Major Russell has a copy of the White Mountain Bugle, a campaign paper published in Plymouth by R.C. Stevens in 1848.
Receives Discharge.
Major F.W. Russell of Plymouth Leave Service of State
John P. Hall, delivered in the U.S. Senate Jan. 6th of that year on what was called the Ten Regiment Bill, and has at the head of the editorial columns the name of Nathaniel A. Berry as its candidate for governor.
Its editorials are something of the William E. Chandler style, sharp and vigorous and among them are spirited assaults upon Isaac Hill for slavery sentiments, and upon Franklin Pierce for having voted for a resolution in congress that was to summarily dispose of all anti-slavery measures by laying them upon the table without reference to committees or being printed. Among its advertisements of Plymouth people is a Probate notice by Judge Walter Blair appointing Leavitt Clark of Campton guardian of Sumner A. Goodhue who was then 14 years old. Another is a freedom notice by Smith H. Rowe, witnessed by R.C. Stevens and C.I. Russell. Horace Goodrich advertises as an Indian doctor. Russell & Webster advertises West Indian goods, groceries, air-tight stoves, drugs and medicines, fashionable woolens, imported broadcloths, tailors' trimmings, cloakings and a variety of other articles covering about everything one might need. Gilmore Houston advertises saddles and harnesses; J. Burrows as an Attorney-at-Law; O.P. Craig as boot and show maker; J.A. Dana, M.D., as a dentist; horses and carriages to let by J.F. Langdon; The Pemigewasset House by D.R. Burnham; William Leverett as an Attorney-at-Law; H.W. Merrill, "daguerreotypes and miniatures;" F.W.A. Robie as tailor. There is also an advertisement of E.H. Rollins' wholesale dealer in drugs and medicines, West India goods and groceries at Concord. The spring term of Holderness High School is advertised as under the instructions of Charles G. Cheney and Miss Sarah E. Smith.
• • Major Frank Webster Russell of Plymouth was issued a discharge today from the New Hampshire National Guard, dated March 7th. Major Russell was the Senior Battalion Commander of the 2nd Regiment and his term expired on that day. He declined a reappointment, his action being a source of disappointment to General Ayling, the officer of the brigade and the entire National Guard.
Major Russell was a West Pointer, graduating in 1868 and serving with the 6th United States Cavalry Unit 1872. He was appointed from this state and returned here after his resignation from the regular service. On May 22, 1884 he was commissioned Captain and Aide-de-Camp of the Brigade Staff. The following year he was promoted to Major and Assistant Inspector General of the National Guard. He resigned from the State service in 1899, but when the Spanish-American War was declared he returned to the service and was commissioned Captain of Company G. Before the return of the troops from the south he had been promoted to Major and in March of 1899 he was made Major of the 2nd Regiment of the National Guard.
In the resignation of Major Russell the State Militia loses one of its most efficient officers. He was in fact, the only graduate of West Point in the service and was well liked by the men and officers under his command.
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Major Frank W. Russell, 84, who died Monday, March 13, at the home of his son, Louis E. Russell, 27 Pine Street, in Concord, was a native of Plymouth, the son of William Wallace and Susan Carleton (Webster) Russell. He was a prominent citizen and business man of Plymouth for fifty years, and was an active merchant in the firm established by his grandfather, Moor Russell. He retired in 1911.
He attended school in Concord, Phillips Andover Academy, Boston Latin School, Detroit, Michigan, High School and New Haven Commercial Institute. He was graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point in 1868. Following military service in the South and West he returned in 1872 to Plymouth where he entered the mercantile firm established by his grandfather, Moor Russell, in 1798, continuing until his retirement in 1911.
He was appointed by General D.M. White as a staff officer in 1884 and mustered into the United States service in 1898 as a major of the New Hampshire Infantry. Major Russell was deeply interested in the N.H. National Guard and, in cooperation with Gen Ayling and the late General Wheeler of Nashua, did much to promote its efficiency.
Mr. Russell was a Republican in politics, serving in the Constitutional Convention in 1902 and on the Plymouth town history committee. He was a member of the N.H. Society, Son of the American Revolution, The Military Order of Foreign Wars, and the Association of Graduates of the U.S. Military academy at West Point, and was a Mason, up to and including the 32nd degree and a Knight Templar. Because of his service on the military advisory board for New Hampshire during the World War he had affiliation with the American Legion.
• In 1873 he married Louisa Webster Hall, who died in 1905. Survivors include three sons, Colonel George M. Russell of Washington, D.C., Walter H. Russell of Port Arthur, Ontario, and Louise M. Russell of Concord, two granddaughters, Louisa H. Russell of Montpelier, Vermont, and Miss Rosa Russell of Washington, D.C.
-- Funeral services were held at the Congregational Church Thursday at 2 o'clock with Reverend A.V. McCracken, pastor of the South Church, Concord, officiating. Burial was in Trinity Churchyard.
-- The bearers were Colonel George M Russell, Walter H. Russell, Louis W Russell, Sceva Speare of Nashua, Ernest B. Hardy and Moses A. Batchelder. The Plymouth Record, March 19, 1932, p1.