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MEMOIR OF
ARLES H. RUSSELL

1796-1884

YALE UNIVERSITY
LIBRARY

1935

CHARLES H. RUSSELL
1875

MEMOIR

OF

CHARLES H. RUSSELL
1796-1884

BY HIS SON
CHARLES HOWLAND RUSSELL

NEW YORK
1903

Charles Handy Russell was a son of Thomas
Russell, who was an officer of the Continental
army in the Revolutionary War and a descendant
of John Russell, of Woburn, Massachusetts.
John Russell emigrated from England in the early
part of the seventeenth century. He lived at first
at Charlestown and subsequently at Woburn, of
which town he was one of the founders and earliest
inhabitants.1
1" Woburn was originally a grant of land made, 1640, by the
General Court of Massachusetts to Charlestown, and for about
two years afterwards was called ' Charlestown Village.' The
settlement of Charlestown, which is the most ancient town not
only in the county of Middlesex, but likewise (Salem and
Dorchester excepted) in the Colony of Massachusetts, as dis
tinct from that of Plymouth, had commenced in 1629. In June
of that year, Mr. Thomas Graves, a gentleman from Gravesend
in Kent, eminent for his skill in surveying and engineering,
and in the employ of the Massachusetts Company in London,
came there from Salem, with several servants of the company
under his care; laid out the town in two-acre lots; erected a
large building for public purposes, called the ' Great House ' ;
and with the consent of Gov. Endicott exchanged the Indian
name of the place, Mishawum, for Charlestown, in honor of
King Charles I, the then reigning monarch of Great Britain.
In the year following, July, 1630, a large and select company
of Puritans, who had arrived the month preceding at Salem
from England, came to Charlestown, with a view to build and
establish themselves there." (Sewall's " History of Woburn,"
pp. 7, 8.) " In the interval between the gathering of the
church and the ordination of its first pastor, Woburn was in
corporated as a town [1642]. Its territory was granted orig
inally to Charlestown, on condition that it should be built on

Several of the inhabitants of Charlestown, among
them being John Russell, met at the house of Mr.
Thomas Graves, in Charlestown, on December eigh
teenth, 1640, and upon that day agreed upon a series
of " Town Orders " for the proposed new town of
Woburn; and these " Town Orders " are subscribed
by thirty-two persons, including John Russell.1 He
within two years. This condition had besn fulfilled." {Id.
p. 23.)
1 Whence Woburn derived its name appears not to be known.
Woburn, in Bedfordshire, in England, then was and still is the
site of Woburn Abbey, the seat of the Duke of Bedford, whose
family name is Russell. Sewall, the historian of Woburn, con
jectures that a Richard Russell, who came to Charlestown
from Herefordshire in 1640, and later became prominent in
the colony, may have been a member of the family of which
the Duke of Bedford was the head and that the name Wo
burn therefore may have been chosen out of respect for him.
But this hardly seems probable, and at best is mere conjecture,
as necessarily also must be any opinion as to the part which
may have been taken by John Russell in the choice of the name.
No Russell, other than John Russell, was among the subscribers
to the "Town Orders" of 1640, above referred to, in which
the new town is called " Woburn." Some of the descendants
of John Russell used the goat crest, which is the crest of
the Bedford Russells. This crest appears upon Jonathan
Russell's seal, accompanying his signature to the treaty of
Ghent in 1814 {infra, p. 40). Mr. Charles H. Russell in
his youth understood, from family tradition, that his family
was connected with the Bedford Russells, and he and his
brother William from early life used the goat crest. Hastings
Russell, the ninth Duke of Bedford, whom Mr. Charles H.
Russell knew and to whom he sent a copy of J. R. Bartlett's
work on the genealogy of the descendants of John Russell of
Woburn (Providence, 1879), in which work no suggestion of
any connection with the Bedford Russells is made, wrote to Mr.
Russell in January, 1880: " It seems irresistible to infer, when
the names of ' Russell ' and ' Woburn ' appear together as early
as 1640, that the families are connected," and referred to

is stated by Sewall ("History of Woburn") to
have been by occupation a shoemaker. He was made
a freeman of the colony in 1635,1 and was a land
owner; and was one of the leading men of the town
and of the community in which he lived. For many
years in succession he " was chosen to the responsible
office of Sealer of Leather." He was one of the
Selectmen of the town of Woburn, from 1652 to
1656 inclusive. In 1664 he " was appointed on a
highly respectable and important committee of seven
for making distribution among the proprietors of the
town ' of plow lands and swamps, and a particular
division of the remote timber, according to justice
and equity.' He is likewise named in the Town Rec
ords of the same year as a deacon of the Church ; and,
at that time, was doubtless an Orthodox Congrega-
tionalist, both in profession and practice." 2
It was during these and the following years of the
seventeenth century that the persecution of the Bap
tists, which constitutes a very important chapter in
the history of Massachusetts and of the United
States, was in progress. At that time the control
of the Puritan commonwealth was practically in the
hands of the clergy. That such should be the case
was never the purpose of the Crown in granting the
" cousins on this side and on that side of the Atlantic," and
in a later letter referred to " branches of a family divided by
the Atlantic; " but there is no conclusive evidence to connect
John Russell of Woburn with the English family of which the
Duke of Bedford is the head. The record of the early emi
grants to New England is very incomplete; and it is not as yet
known to his descendants from what part of England John
Russell came.
1 N. E. Hist. Gen. Reg., Vol. XXXVI, p. 324.
2Sewall's "History of Woburn," p. 157.

charter, for it was intended that the franchise should
be freely exercised by all who had the freedom of
the Company. But the power of the clergy was,
from the beginning, very great among the companies
of people who emigrated from England to the Col
ony of Massachusetts Bay; and, undoubtedly, to a
great extent, these people made the emigration ra
ther from loyalty to their pastors than from any real
inconvenience suffered by them in the practice of
their religious faith in the mother country. Tolera
tion and liberty of conscience were not ideals of
seventeenth century Reformers of the type of the
pastors who led the bands of Puritans to Massachu
setts at this period ; and there is very good reason to
believe that it was their deliberate purpose to establish
beyond the seas a commonwealth in which their " or
thodox " church should be supreme. By the influ
ence of the clergy, a statute was passed in Massa
chusetts in 1631 providing that no men should be
admitted to the freedom of the body politic except
such as were members of the churches.
The clergy thus had for all practical purposes the
temporal power ; and even the magistrates were sub
servient to them. But in all such conditions of soci
ety, as over and over again has been seen in the
world's history, there are men whom no ecclesiastical
tyranny can control, and who are fearless to teach
the truth as they see it. And the ecclesiastics are thus
placed in a situation in which they must crush the
heresy or schism, or else lose their own power. Such
was the situation of the orthodox clergy of Massa
chusetts in the seventeenth century, when they found
themselves face to face with the Baptists, and met

men ready to die for their faith, whom no persecu
tion could silence.
At what time John Russell's convictions led him
to join the Baptists is not definitely known. It was
after the persecutions had continued for some years,
and after Henry Dunster had been deposed from the
presidency of Harvard College because he accepted
the beliefs of that sect. He was present, about 1660,
at a church trial of Thomas Goold, who was a man
of high standing in the community, one of the early
Baptists, and later the first pastor of the Baptist
Church of Charlestown and Boston; and probably
he was a member of the board or committee ap
pointed to examine Goold. One of the meetings was
held at John Russell's house ("a meeting was ap
pointed by the church the next week at Mr. Rus
sell's." " Being met at Mr. Russell's house," etc.) ;
and the account of the trial shows that he insisted
upon fair play for Goold and endeavored to keep
the chief prosecutor within proper bounds ; but there
is no evidence that at that time he was in sympathy
with Goold's opinions.1
In 1668, a petition " of sundrie well affected per
sons " was addressed to the General Court then sit
ting in Boston, asking for leniency in the cases of
three Baptists, who were confined in prison for hav
ing formed a church and for holding religious ser
vices otherwise than as permitted by law. This peti
tion was signed by over sixty persons, including John
1 Goold's narration of this trial is given in Backus' History
of the Baptists, Vol. I (the first edition), pp. 359 et seq., and
in Wood's " History of the First Baptist Church of Boston,"
pp. 42 et seq.

Russell ; or, as he signed himself, and as he appears
then and since to have been more commonly known,
" John Russell, senr.," to distinguish him from his
son, John Russell, Junior. The list of signers is
said by historical writers to include many of the most
respected citizens of the time. The petition, after
referring to the unhappy condition of the prisoners,
says: " The sence of this their parsonall and family
most deplorable and afflicted condition hath sadlie
affected the harts of maney sober and serious Chris
tians, that in themselves neither approve of their
judgmts nor practis, yet considering the men are re
puted godly and civill, and peaceable in their conver
sations, and the thinges wherein they differ being
circomstantiall and disputable among learned, sober
and pious men, and your pore prisoners professing
that they cannot in Conscience doe what is required
of them, Now therefore that they may not be exposed
to sin or suffer for conscience sake we most humbly
beseech this honored Court in their Christian mercy
and bowels of Compassion to pittie and release these
poore prisoners, whose suffering cause being doubt
ful to maney, and grevious to sundrie of God's peo
ple at home and abroad, may crave a further con
sideration," etc., etc.1 The General Court was very
much displeased by this petition, which the House
of Deputies characterized as " scandalous & re
proachful " ; and those of the signers who were
considered to have been the most active in preparing
the petition and in procuring signatures to it were
fined, while others were forced to express their re
grets in writing and to make their excuses and apolo-
1 Massachusetts Archives, Vol. X, p. 221.

gies. But John Russell's name is not among either
of these.
A return of the constables of Charlestown to a
warrant, directing them " to look after persons meet
ing together upon the Lord's Day in a disorderly
way and to return the names of which," shows that
John Russell was present at a religious meeting at
the house of Thomas Goold, at Charlestown, on Sun
day, the seventh of March, 1669.1 Towards the end
of the year 1669 or the early part of 1670 he was
admitted a member of the Baptist Church of Boston,
and soon afterwards was chosen an elder of that
church. In a letter from Edward Drinker, a leading
member of that church and one of its founders, ad
dressed to the Baptist Church at Newport, Novem
ber thirtieth, 1670, it is said: " The Lord has given
us another elder, one John Russell, senior, a gra
cious, wise and holy man that lives at Woburn,
where we have five brethren near that can meet with
him; and they meet together First days, when they
cannot come to us; and I hear there are some more
there looking that way with them." 2
" In 1670 he is called Elder Russell, and it is
known that he gathered around him a considerable
group of brethren in Woburn and Billerica, and
preached to them on the Lord's Day when it was
inconvenient for them to meet with the church in
Boston. At times also he preached to the church
itself, when Pastor Goold was unable to fill his office.
He seems to have been a ' teaching elder,' but was
1 Middlesex Court Record. Wood's " History of the First
Baptist Church of Boston," p. 90.
2 Backus' History of the Baptists, Vol. I, p. 400.

10
never pastor of the church. He is called ' a gra
cious, wise and holy man,' and was greatly beloved
by his fellow-disciples. He was a patient, quiet, sa
gacious man, who bore his trials with an equable and
Christian temper." 1
In 1671 several citizens of Woburn were indicted
for publicly manifesting contempt for the ordinance
of infant baptism and for attending the assemblies
of the Baptists (or "Anabaptists," as they were
called), which were prohibited by law. Some of
them were publicly admonished, or discharged upon
promise of change of conduct. " One deemed more
irreclaimable than the rest (viz: John Russell, Senr.)
was bound over to the Court of Assistants, then the
Supreme Court of the Colony, for a final decision
upon his case." 2 This was in December, 1671. He
had been indicted by the grand jury in October pre
ceding.3 " The persecuting spirit begins to stir
again. Elder Russell and his son and Brother Fos
ter are presented to the court that is to be this
month." 4 Sewall says : " It seems but reasonable
to conclude that all belonging to Woburn, who had
been summoned before the civil tribunals for their
Baptist sentiments and practices, Dec. 1671, ex
cept John Russell, Senr., and John Russell, Jr.,
his son, either renounced those sentiments and prac
tices as erroneous, or else that they worshipped
1 Wood's " History of the First Baptist Church of Boston,"
pp. 101, 102. Snow's "History of Boston," p. 151.
2 Sewall's " History of Woburn," p. 155.
* Middlesex Court Original Papers. Wood's " History of
the First Baptist Church of Boston," p. 102.
4 From letter of Benjamin Sweetser, December 10, 1671,
quoted in Backus' History of the Baptists, Vol. I, p. 404.

11
unitedly with their Congregational brethren, while
they lived, not accounting the differences between
them as essential. . . . But there was one person in
dicted as above, whose resolute spirit no opposition
could subdue, no suffering could break down or
cause to swerve from the path which he deemed to
be right." And this one person, as he goes on to
mention, was " John Russell, Senr." x
Even before he had become a member of the Bap
tist church, " he had become remiss in his attendance
upon public worship at Woburn, was wont to turn
his back at the ministration of infant baptism, and
refused to partake with the church there, of which
he then was or recently had been both a member
and an officer, in the Sacrament of the Lord's Sup
per. Upon these charges, and likewise for joining
the Baptist Church in Boston, which had not been
regularly gathered according to the laws of the Col
ony, and for accepting the eldership among them
... he was summoned and tried before the Court
of Quarter Sessions at Charlestown, December 19,
1671, and by that Court he was bound over, as we
have seen, to appear before the Court of Assistants
at their next session." 2 It appears from the official
records that, before the Court of Assistants, he ad
mitted that he had joined the Baptists and had be
come a teaching officer among them, and that he
refused " to promise for aftertimes to refrayne fre
quenting theaforesayd disallowed meeting." He
1 Sewall's " History of Woburn," p. 157.
2Sewall's "History of Woburn," p. 158. Middlesex Court
Record, Vol. Ill, p. 14. Wood's " History of the First Baptist
Church of Boston," pp. 102, 103.

12
was accordingly committed to prison at Cambridge,
" there to remayne wthout bayle or mainprise till the
Generall Court take further order therein, Vnless
in the mean Tyme he doe engage by solemne prom
ise to some two of the magistrates of Midlesex to
desist from his irregular scandelous practises and at
tend the publick worship of God on the Lord's dayes
in the place where he lives, which he refusing to pre-
forme warrant issued out for his Comittment ac
cordingly." 1 This was on March fifth, 1672. On
May thirtieth, being then in prison, he petitioned the
General Court to grant him a speedy trial.2
It was commonly reported at the time that John
Russell, under the rigors and cruelty to which such
prisoners were subjected, had died in prison. He
certainly suffered severely, and was so greatly re
duced in health that it was supposed that he could not
live; but his spirit remained unbroken. In order
that he might recover his health, he was released
on bail; and we find him again petitioning the Gen
eral Court to grant him a speedy trial, or, in case
that request should not be granted, that the sure
ties upon his bond might be discharged. A date was
set for his trial; but it then appearing that by rea
son of his illness he could not attend, his sureties
were discharged ; 3 and it does not appear that subse
quently he was tried. It is uncertain how long he
was in prison. In Snow's " History of Boston," it
is said, in a reference to him: " This Mr. Russell and
1 Massachusetts Archives, Vol. X, p. 229.
2 Massachusetts Archives, Vol. X, p. 230*
3 Massachusetts Archives, Vol. X, p. 231.

CHARLES H. RUSSELL
About 1815

13
another of their members of the name of Foster were
confined in prison for nearly six months in 1672."
His second petition for a speedy trial, which is not
dated, was acted upon by the Deputies of the General
Court on October twenty-first, 1672. In it he men
tions his having been released on bail. In a letter
from William Hamlit, a Baptist, June fourteenth,
1672, he is spoken of thus: " I perceive you have
heard as if our brother Russell had died in prison.
Through grace he is yet in the land of the living, and
out of prison bonds; but is in a doubtful way as to
recovery of his outward health; but we ought to be
quiet in the good will and pleasure of our God, who
is only wise." x From the foregoing facts it appears
that he was committed to prison on the fifth of March
and was released on bail at some time before the four
teenth of June.
Soon afterwards the authorities seem to have real
ized the impossibility of crushing the Baptists; but
more or less persecution still continued. Sentences of
imprisonment and of banishment were no longer im
posed ; but the holding of their religious services was
interfered with, and fines were imposed. On June
twenty-fifth, 1675, " John Russell, Sen1 appearing
before the Court to answr the prsentm' of the Grand
Jury for not attending the Publ: worship of God
on Lords Dayes & etc., and by his owne confession
in open Court being convicted of constant & ordinary
frequenting the meeting of the Anabaptists on the
Lords Dayes & etc., is sentenced to pay a fine of five
pounds & costs eight shillings & six pence." At the
1 Backus' History of the Baptists, Vol. I, p. 405.

14
same Court, John Russell, Junior, was fined forty
shillings and six shillings costs, for the same offence.1
John Russell, Senior, died at Woburn, June first,
1676. He left two children: John Russell, Junior,
and Mary, wife of Timothy Brooks (or, as she is
called in his will, Mary Brooke). His will is filed
in Middlesex County.2
John Russell, Junior, joined the Baptist Church
earlier than his father. He may have followed his
father's trade of shoemaker; and he was repeatedly
chosen Sealer of Leather at Woburn. He was re
ceived into the first Baptist church, either in Charles
town or Boston, in 1667 or 1668. In letters to that
church from other churches and ministers of the same
denomination outside of Massachusetts (as quoted
in Backus' History of the Baptists) he is repeatedly
mentioned with his father in their salutations and in
terms of respect and affection. He also was obnox
ious to the civil authorities, and was presented to the
Court of Quarter Sessions in December, 1671, at
the same time as his father; but probably was not
committed to prison. He became a "teaching elder"
in July, 1678; and on July twenty-eighth, 1679,
1 Middlesex Court Record. Wood's " History of the First
Baptist Church of Boston," p. 123.
2 " The descendants of Elder John Russell, Senr., who con
tinued in Woburn, seem not to have retained his peculiar senti
ments as a Baptist, but to have been of the Congregational
persuasion, ... but a granddaughter of Elder Russell, Senr.,
by his daughter Mary Brooks, wife of Timothy Brooks of
Woburn, was married at Swansea to a gentleman by tlie name
of Mason, by whom she had three sons, Job, Russell and John
Mason, all of whom were esteemed preachers of tlie Baptist
persuasion in their day." (Sewall's " History of Woburn,"
p. 161.)

