Freemasons of New York State in the Civil War

DARWIN A. RUDD was born in (Sheldon) Wyoming (Co.), New York, and by occupation was a farmer; he enlisted 12 Aug 1862, aged thirty years, and participated in the battles of Harper's Ferry, Virginia, September 13th, 14th and l5th, 1862, and Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, July 2d, 3d and 4th, 1863 ; on 27 Jul 1863, he was detailed on recruiting service at Elmira, NY, in which capacity he served until the close of the war, and was discharged with the Regiment. In the 1870 census he was listed as an ‘invalid.’ He may have died in 1876, having been born 25 Aug 1831.

son of Jabez Rudd and Sylvia Butler, he married 13 Sep 1864 Frances Gilbert, by whom he had two children, Harry W. and Darwin Percy Rudd.

b. 1838, Willingshausen, Germany; d. 1909; Cook 177th N.Y. Vol.; m. Anna M. W., b. 1836 in Middlebush, NJ; d. 1919; both bur. Newark Main Street Cemetery, Town of Arcadia, Wayne Co., NY.

.Russell, John L., x, Fort Edward, 267

.Russell, Robert В., 5th U. S. Artillery, Mount Vernon, 3

Russell, William W., (Lieut.) 64th Vols, Phoenix, 202

Enlisted in company H, First Infantry, April 2o, 1861, at Ypsilanti, for 3 months, age 20. Mustered May 1, 1861.

“Annual Report of the American Bar Association,” 1895. page 516.

On the farm of his father he received a common school education. At the opening of the War of the Rebellion, as a bright and promising student, he was in attendance at the Union School at Ypsilanti, when, like thousands of others throughout the country, he promptly enlisted under the first call for volunteers for three months' service. Upon the expiration of the term, after participating in the first Battle of Bull Run, his next elder brother, DeWitt Clinton Russell, having enlisted for three years, and his other brother being in the government service at Washington, Mr. Russell desired to remain near the old homestead, on account of his enfeebled father and motherless sisters, and entered the law department of the University at Ann Arbor, from which he graduated with credit, He then went to Memphis, Tennessee, and commenced practice with Mr. Poston, a distinguished lawyer of that city, and as a young attorney, very soon attracted favorable consideration in his profession, especially in connection with cases arising from the military situation.

Shortly after the close of the war he established himself at St. Louis, Missouri, where he soon became prominent in politics and as a lawyer. Here he remained for about ten years, having in the meantime been elected to the Legislature of the State, where his record was brilliant. His business in St. Louis was large, many of his cases being handled by him with marked skill and success in the highest courts of that State and in the Supreme Court of the United- States.

His health failing, however, at the point of his best promise, upon the recommendation of eminent lawyers of New York City, including ex-Governor Tilden, he left St. Louis and removed to the Metropolis of the country, as affording a higher and broader field for the exercise of his ability and the preservation of his health. Mr. Russell at once took a high position, but as he was an intense worker upon all cases, and business entrusted to his charge, his removal to New York did not bring the restoration to health which he anticipated. During his five years' sojourn there he was continually employed in important litigation, and came into national notice as a political speaker and desirable orator for social occasions, and scientific and educational purposes.

From New York, principally for his health, he went to California, where he became the special counsel of the International Company of Mexico, and other corporations, attracting there the same attention and consideration that characterized his career elsewhere. In 18Sit, finding, after all, that the climate of California was not suitable to him, he concluded to return to the State of his birth, and in 1800 took an office with his brother, F. G. Russell, in Detroit. During the greater portion of his residence there several cases of magnitude in the State and United States Courts were entrusted to his successful management, but for the reasons stated, because of his literary toiling and persistent work upon his cases, his physical strength was not equal to the demands upon him, and for the last two years, to the time of his death, he was more or less incapacitated for work in the profession which for thirty years he labored so meritoriously to distinguish and embellish.
He died at the place of his nativity July 31, 1895, gently, and conscious to the last second, only regretful that ho could not round up and complete the 'career so masterfully entered upon. Never having married, he left surviving him only one brother, F. G. Russell, of Detroit, and two sisters.

