Robert Theodore Russ, Caddo Parish, Louisiana

Submitted by Mike Miller
Date: 1999-2000






***************************************************************************************************
Copyright.  All rights reserved.
http://usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm
http://usgwarchives.net/la/lafiles.htm
***************************************************



Robert Theodore Russ.  Official court reporter of the First Judicial 

District of Louisiana, R. T. Russ, of Shreveport, is one of the ablest 

and most prominent men in his profession in the Southwest.  He is 

likewise a member of a very prominent family of Louisiana, his people 

having been among the founders of Ruston, a commercial and educational 

center named for the Russ family.



His grandfather was the late R. E. Russ, who lived on and owned the 

site of the present flourishing city of Ruston, the parish seat of 

Lincoln Parish.  He is known as the founder and father of that place, 

first called Russtown and finally as Ruston.  R. E. Russ was a native 

of England, and coming to America, made settlement in Lincoln Parish 

as a pioneer many years before the Civil war.



R. T. Russ was born at Ruston in 1895, son of C. R. and Elizabeth 

(Thurmon) Russ, and his father likewise was born there. Both parents 

are residents of Ruston.



R. T. Russ was educated in the grammar and high schools of his 

native town, also attended there the Louisiana Industrial institute, 

now known as the Louisiana Polytechnic Institute, from which graduated 

in 1913.  While in college he took commercial and shorthand courses, 

and determined at that time to make shorthand the basis of his 

profession.  He pursued the study systematically under the Pittman 

system, and his first official position was as court reporter for 

the District Courthouse Mansfield.  Mr. Russ in 1920 came to Shreveport

and has since been a member of the firm took & Russ, general reporters.  

This is one of the best organizations of its kind in the Southwest, 

handling a large volume of business, reporting conventions and doing 

other professional shorthand work.  A large part of the time and skill 

of Mr. Russ is also demanded by his duties as official court reporter 

for the judicial district embracing Caddo and Bossier parishes.



Prominent in professional shorthand circles, he is a member and former 

president of the Southwest Shorthand Reporter's Association, while in 

the National Shorthand Reporter's Association he is chairman of one 

committee and member of another.  In the Southwest Association, he is 

chairman of the Committee of Professional Education which had for its 

purpose the establishing of college degree in shorthand repelling, 

thus placing this profession in a parity with other professions and 

incidentally raising the standard of the shorthand reporting profession

itself.



Mr. Russ married Miss Lawrence, of Mansfield and they have two children

:  Miriam and  Lola Elisabeth.  Mr. Russ is a member of the Highland 

Baptist Church of Shreveport and a member of the Kiwanis Club.



A History of Louisiana, (vol. 2), p. 86, by Henry E. Chambers.  

Published by The American Historical Society, Inc., Chicago and New York, 1925.