15
after the death of Thomas Goold, the first pastor, he
was ordained minister of the Baptist Church in Bos
ton, and at that time removed his residence from Wo
burn to Boston. He died there in December, 1680,
aged forty years.1 His gravestone is in the King's
Chapel churchyard in Boston. The persecutions
continued during his lifetime; and in March, 1680,
the doors of his meeting-house were closed and
" nailed up " by the authorities.2 Shortly before
his death, he wrote a reply to an attack upon the Bap
tists contained in a work by Increase Mather, pub
lished in 1680, and called: " The Divine Right of In
fant Baptisme Asserted and Proved from Scripture
and Antiquity." John Russell, Junior's, reply was
entitled: " A Brief Narrative of some Considerable
Passages Concerning the First Gathering and fur
ther Progress of a Church of Christ in Gospel Order
in Boston, in New England, Commonly (though
falsely) called by the name of Anabaptists; for
clearing their innocency from the Scandalous things
laid to their charge. Set forth by John Russell, an
Officer of the said Church, with Consent of the whole.
Dated in Boston, 20th, 3d Month, 1680." Being
approved by his church, it was sent to London and
there published, with a preface written by six noted
Baptist ministers of London. This reply of John
Russell, Junior, is admirably written. It shows him
to have been a man of education; its literary style
and its arguments are excellent; and it is remarkable
1 Apparently he died without a will. Administration was
granted to his widow, Sarah Champney Russell; and an in
ventory of his real and personal estate is filed in Middlesex
County. 2 Backus' History of the Baptists, Vol. I, p. 488.

16
for the calmness and Christian spirit which pervade
it, at a time when religious controversies were almost
invariably marked by bitterness and vituperation.
In these respects it is in marked contrast to the work
of Increase Mather, to which it was a reply, and to
the pamphlet of Samuel Willard, which followed it.
John Russell, Junior's, " Narrative " led to the
publication in Boston, in 1681, after his death, of
the celebrated pamphlet entitled : " Ne Sutor Ultra
Crepidam " ("Let the cobbler stick to his last"),
by Samuel Willard, minister of a Congregational
church in Boston, with an introduction by Increase
Mather. This pamphlet is constantly referred to
by historians of the period as a frank and emphatic
expression of the bigotry and intolerant spirit of the
orthodox clergy.1
In a letter written by Samuel Sewall, at Boston,
December twenty-seventh, 1680, he says: " Mr. Rus
sell, ye Anabaptist Minister, was buried last Wed
nesday, scarce having time to read his little piece
writt. in Defence of y* Sect, in opposition to Mr.
Mather's Divine Right of Infant Baptisme^ wch
came over Printed (I suppose) in ye last ship."
(N. E. Hist. Gen. Reg., Vol. XXIV, p. 123.)
Dr. Wood, in the " History of the First Baptist
1 Only two copies of John Russell, Junior's, work are known
to be in existence. One is in the possession of the Crozer
Theological Seminary in Pennsylvania. One was sold some
years ago at the Brinley sale of books. A verbatim copy is
given in Wood's " History of the First Baptist Church of
Boston." Copies of Increase Mather's " The Divine Right of Infant
Baptisme " and of " Ne Sutor Ultra Crepidam " are in the
Lenox Library in New York.

17
Church of Boston," says of John Russell, Junior:
" He may have been a cobbler, but there is no evi
dence whatever of it except the fact that he was a
leather dealer, which would be very slight evidence
indeed. He was a man of singular discretion and of
a good education." It seems very likely, however,
that he may have been a shoemaker, at least in his
youth, as that was the trade of his father.
Concerning John Russell, Junior, the Rev. Isaac
Backus, the historian of the Baptists, says: " It is
evident that the gifts and graces of Elder Russell
were not small; and his memory is precious." 1
John Russell, father and son, did not live to see the
great principle of religious liberty, for which they
contended, recognized and established; but before
many years after their deaths religious persecution
ceased in Massachusetts, and thereafter men were
free to worship God according to their consciences
and to practice and teach their faith unmolested.
The Russells and their associates bore imprison
ment, fines, cruelty, abuse and misrepresentation,
in the fearless struggle which they made for liberty
of conscience and religious toleration; and yet they
wished to force no man to their way of thinking ; all
that they claimed for themselves was the same free
dom which they wished others to have. The com
bined forces of the state, the church and society were
arrayed against them; they seem indeed poor and
weak in comparison ; but nothing mortal could crush
them, and in the end their cause was victorious. Whe-
1 " Messrs. Joseph, William and Jonathan Russell, now
[1777] noted traders in Providence, are of his posterity."
(Backus' History of the Baptists, Vol. I, p. 492.)

18
ther or not we agree with their opinions about infant
baptism, the principle of religious liberty for which
they were willing to sacrifice everything is the no
blest one for which men have ever contended upon
this continent. Without it, civil liberty would be a
mere name and of no value. Religious liberty has
been so long established as a fundamental principle
of American political and social life that the labors
and sufferings of those to whom we owe this blessing
are almost forgotten. But their names should be
held in everlasting gratitude by their countrymen
and by all lovers of humanity.
John Russell, Junior, had eight children, among
them a son Joseph, who lived in Boston, and died
there in 1713. Joseph Russell was seriously consid
ered as a successor to his father as pastor of the
Baptist Church. He is mentioned as having " gifts
that may tend to edification if improved." Evi
dently he preferred to engage in business; but he
and his wife Mary were members of the Baptist
Church in Boston, and one of their sons was a deacon
of that church. In the possession of the church,
which has existed without interruption since its or
ganization in 1665, are two silver communion cups,
given to it in 1714, one marked: " Ex dono J. & M.
Russell, 1714," and the other: " Ex dono Mary Rus
sell to ye Church." In his will, filed in Suffolk
County, Joseph Russell describes himself as " shop
keeper." He left to each of his nine children three
hundred pounds; to his wife his dwelling-house and
land for her life, and upon her death to his children ;
and to his wife the residue of his estate. The will of

19
his widow Mary Russell, who died in 1715, also is
filed in Suffolk County.1
Among Joseph Russell's children was a son named
Thomas, who also lived in Boston, and was engaged
in business and died there in 1760. The gravestones
of Joseph Russell and of his wife Mary and of his
son Thomas Russell are in the King's Chapel church
yard.
1 " Inventory of Ye Estate of Mr. Joseph & Mary Russell
Deceasd Boston April 11th 1715.
Shop Goods  3935 13 11
Household Ditto  116 15 5
Plate 197 oz at 8s per oz  79 2
House and Land  500
Negro Woman  , 20
Cash  35

£4686 11
(From Suffolk County Probate Records.)

II

Thomas Russell, the father of Charles Handy Rus
sell, was the youngest of seven sons and eight chil
dren of the above-named Thomas Russell, and was
born in Boston in 1758. His mother's maiden name
was Honora Loud. She was a descendant of Elder
William Brewster of the Mayflower, and is said to
have been a handsome woman. She was noted in
Boston for her zeal and enthusiasm in the cause of
American independence, which she boldly advocated
even in the presence of the highest British officers.
It is said that Dr. Warren called upon her, on his
way to the battle of Bunker Hill. Thomas was pur
suing his studies in Boston at the outbreak of the
Revolutionary War. Soon afterwards he went to
Providence, and made his home with his brother
Jonathan Russell, who was a merchant in that town,
and with whom he became a clerk ; but he was anx
ious to enter the military service, and his brothers
gave their consent.1 He served for two short periods
1 Several of the elder brothers of Thomas Russell made Provi
dence their residence. Besides Jonathan, his brothers Joseph
and William were successful merchants and ship-owners there,
and were extensively engaged in foreign commerce.
" Joseph Russell was a merchant of Providence, associated
with his brother William. If we can form an opinion from the
advertisements of the house of Joseph and William Russell in
the ' Providence Gazette,' from the middle of the last century
to the close of the Revolutionary War, we should place them
among the largest mercantile houses of the Colony. In 1785
20

21
of active service in the Rhode Island militia, and in
October, 1777, being then just nineteen years of age,
received from General Washington a commission as
ensign in Colonel Henry Sherburne's regiment of
infantry in the Continental army. This regiment
of regular Continental infantry was recruited chiefly
in Massachusetts, from which State Thomas Russell
was appointed, but it contained also a considerable
number of officers and men from Rhode Island and
Connecticut. Colonel Sherburne was an able and
distinguished officer, and his regiment was noted for
its excellence in drill and discipline.
Thomas Russell is said to have been a handsome
young fellow, with long, flowing hair, which he cut
off when he became a soldier. The regiment served
in New York until the summer of 1778, when it was
ordered to Rhode Island and took part in the cam
paign of that year under General Sullivan. In the
" battle of Rhode Island," August twenty-ninth,
he was State Senator, then termed Assistant. He was also
interested in the cause of education, and was one of the Trustees
of Rhode Island College, now Brown University. . . . The
' Providence Gazette ' of the day has the following notice of
him: ' The Honorable Joseph Russell died at his seat in Wood
stock on 18th May [1792], in the sixtieth year of his age.
He was for many years an eminent merchant in this town, and
acquired a handsome fortune. He sustained sundry offices of
public trust with singular integrity. ... As a man of business,
he was industrious and punctual; as a Christian, a regular
observer of public worship in the Episcopal Church. His merit
as a good citizen and an honest man is universally acknow
ledged, and his charity to the poor and compassion for the dis
tressed were among the amiable traits in his character as a
gentleman.' "... (From J. R. Bartlett's genealogy of the
descendants of John Russell of Woburn, Providence, 1879-)
William Russell also was a trustee of Rhode Island College.

22
1778, which LaFayette called "the best fought action
of the war," the brigade of which Thomas Russell's
regiment formed a part held the right of the Ameri
can line. Washington afterwards complimented
General Sullivan upon the " gallant behavior " of
the American forces in that battle, and Congress
voted its thanks to them for the "fortitude and
bravery displayed." The regiment remained in
Rhode Island until the following year, when it
joined the main army under General Washington, in
New Jersey. In November, 1779, Thomas Russell,
who had been constantly with his regiment and at
that time was its adjutant, was appointed aide-de
camp to General Stark. In July, 1780, he was pro
moted to be lieutenant. He continued to be aide-de
camp to General Stark until near the end of the
year 1780, when the latter relinquished his com
mand. Thomas Russell then rejoined his regiment.
He was on duty in New Jersey until late in the
summer of 1780, and thereafter in New York. Upon
the reduction of the Continental army by Congress,
he was retired, in 1781, after over three years of
continuous active service.1
1 " Once, when on duty, he narrowly escaped death by a can
non-ball. . . . He was a man of fine personal appearance. His
genial and affable nature attached to him many friends; and,
being a gentleman of cultured tastes, as well as of a brave and
chivalrous spirit, he soon became an esteemed and trusted mem
ber of the military families to which he was successively at
tached. He was in the naval service for a while, but of his
experience no record has been preserved." (From the volume
of " Proceedings of the Rhode Island Historical Society,
1873-74," in which the foregoing reference to Thomas Russell
is made, in connection with the publication of a letter written
by him on January twentieth, 1778, at " Fish-Kill," where he

Thomas Russell's brothers William and Jonathan,
and a son of his brother Joseph, named Joseph Dol-
bear Russell, all served as officers in the military
service in the Revolutionary War. The last-named
was aide-de-camp to General Sullivan at the battle
of Rhode Island. " Samuel Russell of Woburn, son
of Jesse, was wounded in the shoulder at the fight in
Charlestown, June 17, 1775, and brought home and
died of his wounds and a fever." (Diary of Samuel
Thompson, N. E. Hist. Gen. Reg., Vol. XXXIV,
p. 399.) This was the battle of Bunker Hill. Jesse
Russell was a great-great-grandson of John Russell,
Senior. In 1783 Thomas Russell was married, at Trinity
Church, in Newport, to Ann Handy, daughter of
Charles Handy, who was a prominent merchant and
landowner there. He was a grandson of Samuel
Handy, a native of England, who settled in Somer
set County, in Maryland, where he died in 1721, and
who was a tobacco-planter. Charles Handy removed
to Rhode Island, and made his home at Newport.
was then on duty. The name of the writer of the article is
not given. Several letters, written by Thomas Russell during
his military service, are in the possession of his descendants.)
A Mr. William Wilkinson, of Providence, in some reminis
cences given in 1848, he then being about eighty-eight years old,
stated that he and Thomas Russell sailed together as volun
teers in the privateer Dean, for about four months, in 1781.
There were six volunteers. " We were all in one mess, had a
good time, and were aU well and happy. . . . Russell was a
little older than myself. We slept in the same hammock.
When he was out I was in. Our mess had charge of the
quarter-deck guns, three always on watch and three below;
four guns, four-pounders. . . . We had an easy time on board
the ship . . . and did not have to do duty under the boatswain."

24
His residence in Pelham Street still stands in good
preservation, ' and until within a recent period still
had behind it a large old-fashioned garden. Four
well-known streets in Newport bear the names of
four of his sons, John, William, Levin and Thomas,
and were laid out through lands which belonged to
him. Charles Handy's wife was Ann Brown, daughter
of Captain John Brown, a distinguished merchant
and ship-owner of Newport.1 John Brown's father
1 In " Biographical sketches of distinguished members of the
Newport Artillery," published in the " Newport Mercury," 1877,
the following reference is made to John Brown:
" The third name on the Artillery Company's roll is that
of John Brown. He and his brother Peleg were extensive
merchants. They were contemporaries of Godfrey Malbone,
and were largely engaged in maritime commerce. One of his
daughters married Charles Handy, the grandfather of Charles
H. and William H. Russell, well-known Newporters. John
Brown was extensively engaged in privateering. The history
of the Revenge, under her various commanders, would fill a
volume and be as interesting and as romantic as the story of
the Bon Homme Richard. The Revenge went through three
wars. Besides her, he had the Triton, the Victory, the Castor,
the Pollux, the Prince William, the King George, the Britannia,
the Queen Elisabeth, the Mary, the Patience. This was the
war which began in 1740."
An examination of the list of privateers from Newport in this
war, commonly known as the " French and Spanish War," and
of their owners, shows that Godfrey Malbone, John Bannister,
his brother Peleg Brown and others had interests with him;
and the vessels appear to have been fitted out from 1740 to
1745. Dr. Henry E. Turner, of Newport, who was a recognized
authority upon questions of local history and genealogy, believed
that John Brown, the father of Mrs. Charles Handy, was a
great-grandson of Chad Brown (or Browne), who was a com
panion of Roger Williams, and was well known as one of the

25
(also named John Brown) was a merchant and a
man of influence in the colony. His mother was a
daughter of the colonial Governor John Cranston,
and her mother was a daughter of the colonial Gov
ernor Jeremiah Clarke. His wife was Jane Lucas.
She was born at St. Malo in France, and was a
daughter of Augustus Lucas, a French Protestant,
who left France after the revocation of the Edict
of Nantes, with his wife and child. Augustus Lucas
settled at Newport, and became a freeman of the
colony of Rhode Island in 1707.1
The Browns and the Handys were Episcopalians.
Charles Handy's prayer-book, with the prayers for
the King crossed out in ink with vigorous strokes, is
in the possession of one of his descendants. He was
at various times a vestryman and a churchwarden of
Trinity Church at Newport.2 Two of his sons,
leading early colonists of Rhode Island (1636). See also the
statements to the same effect of the genealogical tables contained
in the volume entitled " The Chad Browne Memorial," pub
lished in 1888.
1 He had a son, Augustus Lucas, Junior, who was born in
America. The latter also became a freeman of the colony of
Rhode Island, and later lived at Fairfield, Connecticut. In the
inventory of Augustus Lucas, Junior's, estate are mentioned
the following articles, which undoubtedly had belonged to his
father, and which Mr. Henry L. Mills, historian, of Fairfield,
thus describes : " Silver-hilted sword and belt, pocket pistols,
pair silver spurs, and French common prayer-book, which indi
cates that he was a gentleman and a Huguenot."
2 " Before the War of the Revolution ... in Newport, the
principal families there were highly aristocratic in their man
ners. They possessed little sympathy for their fellow-citizens.
The families of Brenton, Malbone, Wanton, Simon Pease,
Charles Handy, the Bannisters, Freebody, and others, were of
this caste." (Updike's " History of the Episcopal Church in
Narragansett, Rhode Island," p. 433.)

26
Charles and John, were officers in the Revolutionary
army. Thomas Russell became intimate with them
during his military service in Rhode Island ; and af
terwards, having been invited by the brothers to visit
them at their father's house at Newport, he there met
the young lady who became his wife.1
For a long period prior to the Revolution, New
port had been a place of great activity in business.
Its commerce at one time rivalled that of New York,
and it employed about two hundred vessels in for
eign trade, besides several hundred coasting vessels.
The population is said to have been of from ten
to eleven thousand. The war, however, and espe
cially the long occupation of the town by the Brit
ish forces, had left it with a reduced population and
greatly diminished business, and its commerce had
almost entirely disappeared. Under these circum
stances, Thomas Russell and his wife removed to
Philadelphia, where he engaged in business and they
resided until 1785, when they returned to Newport
and made their home in what was later known as the
" Devens House," in Mary Street, which belonged
1 One of these brothers was Brigade-Major John Handy.
" During the Revolutionary War he did good service under
Sullivan and Spencer. On the 20th of July, 1776, he read the
Declaration of Independence from the steps of the State House
[in Newport] — a solemn day with the people, for they were
launching upon a stormy sea, with but a glimmer of the light
they hoped to reach. Fifty years from that day [July 4,
1826] Major Handy was again called upon to read the same
document from the same place. On this occasion, the steps
were dressed with flowers, and there was general rejoicing."
(From " Reminiscences of Newport," by George C. Mason,
1884.)

