The Russ Family

Editor’s Note: This article is an extract from a comprehensive study of Hancock County with emphasis on the Pearl River area’s history. That study, titled Early History, Hancock County… is in manuscript form, authored by Marco Giardino, Ph. D, and this writer. We believe that some parts, like this one, may stand on their own, and therefore can be reproduced as separate articles.

Russell B. Guerin

The Russ Family in Hancock County

A number of family names of the early settlers of the Pearl River area crop up repeatedly. These include among others the following: Poitevant, Seal, Graves, Leonard, Daniells, Wingate, Favre, Mitchell, McArthur, Nixon, Pray and Russ. It is possible to ascertain certain patterns among those about whom we have the most information. Some of these patterns are socio-economic; others have to do with migration, and at times, even some personal habits may become evident.

The Russ family is worthy of study, but in no way do they represent the “average” settlers. To begin, one family member, Asa Russ, stands out. ¹ In 1850, Asa was listed as a brickmaster in Gainesville, but other information shows him to have been active in real estate and other endeavors.

Originally from South Carolina, he married a native of North Carolina. In the 1850 census he is shown as 43 years old; she is 39. Their first daughter, age 16 in the census, was born before they left North Carolina. Their second child, age 15 in 1850, was born in Alabama, apparently while on their way to Hancock County. Of nine other children, the oldest was age 13, and she, like the rest, was born in Mississippi. It follows that Asa and family left North Carolina about 1835.

Asa had at least two brothers and two sisters, who all came to Hancock County, but at different times.

The Russes must have been relatively wealthy. They were propertied, in both real estate and slaves. They were also enterprising, as evidenced by their buying and selling property, including a sawmill. When the first representatives of the Russ family arrived on the Pearl is not known. The sisters Amelia and Adeline Russ made their journey in 1836, but it is apparent that their brothers Asa and Samuel had preceded them. It is known that Asa Russ was at least for a time engaged in growing cotton, but it is also evident that some of the Russes were in the lumber business. John Russ ² had been in partnership with his cousins the Carres as lumbermen. They also had a lumberyard in New Orleans.

Asa Russ owned a significant number of land sections in Hancock County, some parcels in partnership with his son Sempronious, born 1844.

Asa Russ was a member of the Board of Commissioners formed to examine the plans associated with the construction of the Gainesville Courthouse in 1846.

Asa Russ owned 14 slaves in 1840. His real property valuation in 1850 was $5,800; only eleven other residents of the county were listed with a greater amount. Although listed as living in Gainesville in 1850, he also owned one of the plantations eventually purchased by Andrew Jackson Jr. ³ (A separate posting deals with this history.)

In 1852, Benjamin Wailes, acting as the State Geologist, visited Asa Russ on the “Lake Shore,” located at the site of modern day Buccaneer. There he was visited by Wailes in 1852, and was reported to have been actively managing his enterprise. Wailes wrote:

I parted with him [Judge Daniels] in the morning and traveled 14 miles; through a level, dreary wasted pine forest, with only two or three widely separated huts, and swarming with mosquitoes, and very destitute of water, to Mr. Peter Ioor’s, ⁴ who was kind enough to ride with me by road leading to Mr. Asa Russ’s on the Lake Shore. Mr. Russ at home and he conducted me to the marshland he is reclaiming. He commenced this a year ago and has a crop of rice, sweet potatoes, corn and okra growing on it. The potatoes and okra are very promising, the rice is indifferent and the corn worthless. He complains of a mineral in the muck which tinges the earth in the bank of the ditches, and the surface in some parts, with reddish, rust like colour, and a similar skim forms in the stagnant water. He says he has discovered iron pyrites in the marsh. He thinks that the very black marsh muck, which lies below the roots of drifted and thoroughly decomposed seaweed. He has been collecting some of it as it is now cast on the beach by the surf, but the quantity thrown up is very inconsiderable, and of a fine grass like, fibrous texture, which becomes very foetid <sic>.

From the above, it may be inferred that Russ, in addition to being enterprising, was also an educated man.

No record has been found of the Russ purchase of this plantation. In point of fact, what Russ would have acquired would have been a lease, as the land is 16^th Section, or “lieu” land, which cannot be sold but can be leased for as long as 99 years. His acquisition would have been prior to the 1853 Courthouse fire at Gainesville, and it appears that his deed was never re-recorded. ⁵

It is unknown as to whether the house on the property was built during the Russ tenure or prior. It is possible, judging from the Jackson letters, that it might have had considerable age already in 1857. In a letter of March 26, Samuel Jackson wrote to his mother, recommending it as a choice for her residence. He wrote: “The Russ place I think a very prettie one, the house is a very good size the rooms I think to <sic> small they are very little half more than half as large as our place. Their <sic> are a great many prettie flowers, also some very nice fruit trees. It can be made one of the most valuable places in the country. The cotton stalks grow eight to ten feet tall and areas large as my arm….”

