William Jerome Russell, (1862-1938)
Headstone GPS Coordinates:
Birth: 27 November 1862, Josephine County, Oregon
Death: 17 September 1938, Seabeck, Kitsap County, Washington
Relatives in Seabeck Cemetery: Martha Russell née York
American Revolutionary War Patriots*: James Craig (North Carolina)
Disclaimer: These lines have not been officially proven by NSDAR standards
William Jerome Russell was born on November 27, 1862, in Josephine County, Oregon, during the turbulent early years of Southern Oregon’s gold rush era. He was the eldest son of William Jerome Russell, Sr., a native of Northampton, England, and Elizabeth Harrow, born in Washington, Arkansas.
William’s father, William Jerome Russell, Sr., emigrated from Liverpool, England, arriving in New Orleans on November 15, 1843. By 1860 he was mining in Josephine County, though exactly when or how he made his way west remains unknown.
William Jr.’s mother, Elizabeth Harrow, endured profound hardship in childhood. In 1852, at just three years old, she traveled the Oregon Trail west with her family. That journey was marked by tragedy: her mother died along the Snake River portion of the trail; her grandfather died later that August in Umatilla, Oregon; and her father died on October 12 in The Dalles. Orphaned before reaching her destination, Elizabeth was taken in by the Perkins family, fellow emigrants from her wagon train, and was living with them in Josephine County by the time of the 1860 federal census. On February 20, 1862, she married William Russell, Sr., who was forty-nine; Elizabeth was thirteen. They had two sons: William Jerome, Jr., and Orin Frederick Russell.
As a young man, William Jr. followed a path familiar in Southern Oregon—mining. In 1887, at age twenty-four, he was living and working as a miner in Stevens County in the northwestern portion of Washington Territory. By 1891, however, he had returned to his birthplace in Josephine County.
That same year, William married Martha “Mattie” York, who had been born on September 11, 1864, in Josephine County. Mattie was the second of fourteen children of Henry M. York and Sarah Elizabeth Slagle, members of two of Southern Oregon’s earliest pioneer families. Her father had come west during the gold rush of the early 1850s, while her mother had traveled the Oregon Trail from Missouri in 1852. Their marriage united two families deeply rooted in the settlement and development of the region.
William and Mattie established their home on a farm in Josephine County, where William worked first as a stock dealer. In time, he entered public service and served as sheriff of Josephine County, a role that reflected both his standing in the community and the trust placed in him. Together, William and Mattie had six children. By the 1910 Federal Census, three were living at home: daughters Audrey (born 1893) and Doris (born 1899), and son Charles Orin (born 1908).
In 1912, William received a federal land grant for eighty acres, further expanding his agricultural holdings and solidifying the family’s ties to the land. His life during these years combined farming, livestock dealing, and civic duty—typical of men who helped stabilize once-rough frontier communities.
By 1930, William and Mattie had moved to Myrtle Point in Coos County, Oregon, where they owned and operated a restaurant. Their daughter Doris, along with her husband and children, lived with them, and Doris worked as a waitress in the family establishment. The shift from farming and law enforcement to business ownership demonstrates William’s adaptability during changing economic times.
At some point after 1930, William and Mattie relocated to Seabeck, Washington. The reason and date are unknown, though their son, Charles Orin Russell, was living in nearby Crosby, Kitsap County, working in the logging industry, which may have influenced their move.
William died of chronic endocarditis on September 17, 1938, in Seabeck, Washington, at the age of seventy-five. He was buried in Seabeck Cemetery. Though no formal grave marker was erected, a rock outline marks his burial site.
Mattie survived him by less than two years, continuing to live on Camp Union Road in Crosby until her death on May 31, 1940. She was buried beside William in Seabeck Cemetery. Although neither grave bears a marker, local historian Fred Just documented their burial location on a cemetery plot map. They rest in the southwestern corner of the cemetery, between Julius Hintz and Raleigh Ames—fellow figures in the shared pioneer story of Oregon and Washington.