Ionia County MI Archives Obituaries.....Russell, Robert Lyman 1903
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Sandy Heintzelman sheintz@iserv.net March 3, 2018, 8:57 am

Belding Banner, 3 Sep 1903, page 8

In Memoriam

Robert Lyman Russell was born in Virgil Courtland County N.Y. Sept. the 27th
1825 and with his sister Lydia was the youngest of a family of fourteen children
and was the last to answer the death roll call responding Saturday morning
August the 22nd 1903 at six o’clock.

His parents were Josiah and Betsy Russell. Of his early boyhood we have but
little knowledge.  He came from Oakland County Michigan and was present as a boy
under age at the time of the first township election of the Township of Otisco
April 2nd 1838.  His older brother Amos H. Russell who came to Otisco first in
1837 had just brought his family to Otisco and Robert Lyman come with them.

He was married to Miss Lucy Ann Brown in 1848 and settled in Grattan Kent county
where his daughter Gertrude now Mrs. W.R. Olds was born.  A few year later he
moved to Otisco where his son Bryant John Russell now of Luther was born both of
whom survive the father.

In 1879 he moved to Luther then a dense forest in the employ of the old Wilson,
Luther and Wilson Lumber Company as land looker, surveyer and pine estimator
with whom he remained ten years.

Here he lost his wife Lucy in 1887 and was married again to Mrs. Eleanor Dimmick
of Grattan in 1888 but was once more left a widower in 1894 since which time he
has made his home with his only son Bryant J. Russell of Luther.

His early life in the pioneer days of Ionia county gave him an extensive
knowledge of timber and for years his estimates of standing timber either pine
or hardwood were considered standard authority for the amount upon any given
tract of land.  Millions of feet of timber have been bought and sold upon his
estimates alone.

He was a staunch Republican of no mean power and held many public offices of
trust in both Ionia and Lake counties and was a veritable land mark in the
history of the last named county.

Last fall he cut his leg badly while hewing timber for a new barn. losing a
large amount of blood, which at his age left him in a weakened condition so that
when stomach trouble set in he wasn’t strong enough to cope with the combined
forces which gradually sapped his wonderful vitality as he was a man of strong
constitution and of almost unparalled nerve, his power of endurance being
marvellous.  He passed beyond into the great unknown, very bravely and without
fear, his mind clear to the last.

Robert L. Russell was a man of wide reputation and formed many ties of lasting
friendship during life.  Was familiarly and almost universally known as “Uncle
Lyman.”  His demise will be mourned not only by a large circle of friends and
relatives but by the general public as well.


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