Subsequently, the Jacksons undertook what appears to have been a major restoration and enlarging of the house, during which it was destroyed by fire.

Prior to the sale to the Jackson, Judge Claiborne had acted as intermediary, advising Andrew Jr. in a letter dated December 3, 1856, and “Mrs. Russ is willing to sell at $6,000 She says that will not pay for the improvements. I think the place very cheap at that price…I have said to them that they may consider the trade as made—for I think it a bargain & would be perfectly willing myself to buy it at that rate.”

Mention of “Mrs. Russ” as the owner is confusing, but no explanation has been found to explain this fact.

As early as 1846, Russ was involved in local politics. This is indicated in the February 21 issues of the Gainesville Advocate, listing Russ as a member of the Board of Commissioners named to accept the newly constructed courthouse.

Not only from the above, it is evident that Claiborne was well acquainted with the Russ family. A letter in the Claiborne papers written by Russ to Claiborne apparently relates to a political meeting. It is datelined “Point Claire, September 5, 1855.” ⁶ The context would seem to show Russ as an organizer of the meeting, giving some instructions to Claiborne. ⁷

A Landed Family

There are many records of land transfers involving the Russ family. It is interesting to note that a substantial percentage involve other prominent settlers. Indeed, much of the commerce was done within what appears to be an upper echelon of the citizenry.

Of all the land deeds, perhaps the most poignant is one in which Asa and Mary Russ sold to Christian Koch 635 acres and 80 acres on January 31, 1854. The price was $1,000. (The Koch family history is explored elsewhere in these postings.)

On that farm is still found the burial place of one of the Russ family’s children. Of eleven siblings, two were twins, Ella and Rosa, born March 28, 1841. In the deed given to Koch, Asa included the proviso, “I reserve twenty feet square in Section 4 which contains the remains of my daughter Rosa.” Over the years, other children died and to that small plot their burials were added.

As with land transfers, marriages within the Russ family, as within other prominent families, often indicate a repetition of names in the same social strata. Asa’s sister Adeline married cousin Dr. Stephen Mead; her daughter Lois married Mr. Henry Weston, of lumber magnate. Another sister, Mary, married William Poitevant, who fathered the poet/publisher “Pearl Rivers.” Another Mary became the wife of Judge Wingate, believed also to be a cousin.

Likewise, business ownership remained closely held. To quote an article from the genealogy section of the Picayune library, apparently taken from a column in the New Orleans Times-Picayune, “Two of Walter Wingate’s grandsons, W.W. Carre and Henry Carre, were lumbermen in Hancock County.…At first they were in partnership with their cousin John Russ. The three purchased the mill owned by their cousin, Judge D. R. Wingate….Russ sold out his interest in the business in 1856 to the Carres and their cousin-in-law, Henry Weston.”

Early Wealth and Slaves

The Russes were people of some wealth before their journey to Hancock County. In the Courthouse is a record dated June 27, 1853, reciting an earlier record that had been destroyed by fire and rerecorded. It shows that Asa Russ served as the executor for the estate of his mother, Amelia Russ, and in that capacity sold five slaves and a buggy. Details follow, as best as the old script allows:

As Asa Russ’s mother-in-law had been a Witten, and as Mead married Adaline,it seems that all the slaves stayed in the family. The document continues, stating that all the heirs have been paid their shares, “…except a minor John A. Russ who according to the will of the deceased is entitled to double or two shares and I have in my hands five hundred dollars for said minor which I am ready to pay over when there shall be a guardian appointed…."

The Russes took care of their own.

Just before the weddings of the Russ sisters, Amelia and Adeline, marriage contracts were entered into specifically to declare that the slaves of each would continue to be separate property. In one, groom-to-be Stephen Mead agreed with Adaline that he will not “intermeddle” with her rights of slaves George, Charlotte, Lucy and Mariah.

In another court record dated September 7, 1842, Amelia Russ “for love and affection…and in consideration of the sum of one dollar” gave Lois Mead “…one cow and calf one four old year Heiffer one year old heifer all in the mark and brand as follows. A Smth [illegible] in the right ear, a Smooth crop and split in the left ear branded with the letter X on crop together with all the increase.”

In a document in which Asa Russ is appointed trustee of Sister Amelia’s 21 slaves, two inclusions are particularly noteworthy. In one instance, the wording makes clear that all slaves came from their father’s estate. The other is notably similar in wording to the above gift of cows and “the increase.” Here, Amelia’s husband Daugharty Gause desired “…to secure to his said wife all of said property, the same being the slave and their increase.”