CHARLES H. RUSSELL
1831

27
to Charles Handy, and which still stands, although
recently much altered. By the will of Charles
Handy this house was given to his daughter.1 After
his return to Newport, Thomas Russell engaged in
foreign trade, and made voyages to Europe and to
China.2 Although his active service as a soldier was ended,
he appears still to have taken an interest in military
affairs. In 1792 he was second lieutenant of the
Newport Artillery Company. In 1794, 1795 and
1796 he was Brigade Inspector of the Rhode Island
militia for Newport and Bristol counties.3 In a let-
1 Extract from the will of Charles Handy, July 12, 1793:
" Also I give and devise to my daughter Ann Russell, wife of
Thomas Russell, the dwelling-house wherein they now live and
the lot whereon it now stands in said Newport, formerly owned
by Capt. John Brown, and also forty acres of land in Middle-
town which I purchased of Samuel Tompkins, to her my said
daughter Ann during her life, and after her decease to her
children then living, equally to be divided as tenants in com
mon, to them and their heirs and assigns forever. Also, I give
and devise to my said daughter Ann Russell all my cow com
mons, with all the privileges thereto belonging, being thirteen,
on the Island of Nantucket in the State of Massachusetts, to
her heirs and assigns forever. I also give and bequeath to
my said daughter Ann Russell four thousand silver dollars."
2 In a letter from Dr. Solomon Drowne, of Providence, to
his wife, who was a sister of Thomas Russell, dated at " Mari
etta, at the confluence of Ohio and Muskingum, December 31st,
1788," he writes: "There is a great profit to be made by
trading with the Indians in skins, etc. I think I have heard
Thomas Russell say he had half a share here; if so, you may
give him a hint that I think he can trade to better advantage
here than in Newport." (From the " Magazine of American
History," April, 1883.)
3 " Civil and Military List of Rhode Island, 1647-1800," by
J. J. Smith.

ter written by his daughter Ann, in 1884, giving re
collections of her father, she says:
" Our father was an officer of the first artillery company
in Newport; the dress was blue faced with scarlet. After
wards all the Revolutionary officers in Newport formed a
company of horse. ... I recollect a number of their names,
although I think I was not a dozen years old : General Mar
tin, Colonel Tew, Captain Holt, Colonel Frank Malbone,
Colonel Champlin, Major Russell, and others I cannot recol
lect. The uniform was very rich : blue faced with buff, with
buff small clothes and vest, gold epaulets, and gold-hilted
swords, with crimson sashes. My father rode a gray horse."
Thomas Russell was commonly called Major Rus
sell ; and the title probably was a complimentary one
attached to the position which he held as a staff-offi
cer during a considerable part of his active military
service. A writer of " Reminiscences of Old Newport "
in the " Newport Mercury," November, 1873, thus
describes the uniform of the Newport Artillery Com
pany as it was just after the Revolutionary War:
" The uniform of the Artillery then was the old Revolu
tionary broad-skirted, long blue coat, faced with red, with
white vest and small clothes and long black gaiters, a cocked
hat with a black feather plume tipped with red, with pretty
wide white belts from the shoulders crossed to the hips,
with a wooden cartridge box on the right side, covered with
leather, with a long leather cover that came down below the
bottom of the box ; on the left side was the bayonet sheath ;
the hair was worn clubbed behind and powdered; powder
and pomatum were once two indispensable ingredients in

29
making up the dress of a soldier. There used to be a fine
for appearance on parade without the hair being powdered."1
Charles Handy Russell, the third child and second
son of Thomas and Ann Russell, was born at New
port on September 13, 1796.
1 " It was in 1792 determined, if not to reorganize, to re
inforce the Artillery Company. At this time a new roster was
made up and many new names were added to the roll; among
them was the name of Thomas Russell, who had been an active,
efficient officer during the Revolution, and who, soon after the
close of the war, had married Ann, the daughter of Charles
Handy. . . . Mr. Russell left two sons, viz.: Charles H. Rus
sell, who at the time of his father's decease was under five years
of age, and William H. Russell, who was younger. These two
sons have occupied a large space in the mercantile and material
affairs of the country. Their lives of eminent usefulness, their
large intelligence and unspotted names bespeak the character
of the mother to whose training they were subjected. She
was both a worthy and a fortunate mother, for she made the
community her debtor for the sons she gave it." (From the
" Newport Mercury," December 6, 1879.)

Ill
Thomas Russell died in 1801, in his forty-third
year. His widow was left with four children, Ann,
Thomas,1 Charles and William. In the autumn
of 1802 she removed with her family to Bristol,
which was the home of the family until her death in
1807, and for a short time afterwards. The care
of the two younger boys, after their mother's death,
fell upon their sister, who was twelve years older
than Charles, and upon the Reverend Alexander V.
Griswold, then rector of St. Michael's Church in
Bristol, who afterwards became Bishop of the " Eas
tern Diocese," and who was their guardian. Mr.
Russell always had the greatest affection and respect
for Bishop Griswold ; and letters written by the lat
ter to him, which have been preserved, and the care
fully kept accounts which are included in some of
them, show that Mr. Griswold was in the habit of
constantly advising his young ward and of watching
over his interests with care and devotion.
Charles went to school at the Bristol Academy, of
which Abner Alden, the editor of the spelling-book,
was then the master. As a boy he was very fond of
out-of-door sports, and especially of anything of a
1 Thomas Handy Russell was a sailor, as was so commonly
the case with the young men of Providence, Newport, and
Bristol. In the War of 1812, he was a lieutenant on the
famous privateer brig Yankee, of Bristol (160 tons, 18 guns,
110 men). He died at Matanzas, in Cuba, in 1819, being
then in his twenty-eighth year and the captain of a merchant-

30

31
military character. A boy's uniformed military com
pany was organized in Bristol in 1808, and he be
came the captain of it.
His mother's desire was that Charles should go
to college, and that he should become a clergyman.
But he always, from his early boyhood, longed to be
a merchant; and the following circumstances led to
his desire being gratified. One day, in 1808, then
being about twelve years old, he was sent on an er
rand from Bristol to the island of Rhode Island. On
his way home a gentleman driving a chaise took him
in with him, and asked him who he was, and on be
ing told said that he had known his mother and knew
many members of his family well. He was Mr. Wil
liam Blodget, Junior, a merchant of Providence, of
the house of Blodget and Power. Mr. Blodget en
joyed his talk with the boy, and on parting told him
to let him know in case he ever could be of service to
him. This interview and the friendliness of Mr.
Blodget were not forgotten, and the desire to go into
business and to make his own way becoming con
firmed, he determined, in 1809, to write to Mr. Blod
get, recalling himself to him, and asking him if he
could find him a place ; and with the aid of his good
sister he wrote him a letter. Soon came a reply, be
ginning with the cordial words : " Yes, I recollect
well, and with pleasure, the smart little lad I took
into my chaise last Summer at Bristol Ferry." Mr.
Blodget expressed regret that there was no vacancy
in his own counting-room, but promised to make in
quiries ; and a second letter soon afterwards followed,
stating that he had been able to find a place for him
with " Mr. Charles Potter, a respectable dealer in

English merchandise," who, he wrote, " will receive
you on trial and, should you meet his expectations
and my representations in your behalf, will duly re
ceive you as an apprentice, allowing the usual condi
tions here of boarding. These are the best terms
given, and the same on which all of our young gen
tlemen are taken."
This plan received the approval of his guardian,
the Reverend Mr. Griswold, whose good counsel and
careful arrangements that the boy should have suffi
cient means for his support and comfort in his new
life illustrate the thoughtful attention which he gave
to everything which concerned the boy's welfare.
He went to Providence on the twenty-third of
March, 1809.
Mr. Charles Potter was engaged in the importa
tion and sale of dry-goods. He was then unmarried,
but later was married to Miss Eliza Rodman, daugh
ter of Captain William Rodman, of Providence.
His store was then in Market Square. He was at
that time living in lodgings, and took Charles home
to live with him. Later in 1809 the latter had lodg
ings with a fellow-clerk.
He began his work at the foot of the ladder in
Mr. Potter's office, and devoted himself faithfully to
it. His life during the following years appears to
have been one of satisfaction to him. He worked
hard, rising rapidly in the importance and responsi
bility of the duties entrusted to him, and even as a
subordinate studying ways in which the business
could be developed and increased. He devoted him
self so well and intelligently to his work that before
many years had passed Mr. Potter relied greatly

upon him and upon his opinion and judgment.
Even as early as April, 1810, when he was only thir
teen years old, Mr. Potter wrote to him from New
York, with instructions in relation to certain com
mercial paper, etc., as though to a man of mature
years. The quaint, old-fashioned style of the letter,
and the " Dear sir," and " Your obedient servant,"
from the head of an important business to a boy em
ployee of thirteen, are interesting. Evidently, even
at that age he was entrusted with considerable re
sponsibility. Providence at that time had a population of from
ten to twelve thousand inhabitants, and, like other
old New England towns, had a distinct importance
and character of its own, such as belonged to a state
of things which is now past and gone. The diffi
culties of travel caused each large town to be itself
a little metropolis. Then and for many years after
wards Boston and other cities were reached only by
the stage-coaches, and New York by the stage-coaches
and the sailing packets. There were a number of
men of prominence in Providence at that time, and
an intelligent and agreeable society; and several of
the men of the Revolutionary period were still active
and leaders in the community.
The War of 1812, which occurred during the pe
riod of Mr. Russell's residence in Providence, was
very unpopular there as elsewhere in New England,
and it is said that when the news of the declaration
of war was received in Providence, " the bells were
tolled and the flags floated at half mast." But the
attack upon Stonington and other places along the
coast, and the appearance of the British ships of war

34
off Newport, excited the patriotism of the entire
community and united all parties in the common
defence. Fortifications were erected at Providence,
and Mr. Russell as a volunteer took his turn of duty
in them. Upon a visit to Newport, during this pe
riod, he saw a British frigate keeping the blockade
at the entrance to the harbor. Mr. Russell became
at about this time a member of the Independent
Company of Cadets of Providence, of which later
he was an officer. Upon the declaration of peace in
1815, the town was illuminated and there was great
rejoicing. During the years of Mr. Russell's life in Provi
dence, which were from 1809 to 1825, he had many
friends, and took his part as a young man in the
social life of the place. He had an earnest purpose
to make himself well-informed upon every important
subject, and was a constant student in the hours in
which he was free from the duties of business. He
took lessons, and studied and read a great deal. He
was always very fond of drawing and of music, and
when a young man he played the flute.
In the autumn of 1813 Mr. Potter entered into
partnership with Elisha Dyer, under the firm name
of Dyer and Potter, and in the spring of 1815 went
to England and made purchases and shipments home
from there. During Mr. Potter's absence in Europe,
Mr. Dyer went to New York, and made sales there
of the goods which arrived from Europe, leaving
Mr. Russell in charge of the business in Providence.
In the same year Mr. Russell was himself sent to
New York to attend to the sale of goods arriving
for Dyer and Potter, and remained there about a

month. This was probably his first visit to New
York. And in the winter and spring of 1816 he
again spent three months in New York upon the
same business, being then chief clerk to the firm.
The copartnership of Dyer and Potter terminated
in October, 1816. As Mr. Russell enjoyed the con
fidence of both partners, much of the settlement of
the firm's business was entrusted to him.
Some Providence merchants who, at about this
time, were sending a cargo of East Indian cotton
goods to the Mediterranean, offered him the position
of supercargo and agent for their sale at Leghorn,
which was a high compliment to so young a man, but
the offer was declined; and soon afterwards Mr.
Potter proposed to him to go to Europe and buy
goods there, which offer he accepted. He was then
twenty years of age. Mr. Potter's written instruc
tions to him refer to the experience which he con
sidered that Mr. Russell possessed, and show that the
amount of the purchases to be made was left entirely
in Mr. Russell's discretion. He was furnished at
first with credits to the extent of over eight thousand
pounds, and, later, large remittances and credits were
sent out to him. The confidence placed in him by
Mr. Potter is still further shown by letters written
by the latter from Providence and New York, after
Mr. Russell's arrival in England, in which Mr. Pot
ter mentions dull business, low prices of English
goods and numerous failures, and expresses the opin
ion that it might be wise to make no further pur
chases, but still leaves the subject entirely to Mr.
Russell's judgment.
Mr. Russell sailed from Boston for Liverpool in

36
the ship Plato, Captain Smith, March nineteenth,
1817, and arrived at Liverpool on April fourteenth.
At Liverpool he presented his letters of introduction,
was introduced at the Exchange and the Under
writers' Rooms, and was at once and during all the
time of his stay treated with much hospitality and
kindness. He soon went to Manchester, where he
took lodgings, and bought goods there and at Liver
pool, Huddersfield, Halifax, Leeds and Rochdale.
The goods which he bought were all sent to Liver
pool for shipment to America.
During his voyage and his stay in Europe he kept
a journal. Soon after landing he quotes the saying
that " letters of introduction are so many tickets for
a dinner," and adds: " I wish it were possible to dis
pense with dining out while I am abroad, but I sup
pose I must put up with it." Dinners were then " at
the fashionable hour of five o'clock," of which he
seems to have disapproved, as he did also of the very
tight waists, short skirts, and short sleeves which were
the fashion of the ladies' dress of the period. The
journeys which he made to various places were by
stage-coach, and he was much impressed by the speed
of the coaches and the rapidity with which the
changes of horses were made. He was always in
search of information about the country, and an en
try in his journal shows that he soon learned one
good rule for travellers.
" An old fellow on the coach with me, a manufacturer or
dealer I concluded, was very solicitous to learn who I was,
where from, etc., etc., but I did not think proper to gratify
his curiosity. It is too common with American travellers to
let people know who they are; and although I shall never,

37
I trust, be ashamed to own myself an American, yet to
gratify any idle curiosity I do not think it worth while to
tell any person I meet with that I am a foreigner. In riding
in the coaches, in a full one particularly, and where, if not
known, it is generally imagined all are of the same country,
the conversation usually is very general and interesting, and
a stranger may collect from it much information and learn
many particulars of the country, which, the instant they
discover he is a foreigner, an American particularly, is with
held." One day at Manchester he went to a dinner-party
at the house of a wealthy merchant,
" and sat down to a most sumptuous repast at six o'clock,
indeed to a table that would not have disgraced the King of
England. I had been led to understand that this gentleman
lived in a style of grandeur unequalled by any of the mer
chants of the place, and what I witnessed would not combat
the assertion. He sports his chariot and four, with two foot
men, and lives at an expense of about £5,000 a year, up
wards of 22,000 dollars. . . . For a nobleman this is a
trifling sum in this country, but for a merchant too extrava
gant." All of his spare time was spent in studying and
reading. He was much struck by the great distress
prevailing among the poor, who seemed to have no
possible means of improving their condition. He
made an excursion from Manchester to Scotland,
going by coach to Edinburgh, stopping on the way
at Leeds, York, and Newcastle-on-Tyne, and from
Falkirk to Glasgow by canal. At all of these places
he was busily engaged in sight-seeing, and also else
where in noting what could be seen of places through

38
which he passed. An entry in his diary at Glasgow
reminds us of the barbarity of the English criminal
statutes of that period.
" A poor wretch was executed to-day near my lodgings for
passing counterfeit money, but I did not witness it. The
Government seems to make but little hesitation in these times
in putting its convicts to death. Seldom a week passes but
more or less are hanged. The very week of my arrival in
England nine poor fellows were hanged in Lancashire for
different crimes." 1
At Glasgow, in one of his wanderings on the banks
of the Clyde, he noticed " Fort Matilda, a handsome
battery of eleven guns, built during the late war with
America, 'to keep the Yankees off.' ' He visited
Paisley, and bought goods there and at Glasgow.
On leaving Glasgow he parted with regret from
" my kind Scotch friends from whom I have received
so much attention "; and returned by coach to Man
chester through " the renowned headquarters of
Hymen, Gretna Green," Carlisle, Lancaster and
Preston. An entry in his journal refers to the calls
of the watchmen at night. He passed his last even
ing in Manchester with a gentleman who had been
very kind to him, " and thrice heard the watchman
1 " From the Restoration to the death of George III — a
period of 160 years — no less than 187 capital offences were
added to the criminal code. ... In such a multiplication of
offences all principle was ignored; offences wholly different in
character and degree were confounded in the indiscriminating
penalty of death." (May's " Constitutional History of Eng
land," Vol. II, p. 553.) " This bloody code did not reach its
full measure of atrocity till towards the close of the reign of
George III," i.e., 1820. (Campbell's "Lives of the Chancel
lors," Vol. VI, p. 208.)

39
call ' past twelve o'clock and a starlight morning,'
ere I could tear myself from the friendly company
of this gentleman." He went from Manchester to
Sheffield. On the way " we passed a gibbet, on
which hung in chains the remains of a man who was
executed two years since for the murder of a woman,
' the wind whistling through his hollow bones.' '
He had but little business to do at Sheffield, and
went on to Birmingham, and thence to Kiddermin
ster, Stratford-on-Avon, Oxford and London. He
lodged at Richard's Coffee House in Fleet Street,
and spent about three weeks in London, where he met
friends and made acquaintances. He occupied him
self in sight-seeing, much of which he did in com
pany with his friends, Messrs. Lawrence and Bige-
low, of Boston; saw a case tried in the Court of
King's Bench before Lord Ellenborough, and in the
House of Commons saw Lord Castlereagh and Mr.
Canning. Having finished his business, he went from Lon
don to Holland, landing at Helvoetsluys, thence go
ing to Briel and Rotterdam, and by the canal to
Delft, The Hague, Leyden, Haarlem and Am
sterdam. He had letters of introduction at Amster
dam, was introduced on 'Change, and received hos
pitable attentions from the Messrs. Crommelius, the
great Dutch merchants. From Amsterdam he went
to Utrecht, from there by diligence to Antwerp, and
thence to Ghent. The name of Ghent was very fa
miliar to all Americans at that day, as there had been
signed, December twenty-fourth, 1814, the treaty of
peace (commonly known as " the treaty of Ghent ")
between the United States and Great Britain at the

40
close of the " War of 1812." Mr. Russell was much
interested in seeing the house in which the Commis
sioners had met ; no doubt especially so from the fact
that one of the Commissioners who signed the treaty
was his cousin, Jonathan Russell.1 From Ghent he
went to Brussels, where he heard of the death of
Madame de Stael. He visited the field of Water
loo, where the great battle had taken place two years
before, and where many evidences of the battle
still remained. From Utrecht to Brussels he trav
elled in company with some English gentlemen,
whom he had met at the former place, and whom
he found to be very agreeable companions. With
them he left Brussels for France. Soon after cross
ing the frontier, they met a body of Cossacks, and a
few hours later, on reaching Valenciennes, they saw
the redcoats of the British garrison, both forces be
ing part of the army of occupation still remain
ing in France after the final defeat of Napoleon.
" What a degrading circumstance, and what must
be the feelings of a man to see his country, and that
country one which has dictated to millions and tens
of millions of people, with her citadels in the hands
of foreign troops! " Again at Cambrai they found
British troops. At the latter place he parted with
1 The American Commissioners were John Quincy Adams,
James A. Bayard, Henry Clay, Albert Gallatin and Jonathan
Russell. The latter was a son of Mr. Russell's uncle Jonathan
Russell, of Providence, and was a distinguished man in public
life. He represented the United States as charge d'affaires at
Paris, 1810-1811, and at London, 1811-1812; and as minister
at Stockholm, 1814-1818. He was a Member of Congress from
Massachusetts, 1821-1825, and died in 1832.

