John Russell

Biography

John Russell was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, across the Charles River from Boston, in 1645 to William and Martha Russell. He worked as a carpenter or housewright and lived in the district that became Lexington, northwest of Cambridge. His marriage to Elizabeth Fiske joined a household whose activities can be followed through a succession of land transactions.

An early family arrangement linked John's work to his widowed mother's needs. Martha engaged him to manage her husbandry while she was responsible for younger children, with an interest in Jackson's farm forming part of their agreement. In a separate 1687 deed she granted him forty-four acres and confirmed his interest in another parcel, while reserving access for herself.

John continued handling land into old age. Deeds identify him as a housewright and name Elizabeth alongside him in transactions during the 1710s and 1720s. A deed abstract reports a three-acre Lexington conveyance to William Holmes in December 1731 and names Elizabeth beside John. That identification conflicts with the older report of Elizabeth’s death in 1730, so her participation and the wife’s identity remain unresolved. He died in March 1733. These records give a practical outline of his working life: building, managing family land, and sustaining property arrangements that extended from his mother's generation into his own old age.

The Cambridge vital record gives John’s birth as September 11, 1645. The abstract of his agreement with Martha specifies half of Jackson’s farm for £10.