Samuel RUSSELL, MAJ.

                   Was driven from Nauvoo, Ill, with Abigail Thorn Russell and first wife Esther and their three children.  Samuel was a member of the municipal high council appointed to superintend the affairs of the church on the west side of the Mississippi River.  In the spring they set out across the plains arriving in Salt Lake Valley 25 Sep 1847 in the A.O. Smoot hundred and the Major Samuel Russell fifty.  Soon after their arrival Samuel's first wife Esther's faith began to fail as did Samuel's.  Esther's one desire was to get to California before her baby was born.  This wish he granted.  Their fourth child Nettie was born the first night they camped in California.  Abigail chose not to go with them as she could not deny her faith, although she always said Samuel was a good, kind man.  Samuel returned to Salt Lake after the death of his first wife hoping for a reunion with Abigail, but found her married and raising a fine family. He then returned to California where he lived until his death.  (History of Frances Russell Pond Huff by daughter Malta Lorene Huff Smith)   Birth date also reputed to be 1813, but Nauvoo Temple Index card #3231 Book A Page 465 gives it as 1812 with birthplace Erie, Erie, New York rather than Newstead, Erie, New York as alleged.  Further, AFN:1FPW-HD (Ancestral File) gives birth place as Springfield, Ostsego, New York.  Was excommunicated 1848-9.