GRANDMA RUSSELL (NELLIE DELL JAMES)

Grandma Russell was born on December 25, 1884, in South Woodbury, Ohio, to Edward Montalban James and Olive Elizabeth Smith James.

GRANDMA RUSSELL’S HANDPRINT

BABY NELLIE AND HER BROTHER LOCKWORTH
This was the only baby picture I could find of grandma. Don’t have a date or age.

GRANDMA AND BROTHER LOCKWORTH

No date or age. Note that grandma is standing on something. She was always tiny and Lockworth was big. He was two years older than grandma. Grandma Hazel wrote on back of picture – Mother says her dress was green, silky, gabardine like, with appliqué. She really liked it. Jean’s note: Grandma used to tell me about being so small and fast. She could do everything so much faster than uncle (that is what I always called Lockworth). Climbing trees, going over fences, running races, etc. She said he would always get so mad at her.

Her parents lived and farmed at South Woodbury.
Link to a very nice South Woodbury site.

Her grandparents (Ludwell Wheeler James and Martha Ann Joy James) lived east of Cardington. Her Grandma James fell and broke her hip. Her father then sold the farm at South Woodbury and moved in with her Grandma and Grandpa James. Picture of house below. Grandma was about 8 or 9 years old when they moved. That would make it about 1893.

HOUSE ON ROUTE 529

Grandma Hazel wrote on back of this picture. Nellie Dell James, about 16, with kittens Johnny and Tiger, Eugene Lockworth James, about 18. Horse in front – Morg, back Fred. This house is on State Route 529 east of Cardington where I was born. (jdw – House is still there.)

ROCKER

Notice “grandma’s (Olive Elizabeth’s) rocker” on porch, far left. This is a closer picture of the rocker. It has something thrown over the back of it. In 1971, Grandma Hazel added this on. We still have it (the rocker). This is the one grandpa brought, with the “little rocker” by horseback to South Woodbury from Cardington, Ohio when grandma was a little girl. jdw note: I now have these rockers. In Grandpa Russell’s writings about raccoons, there is a picture of me in the “little rocker”.

Nellie Dell James married Lorinzo Sanford Russell on May 27, 1903, at the Methodist Church in Cardington, Ohio.

NELLIE DELL JAMES AND LORINZO SANDFORD (LENNIE) RUSSELL WEDDING PICTURE – MAY 17, 1903

In family bible clipping: Marriage Licenses.

Lennie Sanford Russell and Nellie Dell James

Mr. Lennie Sanford Russell and Miss Nellie Dell James, two popular young people residing southeast of Cardington, were united in marriage at the M. E. parsonage by Rev. J. W. Dowds Wednesday evening. They will reside with the bride's parents, Mr. and Mrs. Mont James, a short distance east of Cardington.

Grandma and Grandpa Russell had one daughter, Hazel Elizabeth. Below is a picture of the house where they lived about 1915 or 1916.

GRANDMA AND GRANDPA’S HOUSE AT 110 E. WALNUT STREET IN CARDINGTON, OHIO

In the picture are Grandma Russell’s mother, Olive Elizabeth Smith James, my mother, Hazel (about 7 or 8 years old) Grandma Russell and Grandpa Russell. This house is across the street from the Methodist Church. I can barely remember being in this house but do remember taking a nap there. When I was supposed to be going to sleep, I was playing with a bobby pin from my hair instead and I swallowed it! I was old enough to tell them what I had done. I also remember the wallpaper in that bedroom. It was like a paisley print and I didn’t like it.

I can’t remember when grandpa and grandma moved from this house but I know they lived there in 1930 because I was born there. They bought a big house on East Main Street. I had to be pretty young. I loved this big house. It had three big porches, which I loved.

EAST MAIN STREET HOUSE IN CARDINGTON

There was a porch across the front of the house. Sometimes, grandma and I would sit out there in the swing in the evenings. We would play that every car from one direction was hers and from the other was mine. East Main Street was Route 42, so there was quite a bit of traffic. During WWII, we would watch convoys going through town. We always watched the Decoration (Memorial) Day parade from there.

