An American Family History

Russell Family

William Russell was born about 1680 in Virginia.

He may have married Martha Henley or Henry.

Martha and William's children may have included:

William Russell (1714, married Tabitha Adams and Elizabeth Henry),
George Russell (1720, maried Elizabeth Bean),
John Russell (1722, married Henrietta Burleson),
Jemima Russell (1724, married Valentine Sevier),
Lydia Russell, (1726, married William Bean),
Absalom Russell (1726), and
Pleasant Russell (1728).

He was granted ten thousand acres in Orange County, Virginia which was formed from Spotsylvania in 1734. His land was in Culpeper county when it was formed from Orange in 1748.

In 1735 two tracts of land in Frederick county, containing respectively 4,950 and 3,650 acres, were patented to him.

Martha died in 1784 in Frederick County, Virginia.

George Russell was born about 1720 in Virginia. His father was William Russell.

George married Elizabeth Bean.

William Russell (1750)
George Russell (1752)
Lydia Russell (1758, married James Roddye),
Sarah Russell (1760, married Isaac Lane),
Absolom Russell (1764),
Isham Russell (1766),
Mary Russell (1767, married Noah Jarnigan),
Jemima Russell (1769, married George Horner),
Elizabeth Russell (1770, married John Horner), and
Lewis R. Russell (1774, married Esther Horner).

The family moved to the Watauga Settlement about 1770.

In 1772, George was a commissioner for the Watauga Association.

During Lord Dunmore's War in 1774, George participated the Battle of Point Pleasant under Colonel Andrew Lewis.

In 1776, George was appointed by the General Assembly of North Carolina as one of the first Justices of the Peace in Washington North Carolina. That same year he was in the Battle of Island Flats and Siege of Fort Watauga.

In 1779 George was among the men who laid out and supervised the building of Jonesborough, Tennessee.

In 1780, George was a captain of a company at Kings Mountain under John Sevier. After the battle, Sevier sent Russell's company back to the Watauga Settlement where they participated in the Battle of Boyd's Creek against the Cherokee in December of that year.

In 1782, George fought in the last battle of the American Revolution on Lookout Mountain.

In 1782 members of the Russell Family were in Womack's Militia.

George received multiple land grants:

Wasington County (became Carter County)
1782 grant 210 and 177
1783 grant 389
1786 grant694

Sullivan County
1784 grant 1315

Greene County
1787 grant 31769 and 1804

About 1785, the family moved from the Watauga Settlement to German Creek in what became Grainger County, Tennessee. They were members of Bent Creek Baptist Church and were recorded in the church minutes:

• June, 1786: The church met and received William Russell by experience and baptism.
• October, 1787: Church met and received allegations against William Wells by Tidence Lane, William Russell, and Richard Byrd. (Mr. Wells had been charged with unseemly behavior with a woman at unreasonable hours of the night)
• February, 1790: The church met and received Elizabeth Russell by experience
• March, 1790: The church met and received Jemima Russell and Rachale Lane and Caleb Witt and Negro Terry by experience. 
• February, 1791: The church met Br. George Russell and Brother John Ward to be cited to the April meeting.
• April , 1791: The church met and Br. George Russell and Br. John Ward being cited to this meeting appeared and difficulties adjusted.
• January, 1800; Sister Elizabeth Russell is dismissed.
  
  

George died in 1796.

Elizabeth Russell was listed in Capt. George Bean's Company in Grainger County, Tennessee in 1799.

She asked to be dismissed from Bent Creek Baptist Church in January, 1800.