George Frank Russell was born October 19, 1860 in
Birmingham, England to George and Elizabeth (Plant) Russell.
Two years later his parents, and two older sisters, moved to
Ottawa, then called Bytown. Two more sisters were born
there. He went to school in Ottawa, then trained as a
mechanic, tool and pattern maker in Hamilton, Ontario
where he later apprenticed. After finishing his training
he worked for a time in a foundry in Hamilton.

Returning to Ottawa, he joined a survey crew going to
the North West Territories in 1882. They surveyed
the fifth base line from Winnipeg to the 5th Meridian
in what is now Waterton Park, walking all the way.

He loved this country, so when the others returned to
Ottawa, he stayed here, opening a blacksmith shop
in Fort Macleod (then on an island in the Oldman River).
He had a helper "Smiler", who was quite a character.
(No one heard any other name for him, and in those
days you didn!t ask.)

At times George Russell drove bull teams for the R.I.
Baker Co. from Fort Benton, Montana to Fort Macleod.
In a coulee on part of the Russell land, you can still
see traces of the old trail made by these wagon wheels
as they headed for the St. Mary's river crossing.

He stayed in Fort Macleod until 1885 when he came to
Lethibridge (Coal Banks) to open a blacksmith shop with
the help of "Smiler".

That winter he went back to Ottawa and on March 3, 1886
married Isabella Anne Bell, the only daughter of a school
teacher, George Walter Bell and his wife Jessie Fleming
Bell, of Ottawa. They came directly to Lethbridge by train.
At the time the railway was not long established and it was
"narrow gauge" from Medicine Hat to Lethbridge. It was a
strange and exciting trip for a young woman who had always
lived in Ottawa.

George had built a small house with lumber he had hauled
down from the Porcupine Hills. He also hauled lumber for
Captain Bryant to help build the river boat that hauled coal
to Medicine Hat. Their house and land was sold to Mr. Oliver.
It was located where the Oliver Block now stands between
3rd and 4th Ave. on 5th St. South.

In 1887, the family moved to a homestead taken out in 1886
on the south side of the Pothole Creek where it joins the
St. Mary River. Paddy Hasson had the homestead on the
north side, which George later bought from his estate. (Son
Harold Russell built a house there when he married in 1914.)

Their first son, Harold George, was born in Lethbridge in
February, 1887, and in that year the Russell brand 2 over
G on the left hip was registered. (Ms brand has been retained
by the family and is still used on their cattle today.) Five more
sons were born, then a daughter, the youngest child. The
children were Harold George. Andrew James, Frank Haliburton,
Charles Ernest Hope, Frederick Alexander, Percy Reginald, and
Florence Maude.

Andrew and Frank joined the 20th Battery in Lethbridge when
the war broke out in August 1914. Andrew died of wounds in
Belgium on July 5, 1917 and was buried at Bethune. Frank
was killed by Bolshevik snipers near Archangel in Russia Nov.
12, 1918. He had been gassed and was to be invalided home,
but volunteered to go with the Canadian Forces to guard
supplies. He was buried at Chenkursk, near Archangel.

Fourth son Ernest was invalided out of the army in 1917 shortly
after enlisting.

Fred joined the army in August 1915 with the Toronto regiment
and served the Queen's Own Rifles and upon arriving in England
was transferred to the 5th Canadian Mounted Rifles as
reinforcements and served as a machine gunner in England
and France until 1919.

The youngest son, Percy, was drowned in the St. Mary's River
flood of 1902 at the age of two, and his body was never found,
although his father rode the river banks for many days, searching.

As there were no schools near the ranch, live-in governesses
were hired to teach the children. These were ladies from England
and Ontario who wanted to see the west. Mrs. Russell always
enjoyed their company and at least one of them married a rancher.

In 1910 the Russells left their two older sons in charge of the
ranch and went back to Ontario where they bought a beautiful
fruit farm near Niagara-on-the-Lake. Four children attended
school in Ontario, Frank went to Agricultural College in Guelph,
Fred to St. Andrew's College in Toronto. and Ernest and Florence
attended in Fort Erie.

