John RUSSELL

                   The Parents of Thomas Russell have been mistakenly listed in many sources as Thomas Russell and Honora Laud.  These are NOT the parents of Thomas Russell, born 1759.  The following abstract from a report by Ancestral Research Center Inc., dated 6 October 1977 and addressed to the Thomas Russell Family Organization details this error:

Dear Family Members:
     Our research as reported in previous letters sought to verify the claim that your Rev. Thomas Russell was, as claimed, the son of Thomas Russell and Honora Russell of Boston.  It is now conclusively determined that he was NOT and that Church Archive family group sheet and his TIB card are wrong to show Thomas Sr. and Honora as his parents.  The Genealogical Library has just received a microfilm copy (# 1,012,785) of the rare work entitled "A Genealogy of that branch of the Russell family which comprises the descendants of John Russel of Woburn, Massachusets, 1640-1878" John Russell Bartlett, (Prividence, RI; 1879).  Pages 28 and 38-41 give a detailed biography of the Thomas born 8 September 1758, son of Thomas and Honora (Loud) Russell.  Thomas Jr. was a Revolutionary War Ensign 1777-1780, married Ann Hardy on 29 November 1783, earned his living as a Philadelphia and Newport merchant, and died 19 February 1801 in New York City.  This Russell genealogy was published only three-quarters of a century after Thomas Jr. died and the author knew his children, so Thomas Jr. (1758-1801) was definitely not the Rev. Thomas Russell of Bethel, Vermont. 

With the incorrect lineage out of the way, the following facts and traditions relate to your Rev. Thomas.
1759 - Born
1787 - Preached in Royalton, VT
c1788 - Married Hannah Baldwin of Mansfield, Tolland, CT in Mansfield
1789 - son Thomas Baldwin born 14 Feb in West Hampton, Long Island
date? - Preached over two years to Hampton Point Long Island Presbytery
1790 - listed in Bethel, VT, 1790 Census
1790 - minister of Bethel, VT, Congregational Church Sep 1790 to 1792; dismissed Nov 1794
1792 - daughter Levinia born 27 Feb at Bethel, VT
1794 - Preached at Rochester (NH?) Dec 1794 - Jul 1795
1796 - Of Plainfield, NH, when in September sold Bethel lands to his Father-in-law Ebenezer Baldwin
1798 - daughter Elizabeth born 13 Nov at Plainfield, NH
1802 - Ebenezer Baldwin sold in March to Hannah Russell, both of Mansfield, CT, the bethel lands formerly owned by Thomas Russell
1804 - Hannah McKinstry on 2 Nov registered the birth of Eliza Russell
1822 - Died in Cleveland, OH

...Tradition says that the Rev. Thomas Russell abandoned his family, went west, and remarried.

Sources:
1. Early History of Congregationalism in Vermont, A.W. Wild (1899)
2. "Biographical sketches of the Congregational pastors of New England," Emerson Davis, copy in Congregational Library, Boston, MA
3. History of Royalton, Vermont, with family genealogies 1769-1911.  Evelyn M. W. Lovejoy, (1911) pp. 942-943
4. Vital Records of Bethel VT, 1780-1857
5. Deeds of Bethel VT, Vol 2 1798-1806, pp. 8 and 260.

THOMAS RUSSELL PROOFS
Further research by Ronald L. Morris (1389 E. 2620 N, Provo, UT, 801-375-7357, morris@relia.net) provides convincing and nearly conclusive evidence that Thomas Russell is the son of John and Alice Russell of Ashford, Windham, CT.  A copy of the research is in the possession of Mildred Goul. There are extensive references to original sources, but none are listed in the work.