My Genealogy Hound

Hon. Lawrence Russell, representative to the General Assembly, from Pope County, Ark., and one of the leading attorneys of Russellville, was born in that town in August, 1855, and was the youngest of eleven children born to Dr. Thomas and MaryAnn (Graham) Russell, the father a native of England and the mother of Pennsylvania. Dr. Thomas Russell, the founder of Russellville, was born in the parish of Gateshead, in the county of Durham, England, on June 13, 1801, and was the son of John and Hannah Russell. After enjoying the advantages of some of the literary institutions of England, in which he acquired considerable classical knowledge, he served an apprenticeship of five years under Dr. Thomas Mitchell, who was a member of the Royal College of Surgeons in London. In 1825 he entered Guy’s and St. Thomas’ Hospitals, London, and from those institutions he received numerous certificates for attendance upon lectures and for proficiency in the various departments. He succeeded in carrying off the first two prizes, namely: The demonstrator’s prize and the prize in midwifery. In 1826 he graduated in the Royal College of Surgeons, London, and thereby became a member of that body. After traveling extensively in the continental countries of Europe, he came to America, in 1829, settled near Carlyle, Ill., where his three brothers, James, Edward and John Russell, had preceded him, and was there married in 1832 to Miss Mary A. Graham. In search of a new home and a milder climate he came to Arkansas, and located in the Arkansas River Valley in 1835, one year prior to the admission of the State into the Union. He was eminently successful, both as a physician and surgeon, performing surgical operations that baffled the skill of others. In 1861, when the Civil War began, he had acquired considerable property, but the greater part of this was swept away during that memorable period. He continued an active practitioner until the spring of 1866, when he was stricken with pneumonia, which caused his death on the 13th of April of that year. He was a man of strong will, remarkable memory and vigorous intellect. There now survive him four sons, all of whom reside in Russellville, except Albert Russell, who is at Alamo, Lower California; James W. and Thomas J. Russell are engaged in merchandising, and our subject, who is one of the rising young lawyers of the State. The mother’s people were from Pennsylvania, and emigrated to Texas at an early date. Hon. Lawrence Russell received his literary education in his native town and at the State University at Fayetteville, where he graduated in 1880 with the degree of A. B. In the sophomore year he took a silver medal for the second best prize for declamation, and in the junior year a gold medal, the only prize offered for oratory, for best original oration. Mr. Russell began the study of law in the fall of 1880, read in the law office of Carter & Wilson, and was licensed to practice in the fall of 1883. Since that time he has been engaged principally in the practice of his profession. He went to Texas in the winter of 1884-85, but returned to his native town in the spring of 1885. He has been quite active in politics, assisted in the canvass of this county for the national and county ticket, in 1888, and in the summer of 1890 was nominated by the Democratic party for the office of representative, being elected September 1, of that year. He is a member of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church, is superintendent of the Sabbath school, and has been a Sunday-school worker for a number of years. He was elected president of the Northwest Arkansas Sunday-school Association in 1887, and served for two years, being re-elected in 1888. He is also a worker for the cause of education, and was elected a member of the school board in the spring of 1889. Mr. Russell owns a farm and town property and the old homestead. He is a member of the K. of P., Russellville Lodge No. 47, and holds the office of vice chancellor. The Arkansas Democrat, a paper published at the capitol of the State, has this to say of Mr. Russell: “Mr. Lawrence Russell, the Democratic nominee for the Legislature from this (meaning Pope) County, was born and raised in Pope. His father, Dr. Russell, was one of the prominent men of that region during the war. The family has always been true to Arkansas, and among the first in every enterprise for its development. Lawrence Russell is a graduate of the Arkansas Industrial University, a rising lawyer, a Christian gentleman and an orator of no mean repute.”