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Notes for Mary Emily Russell

Molly Russell, was of Scots-Irish descent. Russell is a common Scots-Irish name, and her father Jonathon Russell, and her mother Mary were born in Virginia according to the1835 Texas census. They were residing in the Sabine district and were listed as Catholic and land owners. Molly (Mary Emily) was listed as being born in Mississippi. Who Jonathon's parents were is still unknown

After the death of her husband,Mary " Mollie" Byrd was recorded in the 1880 census for the Mussel Slough area of Tulare County, now the Armona area of Kings County. Oral history from Sarah said that her mother supported herself by running a boarding house , and she was able to support her underage children adequately this way. Sarah told Edgar and Catherine, her son and Daughter-in-law that on the way back from church one Sunday her mother stepped into a gopher hole/wagon rut?, and either twisted her ankle or broke it and her ribs?, puncturing her lung?. She ended up dying from complications that set in, possibly a blood clot to either her lungs or brain. The 1880 census lists Ellen, Olive, and Emma as living in the home, but all three are also listed elsewhere in the census as living and working in other homes as maids or cooks. Whether any of the other children besides Sarah were placed as bond servants after their mother's death is unknown. Edgar told Dorothy and Linda that Mollie was of Scots- Irish descent.
The Tulare County Marriage records list Mary as remarrying after Isaiah's death in 1877 to a John P. Eshom. The 1878 Probate records for Isaiah also mention this, but she was not residing with him in the 1880 census, nor are there any death record for her under either last name. Interestingly, Sarah made no mention of this remarriage to any of her children.
The witnesses to Mary Byrd's and John P. Eshom's marriage were J.J. Doyle and C. R. Wingfield. J.J. Doyle has made several of the Valley history books for his arrest after the Mussel Slough massacre as a friend of the beleaguered settlers. C. R. Wingfield and his brother A.A. Wingfield are the subject of an apocryphal story wherein they were barely saved from being killed by Indians by a party lead by James D. Savage the leading member of the board of commissioners to the first Tulare County election in 1852. C.R. Wingfield voted at the Grand Island precinct.

1880 Census Mussel Slough Township, Tulare County, California, p 72
Mary, 48, keeping house, born in Mississippi, mother and father born in Virginia
John, Calloway, Olive, Emma, Ellen, Sophia & Rebecca still at home
Alford Russel, 53, born Virginia both parents born in Virginia, living next door, could this be her brother?
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