The Tupelo journal. (Tupelo, Miss.) 1876-1924, 1906-05-25

pEN.pICTURES OF THE OLDEN Time
BY COL w L. CLAYTON.

| Erect dS a ClllC1 Tall, SCduu lIlS
six feet four inches in his shoes
with splendid physique, weigh
ing over two hundred pound:
and having no surplus flesh eth
er, head large and well poised; :
thus speaks memory to me nov
after many years Of Rev. Geo.
D. Russell, formerly of Verona,
Miss, father of the well known
lawyers, Ed and Jud Rus
sell. I remember Rev. Mr.. Rus
sell since 1S-9 during which
year l first made his acquain-
tance, to the best Of my memo
ry. At that time he lived at or
near Verona. I think | heard
him preach in connection with
the Rev. Mr.. Stovall at an old
Baptist church which then stood
near the Jim Crayton place, now
owned by Ed Wilson. | think
the church was called Hickory
Grove church, owned by the Mis-
sionary Baptists. remember
the house was situated in a beau
tiful grove of hickory trees, and
that the ground was slightly un-
dulating, and the water ran to-
wards the south. / was teach
ing school in Pontotoc county
at that time near Col. S. H. Tay-
lor's, and was over there at a
meeting they were holding there
at that Hickory Grove church,
and / also we'll remember the
people who attended the servi-
ces were above the average of
the country now for wealth and
intelligence. l have understood
Mr.. Russell came from North
Alabama when he moved to this
country, and also think he lived
for a time somewhere northwest
of where Tupelo is now situated,
but which was then nothing but
the virgin forest. Mr.. Russell
was emphatically a self-made
man in the strictest sense of the
word. | may not have it cor
rectly, but | know very well that
it was always said in speaking of
him that he educated himself af-
ter he was married, but whether
he did it by attending school or
bv noring over his books by pine
knot fires, | have no certain in
formation. But Mr.. Russell had
a big brain, capable of learning
rapidly and we'll whatever he
turned his attention to, and in
domitable will power, SO that af-
ter years of study and teaching
he became a good Latin and
Greek scholar, as we'll as being
proficient in the English classics.
During all these years he was a
minister in the Missionary Bap-
tist church, and dispensed the
gospel to the people. He was a
forceful and logical preacher, be-
lieving in regeneration by the
spirit of God, and often as he
warmed to his theme, and caught
in his imagination far away
glimpses of the beyond, he was
eloquent and enhancing, and
convinced all of his zeal and
earnestness. He also had the
reputation of being an excellent
instructor in the school room. By
many of the old residents of We
roma he will long be remembered
as an interesting figure of the
olden time in that community.
Soon after the war he removed
to Texas and died there many
years ago. There was one pecu-
liarity in reference to the Rev.
Mr.. Russell and both the lawyer
! boys, Ed and Jud, and that is
coming to maturity mentally
slowly. 1t was many years af-
| ter the ordinary age at which men
generally show what they are
before any of them, either the
father or the boys, indicated
what was concealed in their men
tai makeup. But when the time
did come for the shell to break
and the chrysalis to come forth,
we could all see there was no
loss, but rather gain, in that long
slumber, like the interest that
came forth with the long sleep
of Rip Van Winkle.
Absalom L. Stovall was anoth-
er of the old time preachers OF
the Baptist church whose ac-
quaintance I formed in 1853. He
lived about two miles northwest
of the present site Of Tupelo on
a tract of land now owned by our
townsman, O. B. Rogers. He
was pastor of the old Hickory
Grove Baptist church. located as
II have mentioned in writing
about Rev. Mr.. Russell, until that
church was merged into the Tu-
pelo Baptist church, and then he
became pastor of the latter nam-
| ed church and so continued as