HENRY & HARRIET RUSSELL
Written for the Russell Family Reunion, 1996
by granddaughter Helen Macdonald
Henry Utilis Russell was born in Fillmore, Utah Territory on 30 Mar 1863 to Mormon pioneers Horace Russell and Lydia Ann Hobson. Harriet Louisa Brewer was born on 13 Mar 1872, also to Mormon pioneers Jacob Brewer and Sabra Ann Follett. Harriet, also called Hattie, and her family migrated to Arizona and Henry also came there to seek his fortune. Henry and Harriet met when Henry came to Pinedale, Arizona, to work with Harriet's brother, Joe Brewer. Harriet said, A...he (Henry) was at a dance and Joe introduced us. We danced and my girl friends were so jealous of me, for they thought he was a handsome man and they desired his company.
Henry proposed and Hattie accepted his proposal. She continued, Awe began our plans for the wedding. Henry had to make a trip home for his wagon and horses and to borrow his bother's one and only suit. I had my wedding dress to make. It was a white cotton with wide satin stripes. it was made with tight, long sleeves, full length and gathered skirt, tight bodice and a collar trimmed with narrow lace.
Henry and Harriet were married on 7 Mar 1887 at Snowflake, Arizona, Harriet was 15, or would be in six days and Henry would be 24 in a couple of weeks. He was nine years older than she was.
Their first child, a son, was born on 28 Jan 1888, at Alpine, Arizona. They named him Henry Franklin. Two years later, while they were living at Eagar, Arizona, their second child, Ernest Edward, was born, followed by another pregnancy that resulted in a still born. Their first daughter, Edna Ann, was born on 26 Jun 1893 at Eagar. Then another son, Grover Wilford was born on 21 Dec 1894, although he died a year and a half later.
In the fall of 1897, Henry was called to fill a mission for the Church in the Central States mission. He was called to the Indian Territory with headquarters in St. John, Kansas. Since Henry and Harriet had not been sealed in a temple, it was decided that the family should accompany him as far as St. George, Utah in order that this very important work could be accomplished.
While Henry was serving as a missionary Harriet was being provided for by her Brewer family. Utilis LeRoy was born in Eagar on 24 Jul 1898.
Many years later, Harriet wrote a letter to Utilis, who was born while Henry was serving his mission. She said, ATilis, my dear boy, when your daddy went on a mission in 1897, I was going to have you to come and live with me. I don't think anyone was ever prouder than I to have a husband on a mission. It made me so happy and proud of him and naturally, I wanted my boy to be just like him.
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Henry was released from his mission and returned to Arizona. His family moved from the northern part of Arizona to an area about six miles south of Safford, in Graham County, located on the Stockton Wash, where they were home-steading and were looking for a more favorable climate.
It was while living on the desert at the foot of majestic Mt. Graham, that their seventh child, Fred, was born on 8 Sep 1901. Later Fred described his parents as follows: A...I had hitched Old Fan to the buggy to take Mother to Relief Society. As I drove the mare, Mother sat beside me nursing my infant brother, Karl. She was a beautiful woman with fair skin, soft blue eyes and long, honey hair. She was in the prime of her motherhood. Fred also said that his mother had supreme patience, was understanding and courageous, she had wisdom and common sense. She wanted a good education for her family. She was industrious and was an expert gardener and she sewed beautifully.
Fred described his father by saying, ADad, by his nature and life style was a perfectionist in his work. What he did he did well...he could do beautiful masonry work and was a good finish carpenter. He loved to talk and visit with people. For this reason he preferred working for himself.
Edna tells this of her father: AFather was a great scriptorian and could quote many, many passages from the Holy Bible and other Latter-day scriptures. He spent his spare moments reading and studying his religion. It was common to see Father squatting on his heels in the early morning by the stove, reading scriptures aloud to mother while she prepared the morning breakfast. Father was regular at calling the family together for morning and evening prayers. All members of our family knelt together and listened to our parents say the prayer, they took turns.
Henry was talented in many areas. He was a self-taught musician, as was his father, Horace, who gave him his fiddle. Henry had a fine bass voice and sang by note, according to Edna. He played the fiddle by ear and could play almost anything he heard. He played for the weekly dances which provided the entertainment for the week in the area. Henry also wrote poetry, very well, even though he only fished the third reader. He also taught himself to write shorthand and practiced faithfully, according to Utilis, Henry hoped someday to be a court reporter. Henry also spoke Spanish like a native, with no accent. He was loved by the Mexican people in the area, he wrote and read letters from Mexico for them. Henry was also a skilled builder and it was said that when he farmed, his farm was laid out and maintained beautifully. Edna, speaking of their home in Eagar, said that her father planted a row of poplar trees in front of the house. They grew to be tall and beautiful. Father often told his friends, Aa man can't raise good sons without plenty of switches. She added that Aoften my brothers felt the sting of those switches upon their legs, for father was a strict disciplinarian.
That Henry loved Harriet and his children is evident by a poem he wrote later in life, after they had separated. Here are a few verses from his pen:
Below the surface of this mortal life
of toil and hardship and of evil strife
Unpretentious parental love you'll find
her instinctive wealth--she's good and kind.
Could you, your mother's heart but know
the toil and hardships she would undergo
To relieve distress, to nerve and brain
to her suffering child, she is bent with pain.
Could you but feel the joyous pride
that thrills her heart when pains subside
And when restored to perfect health
she cherished you beyond luxurious wealth.
Ah' could you but know with what childish glee
she heard you prattle while at her knee
How she watched every move you made
fairly worshiped you, as you played...
Then fully ripened into manly power
she felt she'd finished a stately tower
Though she raised it, through flood and flame
it stands a monument to her sacred name.
Harriet was also talented. She was a skillful seamstress, she learned to cut dress patterns and shared her talent with many. She quilted, knit and crocheted. A granddaughter, Helen, remembers Harriet knitting, falling asleep and never missing a stitch. Harriet loved her children and was protective of them physically and spiritually. Eva tells how grateful she was when her mother persuaded her to get on her knees and talk with her Heavenly Father after Eva's husband, Ellis, died after a year long illness. Eva said, because of Harriet's influence, she realized that for a year she had been counseling the Lord and demanding that Ellis be healed.