Sources |
- [S27] The Daily Times, http://www.thedailytimes.com/, (Blount County, Tennessee), 15 Oct 2008.
House that Jake built: Family celebrates century of heritage
By Linda Braden Albert
of The Daily Times Staff
The house built by Jake Russell in rural Blount County will come to life again Saturday as his descendants gather to celebrate their shared heritage. They will also celebrate the homeplace's 100th anniversary.
Gary Russell, a great-grandchild of Jacob "Jake" and Saletha Ann Long Russell, said the "house that Jake built" just off Duncan Road in rural Blount County was begun in 1908.
"We're not exactly sure when the house was finished, but we do know it was started in 1908," Russell said. "As the story goes, my great-grandfather, Jake Russell, started building the house when my grandfather, Cowan Russell, was 16. They got in an argument over something and my grandfather hoboed on trains across country to visit his Uncle Edgar Russell. When he returned, the house was finished."
The Russell house is much as Gary Russell remembers it from his childhood in the 1950s and '60s. Some updates have been done, but the tin roof and most of the wood of the front porch is original. Inside, the home includes a living room, kitchen and two bedrooms and has changed very little over the years. The door knobs to the doors leading into the bedrooms are of a surprising material, also original to the house: corn cobs.
Current owner of the house, Carl Russell, of Florida, moved into the old homeplace when he was about 2 years old, in 1933. His parents were Cowan Russell and Cora LeQuire Russell, who are also Gary Russell's grandparents. In 1992, Carl renovated the house and added a new kitchen, a bathroom -- replacing the outdoor toilet that still remains at the back of the house. Other improvements included air conditioning and vinyl siding that closely resembles the original clapboard siding.
Carl's memories of living in his grandfather's house on a working farm are pleasant.
"We had all kinds of cows, chickens and horses," Carl recalled. "We depended on the farm for a living. We had a great life there."
Carl is the youngest of 11 children, but he said only five of the children actually lived in the Russell home place.
The Russell family -- descendants of Jake Russell's parents, Isaac and Eliza Jane Russell -- will gather for a reunion Saturday, sharing memories and genealogy. Gary Russell said, "It has more to do with family ties -- seeing cousins, second cousins you've never met. Socializing, getting to know each other again."
Jacob Russell (1863-1928) had 11 children by two women, nine with Saletha Long (1866-1920) and twin boys with second wife, Mary Boring Abbott (also her second marriage). Cowan Russell (1891-1977) was married first to Cora LeQuire (1889-1958) and after her death, he married Georgia Shipman Croft (1899-1981). Gary Russell's father, Grayson Jake Russell (Cowan and Cora Russell's son), was born in 1924 in Cades Cove. He died in 1958.
|