Russell Every-Day Living

Memories of a Family from Blaine, North Carolina
1. Auflage 2018
ISBN: 978-1-5439-4838-7
Verlag: BookBaby
Format: EPUB
Kopierschutz: PC/MAC/eReader/Tablet/DL/kein Kopierschutz

E-Book, Englisch, 198 Seiten

Every-Day Living is a book about a family and about how it used to be in rural North Carolina. Specifically, Blaine, North Carolina. Bill Russell is the last surviving sibling of Cled and Lola Russell's nine kids. He takes the author on a talking riding (and can he talk!) tour of Blaine, North Carolina and talks about the people, places, and happenings from long ago. Other family members add their two cents, and Doug Russell, the author, investigates the Russell Gold Mine and several odd stories from the Russell family past. Who would have thought all this happened in such a small place!

Autoren/Hrsg.

Russell, Doug

Leseproben

Chapter 3 The Cled and Lola Russell Family
from Blaine, NC Front row: Grandpa Cled, Grandma Lola
Back row: Susie, John Leonard, Madge, Homer,
Devereaux, Agnes, Eugene, Bill
Missing is Dwight. (Courtesy of John Russell) We’ll start with someone with a different last name, Harris. Harris and Russell family members have married some over the years, so you’ll see Harris names throughout the book. Corilla Safley Harris, “Ma” 2/7/1871- 12/17/1953 Relationship: my great-grandmother on
Grandma Lola’s side Married: Twice Children: Two daughters. Ethel and Lola (my grandmother). Great-grandma Corilla Harris was called “Ma” by everyone who knew her. Ma died in 1953, so I never met her. But I sure heard a lot about her. Ma (Courtesy of Bill Russell) Great-grandma Corilla Harris was a midwife, as her registration certificate below shows. Below that is a picture of her blood-letter. After the tool was placed in the desired spot, a line of razor blades on the right side of the tool would pop out—slicing into the target—and “let” blood come out. This was meant to thin the blood. To be helpful, that is… Midwife Certificate (Montgomery Historical Society) Blood letter (Courtesy of John Russell) Bill: “So, my Momma’s [Lola’s] daddy was a Harris. And he died. Went out in the yard after dinner, had a heart attack and died. So then Momma’s momma, everybody called her Ma, married Sam Morris. When Ma found out he made liquor she ran him off! Never let him come back!” Haints happenings Me: Homer, my dad, had been mightily impressed with Ma’s stories about “haints.” Haints, near as I could tell, were haunted spirits that interacted with the material world. She believed they existed, and told her stories with such passion that she had a big impact on everyone in the family. They’d better believe! Have you seen her picture? Tough lady. Eugene’s death Bill: “The night in 1972 before Eugene [Bill’s oldest brother] got killed in that car crash; Thursday morning. They had prayer meeting downhill at the church there beside the house. Some of the women would come up here and talk to Momma [Lola] sometimes. Well, she got up that night to see if anybody was going to come up here. They didn’t. She was looking out the door and a ball of light come up that old road over there. Come right here, turned around. Then Eugene got killed the next morning.” Pause. “Now, about 1:30 in the morning, I woke up to a loud moaning kind of sound. I asked Bobbie, my wife, ‘Did you hear that?’ She said, ‘I heard nothing.” Pause. Bill: “That moaning was the sound he made when he was killed. Popped his neck in a car wreck.” When Ma Died Bill: “Now.” Pause. “An old mockingbird sat on the windowsill pecking on the winder’ of her deathbed that day. Its beak was bloody. And Ma died that night on Thursday. And that bird never did peck on that window no more after she died that night.” Pause. Other Haint-ennings Bill: “The night Susie died, an old music box that hadn’t played for years started playing. Explain that.” John Russell (Devereaux’ son): “When Mutt [Loy Dennis, Agnes’ husband] died, I fell out of my bed. I never fell out of my bed before and haven’t done so since.” One more fascinating relative before we get to the Cled and Lola Russell family. Zeb Russell might be my favorite ancestor. He seemingly did it all. Zebedee Russell, “Zeb” 4/19/1805 - 3/19/1886 Relationship my great-great-great paternal grandfather. Married: Prudence Hopkins Children: Six sons, one daughter. Zebedee Russell started and ran/worked at