There was a living room off of the front porch. This room wasn’t used much. Always used when there was company. Grandpa’s gun cabinet was in there. He had quite a gun collection. There was a fireplace with a clock on the mantle. There was a bobcat (I am pretty sure that is what it was) skin rug on the floor. Probably about 3 X 4 feet. The head was on it with the mouth open. I would lay on it and stick my fingers in its mouth. I don’t know, but I think probably grandpa got this bobcat when he was hunting. He did a lot of hunting.

Mother’s piano was in there. Sometimes mother would play and we would all sing and grandpa would do his “dance”. The staircase going upstairs was in that room. I did a lot of sliding on that banister. There was a landing most of the way up and then a few more steps going up the rest of the way. The landing was a place where I played a lot. I would sing and put on “shows” from there.

Off of the living room, through an archway, was another living room. The second porch was off of this room. I played a lot on this porch with my dolls. In this room was grandma’s roll top desk. Mother played on and under it when she was young and then I did and then my oldest son Alan. There was a clock on it too. Her candlestick telephone was on the corner of it. Almost every morning, she would call either Koon’s or Smiley’s grocery and place an order for groceries she wanted that day. Later that morning, they would deliver them.

Sometimes, if she forgot something, I would get to go to Smiley’s to get it for her. I really thought I was big! Also in that room was the stove. She would have to clean the ashes out everyday and bring in coal. What a job! In the summer the stove would be taken down and put away. In later years, they got a floor furnace which was put in that room.

There was a little corner close to the stove and a daybed just fit in there. Grandpa would take naps there everyday after his lunch. I took a lot of naps there too. Next to the daybed were grandpa’s stand and chair and footstool. There was a radio on the stand. We heard the news about Pearl Harbor on that radio.

There was always a candy dish on that stand and, of course, I could have some. In the winter evenings, we would play games here. Dominoes, Chinese Checkers, Old Maid, Rook, etc. Sometimes, grandma would crochet or knit. As I got older, she taught me how to crochet and knit. My first big thing to knit was a child’s sweater. It was during the war and I made it for the Red Cross. Sometimes, her friend from up the street would come in the evenings and they would crochet together or grandma and I would walk to her house.

Off to one side of this room, through an archway, was the dining room. They only ate in there if there was a family gathering or if there was company. All the good dishes came out then. Grandma had two canaries which were in this room. One at each window in the room. They sang a lot, especially first thing in the mornings.

Off to the other side of this living room was another long room. Grandpa and Grandma used this as their bedroom. They had a feather bed which I loved. It was quite a job for grandma though. Each day she would have to fluff it up and make it. Her treadle sewing machine was in this room. She sewed a lot. Made me a lot of clothes and clothes for my dolls. She would loosen the belt on the sewing machine so that I could play with it. As I got older she taught me a lot about sewing. There was a closet clear across the end of the room. I loved it when she would clean it out. A lot of interesting things. Furs and hoops for hoop skirts that I could play with.

The next room off of the living room was the kitchen. There was a gas range and a gas lamp on the wall beside it. There was a table and chairs and most meals were eaten there. There was an icebox. Everyday, the water from the ice melting had to be emptied. Everyday, the iceman came and put more ice in it. He would always chip off some ice for me. The third porch was off of the kitchen.

GRANDMA RUSSELL ON SIDE PORCH – Probably 1951

On the other side of the kitchen was a bathroom and a breakfast nook. Breakfast was almost always eaten in the breakfast nook. The table could be folded up into the wall but it was down most of the time. Another place I really liked!

Grandma did a lot of cooking and baking and taught me a lot. She taught me how to break eggs. When she made cookies, there was always a lump of brown sugar for me and she would make sure that at least one lump turned up in the cookies when they were baked. She made the best potato doughnuts and pies. She made her own schmier kase (cottage cheese). Did a lot of canning and made jams and jellies.

I can remember when we were going to have a chicken. She would put water on to boil and then take it to the back yard. She would then take the chicken and wring its neck and then take a hatchet and chop off its head. Then she would dip it in the boiling water and pull off all the feathers. At Christmas time, grandma, mother and I would make all kinds of candies and cookies. Grandma had huge trays and they would be filled with “goodies”.

Off of the kitchen, to the back, was a room used for the laundry. There was a hot plate where grandma had to heat water to wash clothes. There was a pump and sink and the water there came from cisterns. I liked to help her wash clothes. I especially liked mixing up the starch with my fingers for her. Bluing had to be mixed up too.