He was a Mason of high degree, a member of Kane Lodge, New York City, and was buried under the auspices of a little lodge of the Masonic Order at Brighton, Michigan, in the village burying ground, on August 2d. He was a member of other orders and societies and of the American Bar Association. Mr. Russell was peculiarly careful in the preparation of all of his cases and investigation of every legal question submitted to him; he was tenacious and forcible before the courts in his arguments, eloquent and powerful as an advocate before juries, and most entertaining, convincing and popular as a general orator.

He was a great reader, a careful scrap gatherer of choice items, and extensive contributor to the leading publications of the country, he had traveled largely at home and abroad, and his brain was a great storehouse of brilliant thought and valuable information. He was broad minded, kind hearted and especially fond of music. His last business request was that his large and select collection of miscellaneous books, together with portrait and several valuable steel engravings, should go to the village of Brighton, in his native county, towards the founding of a public library.

The Von Reisenkampff-Ulrich Family History,” by Bartow Adolphus Ulrich, page 1893.

THE RUSSELL FAMILY.

Wm. Sanderson Russell, born in Riga, NY, Nov. 26, 1817; married Feb. 3, 1832, to Jane Althea Knox ; died Aug. 27, 1870, at the Russell farm, near Brighton, Michigan. Jane Althea Knox, born Feb. 6. 1817, near Bennington, Vermont: married Wm. Sanderson Russell Feb. 3, 1832; died Oct. 7, 1855, at the Russell farm, near Brighton, Mich. She was a daughter of Hepzibah Perry, who married James Knox, of Bennington, Vt. She was the daughter of Oliver Perry, who was the first cousin of Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry and Commodore Matthew C. Perry, of Rhode Island. Oliver Hazard Perry, the great grandson of Commodore Perry, lives at Lowell, near Boston, Mass.

Of the 3 sons and two daughters of Wm. S. Russell and Jane A. were:

i. Marriam H. Russell, b. Oct. 19, 1834; married Oct. 11, 1814, to Ebenezer Brooks, near Brighton, Michigan.

which reads in part:

That the parents were of an enterprising character, as well as independent and self-reliant, is evidenced by the manner of their early life; leaving a well settled region in Monroe county, New York, traveling through Canada with an ox team until they reached the Territory of Michigan, they located on the Grand river trail at its intersection with the Huron river, thirty-seven miles from Detroit, and made a home among the oak openings of Livingston county. His minority was crowded with hard work on the farm, yet not monotonous, for he utilized every spare moment in reading, inspired by the injunctions of his mother "to fit himself as a proper representative of his race to take a position among the men of his time."
iii. Wm. Henry Harrison Russell, b. Nov. 24, 1839; died July 31, 1895, at Island Lake, Mich., near Brighton. Mr. Russell was an attorney; graduated at the University of Ann Arbor; joined the army, and was at the battle of Bull Run; practiced law in Memphis, Chicago, New York and Detroit.
iv. Helen Amelia Russell, b. Sept. 22, 1844, at the Russell farm, near Brighton, Mich.; married Bartow A. Ulrich, March 31, 1864, at the farm.
From United States Biographical Dictionary: W. H. H. Russell, St. Louis:
William H. H. Russell, the subject of this biography, from 'Russells' of England, somewhat resembles the English parliamentarian in physical appearance, so much so that his friends frequently dub him 'Lord John.' His ancestry were of English and Welsh descent, and emigrated to America from Bristol Gloucestershire, England, in 1681, with the William Penn colony, and settled in Delaware. Joseph Russell, a large silk dealer in Bidminsiter, England, left a large estate, in which his descendants in America are interested. The father of Russell, Wm. Russell, was born in Riga, Monroe County, NY, and went to Michigan, settling upon a farm in Green Oak, Livingston County. The maternal ancestry of Mr. Russell comes from the Perry blood. His mother's maiden name was Miss Jane A. Knox, Bennington, Vt, a relative of Commodore Perry, of Lake Erie fame. Mr. W. H. H. Russell located in St. Louis as a lawyer after graduating from the law department of the Michigan University, in class of 1864. Hs was elected to the legislature of Missouri.
Ruthven, Ed., 30th Vols, Corinth, 684

1836-1887; bur. Conklinville Cemetery, Saratoga Co. NY

Edwin Ruthven, Co. G. enlisted 1861; mustered out with regiment; living at Conklingville
Ryan, George, x, Lansing, 774

Ryder, Alex., 69th Vols, Silentia, 198

aka S. Oscar Ryder.

Published: December 24, 1879

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