41
his companions and went on to Paris. On his way
he says:
" I find for the first time the fashion, which is said to pre
vail in France, of touching glasses when they drink wine,
and not drinking healths. Our little company very sociably
sat and drank to each other in this manner."
The English custom he notes elsewhere, as follows :
" Cheese closes the dinner, and after this the cloth is re
moved, and wine drinking is the order of the day. Toasts
commence from the head of the table or president, and are
succeeded by others from the company, as they are called
upon by the chair."
He had letters of introduction and met a number
of friends in Paris, and spent all of his time there
in sight-seeing. He saw the King, Louis XVIII,
the Comte d'Artois, the Due de Berri and the Due
and Duchesse d'Angouleme. The Paris of that
period was still the old Paris, without the great
boulevards of the present day. The streets were
narrow, without sidewalks. Water ran in the mid
dle of the streets, so that pedestrians kept close to
the walls of the houses, when carriages passed, to
avoid having water splashed upon them.
He grew homesick, however, by this time, and was
very glad to leave Paris for Havre, on his way home ;
and on the twenty-first of August sailed from Havre
for New York in the Manchester packet, Captain
Burke, and reached New York on October seventh,
after a voyage of forty-seven days.

IV

On September thirteenth, 1817, Mr. Russell became
of age, and after settling his affairs with Mr. Potter
upon his return (the results of his foreign purchases
having been very successful) started in business for
himself in Providence, with his brother, William
Henry Russell, then eighteen years old, as his book
keeper. In 1818 Mr. Potter invited him to join him in a
partnership, and one was then formed, composed of
Charles Potter and Charles H. Russell, under the
firm name of Charles Potter and Company, for the
wholesale business of importing and selling foreign
dry-goods. The firm bought the fireproof building
previously occupied by the Roger Williams Bank
at No. 12 Cheapside, and carried on their business
there, William Henry Russell continuing with them.1
On the thirteenth of April, 1818, at Providence,
Mr. Russell was married to Miss Ann Rodman,
a daughter of Captain William Rodman of Provi
dence, and a sister of the wife of Mr. Charles Potter.
Her mother was Ann Olney, a niece of Colonel Jere-
1 A writer of reminiscences of a period fifty years earlier,
in the "Providence Journal" in 1873, says that at that time
" Messrs. Potter & Russell (Charles Potter and Charles H.
Russell), importers of European and East Indian dry-goods,
occupied the whole of the upper stories of the building, im
porting rich goods, not only for this but largely for the New
York and Boston markets also, and they had then ample room
for their extensive business." 42

MRS. RUSSELL
(Ann Rodman) 1831

43
miah Olney, of the Revolutionary army. On April
twelfth, 1819, their first child, Eliza Rodman Rus
sell, was born at Providence.
In 1819 Mr. Russell was one of the incorporators
of the Providence Institution for Savings, and at
the time of his death, in 1884, was the last survivor
of the original incorporators. The business of
Charles Potter and Company was very good; large
importations of English and Scotch goods were
made; and business was done in New York as well
as in Providence. In 1820, the name of the firm
was changed to " Potter and Russell." Mr. Russell's
interest in the profits of the business was then two-
fifths; and after his return from Europe, which he
again visited in 1821, it became one-half.
In 1821 Mr. Russell paid his second visit to Eu
rope, going abroad to make purchases of goods for
his firm. He left Providence for Hartford in the
stage-coach, on his way to New York, at five o'clock
in the morning of the twenty-third of January, and
arrived at New York at six o'clock in the evening of
the twenty-fifth, " after the coldest ride I ever en
dured, 10° to 20° below zero. The river was frozen
from New York across to the Jersey shore." He
was delayed by this cause until February fifth, when
he sailed for Liverpool in the ship Hester, Captain
Gillender, and arrived there on March eighth, after
a stormy passage of thirty-one days. He remained
in Europe, most of the time in England, for over a
year, purchasing goods at Manchester, Rochdale,
Halifax, Leeds, Birmingham, Glasgow, Paisley
and other places, and at Paris, and sending them
to America. His residence was chiefly at Manches-

44
ter, as on his previous visit. Besides giving care
ful attention to his business, he was constantly study
ing and sight-seeing. On one of several visits to
London, he reached there just before the coronation
of King George IV. On the evening of his arrival
he saw Queen Caroline, of whom he thus writes in
his journal:
" Having understood that the Queen was to attend in the
evening, I visited the English Opera House, which was quite
crowded, and it was with difficulty that I procured a seat.
Her Majesty had just arrived and taken a seat in the or
chestra-box next to the stage. My position was for a little
time directly opposite, until the crowd was so excessive as to
induce me to change it, and I had a fair view of this cele
brated person, who has made so conspicuous a figure the past
year. I was disappointed in her appearance. She appears
short, probably not much over five feet two or three inches
tall, and is quite fat ; there is a boldness in her countenance
and an expression in her large dark eyes which I could not
admire; her dress was a blue silk or satin, over which was
thrown a large merino shawl, and on her head she wore a
bunch of large pink ostrich feathers. During the evening
she rose several times and bowed with much dignity to the
audience, which greeted Her Majesty with much applause,
but occasionally it was mingled with signs of disapproba
tion from some few in the house."
He found all London in great excitement, in an
ticipation of the coronation and in preparation for it.
He writes about it as follows:
" 19th July. The important day has at length arrived.
Last night I went to bed at about ten o'clock, and dreamed
in anticipation of the coronation scene. At three o'clock

45
this morning I was called up ; already at this very early hour
and long before had the crowd been collecting, and the line
of carriages going to the scene extended for miles through
the streets. I pushed through, and by showing my ticket
gained my seat, which afterwards proved to have been well
chosen, and one of the best I could have taken without pay
ing a much higher price, or going into the Abbey or Hall,
which I could not afford. I went in company with Mr.
George Wright, of Birmingham, and Mr. Jones, of Boston.
Mr. Hone and Mr. Price, of New York, took seats in the
Abbey, for which they paid twenty-five guineas each. It
had for several days been currently reported that the Queen
was to claim admittance to the coronation as a spectator,
a participation in which had been refused her. At seven
o'clock a tremendous tumult and cry roused me from a
stupor in which I had fallen from being up so early, and I
rushed to the gallery in time to see Her Majesty's coach,
drawn by six bay horses, drive up to the platform directly
opposite and within a few yards of my place. The air re
sounded with mingled shouts of applause and disapproba
tion, the troops flew to their places and fixed bayonets, and
the cavalry mounted their horses. In a few moments Lord
Hood, who had followed in another carriage, handed the
Queen out of her coach, accompanied by Lady Hood and
Lady Ann Hamilton, and the party proceeded towards an
open door, which led to an entrance into the Hall. When
within a few yards of this, it was violently shut and fas
tened in the face of the Queen. Oh, thought I to myself,
where is now the dignity of royalty? — for certainly Her
Majesty did appear in a most awkward situation, standing on
the ground on the arm of Lord Hood and surrounded by the
mob, where she remained a few moments, but presently
walked, followed by the same crowd, along outside of the
platform about a hundred yards to an opening on the plat
form which crossed to the Abbey, and at the Abbey door
admittance was again claimed and refused. She then

46
walked back again through the multitude, amidst shouts and
hisses, to her coach, the top of which was let down, and she
was driven back again ; and no affray took place, and no
blood was spilt as had been foretold. It appeared to me that
the spectators showed no disposition to resent the indignity
offered to their Queen, that they came there to witness the
coronation, and were more disposed to be quiet and enjoy
that than to interfere in any broil. Her Majesty was very
elegantly dressed in white satin, with ostrich feathers on
her head.
" At about ten o'clock, the important procession from the
Hall to the Abbey began to move. It would require more
room and more time than I can conveniently allow to give
here a detailed account of this most gorgeous and splendid
pageant, the brilliancy of which exceeded far what imagina
tion could conceive. . . .
" Among those whom I most desired to see, I was gratified
with a view of the Duke of Wellington, Prince Leopold of
Saxe-Coburg, the Duke of Gloucester, the Duke of Sussex,
the Duke of Cambridge, the Duke of Clarence, the Duke of
York, and His Majesty the King, George the Fourth, both
going to and coming from the Abbey, with the crown upon
his head, and all the peers with their coronets on. Being di
rectly opposite the door of Westminster Hall, I had likewise
an excellent view of the champion dressed in full armor going
from the stable to the Hall, and when he returned bearing
the gold cup and cover, his fee. In this part of the cere
mony he was attended by the Duke of Wellington as High
Constable and the Marquis of Anglesea. The former was
greeted with much applause by the spectators, which he
acknowledged by touching his coronet and by a half in
clination of the head, both without dignity."
In October he went to France ; and made the jour
ney from Calais to Paris by diligence — the old-fash-

47
ioned diligence in three compartments, with five
horses, the postilion riding one of the two wheel-
horses and driving three horses in front of him —
through Marquise, Boulogne, Montreuil, Abbeville,
Beauvais, etc., leaving Calais at half -past ten in the
morning, and reaching Paris at half -past six on the
evening of the following day. While in Paris he
saw, among other interesting persons, Talma in
" Agamemnon," King Louis XVIII, Talleyrand,
and the beautiful Duchesse de Berri, the latter at
mass in the royal chapel, " in white figured silk and
with white bonnet and feathers," and had an in
terview with the Marquis de La Fayette, who made
a special appointment to receive him. He had lodg
ings in a French family. At that time, there were
very few Americans in Europe.
In December he returned to England, and re
mained there until the following June, excepting
short visits to Wales and Ireland. He was so fortu
nate as to see and hear, at one session of the House
of Commons, several of the most celebrated public
men of the day, of whom he writes in his journal:
"Wednesday, 5th June. I was much gratified this evening
at the House of Commons in seeing and hearing some of the
most conspicuous members speak. When I entered, Sir
Francis Burdett was on the floor with some proposition re
lating to Ilchester Gaol. Mr. Brougham and Alderman
Wood both spoke on the same subject. Mr. Peel, Secre
tary of State, introduced a bill continuing in force the
Alien Act, and spoke most eloquently in its favor. He was
replied to by Sir James Mcintosh in a most powerful man
ner. Mr. Scarlet, Sir Robert Wilson, the Marquis of
Londonderry, Sergeant Onslow, Sir John Newport, Lord

48
Stanley, Lord A. Hamilton and Mr. Denman were also
speakers. The latter has a most powerful voice and speaks
most eloquently; he was heard with particular attention.
In the close of the evening Mr. Hume spoke on some subjects
of so little importance, however, as to pass unreported."
While in England, he visited Bath and Chelten
ham, which were then great resorts of fashion. On
the second of July he sailed for New York in the
Columbia, Captain Rogers, and reached New York
on the eighth of August, after a smooth and pleas
ant summer voyage. He went from New York to
Providence by the steamboat Fulton. Two steam
boats, the Connecticut and the Fulton, were then
plying between New York and Providence. Steam
boats were still somewhat of a novelty, and he gladly
availed himself of " this new and unexpected mode
of reaching home from New York." After his re
turn, Mr. Russell continued to live in Providence.
A great day was the twenty-third of August, 1824,
when the Marquis de La Fayette visited Providence.
This was during the memorable tour which he made
through the United States, many years after he had
left the country at the end of the Revolutionary
War, and which was marked throughout by the most
enthusiastic demonstrations of affection for him.
He was then on his way from Hartford to Boston.
Every man, woman, and child turned out to do him
honor. Upon his arrival there was a procession to
the State House, where he was formally received by
the authorities. The chief marshal of the day was
Colonel William Blodget, and the assistant marshals,
one of whom rode on horseback on either side of La

49
Fayette's carriage, were Mr. Russell and Mr. George
Curtis (father of the late George William Curtis).
The Marquis alighted from his carriage at the foot
of the avenue leading from North Main Street to
the State House. This avenue in those days was
bordered on each side by tall Lombardy poplars.
Along these rows of poplars were stationed two hun
dred girls dressed in white, who strewed the path of
the Marquis with flowers and waved their white
handkerchiefs as he passed. Afterwards there was
a great banquet at the Globe Tavern, where Tristam
Burgess made a speech, followed by a public recep
tion and a review of the militia. Mr. Russell on this
occasion had the pleasure of renewing his acquain
tance with La Fayette, whom he had met at Paris in
1821, as already mentioned.

In 1825 a branch of the house of Potter and Russell
was established in New York, under the name of
Potter, Russell and Company, and Mr. Russell went
to New York to take charge of it. His brother Wil
liam Henry Russell went to England as the repre
sentative of the firm in Europe. New York then
became Mr. Charles H. Russell's residence, and con
tinued to be until his death in 1884.
New York at that time had a population of about
one hundred and sixty thousand. The city extended
but a short distance north of Canal Street, where
there was a stream crossed by a bridge, beyond which
was the open country. The private residences were
nearly all below Chambers Street, the best of them
being in the cross streets west of Broadway, and in
lower Broadway and Greenwich Street, and at the
Battery. The latter was then the principal park and
the fashionable promenade. The business parts of
the city were chiefly between Broadway and the
East River. Six years later, in 1831, Mr. Russell
was one of a committee of forty-six gentlemen who
had charge of the arrangements for a public dinner
which was given to Daniel Webster. Mr. Russell
was probably the youngest member of the committee,
and the names generally are those of very well-
known men of that day. It is interesting, in read
ing the names of the members of the committee, to
which their addresses are added, to note the parts of
50

51
the city in which they lived. Their residences were
mostly in Bowling Green, Park Place, Varick,
Chambers, Greenwich, Warren, Murray, Barclay,
Pearl, Pine and Whitehall Streets, and lower Broad
way. There were no railways nor telegraph in those
days. Steamboats were in use, as already mentioned,
but it was not until 1838 that the voyage across the
Atlantic was made by steam only.
The firm of Potter and Russell was dissolved at
the end of the year 1826. Mr. Potter continued in
business in Providence; and Mr. Russell and his
brother William Henry Russell formed a new part
nership under the firm name of " Charles H. Russell
and Company." By their partnership agreement
it was provided that the brothers should become " co
partners together in trade as merchants, under the
firm name and style of Charles H. Russell and Com
pany, for the purpose of importing British and other
goods and for commercial business generally, as
may mutually be deemed advisable," and that Wil
liam Henry Russell should reside in England as the
representative of the firm in Europe. This partner
ship continued until Mr. Charles H. Russell retired
from business in 1845. Mr. Charles Gorton and
Mr. George W. Hodges also were, for a time, prior
to 1840, partners in this house and in a branch house
at Manchester, in England, which was known as
" William H. Russell and Company." Mr. Wil
liam H. Russell lived abroad during a considerable
portion of the period of the existence of the firm.
Mr. Benjamin F. Marsh became a partner in 1844.
The business of the house was in the importation
and sale of foreign dry-goods and other merchandise,

on its own account and on commission, and also in the
like purchase and sale of domestic manufactures.
Its first place of business was at No. 173 Pearl
Street. In 1826 it removed to No. 165 Pearl Street;
in 1835 to No. 33 Pine Street; and in 1840 to No.
35 Nassau Street.
Mr. Russell, upon making New York his resi
dence, lived at first at No. 85 White Street. In 1826
he removed to No. 68 Franklin Street, and in 1833
to No. 56 Franklin Street. In 1833 he purchased
land on the northeast corner of Broadway and
Great Jones Street, on which he built himself a
dwelling-house, which was completed in 1835, and
he first occupied it with his family in the autumn
of that year. At the time this house (No. 2 Great
Jones Street) was built, it was the furthest "up
town " of the private residences of New York, and
to the south of it, on Broadway, were several vacant
blocks of land. The house was a large and comfort
able one, with a garden and a stable. In this gar
den later was a magnolia tree, which grew to a
considerable size and height, and became famous
for its beauty, in the spring, when covered with
flowers. This house continued to be Mr. Russell's
city home until 1862, when he removed to No.
417 Fifth Avenue, where he resided until his death
in 1884.
Mr. Russell's brother, William Henry Russell,
was married in 1823 to Miss Mary Alice Crapo, of
Providence, who died in 1827, leaving one child,
Mary Caroline Russell, afterwards Mrs. Theodo-
sius A. Fowler. William Henry Russell was again
married, in 1836, to Miss Anna Kane, and built

53
a house on Broadway, adjoining his brother's, and
first occupied it in that year.1
On the tenth of March, 1836, Mr. Russell's daugh
ter, Fanny Geraldine Russell, was born. On Sep
tember fifteenth, 1837, his brother's daughter, Helen
Nicholson Russell, afterwards Madame Maxime
Outrey, was born.
Mr. Russell, while giving the closest attention to
his business, always took a great interest in the ques
tions of the day and a very active part in connection
with many of them. In 1831 he was one of the dele
gates from New York to the " Free Trade Conven
tion " at Philadelphia, the object of which was to
effect a reduction of the duties levied upon imports
by the then existing tariff. The earlier tariffs had
been established for the purpose of raising revenue
for the payment of the debt and the expenses of the
government. " Revenue the object, protection the
incident, had been the rule in the earlier tariffs." 2
1 " 1836, December 30. I went this evening to a party at Mrs.
Charles H. Russell's, given in honor of the bride, Mrs. William
H. Russell. The splendid apartments of this fine house are well
adapted to an evening party, and everything was very handsome
on this occasion. The house is lighted with gas, and the quantity
consumed being greater than common it gave out suddenly in
the midst of a cotillon. This accident occasioned great merri
ment to the company, and some embarrassment to the host and
hostess, but a fresh supply of gas was obtained, and in a short
time the fair dancers were again ' tripping it on the light fan
tastic toe.' Gas is a handsome light, in a large room like Mr.
Russell's, on an occasion of this kind, but liable (I should think)
at all times to give the company the slip, and illy calculated for
the ordinary uses of a family." (From " The Diary of Philip
Hone, 1828-1851," edited by Bayard Tuckerman, New York,
1889, Vol. I, p. 239.)
2 Benton, " Thirty Years' View," Vol. I, p. 32.

