Household #101: Russell, William

Back to the 1900 Census & Household Index

In the 1900 Barney census, William Russell headed a 4-person household. The table below preserves the exact names, relationships, ages, birthplaces, and occupations recorded for the household.

Household Snapshot

William Russell headed a 4-person household in the 1900 Barney census with 1 spouse or marital partner and 2 children.

William Russell's listed occupation was Farm Laborer.

All listed household members were reported as born in Georgia.

1900 Census Household

Children and Later Trails

This section is reserved for later-life child evidence. No later spouse, death, burial, obituary, probate, separate household, or descendant-line identification has been added here yet from direct records.

Family Narrative

• Earlier household members: Nancy Russell, Sarah Jane Russell, Marion Russell, and William H. Russell appear in the earlier census chain
• Second marriage: Brooks County marriage license issued 28 Feb 1882; William Russell married a woman whose given name reads as Mindia, with the surname uncertain on the surviving image and plausibly read as either Gloren or Glover; return dated 5 Mar 1882
• Military record: William M. Russell, Brooks County, filed a Georgia Confederate indigent-soldier pension application in 1909 (GCP-036)

The 1900 Barney census shows William Russell as a sixty-four-year-old Georgia-born farm laborer with wife Emerline and two younger children, Lizzie and Charley. The household is easier to follow now because the census backbone is much firmer than the earlier entry suggested. In 1860 William appears in Brooks County with wife Nancy and children Sarah Jane and Marion. In 1870 he is in Schley County with Nancy, Sarah Jane, and William H. Russell. In 1880 he is in Colquitt County with Nancy, Sarah J., William H., and his mother Nancy Lee, whose relationship is stated directly in the household. By 1900 he is back in Brooks County, and by 1910 he remains in Barney with wife "Emly R." Russell and son Charles G. Russell. That sequence establishes a stable identity for William even though the records for his second wife remain harder to interpret.

The strongest new non-census record is the Brooks County marriage entry from 1882. It shows William Russell taking out a marriage license on 28 Feb 1882 and marrying on 5 Mar 1882. The bride's given name reads as Mindia. The surname is not secure on the available image. It has been indexed one way, but the handwriting can also be read as Glover. That uncertainty matters because the second-wife identification in the older draft went too far. The record does support a second marriage in Brooks County after Nancy disappears from the household, but it does not by itself justify a firm identification of William's later wife as Arminda Cannon.

The Cannon and Glover material is best treated as a live lead rather than settled fact. Separate records show an Arminda Cannon in 1850, then a Minda or Arminda Glover line in later census material. Those records are relevant because the 1882 surname may read Glover, but they do not yet prove that William Russell's second wife in 1900 and 1910 is the same person. The later wife appears as Emerline in 1900 and Emly R. in 1910. Those name forms could fit a broader Aramindia or Arminda pattern, but the bridge has not been proved. A Florida death-index entry for Aramindia Russell in Polk County in 1920 adds another possible lead, not a finished identification.

William's later-life circumstances are also better grounded now. The 1909 Georgia Confederate pension file for William M. Russell of Brooks County is a direct source showing that he was alive, local, and applying as an indigent soldier. That file provides much firmer support for hardship in old age than the earlier draft's interpretation based only on shifting census occupations. It also strengthens the identification of the Barney man as the same William seen in the earlier census trail.

The earlier family structure still holds in broad outline, but it needs to be stated with more care. Nancy is the documented first wife in the 1860, 1870, and 1880 households. Because William remarried in March 1882, Nancy almost certainly died or otherwise left the marriage before that date, but the present record stack does not yet show the exact event. Sarah Jane Russell is the clearest child across the early census chain. Marion Russell and William H. Russell also fit securely into the earlier household. In the later household, Lizzie and Charley are directly present in 1900, and Charles G. Russell remains with William and Emly in 1910.

Military Service

The 1909 Georgia Confederate pension application for William M. Russell of Brooks County supports treating him as a Confederate veteran and provides a valuable late-life anchor. Because the current page has not yet transcribed the pension packet or tied him to a specific unit, the service note should remain limited to the documented indigent-soldier pension application until fuller military records are added.

Open Research Questions

• The surname of William Russell's 1882 bride should be treated as uncertain until a clearer image, county book copy, or alternate index confirms whether it reads Gloren, Glover, or something close to one of those forms.
• The identification of Emerline or Emly R. Russell with the Arminda Cannon or Glover line remains unproved.
• Nancy Russell's exact death or other disappearance from the marriage has not yet been documented by death, probate, cemetery, or similar direct record.
• The 1909 Confederate pension file should be transcribed more fully before detailed service claims are added beyond the fact of the Brooks County indigent-soldier application.
• The Florida death-index entry for Aramindia Russell in Polk County in 1920 is a lead only until bridged to this household.

Research Status

Well-researched but not source-exhausted. The census backbone from 1860 through 1910 is now strong, the 1882 remarriage is directly documented, and the 1909 Confederate pension application gives a valuable late-life anchor. The main unresolved issue is the identity of William's second wife and whether the later Emerline or Emly Russell is the same woman connected to the Cannon and Glover records.

Sources

• 1860 U.S. census, Brooks County, Georgia, household of William Russell and Nancy Russell, including Sarah Jane Russell and Marion Russell.
• 1870 U.S. census, Schley County, Georgia, household of William Russell and Nancy Russell, including Sarah Jane Russell and William H. Russell.
• 1880 U.S. census, Colquitt County, Georgia, household of William Russell and Nancy Russell, including Sarah J. Russell, William H. Russell, and Nancy Lee, identified as William's mother.
• Brooks County, Georgia, marriage license and return for William Russell and a bride whose name reads as Mindia, license issued 28 Feb 1882 and return dated 5 Mar 1882; surname uncertain on the surviving image and plausibly read as Gloren or Glover.
• 1900 U.S. census, Barney, Brooks County, Georgia, household of William Russell and Emerline Russell, including Lizzie Russell and Charley Russell.
• 1909 Georgia Confederate pension application, William M. Russell, Brooks County, indigent soldier application, file GCP-036.
• 1910 U.S. census, Barney, Brooks County, Georgia, household of William M. Russell and Emly R. Russell, including Charles G. Russell.
• 1850 U.S. census, Sumter County, Georgia, household of John C. Cannon and Margaret Cannon, including Arminda Cannon, used as a possible but unproved lead for the second-wife identification.
• 1860 U.S. census, Sumter County, Georgia, household including Minda Glover, used as a possible but unproved lead for the second-wife identification.
• 1870 U.S. census, Brooks County, Georgia, household including Minda Glover, used as a possible but unproved lead for the second-wife identification.
• 1880 U.S. census, Colquitt County, Georgia, household of Alexander Glover and Arminda Glover, with Malissa Cannon in the household, used as a possible but unproved lead for the second-wife identification.
• Florida death index entry for Aramindia Russell, Polk County, 1920, used as a possible but unproved lead for the second-wife identification.

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