Uncle Wally wrote to Crystal (5th generation) for her school project:

 

Crystal, you are a 13th generation American.  Your ancestor, William Russell, came to America between 1635 and 1640 from England.  In 1775 Jason Russell and his son Jason were in the Revolutionary war, so you are eligible to belong to the DAR, Daughters of the American Revolution 
 
The first conflict of the Revolution was in Lexington.  The British were retreating through a town that is now Arlington, Mass.  When going by the Jason Russell house another skirmish ensued and Jason was killed along with several others.  The Jason Russell house is now a National Historic Monument and is maintained by a historical society. 
 
The first of our branch of the Russell's to come West was Augustus Palmer Russell in 1853.  He was 18 and traveled by boat to Panama, walked overland across the Isthmus to the Pacific Ocean and caught another vessel going North to San Francisco.  He didn't try hunting for Gold as so many did but went to work as a teamster for a General Bidwell in Chico, California. 

 

The General had lots of land and lots of enterprises. Eventually Augustus Russell homesteaded 160 or so acres on the South shoulder of Sutter Buttes just East of Marysville and Yuba City.  For years he was a freighter hauling supplies into the Sierras to the mines and hauling timber back to the valley.  He was part of the first people to populate Sutter City which was near his homestead. 

 

Grandpa Augustus Russell eventually moved his whole family, some of whom were married with children by then, up through the Siskyou mountains to Clark Valley in Oregon.  This is near what is now Yoncalla where the famous Applegate's settled.  He had lots of livestock both for farming and for freighting.
 
Later he moved farther North to Shelburn which is Northeast of Albany 20 miles.  And that is where he is buried in Miller Cemetery.  He and Mr. Miller built the only church in Shelburn and it is the only original building still standing in Shelburn today.  In those days Shelburn was a big rail center and a very thriving pioneer town.  The Russell's lived on a farm bordering the banks of the Santiam River 4 miles out of town.
 
Grandpa Augustus had 3 children by his first wife who died with tuberculosis when she was 25 years old. Grandpa then married her sister and had 14 more children.  Those 17 children had 45 children.