Is the oldest settler living in Holt County
having resided here since August, 1838. He was born in Clark County,
Ohio April 7, 1818. He left Ohio in 1836 and lived for 2 years
at Lafayette, Indiana. He left there in the spring of 1838 and
started for the Platte Purchase accompanied by John STERRET, John
RUSSELL and James KEE.
Judge RUSSELL proceeded by steamboat to
Clay County, Mo., where in August he met the three others who had
come overland. The whole party came on to Holt County and settled
near where Blank and Peter STEPHENSON had already located. Blank
STEPHENSON is said to have been the first constable of the county;
the postoffice was called Thorp's Mill, so called from John Thorp
who came in 1840 and built a mill 2 miles southeast of Oregon
on Mill Creek. On the organization of Nodaway township (now Holt
County), Judge Russell was made constable. On the formation of Holt
County, R.M. BARKHURST was appointed sheriff by the governor, but
on the first election in 1842, Judge RUSSELL was elected to that
office and served four years.
In 1851, Judge RUSSELL moved to Oregon, Holt County, Mo. For 2 years
before the Civil War, he was assessor of Holt County Gov. GAMBLE
appointed him county judge in 1861 and he was afterwards elected
to that office by the people. He was elected probate judge in
1870 and re-elected in 1874. He has always been a Democrat and
cast his first vote for President for Polk in 1844. He was a Union
man throughout the war.
In 1841, Judge RUSSELL married Mary CROWLEY who died in 1860.
In 1861 he married Susan BISHOP. He was one of the expeditions
from Holt County to the Calififornia gold find, leaving May, 1849 and returning
in 1851.
Source: "An Illustrated Historical Atlas Map, Holt County, MO.
Published by Brink, McDonough & Co., Philadelphia, 1877
Provided by Dave Roberts of Lyon County, Kentucky,
a former Holt County resident.