54
The tariff act of 1816 introduced and the acts of
1824 and 1828 continued and carried to greater
lengths the principle of protection. The act of 1828
created to a great extent a prohibitory tariff, and
was considered by its opponents so unjust and so
unequal in its effect upon different sections of the
country that it was commonly known among them
as the " tariff of abominations."
Among the delegates from New York to the Free
Trade Convention were Albert Gallatin, Jonathan
Goodhue, James G. King, John A. Stevens, George
Griswold, Jacob Lorillard and James Boorman.
There was a large attendance from all parts of
the Union ; and the work of the convention resulted
in an address to the people of the United States
and a memorial to Congress, prepared by a com
mittee of which Mr. Gallatin was chairman. This
memorial prayed for a gradual reduction of im
port duties, so as finally to raise only such amount
of revenue as should be necessary for the ordinary
needs of the government, and that such duties as
should be levied should be at an uniform rate of not
over twenty-five per cent. These propositions were
submitted as a general principle. The memorialists
further stated that " whilst admitting that duties,
not exceeding in the aggregate the amount thus re
quired, may be arranged as the necessary exceptions
to the general rule shall require, they contend that
any considerable variation from the average rate
for the purpose of favoring special branches is in
jurious to American industry; attended with cer
tain national loss ; unequal and oppressive in its oper-

55
ation, both with regard to the several classes of so
ciety and to the several sections of the country."
Mr. Russell took great interest in all the proceed
ings of the Free Trade Convention. He prepared
and presented to Mr. Gallatin, the chairman of the
committee, a statement showing the effect of the
tariff on numerous articles of import. Mr. Gallatin,
afterwards, in referring to the work of the Free
Trade Convention, spoke in the highest terms of Mr.
Russell's knowledge and intelligence and of his con
tribution to the work of the Convention.
The tariff act of 1832 still further increased the
duties on imports, and was a distinctly protective
measure. In 1833, however, the " Compromise
Tariff Act " was passed, which provided for the
gradual reduction of duties, during a period of nine
years, at the end of which period there should be an
uniform rate of twenty per cent, on all articles ; and
this act continued in force until the passage of the
tariff act of 1842, which again was a high protective
measure. The various political questions which
arose in consequence of all this tariff legislation, in
cluding the declaration at the South of the doctrines
of nullification and secession, make this period one
of the most interesting in American history. The
principles for which the memorialists of the Free
Trade Convention of 1831 contended were finally
adopted in considerable measure in the tariff act of
1846. Although by this act a high rate of duty was
still maintained upon certain articles, yet it effected
a considerable reduction in duties. Cottons were
made subject to twenty -five per cent, duty; iron and

56
metals in general, wool and woolens, manufactures
of metals, leather, paper, glass and wood, to thirty
per cent. In 1857 a further reduction in duties was
made by an act passed in that year, under which the
important articles above mentioned were in general
made subject to twenty-four per cent. duty. This act
also placed upon the free list many raw materials
used in manufacture, and continued in force until
the necessities of the government, after the outbreak
of the Civil War in 1861, required a change. The
years from 1846 to 1861 were a period of remarkable
development of the commerce and manufactures of
the country.
The views of the memorial of 1831 are those which
Mr. Russell held to the end of his life. He believed
that no duties ever should exceed thirty per cent., and
in protection only so far as it might be given inciden
tally in the raising of revenue for the needs of the
government. Of the system of a protective tariff
as it existed during the last years of his life he dis
approved absolutely. On all such questions he was
ever ready to meet discussion, with arguments de
rived from close observation and profound study
and from practical experience extending over a long
and active life.
In 1832 began the fierce political contest arising
from the veto by Andrew Jackson, then President
of the United States, of the bill to renew the charter
of the Bank of the United States, and continued by
the President's subsequent action, in 1833, in the
removal of the Secretary of the Treasury, Mr.
Duane, the appointment of Roger B. Taney as his
successor, and the removal of the government de-

57
posits from the Bank. The action of the President
was regarded by a large number of the people of
the country as a serious encroachment by the execu
tive branch of the government upon the powers of
Congress and of the courts. The financial disorder
and commercial distress caused by the removal of the
deposits; the public dissatisfaction arising from the
wholesale removal of public employees, which was
made by the President at this time, being the first
general application in our history of the " spoils doc
trine " ; and other acts of the President, which were
considered to be high-handed and arbitrary, and as
opposed to the letter and spirit of the Constitution,
all combined to arouse and maintain the most intense
political excitement. It is stated by writers of the
history of that period that it would be difficult to
believe how intense and bitter the feeling was, had
we not the testimony of those who took part in the
events. Mr. Russell was one of a committee of thirteen
citizens of New York, appointed at a public meeting,
who visited Washington in January, 1834, and pre
sented in the House of Representatives a memorial
to Congress, protesting against the removal of the
deposits, after which they made a formal call upon
the President, General Jackson. The interview was
made especially interesting by the President's violent
denunciation of Mr. Biddle, the president of the
Bank of the United States.
The political events above referred to were the
cause of the organization in 1834 of the Whig party
(called by Mr. Curtis, in his life of Daniel Webster,
a " spontaneous popular movement "), which after-

58
wards became powerful, and of which Henry Clay
and Mr. Webster were the chief leaders. Mr. Rus
sell joined the Whig party in its beginning. He
was one of the delegates to the Whig general com
mittee of the city of New York, and chairman of
the finance committee. He was one of the speak
ers at a Whig meeting held at the Exchange in New
York on April seventh, 1834, and one of eleven
vice-presidents of a meeting of Whig merchants
held at the Exchange on the twenty-seventh of Oc
tober of that year.
A great Whig meeting was held at Masonic Hall,
in New York, on the twenty-ninth of the same
month, to ratify the nominations of the party for
Congress, the State legislature and county offices.
Long accounts of this meeting are given in the news
papers of the day, and it was estimated that not less
than twelve thousand persons were present in the
hall and at the overflow meetings held in the street
in front of the building. Mr. Russell presided and
addressed the meeting. The following extract is
from the account given in the " New York Ameri
can " extra of the thirtieth of October:
" The meeting in the Hall being called to order, it was pro
posed that Charles H. Russell take the chair. The annuncia
tion of that name produced shouts of applause and long-
continued cheers, which max-ked in the clearest and most
gratifying manner the feelings of the Whigs toward that
gentleman, and their full and just appreciation of the mag
nanimity which, on a recent occasion, had distinguished his
conduct." The nominees for Congress were Gulian C. Ver-
planck, Ogden Hoffman, James G. King and Dud-

MRS. RUSSELL
(Caroline Howland)
1853

59
ley Selden; and Mr. Russell's "magnanimity" is
understood to have been shown in his declining the
nomination for Congress, which had been offered
to him, in favor of one of those gentlemen whom he
considered to have certain claims to it.1
At one time Mr. Russell appears to have been
disposed to go into active political life, but later he
* The Hone Club was a celebrated dining club, named after
Philip Hone, and was organized in 1838. Its members were
all Whigs. The original members, besides Mr. Hone, were Ed
ward R. Biddle, Richard M. Blatchford, Roswell L. Colt, John
Crumby, Simeon Draper, Moses H. Grinnell, J. Prescott Hall,
Charles H. Russell, John Ward and William G. Ward. Daniel
Webster and William H. Seward were honorary members. The
club dined every Monday, from October to April, at the houses
of the members in succession, and the host on each occasion had
the privilege of inviting a limited number of others as guests.
The dinners of the club were noted for their merriment and wit,
and it was always considered a great compliment to be invited
to be a guest. Mr. Philip Hone died in 1851. Changes in the
membership occurred from time to time, and among the later
members were Robert S. Hone, John Jacob Astor, Jr., Hamilton
Fish, Alexander Hamilton, Jr., Henry G. Stebbins, Isaac Bell,
Alexander Duncan and William M. Evarts. The time of meet
ing was changed to every other Monday, and the number of
members was increased from ten to fourteen. One of the rules
was : " Dinner shall be on the table at six o'clock punctually. A
member who is five minutes late shall forfeit a basket of cham
pagne, and if the host is five minutes late with his dinner he
shall forfeit a basket of champagne." All forfeits went to the
member who was to give the next dinner. In " The Diary of
Philip Hone" is the following entry, in 1839: "January 7.
The club dined at Mr. Russell's. Messrs. Duer and Colt absent.
We had, among the supernumeraries, Mr. Webster, who is here
on his way to Washington. He was in exuberant spirits, and
more agreeable than I have ever seen him on any former occa
sion. We sat until eleven o'clock, and broke up after a grand
chorus of ' Auld Lang Syne.
The club ceased to meet after I860.

60
was unwilling to do so, and although tendered nom
inations for political positions always declined them.
It is not possible that he approved of all the pro
ceedings of the Whig party. It may be that such
a reason influenced him to decline political office dur
ing the existence of that party; and he was too just
and fair in his judgments and too broad-minded
ever to be a thorough-going partisan. The tariff
act of 1842 was a Whig party measure; and its pro
visions certainly were contrary to what are known
to have been his convictions and his publicly ex
pressed opinions. He was on terms of friendship
and had frequent conferences with Mr. Walker,
the Secretary of the Treasury, in relation to the
tariff act of 1846, of which Mr. Walker was the
f ramer, and which was a Democratic party measure.
By many of the most influential and intelligent citi
zens of New York the desire was at times expressed
that he should hold the office of Secretary of the
Treasury. But whatever fancy for office he at one
time may have had he certainly very decidedly aban
doned ; and later in life he was confirmed in this posi
tion. In a letter to one of his sons, written in April,
1878, he referred with approbation to the declaration
of Mr. Webster, quoted in Peter Harvey's " Remi
niscences," that if he were to live his life over again
he would under no circumstances and from no con
siderations allow himself to enter public life; and
in another letter, in October, 1879, he wrote: " The
more I witness the subserviency of talented men
and the want of honest principles in political life,
the better I feel that I did not cast my lot in that
direction "; and he expressed contempt for a certain

61
statesman of the day, of whom he said that " ' he
knew the right and yet the wrong pursued.' "
But although Mr. Russell held those views as to
his own participation in active political life (which
perhaps there is reason to regret), yet he never
ceased the serious study of all questions affecting
the interests and the welfare of the country, nor the
expression of his views, nor the exercise of his influ
ence, which was great. He was always a recognized
authority upon questions of finance, currency and
tariff; and his opinions and advice were frequently
sought by Secretaries of the Treasury and by lead
ing men of all parties, both in and out of Congress.
He was on terms of personal friendship, and in some
instances of intimacy, with many leading public men;
such friendships extending over a period of fifty
years. Far more important, among the political questions
of the years from 1830 to 1860, than any other was
the subject of the extension of slavery to the Terri
tories of the United States. The annexation of
Texas and the results of the Mexican War had
brought about in the slave States a sense of power
and a determination to secure the extension of
slavery to the new Territories. The Democratic
party was controlled by the statesmen of the South,
and was united and aggressive. The leaders of
the Whigs seem not to have realized, until too late,
the danger of the situation, and were always fear
ful of conflict and ready with compromise. The
repeal of the Missouri Compromise and the enact
ment of the Compromise of 1850 aroused the people
of the free States to a sense of the danger. The

62
lawfulness of the existence of slavery in the slave
States was not questioned nor disputed by any con
siderable or important body of voters anywhere ; but
the majority of the people of most of the free States
were determined that there should be no extension
of slavery to the Territories nor to the States which,
in the course of time, would be formed out of them.
This strong purpose led to the organization of the
Republican party, which condemned the repeal of
the Missouri Compromise and declared it to be the
right and duty of Congress to prohibit slavery in the
Territories. The day of the Whig party was over;
and from 1854 until the outbreak of the Civil War,
the great contest upon the question of the extension
of slavery was waged between the Democratic party,
representing the pro-slavery interests of the South
ern States, and the Republican party.
In all this controversy Mr. Russell never hesitated
as to his course. He was earnestly opposed to any
extension of slavery, and became a member of the
Republican party soon after its formation. He sup
ported General Fremont, the first candidate of the
Republican party for the Presidency, in the cam
paign of 1856, and continued to be a member of that
party during the rest of his life, although in many
instances disapproving of its course in relation to
questions which arose after the Civil War. General
Fremont was defeated; but in 1860 the second candi
date of the Republican party, Abraham Lincoln,
was elected to the Presidency.

VI
The " Great Fire " in New York occurred on the
night of December fifteenth, 1835. A few years be
fore his death, Mr. Russell gave an account of his
experiences on that occasion, which he afterwards
dictated to one of his daughters, at her request; and
they are best told in his own words :
" On the evening of December fifteenth occurred the disas
trous fire in the lower part of the city, below Wall Street,
which destroyed upwards of six hundred buildings — mostly
stores. On that eventful night, which was a bitterly cold
one, after tea we had just seated ourselves around the fire
and I had taken a book to read, which, I think, was one of
Scott's novels, when Mr. George T. Adee arrived and in
formed us that a fire had broken out in Hanover Square,
but that neither his store nor mine was in immediate danger,
but he had come up to tell us. I ordered my carriage at
once, and when we reached Pine Street, where my store was
situated, we found that the fire had enlarged its scope very
greatly, and had swept down towards South Street; and
before it was eventually checked most of the stores and ware
houses, with their valuable and costly contents, between
South Street and William Street, were enveloped in flames,
including vast piles of goods which had been taken from the
stores and piled up in Hanover Square, which, instead of
being saved, as hoped for, were all ignited and in a blaze,
forming a great bonfire. Added to this was the destruction
of all the stores on the west of Hanover Square, to William
Street and Garden Street, including the Garden Street Dutch
63

64
Church, the noble marble Exchange, as well as the warehouse
of Mr. Adee, who, when he came to announce the fire to
me, thought it would not reach his place. It was finally
stayed in its progress westward and northward by blowing
up several buildings, before it reached Broad Street. During
the height of the flames I was upon the roof of my Pine
Street warehouse, watching with intense interest the prog
ress of the fire, knowing that, unless it was stopped on the
south of Wall Street, the buildings to the north, including
the banks, were doomed, and with them my own warehouse;
and where the fire could be stopped northward we could not
tell. The wind was blowing a gale, the thermometer below
zero, and water in the engines and hose freezing. The scene
in the morning was heartrending — the still half-burning
and smoking ruins, the sad faces, the gloom which pervaded
the whole city, and the immensity of the loss, for the estimate
was more than $20,000,000."
Following the fire there was great distress in the
commercial community; and the insurance compa
nies were ruined. Great liberality and public spirit,
however, were shown, and creditors generally gave
every possible indulgence to their debtors. A result
of this disaster was that commercial houses and the
business community in general were much less pre
pared than otherwise they would have been for
the business troubles which occurred in 1837, or, as
they are commonly called, "the panic of 1837-"
This panic was the result of various causes, the chief
among them being the expiration of the charter of
the Bank of the United States and very extensive
and wild speculation, chiefly in stocks and Western
lands, which had been encouraged and aided by State
banks in many parts of the country. In addition,

65
there had been a great excess of imports over ex
ports and a consequent export of specie. At the
height of all the inflation and expansion, the New
York banks found themselves obliged to suspend
specie payments, May tenth, 1837; and great pres
sure in the money-market and distress throughout
the commercial community ensued. Business houses
in New York failed by the score. Relatively to the
business of the country, this year 1837 probably was
the period of the severest commercial disaster which
ever has been known in the United States. The
house of Charles H. Russell and Company lost in
this year the earnings of the two preceding ones,
but remained solvent and continued its business with
out interruption. In the next year, the business
of the house greatly increased; and in that and
the following years its operations were very ex
tensive and successful, and continued to be so until
the dissolution of the partnership upon Mr. Russell's
retirement from business in 1845. The credit of the
house was of the highest ; and the statement has often
been made by those who were familiar with the com
mercial affairs of that period that both at home and
abroad its name was the synonym of the highest
honor and integrity.
As already mentioned, the New York banks sus
pended specie payments on the tenth of May, 1837,
and a general suspension by the banks throughout
the country followed. In the following autumn a
convention was held in New York, composed of
delegates from the banks of most of the States,
called by the officers of the New York banks for
the purpose of agreeing, if possible, upon a time

66
for a general resumption of specie payments. The
New York banks were anxious and determined to
bring about resumption at an early day; and this
purpose appears to have received the approval of the
business community of the city. At a meeting held
at the Merchants' Exchange in March, 1838, a reso
lution drawn by Mr. Russell, approving the purpose
of the banks to resume, was adopted. Great delay
occurred in the proceedings of the convention, caused
chiefly by the opposition of the Philadelphia banks,
but finally, in April, 1838, the convention fixed the
first of January, 1839, as the date of resumption.
The New York banks, however, did not wait until
then, but resumed independently on the tenth of
May, 1838. Although this action was taken by them
alone, resumption of specie payments by the banks
throughout the country followed within a few
months. At this time the business of banking in the State
of New York was a monopoly in the hands of a
few institutions. Bank charters could be obtained
only by special legislation, which it was very difficult
to procure. In other States the business of banking
was more or less demoralized, and in some of them
an enormous quantity of bank-notes of little or no
value had been issued ; and the notes of most of the
State banks throughout the country either were not
received at all outside of the States where they were
issued or else only at a considerable discount.
On the eighteenth of April, 1838, two days after
the adjournment of the bankers' convention, the
" General Banking Act " was passed by the legis
lature of the State of New York. This act au-