the Russell Mine sometime in the 1830s to the early 1850s. The land upon which the mine sat became known as “Zeb Russell’s gold mine,” even though it was owned by various entities over the years. Zebedee, along with James L. Gaines, Thomas L. Cotton, Thomas E. Scarborough, Martin Rush, Archibald A. Leach and William Coggins, were appointed commissioners in 1844 to found the Montgomery county seat of Troy “at West’s Old field on 50 acres…” Uncle Bill’s comment to this news was, “All this time, all those townies thought they were better than us. Wish I’d known that.” Zeb was a state legislator from 1846 to 1852, and again from 1854 to 1856, joining Colonel West Harris, Jr. (Revolutionary War, my great-great-great grandfather on Grandma Lola’s side) as a close relative who served in that way. Colonel West Harris, Jr. represented the people of Montgomery County in the State House of Commons from November 15, 1792, to January 1, 1793, and in the State Senate in 1797 - 1800, and 1802. Zeb was listed as a farmer on the 1850, 1860, and 1870 censuses. The 1880 census shows Zeb’s occupation as a “dealer in dry goods.” It’s interesting he never listed his occupation as miner. I found records that showed Zeb owned many parcels of land over the years. As many other yeoman farmers in the area—who were the majority of landowners—Zeb owned no slaves. Before secession in May 1865, there was ambivalence in the area’s yeoman farmers over fighting what many viewed as the eastern plantation planter’s war for slavery. In that pre-secession spirit, the January 23, 1861, edition of the Raleigh Weekly Standard documented a pro-union meeting that was held in Montgomery County: “The chairman appointed a committee, consisting of Thos. J. Bright, Zebedee Russell, C.W. Wooley, William Coggins, A. Chambers, Wm. Aumond, and J.T. Buton to draft resolutions expressive of the sentiments of the meeting.” Not surprisingly, resolutions came out against secession and decried control by outside interests. J.W. Houston’s series of articles in the Montgomery County Heritage—Volume III mentions that “70 percent of Montgomery County residents voted against secession in 1861.” (p. 82) After North Carolina seceded on May 20, 1861, Zeb dutifully served in the Confederate Army as a captain, and was pardoned by President Andrew Johnson in 1866. See Chapter 7-Service for a photo of Zeb’s pardon. Prudence Hopkins Russell
(findagrave.com) Zeb married Prudence Hopkins, from a locally prominent family, who is believed by some locally to be the sister of Mark Hopkins, one of the four founders of the Union Pacific railroad in California. Mark’s story is in Chapter 5. Zeb and Prudence had seven children, one of whom, Nelson, ran the New Russell Mine from the mid 1880’s into the early 1890’s. Zeb died on March 19, 1886. Oddly enough, his son Wiley—only forty—died two days before Zeb. Eli Russell, Zebedee’s brother, married Annie Hopkins, a sister of Prudence Hopkins, Zeb’s wife. Two brothers in one family marrying two sisters from another family make their children double first cousins to each other, the closest relative possible beyond brother or sister. To make matters even more interesting, Christiana Harris, from Grandma Lola’s extended family, married John Calvin Hopkins, Prudence Hopkins’ and Annie Hopkins’ brother. Prudence, Zeb, and Eli are buried in the Russell Cemetery, which we will visit in Chapter 5. Cled Russell: 4/15/1890 - 4/15/1973 Relationship: My paternal grandfather Married: Georgia Lola Harris Children: Nine. Six sons, three daughters Cled, as a young man (Courtesy of Bill Russell) Bill: “He’d tell the boys, ‘I’ll help you one time, then you’re on your own.’ Let me tell you this. With him having six boys and knowing something about carpentry, he ought to have been a millionaire.” Me: “He was a good carpenter?” Bill: Vehemently, “Yeah. He was strict about his carpentry. It had to be right.” Me: “How come he didn’t do better?” Bill: “No enthusiasm to work.” Me: “But all you boys did. Well, except maybe for John Leonard. Grandpa didn’t have enthusiasm for anything?” Bill: “Now, Homer told me one time that Daddy over there at Blaine raised a bunch of peanuts. Loads of ‘em. Wagon loads. And took them to High Point. Couldn’t sell ‘em! And that just done something to him; he just didn’t care no more. Your Daddy told me that.” Me: “Well.” Pause. “Why...