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Bibliography: A. Mrs. Elizabeth Russell, 1015 N. La Fountain St., Kokomo, Indiana
B. Mrs. Alice Bassett, 1015 N. La Fountain Street, Kokomo, Indiana. Youngest daughter of Mrs. Russell
"A good name is rather to be chosen than great riches, and living favor than silver and gold." Prov. 32.1
Mrs. Elizabeth Russell, affectionately known as "Mother" Russell to all her friends, and one of the best known members of the Colored Race in this city, will on the Fourth of July celebrate her seventy-ninth birthday. Mrs. Russell makes her home with her daughter, Mrs. Alice Bassett at 1015 North La Fountain Street.
Hers has been an eventful life, full of dramatic experiences that centered about the Civil War with its perils and sorrows but touched with bits of mirth and even joy.
One of the greatest events of which Mother Russell can boast is one that most anyone would be proud to claim---that she, when a little girl, sat on Abraham Lincoln's knee. She tells of this occasion and other unusual experiences in the following story of her life:
"It was when the great president made his last trip to Little Rock, Ark., and stopped at the Anton House Hotel. The manager of the hotel whose name was Mr. Palmer, took Mima, his little girl and me up to the president's suite to see him and he (the president) sat Mima on one knee and me on the other, then trotted each of us on his foot with the nursery rhyme of "Trot, Trot to Boston." I will never forget how proud I felt to think I had only not seen the president but had sat on his knee, and when we left the room he put his hand on my head and said, "God bless you,
little one" and I truly believed that invocation has followed me through the years. (A and B)
"I was very small at the time of the Civil War yet I served my people as a secret service agent. I was kept in the big house during the day to rock and attend the babies and I would often pretend to be asleep and hear the folk at the big house were saying about the battles and which side was winning or losing and when the word came that the north had won and the slaves were free, it was I who carried the word to the hundreds of slaves in our section, having crawled to my mother's cabin to give the news and though only a little child, God used me as a bearer of good news to my people.
"During the war I was twice stolen, once by the Indians and once by the Ku Klux Klan. The latter was then traveling in a wagon train of thirty wagons, each drawn by eight mules, and we children were playing along the road when attacked by the Ku Klux Klan. My mother fought for me and saved me but many of the poor little children were stolen on that trip.
"Afterwards I was riding in a wagon that was filled with oil paintings and it went in a rut and turned over and threw us out, pinning me between the wagon and the embankment, crushing my leg. They had to stop and strike camp. One of the old slaves gathered herbs and made what they called an 'ooz' and some of the men cut down a hickory tree and made splints for my crushed leg. The next day we went on our journey.
"At this time some of the rebels were fleeing with their slaves and all their belongings to Texas from the Yankees and ran right into their hands. Those ahead of us were captured. So we turned back and returned home without being captured. (A & B)
"On the way back home I had another thrilling adventure. I was riding in the commissary wagon drawn by four carriage horses and the horse in lead stepped into a yellow jackets' nest and they all ran away, throwing me out on the sides of the road. They all told my mother there was no use to look for me as I was dead; no doubt the wild beasts had devoured me, as we were going through a dense woods. The four horses dashed their brains out against the trees or broke their legs in the thick underbrush but my mother kept on going back along the road calling me and about a mile and a half back she found me sitting on the side of the road. God had once more rescued me from a terrible fate."
"The Indian Chief that stole me was I believe, the captain of a bunch of Rebel Indian soldiers. They came to my master's house, and the folks gave them dinner. I don't remember how many there were, but I was old enough to help wait on the table. As they talked they said things we could not understand, only "Papoose" and they got up and strolled out, the chief being the last to leave. He suddenly grabbed me, lifting me to his shoulder, and started down the road. None of the folks realized that he meant to take me until he had gone some distance and did not set me down. When they saw what was taking place, my master quickly raised a white flag above the housetop. In a few moments a number of men came on horseback and afoot, overtaking the Indians and rescuing me. (A & B)
"I could go on relating many more thrilling events that I encountered on up through my young life, such as when the dam broke and let forty feet of water overflow Hope Field, Ark., and I went across a corn field on dry land to save an old blind lady who was alone in her cabin and when I returned the water was up to my neck and my husband had to swim to me to save me. This was in 1876-77.
"One of the indelible sorrows of my life was in the death of my sainted mother in whose footsteps I have endeavored to walk all my life. My Mother is the only person I ever saw before or since who turned the other cheek when she was smitten on the right one. She was truly a saint. I had a step-father who was very cruel and the only mistreatment I ever had in all my life was from his hand. I have striven to do all I can to help suffering humanity and to be a real mother to all. It gives me much joy to have the many kind letters read to me from time to time sent me from some dear one to whom I had given advice or comforted in time of sorrow.
