an agent for McCormick, Harrison and others. The town of Russell was named in his honor. The town was first explored by him with the view of settlement in the summer of 1804. It was surveyed into farms in 1805. The surveyors were mostly young men hired by him, who boarded themselves in a shanty and procured their provisions in Canada. The first meetings were conducted by a Presbyterian minister in Mr. Atwater’s house. He built the first saw mill in 1807, and a grist mill not long afterward. On April 10, 1819, Russell, Phineas and William Atwater with others, formed the Sion Episcopal Church Society. In 1816 Russell erected the third saw mill in the town of Norfolk. The first Durham boat ever run on the Racquette River was in this year, and was laden with mill iron, goods and provisions from Schenectady, sent by Judge Atwater to begin the settlement of his mills. The first actual settlement of the town of Brasher was made March 17, 1817, by several families who came and settled under Mr. Atwater’s agency, and who in that year erected a saw mill which afterward became a grist mill with a single run of stones. In 1808 he was appointed associate judge and held that office many years. In 1814 he was elected a Senator and in 1816 a Presidential Elector, and voted for Clinton. He died at the residence of his son Phineas in Norfolk, in June, 1851."
