My Genealogy Hound

J. J. Russell, M. D., physician and surgeon, of California, Mo., is a native of Cole County, born on October 27, 1833, his parents being Joseph P. and Pamelia (Clark) Russell, who were born in Kentucky and Missouri, respectively. The great-grandfather was of English descent and a Virginian by birth, and at an early day moved to Kentucky, near Russellville, where our subject’s grandfather, Joseph Russell, was reared. Joseph P. Russell moved from Kentucky to Cole County, Mo., when a young man, about 1824, where he was engaged in farming for a few years. After living in Moniteau County on his farm, one and a half miles south of California, Mo., for some time, he went to Henry County, where he entered a large tract of land and spent the remainder of his days. He died August 2, 1875, at the age of seventy-five; his wife died also in this county in 1870. Ten of their twelve children are living at the present time: Elizabeth (wife of Alexander Campbell, of Benton County), Dr. John J., Hiram D., Jemimah (wife of John C. Bailey, of Waco, Texas), Mary A. (wife of William Renfrou, of Clinton, Mo.), Buckner B., Nancy (wife of Charles Taylor), Wilson M., Catherine (wife of John Askins, of Washington Territory), and Belle (wife of Thomas Chipman). Dr. John J. Russell, our subject, was reared within a mile and a half of California, and after working on the farm and attending the common schools until sixteen years of age, he began attending the schools of California, continuing two years. He then commenced his medical studies, and in the winter of 1853-54 attended lectures in the Medical College of St. Louis. In March of the latter year he located at Russellville, where he practiced until 1857, and then returned to the St. Louis Medical College, and graduated in March, 1858. He then practiced in Leesville until 1861, when he joined the Southern army and served as surgeon until near the end of hostilities. He then went to Cherokee County, Texas, where he was married December 22, 1864, to Miss America Ryan, a daughter of Dr. J. B. Ryan, of Paris, Texas, and there remained one year, removing to Lamar County, of the same State, in the spring of 1866. Two years later he returned to his home in Henry County, Mo., and in the fall came to California, where he has since made his home and practiced his profession, his name being familiar throughout the county as that of a skillful physician and surgeon. In 1869 he attended the Missouri Medical College, and took the degree of Addendum. The winter of 1886 was spent in the city of New York, where he attended the New York Polyclinic, for the purpose of making diseases of women a speciality. He is a member of the I. O. O. F., A. O. U. W., and of the Christian Church. He and wife are the parents of four children: Mary Blanche, Edgar Ryan, Ernest Gregory and Undril Stanley.