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Dictionary of Miramichi Biography

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RUSSELL, ROBERT SWIM (1892-1967)

RUSSELL, ROBERT SWIM, lumber company head; b. Doaktown, 4 Feb 1892, s/o James Russell and Nancy Swim; m. 1923, Edith Marie Mitchell, d/o Peter S. Mitchell and Isabella A. Beek, of Doaktown; d. there, 2 Aug 1967.

Robert S. Russell left school at age twelve following the death of his father. As a young man he was employed in the sash and door factory owned by his uncle Henry Swim. In 1922 he and his cousin Robert H. Swim, a veteran of World War I, built a lath mill at Doaktown. The market for laths having begun to decline by 1924, they erected a new mill to saw boards and planks. This marked the beginning of a business which was the principal employer in the Doaktown area for many years and which became widely known for the superior quality of manufacture of its softwood lumber. The firm's many patterns of white pine dressed lumber, in particular, were used to sheathe the walls of homes and cottages throughout the Miramichi region and beyond.

The first Russell & Swim sawmill was lost to fire in 1942, but a new mill was built and brought into production in 1943. After it too burned in 1958 a fire-resistant structure was erected. Meanwhile, in 1956, the partners incorporated as Russell & Swim Ltd, with Russell as president and Swim as vice-president. The two men held these offices until near the end of their lives. At the same time, each played a part in the life of the village of Doaktown. Russell was an elder of St Thomas United Church and a member of the school board, while Swim, a sports enthusiast, assisted with the construction of the Doaktown arena and the installation of an artificial ice plant.

Following Russell's death in 1967, and Swim's in 1974, management of the business fell to three of Russell's sons: Myles D. Russell, Lloyd M. Russell, and Claude A. Russell. Myles D. Russell (MF Yale), who succeeded his father as president of the firm in 1966, was inducted into the New Brunswick Forestry Hall of Fame in 1994. Several years earlier, in 1987, Russell & Swim Ltd was sold to J. D. Irving Ltd.

Sources

[b] census [m] Bamford research [d] Russell family and business data / Commercial World 10 Apr 1958; Leader 18 Dec 1974; Telegraph 22 Aug 1967


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