The Diary

Another document from Amelia deserves to be included here, that being her diary account of the journey from North Carolina to Hancock County. It is not clear with whom she traveled, but it is believed that she and her party were part of a wagon train. According to one note, it may be that she was accompanied by her mother, also named Amelia, who was a widow. Some familiar names are included. It would also seem likely that they traveled with slaves, as they owned more than a few, but there is no mention of such in the diary. It is apparent that she was preceded by brothers Asa and Samuel, as probably was the case with many of the early settlers. ⁸

While somewhat lengthy, it follows here in its entirety. The transcript housed in the Hancock County Historical Society includes the preface, as provided by a descendant:

A diary was written in 1836 by Ms. Amelia Russ, ⁹ sister of Adeline who later married to Dr.Mead on March 7, 1839. Adeline Russ Mead was the mother of Lois Amelia Mead born December 15, 1839, and married Henry Weston at Gainesville on July 15,1858.

“A Journal of Our Travel”

Left Shallotte Brunswick County N.C. 18^th February at 3 o’clock in the evening and started for the West arrived at Little River half past of 8 o’clock and traveled 16 miles.

Arrived April 14^th at brother Samuel near Pearlington.

Sunday February 21^st W. Poitevant ran away with the cart and broke it to pieces it was repaired and started again. We passed through a most miserable swamp. The cart broke down and we were obliged to stop traveled 15 miles.

March 7^th, traveled 8 miles when we were obliged to stop on account of the rain parted with Mr. Poitevent ¹⁰ and family on account of Aunt Sally’s health which is too delicate to travel.

March 18^th Passed through Columbia [GA] over the Chatahoocy on a toll bridge paid 175 cts passed thru Sodone met a great many Indians lost our way traveled 8 miles out of the way over hills traveled 19 miles and camped at sunset.

March 22^nd Fair cold day crossed Cuthlahooche Creek on a toll Bridge paid 1.00 crossed Line Creek Thompsons Ferry all in good spirits got thru the Indian Nation passed Fort Meggs traveled 20 miles and camped 2 miles from Montgomery.

March 27 Sunday morning very pleasant and passed by a place in Butler County [Alabama] where there had been a dreadful Hurricane in many places the trees were torn up at such a rate scarcely one could be seen standing, made 20 miles.

March 28^th Traveled 26 miles had a tolerable good road passed through Claiborne and camped near a large Baptist Church 29 and 30 spent at Uncle Wingates.¹¹

March 31^st, started in the afternoon traveled 8 miles crossed the Alabama River Doles Ferry camped on the Bank of the River.

April 1^st traveled hilly road, crossed deep creek made 17 miles.

April 2^nd passed thro pine Jackson crossed the Tombecbee.

April 3^rd Sunday a rainy day traveled thro wilderness country made 18 miles.

April 4^th A clear day traveled 20 miles crossed the Mississippi Line

April 5^th passed thro a level barren country our spirits dull crossed Chekasaha (Chickasawhay) River, McKiniss ferry paid $1 passed thro Leakesville in Green County the poorest village I ever saw or heard of we could get no provisions of any kind neither for love nor money.

April 6^th Clear warm day crossed Leaf River Moddys ferry paid $1.25 cts provision scarce stopped at a Mr. Dantzlers sent to mill had grinding done made 14 miles camped in a swamp or close by.

April 7^th Traveled through the most desolate looking country I ever saw crossed Black Creek Perkins ferry paid 150 cts and camped on the bank of the River in Perry County made 21 miles].

April 8^th A pleasant day traveled a good part of the way right thro the woods a good part of the way without sign of a road Provisions very scarce and hard to get caught Gophers made 27 miles got thro the Gopher Nation

April 9^th Clear pleasant weather traveled a good road made 27 miles.

April 10^th Sunday morning all in good spirits got in sight of Pearl River traveled a hilly road made 20 miles arrived at Br. Asa’s at sunset

April 11 and 12 spent at Asa [Asa 42 miles from Pearlington]

April 13^th All started a crooked Road, crossed Hobolochitto paid $2.25 cts made 17 miles ¹²

April 14^th Started and traveled 25 miles arrived safe at Br. Samuel’s near Pearlington.

Signed
Amelia P. Russ
Hancock County ¹³

In summary, Amelia’s diary is about the trip from North Carolina to Pearlington. On the same trip was William Poitevant, who eventually married Mary Russ, another sister of Amelia.

They left February 18, arrived April 14^th, paying many times for ferries across rivers and streams. Amount paid seemed high for the day. No mention was made of other wagons besides Poitevant’s, and there was no mention of taking slaves with them. While in Georgia, they stayed with Uncle Wingate, perhaps the father of Wingate, identified in Logtown report as cousin of John Russ. Wingate may have been the one listed in the 1850 census of Hancock County; he was born in North Carolina and was about age 60; his oldest child was age 24, born in Mississippi.

Miscellaneous legal documents in Hancock County Court House concerning Russ family include the following:

Descendants of the Russ family still reside in Hancock and are prominent in the community. Others have travelled away, some to different areas, including Jackson, Ms. There is a possibility, not confirmed, that relatives eventually moved to north Louisiana, founding the town of Ruston.

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