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Descendants of William Russell


Generation No. 6


6. SAMUEL6 RUSSELL (JOHN5, JOHN4, WILLIAM3, WILLIAM2, WILLIAM1) was born 1660 in Hadley, Massachusettes, and died June 25, 1731 in Branford, Connecticut. He married ABIGAIL WHITING 1685 in Hartford, CT, daughter of JOHN WHITING. She was born 1666 in Hartford, CT, and died May 07, 1733 in Branford, Connecticut.

Notes for S
AMUEL RUSSELL:
Samuel graduated from Harvard in 1681, and returned to Hadley, Massachusetts, where he taught school. In February 1686, he went to Branford, Connecticut and was invited to become the pastor of the First Congregational Chruch; it had been without a pastor for 20 years. In September, 1687, Samuel accepted. He was offered "a salary of sixty pounds per year (in provisions), the use of the town house and lands, and his firewood." He was pastor until 1730, when his health began to fail, and he worked only part-time after that. But he would receive "thirty pounds, in bills of credit, by the last day of March of each year."
Of historical interest is the building of the famous "Russell Parsonage," built by Samuel about 1690. Most of the Russell children were born there. It was in the south-west front room of the home that the historic meeting was held from which grew the founding of Yale University. A college had been planned for some time, and Samuel Russell was the most active of a group of people behind that plan. Ten of the most prominent ministers of the Colony (of Connecticut) consented to serve as trustees for the new school, and in 1701, they met in the Russell Parsonage to formulate plans. Each of them brought a gift of books and, laying them on the table, pronounced, "I give these books for the founding of a college in this Colony."
Samuel and Abigail Russell are buried in Center Cemetery in Branford, CT.
From "A History of the First Church and Society of Branford, CT, 1644-1919" by J. Rupert Simonds, it is confirmed that Samuel had nine children.
     
Children of S
AMUEL RUSSELL and ABIGAIL WHITING are:
  i.   JOHN7 RUSSELL, b. January 24, 1686, probably MA; d. July 17, 1757, Branford, CT; m. SARAH TROWBRIDGE, December 17, 1707, New Haven, CT; b. November 26, 1686, New Haven, CT; d. January 23, 1761, probably Branford, CT.
  ii.   ABIGAIL RUSSELL, b. August 16, 1690, Branford, Connecticut.
  iii.   SAMUEL RUSSELL, b. September 28, 1693, Branford, Connecticut.
  iv.   TIMOTHY RUSSELL, b. November 18, 1695, Branford, Connecticut.
  v.   DANIEL RUSSELL, b. June 19, 1698, Branford, Connecticut.
  vi.   JONATHAN RUSSELL, b. August 21, 1700, Branford, Connecticut.
  vii.   EBENEZER RUSSELL, b. May 04, 1703, Branford, Connecticut.
  viii.   ITHIEL RUSSELL, b. 1705, Branford, Connecticut.
  ix.   MARY RUSSELL, b. Abt. 1708, Branford, New Haven, Connecticut; d. Aft. 1753, probably New Haven, CT; m. (1) BENJAMIN FENN, April 05, 1727, Branford, CT; b. 1706, Milford, New Haven, CT; d. January 03, 1732; m. (2) ARCHIBALD MC NEIL I, Abt. 1734, Branford, Connecticut; b. Abt. 1700, probably Ballycastle, County Antrim, Northern Ireland; d. 1752, Jamaica.
  More About MARY RUSSELL:
Fact 2: Abt. 1734, Married Archibald McNeil

  Notes for ARCHIBALD MC NEIL I:
It has not been verified where he was born. It was probably in Ireland, but could have been in Scotland. There is no evidence that his parents had ever come to America, so he almost certainly wasn't born in the US. It has been theorized that his parents left Scotland for Ireland, probably in the early 1700's. It is not known if he had any siblings.
Archibald is identified in historical publications as the founder of the McNeil line in CT. He was identified in Branford in 1735 through land purchase records. He subsequently moved to New Haven where, in 1740, he was Assessor, and in 1746 was Surveyor of Highways. He also had many real estate transactions which are recorded. He was successfully engaged in trade with the West Indies in partnership with Samuel Cook, and was also owner and supercargo of the ship "Peggy and Molly."
He was one of the founding "brothers" of the first Masonic Lodge in Connecticut, now known as Hiram Lodge number 1. According to that lodge's charter, the lodge was founded at a meeting "Held at Jehiel Tuttle's in New Haven on the festival of St. John the Evangelist, 1750." This was 17 years after the first institution of Masonary in the American Colonies on July 3, 1733 at Boston. It appears from the records of Hiram Lodge that Archibald was active in a Masonic lodge in Boston before becoming affiliated with the New Haven Lodge.
Archibald died on the island of Jamaica in the latter part of 1752. His will was probated in July, 1753, by his widow. She was placed under bond of 3,000 pounds sterling, indicating a very considerable estate for those times. In his will, he left the family home and its land to his wife, and the balance of his estate to his sons.

from notes of Rod McNeil:

In his father's probate records, from Boston, in 1737, Archibald is referred to as a shopkeeper. He was appointed as administrator of his father's estate because Charles McNeil had died in a ship-wreck off the coast of Sable Island, Nova Scotia. From the probate records, Charles was identified as being "of Ballycastle, Antrim, Northern Ireland." It has not been verified if Archibald was born in Ireland, but all his "probable first cousins" were born there.
When Archibald's parents, and other relatives, were in mid-Atlantic, aboard the Cathrine, Archibald bought 100 acres of land in Litchfield, CT, from John Morris, of New Haven. It had been agreed between Archibald and his cousins that Litchfield would be the family headquarters in America. On October 27, 1737, after the ship wreck, Archibald bought, for 200 pounds, half a gristmill near Litchfield, a half privilege in a stream, and 78 acres of land. In 1746, he sold the 100 acres to John Lyndley for 300 pounds. He sold the 78 acres to Samuel Baker, on December 12, 1751. (from Litchfield land records) .


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