RUSSELL, SAMUEL (1848-1924)

RUSSELL, SAMUEL, Presbyterian missionary, Red Bank and Black River, 1872-75; b. Newcastle, 29 Jan 1848, s/o James Russell and Ann Carruthers, natives of Ireland; m. M. Evelyn Davis, of Desoronto, Ont.; d. Belleville, Ont., 26 Feb 1924.

Samuel Russell studied at the Newcastle Grammar School under Robert Falconer and John Hardie, and at the University of New Brunswick (BA 1868), where he won the Douglas Gold Medal. He then taught for a term at Harkins Academy before continuing his studies at the universities of Queen's and Glasgow.

In August 1872 Russell began preaching in the Presbyterian churches at Red Bank and Black River under the direction of the Miramichi Presbytery, as the first assigned missionary since the departure of the Rev. Frederick Home in 1867. He was ordained in Newcastle in January 1873 and served his two-point charge from there until the winter of 1874-75. In 1875-76 he acted as a general supply minister for the presbytery.

Russell had "a well trained and cultivated mind" and was considered to be one of Newcastle's best citizens. While residing in the town he sat on the board of trustees of the County Grammar School. In April 1876 he left for Montreal. In June 1878 he accepted a call to the Scotch Colony at Kincardine, in Victoria County, N.B. When he closed his pastorate there in 1880 he would also appear to have left the ministry. In 1882 he was granted a BA (ad eundem) by Queen's University. He later settled in his wife's hometown of Desoronto, Ont. and took on the editorship of the Desoronto Tribune. In 1898 he won election to the Ontario legislature as a Liberal member for the riding of East Hastings. He was re-elected in 1902 and sat until 1904.

In 1906 Russell was living in Belleville, Ont. At the time of his death he was the registrar of Hastings County. He and his wife, Evelyn Davis, had no children. His sisters and brothers included Grace Russell, the wife of John Jones of Newcastle, and William A. Russell, a barrister and judge of probate in Shediac.