As I got a little older, she would occasionally let me run the clothes through the wringer. I got many warnings about not getting my fingers in the wringer! Clothes had to be hung outside to dry unless the weather was too bad and then they were hung in this room. Access to the basement (which was small) was from this room. Part of the floor was the door to the basement and covered the stairs. You had to pull a rope with a pulley to open the door.

The basement was mostly used to store all the canned goods. There was a door to the back yard from the laundry room and also one going into the garage. Outside the door to the back yard was a patch of four-leaf-clovers. We could always find them there.

Grandma always tried to get all her housework done in the morning. The afternoon was time to rest, crochet and play. We had a lot of tea parties.

The four-car garage was attached to the house. They had a Ford (I don’t know whether it was a Model A or T) and a Willys-Knight. I know they had to crank the Ford to start it. I liked to play in the Willys-Knight. I think it was because it had vases in the back.

GRANDMA AND GRANDPA RUSSELL WITH WILLYS-KNIGHT – No date

Sometimes, grandpa would bring grandma to our house for the afternoon and pick her up at supper time. When they left, I usually got to ride on the running board for a short distance. What fun! A lot of evenings or on the weekends, grandpa would have to go to the country to talk business with people. Grandma and I almost always went with him. Sometimes on Sunday we would just go for a drive in the country. In the spring, we would always go mushroom hunting. Grandpa knew the places to go. They are so good!

Upstairs in the house, there were two bedrooms to the front of the house. There was a big room over the second living room downstairs. There was a long room over grandma and grandpa’s bedroom with a closet across the end of it. Over the dining and bathrooms was another big room. In later years, they made this room into a kitchen and bath and rented the upstairs. I liked playing upstairs.

They lived here until sometime in the 50’s when the house was sold. Grandpa Herbert built them a small house next to his on Center Street. Grandpa Herbert built the house in sections in one of the buildings at the haybarn through the winter and then moved the sections and put the house up in one nice day. People all over Cardington were shocked. A house up in one day!

After Grandpa Russell died, grandma lived by herself for just a short time. Mother and daddy sold their home and moved in with grandma. I don’t remember the year but she finally had to be put in a nursing home. The last time I saw her was there. She didn’t know me but she knew Web and was so glad to see him. She really loved him. I was happy that she knew him. She died in the hospital on March 26th, 1974. She was 89 years old. She is buried in Glendale Cemetery in Cardington.

BROTHER AND SISTER – LOCKWORTH JAMES AND NELLIE JAMES RUSSELL – 1917

NELLIE DELL RUSSELL
No date on this picture.

NELLIE AND LENNIE RUSSELL
Their 25th wedding anniversary. May 27, 1928

GRANDMA RUSSELL AND JEAN CAMPBELL WINCHELL – DECEMBER 1964

Grandma wearing one of the boy’s cowboy hat. She was always fun!!

GRANDMA AND GRANDPA RUSSELL AND GREAT-GRANDSON JOHN WINCHELL – 1965

GRANDMA RUSSELL

This was taken on Christmas Day 1972. It would have been grandma’s 88th birthday. I think this is one of the last pictures of her.

Grandma Russell’s obituary.

Mrs. Nellie Russell Dies Tuesday Night

Mrs. Nellie Dell Russell, 89, of 205 Center Street, Cardington, died Tuesday at 3 p.m. in Morrow County Hospital after several years of failing health.

A lifelong resident of the Cardington community, she was born in Lincoln Township, the daughter of Edward M. and Olive E. Smith James.

Her marriage to Lennie S. Russell was solemnized in the Methodist parsonage at Cardington May 27, 1903. His death occurred February 2, 1966.

Mrs. Russell was a member of the First United Methodist Church in Cardington.

She leaves one daughter, Mrs. Herbert Campbell, of the Center Street address; one granddaughter, Mrs. Wilbur (Jean) Winchell, of Newark, and five great-grandchildren.

Two brothers preceded her in death, E. Lockworth James, and one brother in infancy.

Friends may call at the Curl Funeral Home in Cardington after noon Thursday. Funeral services will be held at the funeral home Friday at 11 a.m. with Rev. Edward Beck officiating. Burial will be in Glendale Cemetery.

Memorials may be sent to the Morrow County Crippled Children’s Society.