They sold their Ontario holdings and returned to the ranch after
the death of their two sons overseas. They lived there until
their health made a more moderate climate advisable and
then went to Victoria, B.C. where George Russell died in Dec.
of 1946. Mrs. Russell returned to Alberta and lived with her
daughter, Florence Henderson until her death in Jan. of 1949.
George wanted his ashes brought back to the ranch where he
had lived happily; and his ashes and those of his wife are
buried there on a hill overlooking the ranch.

Harold Russell married Lorenda Scarlet McTavish of Wilson
Siding on June 24, 1914. They had two sons born while
living on the ranch. The family later moved to the Pincher
Creek area.

Ernest never married and carried on the farming of the home
place and other holdings until his death in 1967.

Fred Russell married Cynthia Thompson, July 14, 1930,
daughter of George and Elizabeth (Kinniburgh) Thompson,
whom he had met when she was teaching at Farm Hill
School, south of the Russell ranch.

Florence Maude married James B. Henderson Dec. 16,
1936. They had three children.

Frank and his family are the 5di generation to live on the
original ranch, as Isabelle Russell's mother Jessie Fleming
Bell resided there for a number of years until her death in
1900. Fred and Cynthia moved to Lethbridge in 1957.
Fred died in 1992, at the age of 94, and Cynthia passed
away in 1995.

George Russell and
Isabelle Anne Bell Russell

In 1882 George Frank Russell came West, with a survey party
from Ottawa. They surveyed west from Regina and also the
5th Meridian through Waterton Park. Later he often helped been surveyed by them.

He had a blacksmith shop in Macleod, and later, in 1885
came to Lethbridge, with his helper, "Smiler", who was a
real character.

He returned to Ottawa and married Isabelle Anne Bell on
March 3, 1886. They came back to Lethbridge by railroad
as the C.P.R. was built by that time to Dunmore, near
Medicine Hat, and from there to Lethbridge it was the
narrow gauge. In 1887 they moved to the ranch on the
St. Mary River, at the mouth of the Pothole Creek. He
had his brand registered as 2IG Two Georges, as he
now had a son. Harold George was born February 22,
1887. They had five more sons and one daughter:
Andrew and Frank who were killed in World War I;
another son was drowned in the flooding of the St.
Mary in 1903; Ernest, too, was in the army, but was
discharged after having measles and pneumonia; Fred
also served overseas in World War I. Fred had one son,
Frank. Frank's children are the fifth generation on the ranch.
Mrs. Bell, their great-great-grandmother, lived with her
daughter and son-in-law until her death in 1895.

Mrs. Russell was a courageous women. She had led a
sheltered life in Ottawa, as the only daughter of a school
teacher. On the ranch she was surrounded by Indians who
might be in a dangerous mood as this was just after the Riel
Rebellion. She was always kind to the Indian women who
came to visit her giving them tea, cake and tobacco. The
Indian men had great respect for her. The stories of her
encounters with the Indians were humorous. She told of
one who wanted to come in, and when she told him to go
away, stuck his foot in the door. She jumped on his
moccasin and he hastily pulled it out and left. Another
time, the Indians persisted in staying after they had been
told to go. This frightened her mother so she went out
and untied their horses, giving them a slap to make them
run. The Indians left in pursuit of their horses. One day
when she had put out her rugs while she was cleaning
the house, they picked them up and started away with
them. She went after them and told them to take the
rugs back but they threw them down. She asked them
to pick them up and take them back, and they did
- a triumph for her as they hated taking orders from a
woman.

In 1910 Mr. & Mrs. Russell went to Ontario, living near
Toronto for some time but fortunes of war, and a longing them back.

When they were old they lived in Victoria, B. C. as the
climate agreed with Mr. Russell's heart condition.
He died there, aged 86, on December 27, 1946,
and wanted his ashes brought back to the ranch
where they and those of his wife, who died here at
age 85 on January 25, 1949, now rest.

"Here they lie, where they wished to be."

Return to Individual Histories