Dallas County IA Archives Biographies.....Russell, J. W. 1851 - 
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Joy Fisher sdgenweb@yahoo.com December 12, 2007, 9:38 pm

Author: Lewis Publishing Co. (1896)

HON. J. W. RUSSELL, the popular and efficient Mayor of Adel, whose capable
administration has proved of great benefit to the town, was born on the 19th of
May, 1851, in Kosciusko county, Indiana, and is a son of Adoniram and Sarah
(North) Russell. The father was born in Fairfield county, Ohio, in 1825, and
died in Clay county, Illinois, in 1867. He was a soldier of the Mexican war, in
which he served with the rank of Lieutenant, and during the Civil war he won the
rank of Colonel for meritorious conduct on the field of battle. His wife was
born in Delaware county, Ohio, in 1828, and is still living at the old home in
Indiana. She was one of a family of seven children, of whom five are yet living.
To Colonel and Mrs. Russell were born three children, and after the death of her
first husband the mother was again married and had two daughters by her second
marriage.

   On the paternal side the Russells are of English lineage. The
great-grandparents, John and Sarah (Lovett) Russell, crossed the Atlantic from
England before the war of 1812 and settled in Virginia, where they spent their
remaining days. The former was a shoemaker by trade and followed that pursuit
through much of his life. The grandparents, David L. and Sophia (Smith) Russell,
were natives of Loudoun county, Virginia, and New York respectively. The former
was born in 1795 and during the Civil war disappeared and was never heared from
again. The grandmother died in Delaware county, Ohio, in 1865. The maternal
great-grandparents of our subject, Thomas and Sarah (McCarty) North, emigrated
from England to America prior to the Revolutionary war and settled in Virginia.
They were of English and Irish descent and were farming people. The former aided
the Colonies in their struggle for independence. The grandparents were Joseph
and Sarah (Russell) North. The former, born in Fairfield county, Ohio, in 1805,
died in Indiana, in 1885. His wife was born in Loudoun county, Virginia, in
1820, and died in Maryland in 1866.

   We now take up the personal history of our subject, whose life record we feel
assured will prove of interest to many of our readers, for he is widely known
and has many warm friends. He spent the first fifteen years of his life on a
farm, and then entered Hillsdale College, wishing to secure a more advanced
education than the district schools had afforded him. In order to meet the
expenses of his collegiate course he worked on a farm. He continued his studies
until some time in the sophomore year, when, in 1872, he sought a home in the
West, and took up his residence in Adel, Iowa. He had not a dollar of capital:
in fact $150 indebtedness was resting upon him; but he was resolute and
energetic, and determined that he would win success if it could be accomplished
through enterprise and perseverance. He clerked for a law firm and read law for
a year, and was then placed in charge of a loan business. Subsequently he bought
out Mr. North in the loan business, and under the firm name of Willard & Russell
carried on operations in that line. The partnership continued until the 1st of
August, 1875, when he bought out Mr. Willard, and added the abstract to the loan
business, which he has since continued.

   His abilities are broad, and as he has found opportunity he has extended his
labors into other fields of operation. He is engaged in land speculation, is
president of the Dallas County Savings Bank, and was vice-president of the first
railway built through Adel. The company was organized in his office, and with
the aid of several other enterprising business men the new concern was secured.
He is also secretary of various other business organizations, including the Adel
Improvement Company, having held that office since its organization. This
association has secured the location of several factories in Adel, and has
indeed done much toward building up the town.

   On the 22d of October, 1874, Mr. Russell was united in marriage with Florence
M. Holland, who was born in Elkhart, Indiana, in November, 1852, and is a
daughter of Jacob Taylor. Her father, on emigrating to the West, located in
Adel, where he engaged in the hotel business until his death. To Mr. and Mrs.
Russell have been born six children, but one died at the age of eighteen months.
The others are J. La Verne, Earl W., Lulu C., Florence Louise and Cedric E. By
her first husband, Mrs. Russell had a daughter, Mrs. Pearl W. Messenger.

   In his political views, Mr. Russell is a stalwart Republican, having given
his unfaltering support to that party since casting his first presidential vote
for Grant. He is now serving as Mayor of Adel, and since entering upon the
duties of the office the principal streets of the city have been paved with
vitrified brick and nearly three miles of cement sidewalk have been laid. A fine
system of water works has been established, and all that is calculated to
promote the city's interest and upbuilding receives his hearty support and
co-operation. He is eminently a public-spirited man, devoted to all that
pertains to the welfare of his resident community. He is a recognized leader in
public affairs, and is one o£ the prominent members of the Masonic fraternity in
the State,. having attained to the thirty-second degree in that order. He is
also prominently connected with the Knights of Pythias fraternity, and he and
his family are Presbyterians and liberal supporters of the church. Besides his
palatial home and the business blocks which he owns in Adel, he has several
large farms. His life illustrates what may be attained by faithful and continued
effort in carrying out an honest purpose. His is the story of a career whose
success is measured by its usefulness, of a life that has made the world better
and brighter.


Additional Comments:

Extracted from:

A MEMORIAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD OF IOWA

ILLUSTRATED

"A people that take no pride in the noble achievements of remote ancestors will
never achieve anything worthy to be remembered with pride by remote
descendants."'—MACAULAY.

"Biography is by nature the must universally profitable, universally pleasant,
of all things."—CARLYLE

"History is only biography on a large scale"—LAMARTINE.

CHICAGO: THE LEWIS PUBLISHING COMPANY
1896

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