Elijah E. Russell
Elijah E. Russell, Deputy County Auditor of Sullivan County, Indiana, born April 8, 1867, is a native of Curry Township, Sullivan County. He is the son of Spencer and Elizabeth (Gaskins) Russell. The Russell's are of Irish ancestry. In the various generations there are many farmers, including the father of Elijah E. Spencer Russell was born in Kentucky and came to Indiana with his parents when a mere lad. Politically he was a Democrat and in church relations both he and his wife were members of the Christian Church. She died late in the nineties, and he in 1906. They were the parents of seven children, as follows:
Margaret, deceased.
Mary Ann, wife of James H. Reed, a resident of Curry Township.
Serena, wife of Robert Taylor, residing in Sullivan.
James Milburne, deceased.
Elijah Edward, of this sketch.
Manna, wife of John H. Allen, residing at Farmersburg, Indiana.
Joseph W., resident in Sullivan.
Being reared on a farm, Elijah E. Russell attended the county district schools. He remained on the home place and was its manager for eight years, from the time he was twenty-one up to his twenty-ninth year. He also during this period learned and worked at the carpenter's trade. About 1897 he purchased an eighty acre farm in Curry Township, upon which he lived until 1904, when he took his seat as County Auditor of Sullivan County, to which office he was elected on the Democratic ticket in 1902. Besides his farming Curry Township he owns his residence in Sullivan. He is a Director of the Verdegris River Land & Oil Company of Oklahoma; also Director of the Tri-State Oil Company of Illinois. While Mr. Russell was on the farm he did much carpentering and contracting in partnership with J. H. Collins, working for nineteen consecutive years and taking contracts for school buildings, etc. When he came to Sullivan to take the auditorship they had contracts amounting to twenty thousand dollars on hand. He was defeated for the office of Township Trustee, and at one time was Secretary of the Township Advisory Board. Mr. Russell is connected with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and has held the office of Noble Grand in his lodge.
He was united in marriage, December, 1894, to Mary E. Jones, born in Indiana, and who came to Vigo County when an infant with her parents, Daniel H. and Mary (Adair) Jones, who are still residing in Linton Township, Vigo County. Mr. and Mrs. Russell are the parents of two children:
Hazel, born November 23, 1896.
Max, born April 18, 1898.
Source: A History of Sullivan County, Indiana. Closing of the first century’s history of the county and showing the growth of its people, institutions, industries and wealth. Thomas J. Wolfe, Editor. The Lewis Publishing Company, 1909, page 283-284.