67
thorized the formation of associations " to establish
offices of discount, deposit and circulation," in accor
dance with the provisions of the act. In other
words, it provided for " free banking," and effec
tually abolished the banking monopoly in the State.
Under this act the " Bank of Commerce in New
York," of which Mr. Russell was one of the original
directors, was organized to carry on the business of
banking in the city of New York. The articles of
association bear date of January first, 1839, and pro
vide, among other things, for a capital stock of
five millions of dollars, with authority to the board of
directors to increase the capital stock until it should
amount to twenty millions of dollars. Undoubtedly
it was contemplated that the United States govern
ment might use this bank as its fiscal agent in gov
ernment business, or in some other manner might
become interested in it, for it was further provided
that the directors, in their discretion, might permit
additional subscriptions to be made to the capital
stock by or on behalf of the United States of Amer
ica, as well as by or on behalf of any of the separate
States, subject to such conditions as the directors
might deem expedient. The additional amount
which might thus be subscribed was limited to thirty
millions of dollars, making a possible aggregate
capital of fifty millions. Provision was also made,
in case of any holding of shares by the United States,
for inspection of the condition and affairs of the as
sociation by the proper officers of the government.
The first directors of the bank, whose names ap
pear as such in the articles of association, were:
James Boorman, James Brown, Isaac Carow, James

68
Donaldson, Archibald Gracie, James Kent (the
Chancellor) , Robert B. Minturn, Russell H.
Nevins, Pelatiah Perit, John Rathbone, Jr., Robert
Ray, Samuel B. Ruggles, Charles H. Russell,
John Austin Stevens, Jonathan Sturges, Peter
Gerard Stuyvesant, Samuel Ward and Stephen
Whitney. The establishment of the Bank of Commerce was
an event of far more than local importance. Its
purpose was to establish at the financial centre of
the country a strong bank with large capital, under
the direction of influential and respected merchants,
which would attract large deposits and by its strength
and conservative management serve as a powerful
element of usefulness and steadiness in financial
affairs. From the beginning the business of the
bank was very successful. It immediately took and
afterwards maintained a position of strength and
influence. The first president was Samuel Ward,
and the first cashier George Curtis. On the death
of Mr. Ward in November, 1839, Mr. John A.
Stevens was chosen president. Mr. John A. Ste
vens, son of the latter, in his life of Albert Gal
latin (in the "American Statesmen" series) writes
as follows in reference to the establishment of the
Bank of Commerce (p. 286) :
" In 1838, on the foundation of the Bank of Commerce
under the free banking law of the State of New York,
the presidency of it was first tendered to Mr. Gallatin. The
directors of this bank were among the most distinguished
financiers of the city, and its object was to provide a con
servative institution with sufficient power and capital to act

69
as a regulator upon the New York banks. Profit to the
stockholders was secondary to the reserve power for gen
eral advantage."
The expectation of a connection of the govern
ment with the Bank of Commerce, which appears
to have been entertained at the time of the organiza
tion of the bank, was no doubt fully justified by
existing circumstances. The Bank of the United
States had shortly before ceased to be the fiscal
agent of the government, and it was generally ex
pected that there would be a re-establishment of
some fiscal agency for government purposes. The
expectation that such an office would be filled by the
Bank of Commerce was justified by its position and
strength. At times it made large loans to the gov
ernment. By an arrangement with the Secretary
of the Treasury the bank became for a time the sole
depository of government money in the city of New
York, and the revenues received by the collector
of customs were deposited with it. Other banks,
however, subsequently obtained a share of such de
posits ; and soon afterwards the change in public sen
timent as to the necessity of any bank to perform
fiscal services for the government, and the estab
lishment of sub-treasuries of the United States at
New York and elsewhere, closed any especial official
connection between the bank and the government.
In other respects, however, the opportunities of use
fulness and influence on the part of the bank were
so extensive and its business so prosperous that in
1856 its capital stock was increased to $10,000,000.
Mr. Russell, at all times, from the beginning of

70
his connection with the Bank of Commerce, took an
active interest in it. His spirit and influence were
always powerful in it, and his counsel and judgment
there, as elsewhere, sought and relied upon.1
1 Reference to the later history of the Bank of Commerce and
to Mr. Russell's presidency (1866-1868) will be found at
pp. 97 et seq.

VII
In the winter of 1842, Mr. Russell made a journey
through the Southern States. In a letter written
during this journey he gives the following account
of an auction sale of slaves :
" The day before I left Mobile I witnessed a negro sale
by auction; it was to me a painful sight, but people fa
miliarized to this sight appear to regard it with no more
feeling than we do the sale of horses at Tattersall's. The
first slave set up by the sheriff was a black fellow, who
was represented as ' a first-rate hand, a good rough car
penter, and warranted sound,' — sold for $590 or $600 cash.
The second, ' one leg shorter than the other, but warranted
sound.' The third, a stout full-sized negro, apparently
very strong. While the auctioneer was calling the bid of
$575, he exclaimed : ' If nobody give more I give dat price
myself,' and appeared rather indignant that he was likely
to sell so low; and I understood that the slaves take a pride
in being sold at a high price. This fellow was finally
sold at $700. The next, a boy ten years old, $300. The
big tears rolled down his cheeks while he was being sold, not
withstanding the sheriff's caution to him not to cry. The
next and last I noticed, for I waited no longer, was a fine-
looking, well-dressed, young mulatto girl, with a child three
years old, ' good at sewing and can make shirts.' She ap
peared to show much anxiety about her fate, and when
struck off manifested disappointment and began crying.
It appeared that she was bought by a slave-seller, or
negro-dealer, as termed here, one of a class of people held
in very low estimation. I heard her say, in most sorrowful
Tl

72
accents : ' I should be satisfied if I was sold, but I do not like
to be sold to be sold again.' With her child she brought
$900. Since I arrived here I have walked through what is
called the negro quarters, where these people are exhibited
for sale. It is indeed the negro slave-market. Many of
them are well dressed and made clean, and show to the best
advantage." Early in the summer of 1842 occurred the insur
rection in Rhode Island known as the " Dorr War."
This had its origin in a popular movement to revise
the provisions of the State constitution in relation
to suffrage and representation. The suffrage at
that time was limited to the holders of freehold es
tates of a certain value and their eldest sons; and
representation was by towns, based upon the popu
lation and relative importance of a much earlier
period. The popular movement was for universal
suffrage and equal representation. In 1841 a popu
lar convention assembled and adopted a new State
constitution, which, it was claimed, was subsequently
ratified by the votes of a majority of the adult male
voters of the State. In April, 1842, an election
under this so-called constitution was held, and
Thomas W. Dorr was chosen governor and at
tempted to exercise the authority of that office.
However sufficient grounds there were for a change
in the State constitution, and important changes
subsequently were made, the proceedings of Dorr
and his party were entirely illegal and caused great
confusion and disorder.
Dorr left the State, but soon returned with a band
of several hundred followers, in open insurrection

73
against the authorities, and with the avowed purpose
of seizing the State government. The militia and
volunteers to the number of three thousand men im
mediately assembled at Providence. Martial law
was proclaimed; appeal was made to the President
for aid; and great excitement prevailed throughout
the State. Dorr intrenched himself at Acote's Hill,
at Chepachet, about ten miles from Providence. The
troops from Providence marched out to attack his
stronghold, but, on reaching there, found that Dorr
had fled, leaving but a handful of his followers ; and
that was the end of the insurrection. But it aroused
great excitement and interest throughout the State
and the country at the time. The danger of a seri
ous conflict was believed to be very great, and it was
averted only by the energy and determination of the
" friends of law and order " and the alacrity with
which the militia and volunteers assembled to sup
port the constituted authorities.
Upon the news of Dorr's invasion Mr. Russell
immediately went to Providence, and offered his
services for the defence of his native State. Major-
General McNeill, the commander of the troops, ap
pointed him an aide-de-camp, and he served on the
staff in that capacity.
Mrs. Russell died in New York on the eighteenth
of August, 1842. Eliza Rodman Russell, the eldest
daughter, was married to Robert S. Hone in No
vember of the same year; and she and her husband,
and Mr. Russell's younger daughters, Anna (who
died in 1845) and Fanny then formed his family
at No. 2 Great Jones Street.
In the spring of 1843 Mr. Russell again visited

74
Europe, spending nearly a year in travel. He made
the voyage to Europe in the Great Western steam
ship, which five years before had made the memor
able voyage across the ocean from Bristol, in Eng
land, to New York, arriving at New York a few
hours later than the steamer Sirius, from Cork, both
vessels having been upon the ocean at the same time
and being the first vessels to make the passage by
means of steam alone.1
He first passed some time in Scotland and Eng
land. While in London he took much interest, as in
previous visits, in the debates in Parliament; and
among the noted men whom he then heard take
part in them were the Duke of Wellington, Lord
Brougham, Lord Aberdeen and Lord Lyndhurst in
the House of Lords, and Mr. Hume, Lord John
Russell and Sir Robert Peel in the House of Com
mons. After leaving England he travelled in
Germany, Switzerland and Italy. There were very
few railways on the Continent at that time, and
travelling nearly everywhere was by diligence or by
carriage. The northern portions of Italy were then
under Austrian rule. The numerous custom-houses
and the constant examination of passports put trav
ellers to great inconvenience. Travelling in many
parts of Italy was dangerous, and a military escort
was sometimes needed. At Naples he was presented
at the court of Ferdinand II, King of the Two Si
cilies. From Rome he went to Paris, where he was
presented at the court of King Louis Philippe, and
1 The Sirius left Cork on the fourth of April, 1838, the
Great Western followed from Bristol on the eighth, and both
vessels reached New York on the twenty-third.

MRS. RUSSELL
(Caroline Howland)
1860

75
thence again to England. He met many friends
during this year in Europe, and received much cour
tesy and attention, especially from the American
ministers. Mr. Ledyard was then charge d'affaires
at Paris; Edward Everett minister at London; Mr.
Boulware, of Virginia, at Naples; and Mr. Rus
sell's lifelong friend, Henry Wheaton, the author
of the " History of the Law of Nations," at Berlin.1
On the first of January, 1845, the firm of Charles
H. Russell and Company was dissolved by mutual
consent, and Mr. Russell then retired permanently
from business. His brother, William Henry Rus
sell, and Benjamin F. Marsh continued in business
under the firm name of " Russell and Marsh." Mr.
Russell was then forty-eight years of age. He had
acquired sufficient means, and desired to be relieved
from the restraint and cares of commercial life.
Notwithstanding his retirement from business,
Mr. Russell continued to take an active part in many
undertakings of public interest. He was one of the
early directors of the Boston and Providence Rail
road Company, whose road was one of the first rail
ways built in New England ; and in the Rhode Island
act of incorporation of that company in 1834 his
name appears as one of the incorporators. The chief
purpose of the building of this railway was to make
it part of a through line between Boston and New
York. He was also for nine years one of the direc
tors, and for a time the president, of the Boston and
New York Transportation Company, which main
tained a line of steamboats between New York and
1 Mr. Russell presided at a dinner given to Mr. Wheaton,
at the Astor House in New York, in June, 1848.

76
Providence in connection with the Boston and Provi
dence railway. Somewhat earlier, he had become a
director of the Globe Insurance Company of New
York, among the directors of which were such well-
known men of the day as Nathaniel Prime, John
Hone, Peter Remsen, Garrit Storm, Jonathan Good
hue, John Jacob Astor, Isaac Carow and Samuel S.
Howland. There was still in those days a good deal
of prejudice on the part of old New Yorkers against
the "Yankees " from New England, who were estab
lishing themselves in New York; and it was a com
pliment to the young merchant to be chosen by such
men to be their associate. He became a member of
the Chamber of Commerce of New York in 1827.1
In 1839 he became a director of the Bank of Com
merce, as already mentioned, and in 1842, upon its
organization, a trustee of the Atlantic Mutual In
surance Company, both of which offices he held until
his death. Later, at various times, he was a director
of the New York Central Railroad Company, the
Hudson River Railroad Company, the Pacific Mail
Steamship Company, the Republic Fire Insurance
Company and other corporations; and a member or
trustee of various historical, literary and charitable
societies, among them being the New York His-
1 In the annual report of the Chamber of Commerce for 1883-
1884 is published an address delivered before that body, at its
meeting on February seventh, 1884, upon " The death of Mr.
Charles H. Russell." At that meeting it was also " Resolved,
That this Chamber pauses in its deliberations to express its
sense of the esteem in which they held their late associate,
Charles H. Russell, of their appreciation of his long and spot
less mercantile career, and of their gratitude for his various
public services."

77
torical Society, the Society of the New York Hos
pital, the American Art Union, the Redwood Li
brary at Newport, the Newport Hospital, the Rhode
Island Historical Society, etc. He was one of the
original board of Commissioners of the New York
Central Park, from 1857 to 1870; a member of the
Union Defence Committee of 1861 ; one of the com
missioners to select a site and adopt plans for a post-
office in the city of New York, in 1866; and was
constantly requested to serve upon committees in
matters of public interest and importance. In re
gard to the site for the post-office, it was the opinion
of Mr. Russell alone among the commissioners that,
while a sufficiently large branch post-office should be
maintained at or near the site which was chosen by
the commission and which is now occupied by the
post-office, yet that the principal office should be
much further up-town; and the site which he pre
ferred and advised was the north side of Union
Square. On October twenty -ninth, 1850, Mr. Russell was
married to Miss Caroline Howland, a daughter of
Samuel S. Howland, of the famous house of " How
land and Aspinwall " (previously " G. G. and S.
S. Howland ") , and a descendant of John Howland,
who came to America in the Mayflower in 1620 and
was one of the founders and leading men of the
Plymouth Colony. Mr. and Mrs. Russell went to
Europe after their marriage and passed a year
there in travel. In 1860 he visited the Isthmus of
Panama.

VIII
Mb. Russell was one of the Commissioners of the
Central Park in the city of New York, from the
organization of the board of Commissioners in 1857
until its dissolution in 1870. For a considerable pe
riod before the year 1851 the need of a large public
park in the city of New York had been much felt,
and the subject had become one of general public
interest and discussion. The first practical step in
the matter appears to have been taken by Mayor
Kingsland, who, on the fifth of April, 1851, sent
a communication to the Common Council requesting
action by it. The Common Council passed a reso
lution approving of the establishment of a pubhc
park, and recommending that a tract of land situated
on the East River, extending from Sixty-fourth to
Seventy-fifth Streets, and containing about one hun
dred and fifty -three acres, including the land known
as " Jones' Wood," should be taken for the purpose.
Application was made to the legislature, and an act
was passed on July eleventh, 1851, authorizing the
taking of the land referred to. The passage of this
act caused further general discussion of the subject,
and it was subsequently decided that the land se
lected was not the best which could be had for the
purpose; and on July twenty-first, 1853, another
act of the legislature was passed, establishing as a
public park all that portion of what is now known
78

79
as " Central Park " (so called from its central situ
ation upon Manhattan Island, between the two riv
ers, and between the four great thoroughfares, viz. :
Third and Fourth Avenues on the east, and Broad
way and Eighth Avenue on the west) which lies south
of One Hundred and Sixth Street. That portion of
the park which extends from One Hundred and
Sixth Street to One Hundred and Tenth Street was
added in 1863. The " Jones' Wood Act " was sub
sequently repealed. The formal proceedings for the
taking of the land for the " Central Park " were
completed in February, 1856. An ordinance of the
Common Council placed the care of the park lands
temporarily in the hands of the Mayor and the Street
Commissioner, and some preliminary surveys were
undertaken, but little practical progress was made
until the following year, when, by an act of the legis
lature, passed April seventeenth, 1857, the Central
Park was placed " under the exclusive control and
management of a Board of Commissioners " con
sisting of eleven persons, to be known as " The Com
missioners of the Central Park." The members of
the first board, who were named in the act, were
Robert J. Dillon, James E. Cooley, Charles H. Rus
sell, John F. Butterworth, John A. C. Gray, Waldo
Hutchins, Thomas C. Fields, Andrew H. Green,
Charles W. Elliott, William K. Strong and James
Hogg. The act provided that they should hold
office for five years, and should fill vacancies oc
curring in their number; conferred upon them full
and exclusive power to lay out and regulate the
park and to govern and manage it ; and provided for
the raising of the funds necessary for the work.