"Among my greatest treasures are my war letters from my boys overseas and my Mother's Day letters that I get each year. I have had quite an eventful life, seen much sorrow, many hardships, many adventures, thrills and pleasures. I have seen the tallow dip, oil lamp, gas lamp, and electric lamps and have rode in about every riding contraption except the air plane from the ox cart to the automobile.
"The Fourth of July will be my seventy-ninth birthday and I am proud to be spared to see the growth and progress of this city. I have been in Kokomo for thirty-five years and watched it grow from its mud roads to its asphalt pavements. It was forty years ago my two children and I left the South, along in April, the youngest of them is Mrs. Bassett."
Mother Russell has been in poor health for several years, but meets each and everyone with a cheery smile and a kindly word. She is a devout Christian and a member of the Methodist Church since childhood. She is greatly interested in every progressive movement for the uplift of and advancement of her people. (A & B)
Russell, Elizabeth 1015 N. La Fountain St. Kokomo, Indiana (B. H. Stonecipher)
Russell, Elizabeth -- Additional Interview
Reference: A. Elizabeth Russell, 1015 N. Lafountain St., Kokomo, Indiana. She was a slave until the Civil War of 1861-1865 set the slaves free.
Mother Russell, as everyone calls her, lives at 1015 N. Lafountain St. , in Kokomo, Indiana. She was born near Atlanta, Georgia in 1856. Her mother was a slave and so was she, but they were lucky enough to have a good master for quite awhile.
She was allowed to play with the master's little girl and enjoy the life of a white child, and not that of a slave. Every thing went alright until one day her master hired out her mother to cook for next door neighbor. They had a large company of men for dinner one day and Lizzie's mother burned the biscuits. The landlord grew angry and struck her. She hit him over the head and by that time there were three more follows trying to get hold of her, but she knocked them all down and ran home to her master. She left little Lizzie and they caught her and locked her in a room but her mother's master rescued her.
One day the master sickened and died. This as usual called for a settling of the estate and the selling of some of the slaves. Lizzie was only about 6 years old, but she was separated from her mother. She was given to some people who operated a hotel in Atlanta. They were very kind to Lizzie and shared all their children's pleasure with her.
It was during this period of time that Presient Lincoln was making his tour through the south. One Saturday afternoon when Lizzie was playing in the yard, she saw her master come up the road accompanied by a man dressed in overalls with a red handkerchief tied around his neck. It was Abe Lincoln, the President of the United States. He picked her up in his arms and said, "Child, I hope you and your people will be free pretty soon." Lincoln stayed at this master's home for three days without any of the southern people knowing it. He was afraid he would be killed if anyone knew he was in town so it was kept secret.
Finally the Civil War broke out and many of the southerners had to leave their slaves to go and fight. They loaded their slaves in wagons. When they started they had 15 mule teams and 15 yoke of oxen. Each wagon had its own group of slaves and they were all headed for San Antonio, Texas. It so happened that in this wagon train, Lizzie met up with her mother. The wagons were rolling along one evening, when about dusk they decided to pitch camp near a large wood which they were approaching. They started to pitch camp when one of the children saw a white head raise up out of the brush, then another and another. It was a group of the Ku Klux Klan, who immediately started catching up the slave children. All excaped except two who were never heard of again.
The caravan continued, finally reaching a town called Roslin in Mississippi. There they had word that the Yanks were coming from San Antonio and were meeting them. They couldn't turn back as the Yanks were both before and behind, so they kept moving. One day they heard the drums of the Yanks, so they draped their wagons in white, the sign of surrender. The Yanks told them the war was over and that they were free and all who wanted to go back to their old masters could do so. So little Lizzie and her mother returned to Atlanta, to their old master.
They stayed there until Lizzie was about 17 years of age. About that time she had the most peculiar experience that could happen to anyone. At this time there were two preachers staying at the place who kept talking about things that worried Lizzie so much that she asked them what they meant. They said to her, "Haven't you seen those two fellows with their heads cut off even with their shoulders?" This startled her for she was afraid of ghosts. Now she had to pass the place where those two fellows had been seen. One day as she was passing this place and carrying a baby, she saw the two men standing there as plain as day. She broke and ran for a quarter of a mile with the baby on her back. Just before she arrived at her destination she had to cross a fence. Instead of climbing the fence, she simply fell over it and thought she had broken her arm. Soon after this happened, the master died and Lizzie decided to come north to Kentucky.
She took her belongings and started working her way northward. Transportation was by stage and very slow and expensive. By the time she was 20 she had reached Covington, Ky. Here she stayed for awhile and then crossed over into Indiana. At 21, she met a young man named Russell whom she married in 1877. They moved to a small farm furnished by the government. Here they lived happily and one child was born to them, a daughter, with whom Lizzie is now living. Early in 1888, her husband died and the little family moved to Kokomo and have been living there ever since.
Scott, Lulu 800 North California Street Marion County, Indiana (W. C. Hibbitt Federal Writer's Project 2/18/37)
