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Capt. A. S. RUSSELL, justice of the peace, and farmer, Pine
Grove, Ark. Capt. RUSSELL is a prominent agriculturist, residing
in Dallas County, and like the majority of people who claim
the State of Alabama as their birthplace, he is enterprising,
intelligent and thrifty. His parents, Ephraim W. and Mary
(VAUGHN) RUSSELL, were natives of Georgia, and both born
in the year 1801. They were married in Alabama, and there
resided until 1840, when they came to Arkansas, and made
their home in Saline County, until 1842, when they came to
what is now Dallas County, settling in the woods near where
our subject now resides. There the father tilled the soil
and lived for thirteen years, farmed until his death, in
1860. His wife died in 1850. Both were members of the Baptist
Church for many years. When they first settled in Arkansas the country was
very wild, wild animals abounded, and the nearest post-office was at Rockport,
about forty miles distant. Camden was then a small trading post. Mr. RUSSELL
had a little steel hand-mill a number of years, and on this ground his corn,
there being no wheat raised for some years. He assisted in surveying and
making the first road in the country. His father Caleb RUSSELL,
was probably born in Georgia and died in Alabama, and his
father was from Ireland. Caleb RUSSELL’s
wife, whose maiden name was Nancy GRADY, was of Welsh descent, and died in
Alabama. Grandfather, James VAUGHN was born in Georgia, and died in Alabama.
Capt. A. S. RUSSELL was born in Perry County, Ala., in 1827, and was the eldest
of five children born to his father’s first marriage. He began his duties
on the farm at an early age, and divided his time between this and in attending
the common schools, where he received a fair education. At the age of twenty
one years he entered his present tract of land which he has improved and has
since made his home. He worked a number of years at the carpenter trade, and
in May 1862, joined Company E, Twenty-ninth Trans-Mississippi Infantry, and
held all the ranks to captain. He was in the fight of Prairie Grove and Helena,
where he was captured and was imprisoned at Alton, Ill., for about one month.
He was then taken to Johnson Island, where he was held until January 9, 1865,
when he was exchanged and returned to his company, having been commissioned
captain while in prison. He operated in Arkansas, Louisiana and Texas; disbanded
Marshall, Tex., in May 1865, and returned to the farm, where he now has 150
acres. He served as justice of the peace prior to the war, and has held that
position to the satisfaction of all nearly ever since, there being only two
appeals taken to the circuit court. In politics he was formerly a Whig, but
now affiliates with the Democratic party, and his first vote was for Gen. Scott,
in 1852. He has been a member of the Masonic fraternity since 1865, Manchester
Lodge No. 16, and was secretary of the same. He is now a member of Russell
Lodge (named for him), the Agricultural Wheel, and a representative citizen.