John Russell

Biography

John Russell's life stretched from colonial Littleton, northwest of Boston in Massachusetts, into the fifth decade of American independence. Born there in April 1727 to John and Mercy Russell, he married Abigail Hildreth on July 18, 1749. Their first child, Ephraim, arrived the following year, beginning nearly twenty years of recorded births in their Littleton household.

The family register preserves both the expansion of that household and its losses. Their daughter Abigail, born in 1752, died in January 1754; a later daughter received the same name. Thomas, Mary, John, Marcy, and Sarah also appear among their children. John outlived his son John, who died in 1798, and his wife Abigail, who died in April 1805 after more than fifty-five years of marriage. Ephraim died in 1814, ten years before his father.

John died on November 23, 1824 at ninety-seven. His death prompted Edmund Foster to preach a sermon whose printed title specifically commemorated his extraordinary age. A surviving copy is held by the Huntington Library. Alongside the town's records, the family's Bible and memorial tablet preserved his history, though their differing versions of his April birthday show how even a closely remembered life could acquire small discrepancies in its retelling.

The burial listing associates John Russell with Old Burying Ground, Littleton, Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States.