80
The board was required to make an annual report
to the Common Council, but was a State organiza
tion and not under the control of the city govern
ment. The first meeting of the board was held on the
thirtieth of April, 1857, and the Commissioners im
mediately undertook the great task before them. A
public competition for plans for the laying out of
the park was opened, and prizes were offered for
those of the highest merit. The plan finally adopted,
about one year after the organization of the board,
was that of Messrs. Olmsted and Vaux; and there
upon the work of laying out the park was prosecuted
with great vigor. It is difficult for any one to realize
to-day that this park, now so beautiful, was in most
of its area a very unsightly, rocky and barren tract.
The irregularities of the ground, and the hills, ra
vines and water-courses included within this region,
while causing many difficulties, yet also gave great
opportunities for the improvement of natural beau
ties. Large forces of men were put to work; and
at one time in the early history of the park as many
as three thousand five hundred men were employed
there. Such a work was a new one in this country,
and the Commissioners found themselves called
upon to decide innumerable questions of landscape-
gardening, designs, finance, the organization of
forces, etc. The board early adopted the principle
of conducting its work by its own agents and em
ployees, responsible to itself and under its control,
and, in general, work was done in this way and not
by contract.
The park as completed was the work of these Com-

81
missioners, who continued afterwards, while they
held office, to develop and improve it and to govern
and manage it. They had nothing to do with the
small parks of the city, but were Commissioners of
the Central Park only. Other public works of very
important character were, by various acts of the
legislature, from time to time, placed under their
direction and control, involving great powers and
responsibility and the exercise of great care and
judgment. Among such works were the widening
and improvement of Sixth and Seventh Avenues,
from the north end of the park to the Harlem River,
the laying out of St. Nicholas Avenue, and the es
tablishment of the grades of all avenues and streets
intersecting these avenues ; the improvement of Man
hattan Square and Mount Morris Square ; the estab
lishment of the grade of Fifth Avenue east and of
Eighth Avenue west of the park; the laying out of
the Circle at Eighth Avenue and Fifty -ninth Street ;
the preparation and carrying out of plans for the
improvement of all the " West Side " district, from
Fifty-ninth to One Hundred and Fifty-fifth Street,
and for establishing pier and bulkhead lines on the
Hudson River between those streets ; the laying out
of streets and avenues in that part of Manhattan
Island which lies north of One Hundred and Fifty-
fifth Street, and of establishing pier and bulkhead
lines there on Spuyten Duyvil Creek and the Harlem
River ; and the preparation of plans for the improve
ment of parts of Westchester County, between New
York and Yonkers, and for the improvement of the
Harlem River and Spuyten Duyvil Creek.
By an act passed in 1859, it was provided that

82
the board should " consist of not less than seven nor
more than eleven members." Changes took place
in the membership of the board, from time to time.
After 1862 the number of members was always
eight. By various acts of the legislature the Com
missioners were continued and re-continued in office,
with power to fill vacancies in their number. To
this circumstance the success of the work un
doubtedly is in great part due, as thereby the con
sistent following of a plan and its harmonious and
regular development were secured. Another rea
son of the great success of this work is that the Com
missioners devoted themselves to it. The success of
the work itself was made the first and only object.
Personal interest and " politics " were kept out.
The question of " politics " arose in the beginning
of the work, and it was not an easy matter to dis
pose of, but the board took positive ground in re
gard to it. In many respects the system of rules
for their workingmen, adopted by the Commission
ers, is a model for all public work, and in no respect
more than as shown in a printed notice entitled
" Rights of Men Employed," which was required
to be posted on the outside of every tool-cart, and to
be read aloud to each gang by its foreman once a
fortnight. Under this head the notice read:
" It is entirely contrary to the intention of employing
men on the Park that any influence of any sort should be
brought to bear upon their political opinions or actions.
Officers and foremen on the Park are required, therefore,
to abstain from talking with the men upon political topics,
and are forbidden to solicit their votes for any person or
measure on any pretence whatever. Men are requested to

inform the Superintendent if they are ever told that it is
their duty to vote one way or another because they are em
ployed on the Park, or that it is necessary for them to vote
one way or another in order to be kept at work on the
Park." And in their final report, in 1870, the then Com
missioners (Messrs. Stebbins, Blatchford, Butter-
worth, Russell, Grinnell, Green and Hutchins) say
on this subject:
" At an early period of the work it became apparent to
most of the Commissioners that neither economy nor a high
degree of efficiency could be secured if the forces in their
employ were to be manipulated to subserve the interest of
any political party or person. The few attempts that have
been made to compulsorily control or direct any portion of
this force on any particular political question, or in favor
of or against particular men, have been promptly rebuked
and frustrated by those in the Commission who have been
earnest in the desire that all employees should be entirely
free to exercise their political sympathies as seemed best
to themselves, without any control whatever of those in
authority over them. The Commissioners believe that no
work can be either economically or successfully conducted
if attention to the work itself is made a secondary considera
tion to the political ambitions or interests of those who pri
marily have charge of it. They have steadily adhered to
this opinion."
A gentleman, who is well informed as to the
events of that time, has recently told the writer of
this memoir that, after the first meeting of the Com
missioners had adjourned, Mr. Russell was re
quested to attend a private meeting of several of the

84
Commissioners who were of the same political party ;
that Mr. Russell replied that he knew of no rea
son for such a meeting, and was thereupon told that
it was to be held for the purpose of deciding upon
appointments to office and employment under the
Commission; that he at once said most emphatically
that he would attend no such meetings, nor consider
any appointments to office or employment upon the
ground of politics, nor otherwise than upon the
merits and before the full board. It may well be
believed that the position thus taken by Mr. Russell
at the beginning contributed in great measure to
the course which, as the foregoing quotation shows,
was subsequently pursued by the board.
With the exception of the treasurer, no member
of the board received any compensation for his ser
vices. During the thirteen years of their existence
as a board, nine and a half millions of dollars passed
through their hands. During the entire period of
the board's existence Mr. Russell was chairman of
the finance committee and a member of the commit
tee on " statuary, fountains and architectural struc
tures," and after 1861 of the executive committee.
In 1870 the " Tweed Ring," then in control of
the legislature and of the city government, desiring
to secure control of the park and of the great dis
bursement of money and of the employment of
workmen connected with it, procured the abolish
ment of the board of Commissioners by an act of the
legislature passed April fifth, 1870, under the pro
visions of which the board ceased to exist after April
twentieth, 1870. It was succeeded by the newly
created " Department of Public Parks." The re-

85
tirement of the Commissioners caused much disap
proval and dissatisfaction in the community. A
mass meeting was held, at which resolutions com
mending the Commissioners and urging the exemp
tion of the Central Park Commission from the
scheme of reorganization of the public departments
then in progress were adopted; but without effect.1
1 The following is an extract from an editorial article in a
New York newspaper of the day:
" The Retiring Park Commissioners.
" Yesterday the members of the old Park Commission retired
from their labors and made way for the gentlemen appointed
under the new charter to succeed them in their duties. The
retiring Commissioners are: Messrs. Henry G. Stebbins, R. M.
Blatchford, John F. Butterworth, Charles H. Russell and Waldo
Hutchins [also Moses H. Grinnell]. With them has been asso
ciated Mr. Andrew H. Green, on whom, as comptroller, has
devolved most of the hard work of the Commission, and who,
alone, is retained in the new board. The retiring of the other
gentlemen whom we have named presents an occasion, not to be
neglected, to express what we know to be the universal senti
ment of this community, viz. : that no body of public officials
have ever in this city performed more perfectly and admirably
the work assigned to them; none have furnished more unques
tionable examples of official integrity, and none have labored
with more manifest and persevering zeal for the public benefit.
And for all the time and attention they have bestowed on our
most valuable public possession they have received and expected
to receive no other reward than the consciousness of duty well
performed. " The transformation of the unsightly wastes which formed
the site of the park into the most perfect landscape garden in
the world; the thoroughness with which the roads, bridges,
sewerage and artificial improvements of the park have been
built; the perfect taste which is seen in all of the details of the
park; the artistic structures which blend so admirably with its
natural features; the efficient yet unobtrusive police regulations
which have so nearly prevented all wanton or careless acts of

86
vandalism; the judicious selections of sites for monumental and
other works of art, — these have all cost care, thought, study and
time, at the hands of these gentlemen. It is rare at any time,
and especially in these times, that the public is served so faith
fully by any of its officials. As these real benefactors to our
whole community, and to the cause of landscape art in this
country generally, are retiring from their voluntary, unpaid
and glorious service, ought not the community which has been
so nobly served to acknowledge its sense of obligation by some
appropriate and worthy testimonial? Who wiU offer practical
suggestions as to the most fitting mode of a recognition which
every one would like to see made ? "

IX

On the thirteenth of April, 1861, occurred the last
in the series of events which brought on the Civil
War. On that day, after withstanding as long as
possible a heavy bombardment, Major Anderson
surrendered Fort Sumter, in the harbor of Charles
ton, to the Confederate forces. The news of the
surrender reached New York on the evening of the
following day. On the fifteenth of April the Presi
dent's proclamation was issued, calling for seventy-
five thousand militia, and appealing " to all loyal
citizens to favor, facilitate and aid this effort to main
tain the honor, the integrity and the existence of our
National Union and the perpetuity of popular gov
ernment, and to redress wrongs already long enough
endured." The excitement caused throughout the North was
intense, but there was no delay nor indecision in the
response of the community. There was what has
been rightly called " the uprising of a great people "
to defend the integrity of the Union. In the city
of New York the leading citizens immediately as
sembled; adopted resolutions of loyalty to the
government, pledging themselves to its assistance;
subscribed funds for the equipment of the first
regiments of militia, which were hastily hurried for
ward; made arrangements for taking the unsub
scribed balance of the national loan ; and called a pub-
87

88
lie meeting. The city, which but a few days before
had been calm and quiet, given to the pursuits of
peace, was now occupied with preparations for war.
On Wednesday, the seventeenth of April, two days
after the President's proclamation, the Sixth Massa
chusetts regiment of infantry left Boston for Wash
ington, and early on the following morning marched
down Broadway. No one who saw its progress on
that morning can ever forget the intense interest of
the spectacle as these brave men marched past, on
their way to the defence of the Union ; and the people,
although they little suspected the long and weary
struggle of the coming four years, knew that it was
on no holiday parade that these men were passing
through their city. These soldiers of Massachusetts
were worthy representatives of the men who fought
the first fight for liberty at Lexington and Con
cord eighty-six years before. On Friday, the nine
teenth of April, the New York Seventh Regiment
left New York for Washington, and the ovation
which it received on its march through the streets
showed the feelings of the citizens. On the follow
ing day the " Union mass-meeting " was held in
Union Square, and was one of the greatest public
meetings ever held in the United States. The entire
square was packed with people. From many stands
speakers addressed the multitudes, amid demonstra
tions of interest and patriotism. Through the ad
joining streets processions marched carrying the
flag of the Union. Resolutions were passed ap
pointing a committee of citizens to receive funds
and to act in support of the government.
Mr. Russell was one of those whose names appear

89
on the call for this meeting, and he was also one of
the members of a committee appointed by the meet
ing, at first known as the " Committee of Safety,"
and which soon afterwards became known as the
" Union Defence Committee of the Citizens of New
York." This committee immediately met, and
worked by day and by night with the greatest ac
tivity. It collected funds, provided uniforms, arms
and accoutrements for the New York regiments,
aided in their preparations for service and in their
proper transportation to the front, and assisted the
families of the men who went out in them. In these
days, and especially after the experience which a
long war gave to the people of this country, it seems
extraordinary that a committee of citizens, not hold
ing office, appointed at a popular meeting, should
have taken in hand such important public measures.
But the emergency was without precedent ; the regu
lar army was small and scattered; many of its offi
cers were Southern men; and the first troops avail
able for immediate service in the protection of the
capital were the militia of the loyal States. It was
in preparing the militia regiments of the city and
State of New York for immediate service, and in
forwarding them to their destinations, that the great
work of the committee was done. The Common
Council of the city voted an appropriation of one
million dollars, to be paid on the committee's war
rants. Steamers were chartered; and, in what seems
an incredibly short time, the full number of militia
regiments constituting the quota of the State of New
York was sent to the front. After the first regi
ments were sent forward for temporary service, fur-

90
ther regiments were enlisted " for two years or for
the war."
Not only in these ways was the committee work
ing, but also in communication with the governors
of other States, in procuring arms and supplies, and
in strengthening the hands of the government at
a time when its foes were pressing upon it, and when
many of these foes were " those of its own house
hold." As has been well said of the committee:
" It was for the time being the executive arm of the
State and National governments, and gave to the
efforts of our citizens the needed method and direc
tion, concentrating the energies of the people, and
raising them to the highest grade of efficiency."
The energetic action of the committee reflected
the spirit of nearly all classes of the citizens of
New York. There probably was never a greater
instance of the public spirit and patriotism of a
community than the action of the merchants and
bankers of New York. Having especially to dread
the consequences of war, they nevertheless imme
diately took the most decided action to strengthen
the government and to support it. On the nine
teenth of April, 1861, four days after the Presi
dent's proclamation was issued, the New York
Chamber of Commerce adopted a resolution recom
mending a blockade of the Southern ports. The
seriousness of the struggle and the necessity for de
cided action were realized by the patriotic citizens
of New York long before they appear to have been
fully understood by the authorities at Washington.
A prompt and earnest prosecution of the war was
urged by them, while the high officials at Washington

CHARLES H. RUSSELL
1860

91
were still hoping for an amicable settlement, were
fearful of driving the South into greater excesses,
and were doubtful whether the North would ap
prove of positive measures.
Mr. Russell, with Messrs. Richards, Astor, Mc-
Curdy, Draper, Sloan, Blatchford and Low, as a
sub-committee of the Union Defence Committee,
went to Washington in May, to urge the acceptance
by the government of fourteen additional regiments
from the State of New York, to be selected by the
Union Defence Committee, to serve during the war,
and to be sent forward at once. The sub-committee
was received by President Lincoln and had an inter
view with him, at which were present all the members
of the Cabinet. Considerable doubt was expressed
by members of the Cabinet as to whether the govern
ment could raise the money, or depend upon popular
support, to justify it in using so many more troops.
One of the Cabinet officers expressed the opinion
that if the military forces were increased the bonds
of the government would fall to fifty cents on the
dollar. The chairman of the committee called upon
Mr. Russell to give his views upon that point — i. e.,
as to whether the government could depend upon
financial support and maintain its credit. Mr. Rus
sell said to the President that the committee had come
to talk plain English— (" Well," said Mr. Lincoln,
"that's what I like");— that war was actually
upon the country; that it was necessary to put down
the rebellion; that what the credit of the country
should be, depended not upon Wall Street, but upon
the action of the government, and in great measure
upon what the administration should that day de-

92
cide to do; that, if the government should show
itself prompt and energetic in taking the necessary
steps to put down the rebellion, it need have no
fear as to its credit, nor as to its receiving all the
financial support it needed. The day was won; the
fourteen additional regiments were accepted; and a
day or two afterwards Mr. Russell received, at
New York, the following letter from the President:
" (Private.)
" Washington, D. C, May 16, 1861.
" My deaii Sir : Learning to-day from Gov. Seward that
the order you have for forwarding the fourteen regiments
has something in it for the Governor to do in the case, I
am alarmed lest a see-sawing commences, by which neither
your troops nor the Governor's will get along in any reason
able time. Now, I want you to cut the knots, and send
them right along, five regiments here and nine to Fort
Sumpter,1 just as understood when we parted.
" Yours very truly,
" A. Lincoln.
" C. H. Russell, Esa."

To this letter Mr. Russell replied that he was
requested by the committee to say that the Presi
dent's instructions would be fully carried out, and
that five of the regiments would be sent to Washing
ton and nine to Fortress Monroe, with all the de
spatch possible.2
1 An error for Fortress Monroe.
2 A copy of "Lincoln: Passages from his Speeches and Let
ters. With an introduction by Richard Watson Gilder " was re
ceived by the writer of this memoir, upon the day following

93
The most important work of the Union Defence
Committee was completed by July, 1861, although
considerable work was done as late as November of
that year. By that time the State and National
governments were competent to attend properly to
such matters as in the first emergency were attended
to by the committee.
While the committee, as such, did little work after
1861, yet on several occasions it was called together
after that year, during the continuance of the war,
and was never formally dissolved, although it prac
tically had no existence after 1865. Mr. Russell
continued to be a member of it during its entire exis
tence, and was the chairman of the finance committee,
and as such ex officio a member of the executive
committee.1"Lincoln's Birthday," in 1903, accompanied by the following
lines : " I give this book, in token, to the son
Of him who was a type of those brave souls
Who, when dire trouble fell upon the land,
From the beginning saw the fateful end,
Bending strong backs to the tremendous strain.
Higher than knighthood's honor lives your line,
For that the mighty Lincoln hurriedly called
To your true sire, in a perilous hour,
And got true answer, — succor swift, complete.
On such as he the patient President,
The tender, elder brother of us all,
The sad, wise leader, leaned, and not in vain.
Therefore the nation lives, therefore shall live,
Inheriting the spirit of great days.
R. W. Gilder.
New York, February 12th, 1903."
1 See " The Union Defence Committee of the City of New
York, Minutes, Reports, and Correspondence, with an Historical
Introduction," by John Austin Stevens, 1885.

94
The excitements of the years of the Civil War
have long since passed, but the trials and anxieties
of those days should not be unknown to the descen
dants of those who bore them. There was hardly a
home in the North which had not a husband, father,
son, or other near relative in the field or at sea, in
the service of the Union. Mr. Russell's nephew
Hany, the son of his brother William, was in the
army, as aide-de-camp to General Hooker ; and Mrs.
Russell's only brother, Joseph Howland, a man of
the noblest type of Christian soldier and gentleman,
went to the front as adjutant of the Sixteenth New
York Regiment, of which later he became colonel,
was severely wounded, and was brevetted brigadier-
general. Colonel Henry Sturgis Russell, of Boston,
a grandson of the Hon. Jonathan Russell, served
throughout the war, and was a very distinguished
and gallant officer. The ladies of Mr. Russell's
family, in common with hundreds of other loyal
women, were constantly occupied in making cloth
ing for the soldiers, in sending them delicacies, and
in the work of the Sanitary Commission; and the
children assisted in making lint and in such other
ways as they were able.
The home on the corner of Great Jones Street and
Broadway was in the midst of active scenes in the
early months of the war. In February, 1861, on his
way to Washington to be inaugurated as President
of the United States, Mr. Lincoln, passing through
New York, drove down Broadway with uncovered
head, through the undemonstrative crowds, which
looked at him with interest, but without enthusiasm,
little realizing the great events to come in which he

95
was to be the greatest figure. In Great Jones Street,
near Mr. Russell's house, was a restaurant called
" The Palmetto," and in front of it was placed as a
sign a palmetto tree. When Fort Sumter was fired
upon, the people tore down this tree, the palmetto
being the emblem of the State of South Carolina.
The Sixth Massachusetts Regiment, on the morn
ing of April 18, 1861, when the tramp of its march
ing men broke the stillness, halted at this corner, and
the people from the houses near by brought out food
and fruit to the soldiers ; and all through those excit
ing days, by day and by night, the regiments from
New York and other States, on their way to the
front, passed by the house ; and often the command
ing officers, seeing Mr. Russell at his window and
knowing him from his prominence in the work of the
Union Defence Committee, saluted him as they
passed. Constantly through the streets, to the sound
of the drum and fife, went the recruiting parties.
When tlie Seventh Regiment of New York left
for Washington, the windows of the house were
crowded with friends who had come there to see the
march of this command, which contained a large
number of the best-known young men of the city.
When Major Anderson came North after the sur
render of Fort Sumter, he dined one Sunday after
noon with Mr. Russell; and when, after dinner, Mr.
Russell took him in his carriage to drive him to his
hotel, a crowd surrounded the carriage and cheered
this gallant officer. A club of young ladies, of which
Miss Fanny Russell was a member, met at Mr. Rus
sell's house, and made the havelocks for the officers
and men of the Third Regiment of New York Volun-

96
teers. Besides the part which he took in the work
of the Union Defence Committee, Mr. Russell was
active in many other ways in support of the govern
ment, during the years of the war, wherever oppor
tunity could be found. He was on intimate terms
with the President, with Mr. Stanton, Secretary of
War, with Mr. Chase, Secretary of the Treasury,
and with the leaders of the Republican party in both
houses of Congress; and in the consideration of
matters affecting the finances and credit of the
government he was frequently consulted by them.
Throughout the whole period of the war, even in the
dark days when defeat in the field and enmity abroad
made loyal hearts doubt as to the result, he never
for a moment lost courage; and at all times, by his
language and example, he inspired patriotism in
others and maintained their confidence in the final
triumph of the Union cause.1
Mr. Russell was one of a committee of thirteen
gentlemen appointed at a public meeting held in
Wall Street on April fifteeenth, 1865, the day of the
death of President Lincoln, to attend and represent
the city of New York at the funeral ceremonies in
Washington. The committee did so, and after
wards was received by the new President, Andrew
Johnson.
1 " In that anxious hour he obeyed the calls of patriotism with
such alacrity and earnestness as to make strangers desirous of
his friendship, and friends proud of him as a fellow-country
man. Until the end of that contest, in his private capacity and
as a member of the Union Defence Committee, he continued to
contribute his time and means to the support of the government
and its measures." (Extract from a memorial notice of Mr.
Russell read at a meeting of the New York Historical Society
and recorded in its minutes, February 5, 1884.)

