The Russell Family Trees
Welcome! From this page you can find out a little more about the Russell surnames.
If you have any info pertaining to the Russell surnames that would be of value to this site, please send an email message to Rich Russell (subject: Family Tree), who maintains this site.
Winfield and Harriet were married at her father's home in West Point, Illinois. The marriage license was issued in Chilis, Illinois. After their marriage, Huldah and Winfield moved to Herkimer, Kansas, a settlement of people of German descent. They moved to Courtland, Kansas in 1895. They bought eighty acres of farm land about 1 1/4 miles west of Courtland. The fame was very productive and they lived there for thirteen years. Lola Neel said they had a "beautiful" story and a half house on the Courtland farm.
Winfield was also an English teacher in Kansas. He wrote considerble poetry. One of his peoms, with preceeding and following thoughts is quoted here. It was written for the Christmas Season of 1933.
The thoughts pencilled in these lines were suggested by the passing of the Yuletide Days of 1933.
"We have come to the end of the day
The sun has gone down in the West
And Loving hearts have all gone away
The future will bring us the rest.
O! happy Happy Yuletide days
With Smiles and Gifts and Cheer
Too gladsome, long to stay
We fain would hold you here
We clasped the hand of old times friend
We pressed the hand of the New
We did not note times lively trend
So fast, it farily flew.
And now they have come and gone
They are numbered with the past
O! how we hope that further on
They may come back to last.
But we;ll not murmur at hard fate
Tho' lonely we may feel
Just humbly pray to reach the state
Where Yuletide days are real.
Those pretty gifts and all good cheer
That come to us from loving hearts
And those wo hold so dear
Still linger in our hearts, and Shall
while we are here."
"And now dear children, and all that had a part in the Festivities of the Yuletide days of 1933; I invoke a benediction of love and affection to remain with us throughout the year of 1934 -- and may we meet again another day.
And now, Thou First Great Cause*, least understood, Jehova*, Jove*, or lord*, teach us to feel another's woe, to hide the faults we see. That Mercy, I, to others show, That Mercy show to me.
But if it be His will, and our Destiny, that some of our Band may pass on; may we, some glad day, meet, in an unbroken Band and greet those that have gone before."
(signed) Grandpa Neel
Huldah Neel and their eldest son, Frank, were not well in Kansas and thinking the dry warm climate of New Mexico would help their health, they sold their farm in 1908 and moved to Moriarty, New Mexico, shipping cattle and furniture by rail. They then took up farming again a few miles east of Moriarty. Lola stated that the family went back to West Point, on their way to New Mexico, early in the 1900s to visit two brothers and sisters of Huldah's. The Simmons family was still centered in Illinois in the 1900s.
Frank had been an instructor in the Courtland town band and studied bookkeeping. When he arrived in New Mexico with his parents, they built him a tent outside their house so that he could sleep in the open as much as possible. The doctor's prescription for his recovery was a dozen eggs daily - six soft boiled, six raw, and stout beer.
The younger son, Martin, stayed in Courtland until 1917 when he and his fmaily joined the rest of the family in New Mexico. Martin's son, "Bud", told of the trip to New Mexico in his parent's Model T ford. They spent a full day on the north side of Raton Pass tightening bands on the transmission of the car in order to climb the pass. When they reached the top, they spent another day re-tightening bands so they get down safely using the engine for braking.
When the family came to New Mexico, Lola was sixteen and her younger sister, Eloyde, was nine. Ray was thirteen. Eloyde drove to Moriarty each day to complete eighth grade. Lola taught three months school the first year for eighth grade neighbor children.
The family hosue in Moriarty consisted of three rooms, two bedrooms and a living room. Another large room adjacent to the house served as the kitchen and dining room. Ther was a large cellar for canned fruits and vegetables.
The Neel home was a meeting place for the children who lived nearby. Thy had shipped an organ from Kansas. They left their new Kimball piano, to everyone's regret.
A large tent building was located a mile east of their house, where churches of all denominations held tent services.
Frank and Martin Neel later moved to Albuquerque where both were finished carpenters. They built all the houses they ever lived in. They were both particularly fine cabinet makers. The oldest child, Hariett, married Clem Payne and they lived their life in colorado. Nellie married a man named Hutchinson. They also lived in Colorado.
Eloyde married Arthur Milligan. They lived in Stanley, New Mexico. They had several children before Eloyde died, a relativley young woman. Her children include Neel, Paul, Bobby Joe, Nell, and Lucille.
