Person:Charlotte Russell (3)

"Lived in Marblehead 12 years. Her father was cashier of Marblehead Bank and resided in the Lee mansion. She remembered distinctly Lafayette's visit to Marblehead and his entertainment in the house, his great interest in the family, because Mrs. Russell was a [great?] granddaughter of his old friend Louis Russell. Charlotte C. Russell began to teach when 15 years old, and followed her profession until she was 75. She began to teach in the family of Jonathan Phillips of Swampscott, remaining there until the three daughters were young women. Then she went to an English family in Montreal, and with them to Jamaica, where she lived about 6 years. This laid the foundation of her Spanish studies of which she was so fond. On her return from Jamaica she became governess in the family of Gen. Dupont of Washington, Del. and lived there till she gave up her work at the age of 75.That she held the affection and esteem of her employers and pupils was shown in their constant and thoughtful attention to her in her old age. Her tastes were literary and she read with care Spanish, French and German, keeping up her interest in them until the close of life. "She used to tell the following story in connection with the visit of Lafayette to her home in 1824. Coming into the house one day, the mother told the children they must be very quiet as a great Gen., who had come a long distance over the ocean, was there and wished to rest a while. Being told he was in the mother's chamber, they made a rush up the stairs and burst into the room, anxious to see what such a great man could look like. The Gen. wished some water to drink and the children were told to get it. The son of the Gen. went to pump for it. Mrs. Abigail Bessom Johnson cooked the pig for the dinner given the Gen. in the Lee mansion and also helped decorate for the dinner given him in Boston. She was grand daughter of Capt. Edmund and Tabitha Russell Lewis. Mrs. Elizabeth (Lovett) Blaney was present (a little girl then) and as she passed the Gen. he took her in his arms and kissed her."

1. ↑ Marblehead, Essex, Massachusetts, United States. Vital Records of Marblehead, Massachusetts, to the End of the Year 1849. (Salem, Massachusetts: The Essex Institute, 1903-08)
   446.

   RUSSELL, Charlotte Caroline, d. John and Mary, [born] July 10, 1815.