JOSEPH L. RUSSELL, DECEASED. THE EDITOR (Pastor Charles Taze Russell) has lost his oldest, tried and true friend--his Father according to the flesh, his Brother according to the spirit; well known to quite a number of our readers. He was in his 84th year, and the burdens and disabilities of life under present conditions had gradually come to outweigh its pleasures, so that he was glad to enter into rest;--the rest that remains for the people of God. The Editor's mother, a noble Christian woman, whose instructions and example are still fresh to his memory and will never be forgotten, died when he was but nine years old; and from that time his father filled nobly the office of both parents. His care, his admonitions, his help into paths of righteousness will never be forgotten. But it was after we had come under the first rays of "present truth" that his fellowship became most precious. He was one of the first to accept the harvest message as set forth in ZION'S WATCH TOWER, MILLENNIAL DAWN, etc. Altho not gifted as a teacher of the good tidings, either by voice or pen, he manifested his zeal for the Lord and his cause in various ways--he loaned and gave away thousands of tracts and DAWNS, besides contributing financially for their publication. He was one of the founders of the Tract Society; voluntarily giving $1,000 in the first subscription at its organization,--a large donation for his means. His greatest helpfulness however was in his personal encouragement of the Editor; in every visit and in every letter, he sought to "hold up our hands." This was specially noticeable at such times as the Lord permitted the great Adversary to assault the work, and the Editor as one of its representatives. . . . . . . . .Our last conversation before he became unconscious was respecting our blessed hope of eternal life through Christ, our dear Redeemer, and the promised future glory in which the Apostle intimates there will be different degrees of brilliancy, as "one star differeth from another star in glory." (1 Cor. 15:41.) Humble minded, unostentatious and neither vain nor boastful, he declared that he did not expect a great or prominent position in the Lord's Kingdom, but that he had full confidence nevertheless--not in his own perfection but in the Lord's perfection and sacrifice and love and grace,--and was confident therefore that a place was reserved for him, and he was satisfied to have the matter thus. - January 1, 1898 Zion's Watch Tower

Children of Joseph Lytle Russell: b. 1813, d. 1897, and Ann Eliza (Birney) Russell: b. 1825, d. 1861, both are buried in the family plot in Allegheny Cemetery. Thomas B. Russell: b. 1850, d. 1855, buried in the family plot, in Allegheny Cemetery. Charles Taze Russell: b. 1852, d. 1916 (aboard train near Pampa, Texas), buried in Rosemont United Cemetery in Pittsburgh. Margaret M. (Russell) Land: b. 1854, d. 1934. Lucinda H. Russell: b. 1857, d. 1858, buried in the family plot, in Allegheny Cemetery. Joseph Lytle Russell, jr.: b. 1859, d. 1860, buried in the family plot, in Allegheny Cemetery.

Child of Joseph Lytle Russell and Emma H. (Ackley) Russell: Mabel R. (Russell) Packard: b. 1881, Allegheny; d. 1961, Saint Petersburg, Florida, buried in Royal Palm South Cemetery. The family plot also includes her Mother Emma H. (Ackley) Russell (1855 - 1929), her aunt Maria F. (Ackley) Russell (1850 - 1938), and her husband Richard P. Packard (1870 - 1946).