The Bank of Commerce was a large purchaser of
United States government securities during the
early years of the Civil War. As investments these
purchases proved profitable, but that such would
be the case could not be foreseen at that time; and
the action of the bank in making them, and its in
fluence and leadership in the combined action of
itself and other banks and individuals in the cities of
New York, Boston and Philadelphia in subscribing
to government loans, were of great public impor
tance and benefit in sustaining the national credit
and in securing to the government the necessary
means for the prosecution of the war.
In December, 1860, no provision had been made
by the authorities at Washington for the payment
of the interest on the public debt falling due on the
first of January, 1861. This was within a few weeks
after the election of Mr. Lincoln. The treasonable
movements of the secessionists, some of whom filled
high office under the government, and their plots
to embarrass it, were already becoming known; and
no confidence was felt in the administration of Presi
dent Buchanan. Under authority of an Act of Con
gress passed December seventeenth, 1860, the Secre
tary of the Treasury on December eighteenth called
for subscriptions to a loan of $5,000,000, for which
treasury notes were to be issued. The bids received
up to December twenty-eighth, 1860, when bids were

97

98
opened, amounted to less than $2,500,000. The Bank
of Commerce, for itself and others, had bid for one
million and a half of this amount. Of the total bids
the Secretary of the Treasury accepted $1,831,000,
including the $1,500,000 of the Bank of Commerce,
leaving still needed $3,169,000. Mr. Russell was
very instrumental in raising the subscription of
$1,500,000 made by the Bank of Commerce for itself
and others, and was himself a subscriber to the extent
of one hundred thousand dollars. As it seemed to
be improbable that the government would succeed in
raising the entire amount needed, Mr. Russell and
Mr. John J. Cisco, the latter then the Assistant Trea
surer of the United States at New York, together
telegraphed to the Secretary of the Treasury, ask
ing whether he would allow the subscribers to the
$1,500,000 to take the balance of the loan on the
same terms, but not making a bid. The Secretary
construed their communication as being a bid, and
replied that their offer was accepted. Mr. Russell
accepted the situation; and the balance of the loan
of $5,000,000 was then, chiefly by his influence and
exertions, immediately made up by the Bank of
Commerce and other subscribers, and the necessary
means were thus provided for the payment of the
interest. The emergency was a dangerous and a criti
cal one to the country, and it was met, in the only
way in which it could properly be met, by keen ap
preciation of the situation and by sound judgment
and courage. The Secretary of the Treasury at this
time was Philip F. Thomas, who succeeded Howell
Cobb, and held office from December twelfth, 1860,
to January eleventh, 1861, at which time John A.

99
Dix was made Secretary and held office until the
close of President Buchanan's administration. Gen
eral Dix's appointment gave great satisfaction and
restored confidence in financial circles; and at a
meeting of New York bank officers and directors
held at the Bank of Commerce a resolution approv
ing the appointment, moved by Mr. Russell and
seconded by Moses Taylor, was adopted.1
Subsequently, from time to time, large temporary
advances were made to the government by the banks,
in which the Bank of Commerce and several of its
directors joined liberally. But these measures were
only temporary; and after the passage of the acts
of Congress of July seventeenth and August fifth,
1861, providing for a national loan of not exceeding
$250,000,000, the banks of the cities of New York,
Boston and Philadelphia advanced to the govern
ment the sum of $150,000,000, for which were issued
treasury notes bearing seven and three-tenths per
cent, interest, commonly known as the " seven thir
ties," and six-per-cent. twenty-year bonds. Of this
amount the proportion of the New York banks was
$105,000,000, and the contribution of the Bank of
Commerce was of over fourteen millions of dollars.
In the year 1865 the Bank of Commerce became
a national bank, under the provisions of the Na
tional Bank Act of 1864. The bank had been of
great service to the government during the war. In
addition to its subscriptions to government loans
and its aid to the government in the maintenance
of the public credit, it had in many special matters
been of great public service. These circumstances,
1 "Memoirs of John A. Dix," by Morgan Dix, Vol. I, p. 363.

100
and the high position and influence of the bank and
of its board of directors, and the further fact that
at that time the bank had the largest capital and sur
plus of any bank in the country, made the govern
ment especially desirous that the Bank of Com
merce should become a national bank under the new
law. By the original articles of association of the
Bank of Commerce it was provided (as permitted
by the General Banking Act of 1838) that there
should be no individual liability of stockholders for
the contracts, debts or engagements of the associa
tion. The National Bank Act provided for the indi
vidual liability of stockholders in national banks to
an amount equal to the par value of their shares.
The directors of the Bank of Commerce, while will
ing that it should become a national bank, were un
willing to surrender the stockholders' freedom from
liability; but the provision above mentioned of the
National Bank Act was an essential element of the
proposed new system of banking and one that as a
general principle could not be abandoned. The ad
ministration and the leaders of the majority in Con
gress were anxious to meet the wishes of the Bank
of Commerce upon this point; and the matter was
finally settled by the adoption of a general provision
exempting from individual liability the stockholders
of any bank at that time existing under State laws,
having not less than $5,000,000 of capital actually
paid in and a surplus equal to twenty per cent, of
such capital on hand, such surplus to be kept unim
paired, and always to be maintained in addition to
the twenty per cent, surplus to be accumulated and
maintained by all national banks, as otherwise pro-

101
vided by the act. This exception covered the case
of the Bank of Commerce ; and the bank thereupon,
in 1865, was converted into a national bank. Mr.
Russell was the chairman of the committee to take
the necessary steps to effect the conversion, after
it had been decided upon, toward the end of 1864.
He went several times to Washington, during and
after the session of Congress, and it was in great
degree due to his efforts that the act was so amended,
before its final passage, as to secure to the stock
holders of the Bank of Commerce the freedom from
individual liability which they enjoy.
On the fifth of March, 1866, at the earnest re
quest of his associates, Mr. Russell accepted the
office of president of the bank, upon the retirement
of Mr. John A. Stevens. This position he held
until June fifth, 1868, when he resigned it. He
never had any wish to hold this office, but assumed
it, with public spirit, at a period when it was consid
ered desirable in the interests of the bank that he
should do so.
Upon Mr. Russell's retirement from the presi
dency, in June, 1868, the capital and surplus and
reserved profits of the bank amounted to over $14,-
000,000. During all the time of his presidency divi
dends at the rate of ten per cent, per annum were
paid on ten millions of capital, and the surplus and
reserved profits on hand, as shown by the annual
statements, increased from $2,878,117.57 in 1866,
to $3,661,754.01 in 1868. In the present day of
aggregations of capital and of great financial trans
actions, these figures do not seem so remarkable and
exceptional as they undoubtedly were in the years

102
from 1866 to 1868. The number of shareholders in
Ma}*-, 1868, was 2280. Under the National Bank
Act the bank was entitled to a note circulation of
$6,000,000. Its capital was larger than that of any
other bank in the United States. Only one other
bank had a capital even one-half so large. The direc
tors of the Bank of Commerce during Mr. Russell's
presidency were Messrs. George T. Adee, John
Jacob Astor, Denning Duer, John C. Green, Robert
Lenox Kennedy, A. A. Low, Edwin D. Morgan,
Adam Norrie, Robert Ray, Joseph Sampson, John
A. Stevens and R. Warren Weston. Mr. Russell's
portrait, painted by Huntington in 1880, hangs in
the president's room in the offices of the bank.1
1 At a special meeting of the Board of Directors of the Na
tional Bank of Commerce in New York, held on Tuesday, Janu
ary 22, 1884, the President having formally announced the death
of Mr. Charles H. Russell, who was the earliest and oldest mem
ber of the board, it was, on motion,
Resolved, That the following minute be entered at length on
our book of records, and that a copy of the same be sent to the
family of the deceased, with the tender of our sincere and heart
felt sympathy: In Memoriam.
The announcement of the death, last evening, of our venerable
and honored associate and friend Mr. Charles H. Russell, in his
eighty-eighth year, has touched the feelings of all present most
profoundly. The Christian faith which he cherished and which we hold
does not permit us to mourn an event which has liberated his
spirit from its earthly body and translated it to a higher state
of being ; for the years of his life were many, and the infirmities
of age pressed heavily upon him. We measure the greatness of
our loss rather by the recollection of what he was in the vigor
of his manhood. We recall the fact that he was one of the
founders of this institution, and that during the whole time of
its existence under its original title he was a steadfast, con-

103
On May twelfth, 1870, Mr. Russell presided as
chairman at a large public meeting held in the
Cooper Institute, in New York, to favor the ratifi
cation by the United States Senate of the treaty
scientious, and faithful Director; and when in the progress of
political events it became desirable to change from a state to a
national institution, Mr. Russell was actively instrumental in
having the law so passed by Congress as to secure our stock
holders from all personal responsibility, as required by their
first articles of association.
In 1866 he succeeded Mr. Stevens as President of the Bank,
continuing in charge until 1868, when he resigned.
From the first establishment of the Bank in 1839, Mr. Russell
manifested a lively interest in its management, which to the
end of his life never languished.
In every time of crisis, and more especially when civil war
imperilled the finances of the country and even the existence
of the government, he was always at the front, animating by
his presence and guiding by his counsel. With every new
emergency, with every new call for pecuniary aid from the
Secretary of the Treasury, he was prompt to enforce the sug
gestions of the highest patriotism.
And so it was that, whenever financial measures were under
consideration in Congress, his thoughts were always turned to
the solution of problems which perplex the minds of so many
of our public men ; and he was ever ready to give to our national
and state legislators the benefit of his wise suggestions, the
result of his mature reflection.
As a member of the " Union Defence Committee " he was
one of those who were most efficient in sending succor to the
troops that hastened to the front, and in subsequent efforts for
an active prosecution of the war.
Mr. Russell had closed his business career before he came
to be known to most of the present members of the Board, re
tiring with an ample fortune and the reputation of an honorable
and upright merchant. Into all the various corporate institu
tions and public associations with which he was connected he
carried a dignified deportment, a natural sagacity, and a ripe
ness of judgment which made him a most welcome and valued
coadjutor in the transaction of affairs.

104
for the acquisition of the Bay of Samana and adja
cent territory on the island of Santo Domingo. His
friend from boyhood, Moses H. Grinnell, in pro
posing Mr. Russell's name for election as chairman
of the meeting, referred to him as " a gentleman who
is identified with the city of New York for thirty-
five years as a merchant, and for ten years as the
leader and head of the Bank of Commerce, a man
well known throughout the land, a man who assumes
no position without consideration and reflection."
The Senate refused to ratify the treaty.
This is not the time for an elaborate exposition of his useful
life. We have all seen him in the home of his affections, where
a kind and genial courtesy imparted to his generous hospitality
its highest charm. Many of us have followed him, year by year,
to his summer retreat, where hosts of friends have been ac
customed to surround him under the shadow of the trees which
his hands had planted and whose growth he had watched with
unceasing pleasure ; and not a few of us have beheld him with his
eyes closed to the light of day, standing amid the scenes which
once delighted his vision, serene and cheerful, calmly awaiting
the call which he has so recently answered.
It shall be our privilege to embalm the memory of our late
associate and friend and preserve it for our successors, with
the memory of others who have gone before, who stood the high
est in our love anfl esteem.

XI
Mr. Russell always had great affection for New
port, the place of his birth. As early as 1836 he
passed the summer there with his family, and from
that year until his death Newport was his summer
residence. In 1836 he bought a large tract of land there, in
cluding the property which afterwards was known
as " Oaklawn." In 1853 the " Oaklawn " house was
finished and first occupied by him; and it was en
larged in 1862. Every tree upon the grounds was
planted under his direction; and this place, which
he loved so well, each year increased in beauty and at
tractiveness under his care and attention. It was
a constant source of interest and pleasure to him.
He made a thorough study of trees and fruits and
flowers, and was very happy and successful in their
cultivation. He lived to see his trees grown to large
size and much beauty, under the care which he gave
to them, aided by the favorable climate of Newport.
" Oaklawn " was, above every other spot, his home
and the home of his family; and many of the dearest
memories of his surviving children centre there. It
was a well-known place in the history of Newport,
during the thirty years from 1853 to 1883; and was
the scene of constant hospitality and many entertain
ments. Many of the men best known in the history
of our country during those years, and distinguished
105

106
foreigners, were guests under its roof. In the later
years, the garden-parties, at which the company
gathered on the broad lawns, were celebrated among
the entertainments of Newport.
On March seventh, 1863, Mrs. Russell died, leav
ing six little children. Mr. Russell's only children
who are living at this time are the children of his
second marriage, who knew their mother only in the
time of their early childhood. To this day, her
friends tell them, as their father did, of the beauty
of her life and character.
After the death of Mrs. Russell, Miss Fanny Rus
sell assumed the care of her younger brothers and
sisters, to whom and to her father she devoted the
rest of her life. As the head of her father's house,
she presided at the many gatherings which took
place under his roof in New York and at " Oak
lawn " ; she was his constant companion, and the
devoted sister of her younger brothers and sisters,
to whom she gave the care of a mother; she was
loved and admired by all who knew her, and was
distinguished wherever she went by the dignity and
refinement of her bearing and the gentleness and
charm of her character. She died in 1885.1
1 " Fanny Geraldine Russell, who died on the second instant,
was the daughter of Charles Handy Russell and Ann Rodman
Russell, and was born in the city of New York, March 10, 1836.
Both the parents of Miss Russell were from colonial Newport
families, and she from her early youth spent much of her time
in her father's family in this city, to which place she was
strongly attached, and in the community she had many friends
who were strongly attached to her. Miss Russell was a lady
of extraordinary endowments ; so much purity of mind and heart,
so much amiability and intelligence, with so much energy and
practical wisdom as she possessed, are rarely combined in the

CHARLES H. RUSSELL
1882

107
Mr. Russell passed the last twenty years of his
life about equally in each year in New York and
at " Oaklawn." In 1869 he again visited Europe.
He continued to be a director or trustee of several
institutions. To the last days of his life his mind
was never idle. Even when, with advancing years,
he was no longer able to be physically active, he was
alert and interested in all the questions of the day.
He was constantly consulted upon matters of public
interest; and probably there was no one of his day
more generally honored and respected than he was
in the community in which he lived.
He was very fond of conversation, full of rem
iniscences of people and events, and unhesitating
in the expression of his opinions and beliefs. His
wide experience and knowledge of men and affairs
made his opinions interesting and valuable. The
formation of a single character. With the most cultivated classes
in society she was always a coveted guest, and in the homes
of the poor and friendless her presence was a benefaction.
Her countenance was radiant of goodness, and an evil thought,
or word, would appear to be an intruder to be banished from,
if it ever entered, her presence. Her best eulogy is contained
in the simple declaration made by one who had faithfully served
the Russell family for twenty years. He said: ' 1 have seen
Miss Fanny under almost all circumstances since I have been
with the family, and I never heard her say a word, even to a
servant, or saw her do a thing unbecoming a perfect lady, and
that is more than I can say of any other person I ever knew.'
She was well known and highly appreciated by a great many
people of distinction throughout the country, many of whom
she had met at the hospitable board of her father, over which
she had presided from the death of her stepmother. Miss Rus
sell will be greatly missed in Newport, not only in fashionable
society, but by the poor, to whom her death will be both a cause
for sorrow and a deprivation of comforts." (From the " New
port Daily News," April 6, 1885.)

108
long period covered by his active life and by his
recollections made him seem to be a connecting link
with the century in which he was born; and it was
always extremely interesting, especially in the later
years of his life, to hear him speak, from personal
knowledge, of the men and deeds of past genera
tions. The names of the men who were his friends are so
numerous that a list of them would be too long to
place upon the pages of this memoir. Many of the
men best known in our history in politics, commerce
and literature, during the fifty years before his
death, were among his friends.
He regarded the social side of life as one of its
duties. It was always his opinion that a man en
gaged in active business should each day, upon leav
ing his office, leave his business there behind him
and not bring it into his home and family life, and
that he should have a full and stimulating hfe and
interests outside of his business.
Nothing was more characteristic of him than his
impatience and contempt of anything which seemed
to him small or mean. His own nature was so far
above anything of that kind that it is impossible to
think of him in connection with anything selfish or
petty. His appearance and manner were full of
dignity, and inspired respect. His personality is
a charming one to recall, whether it be in the public
walks of life or in his home: a strong and wise and
honorable man, a dignified and courteous gentleman,
a good friend, and a devoted husband and father.
He was always a member of the Protestant Epis
copal Church, and was a regular attendant of its

109
services at St. Bartholomew's Church in New York
and at old Trinity Church in Newport, which was
endeared to him by family associations of several
generations. Until the eighty-fourth year of his life he had
excellent health, and his years seemed to have made
no impression upon him. In that year he had a se
vere illness, and soon afterwards almost entirely lost
his sight, which he never regained, and he was some
what lame from the effects of a fall; but otherwise
his health was unaffected, and his last years were
passed with undiminished interest in the many sub
jects which always interested him, and with keen
enjoyment of the society of his family and friends.
His mental faculties and cheerfulness of spirit never
were impaired; and he died on the twenty-first of
January, 1884, in his eighty-eighth year, after a
short and painless illness.
This sketch of his life has not been written as a
tribute of respect to his memory. As such it would
be far from adequate or worthy. It has been written
simply to give his grandchildren and great-grand
children, most of whom never knew him, some know
ledge of the part which he took in the affairs of his
time and of his honorable and useful life, in order
that they may hold that knowledge as a valued pos
session and as an inspiration in their own lives.

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