NOTE 2
(Chapter VI, page [159])
James Solomon Russell was born of slave parents in Mecklenburg, Va., Dec. 20th, 1827. The name Solomon was bestowed by his mother with the prayer that the little one would inherit the wisdom of his namesake; and the prayer has been answered, for this boy has ripened into one of the wisest of his people. A war-boy, his early years were subjected to the privations of the general poverty of the times. At twelve years his schooling began, the boy paying his way partly by selling butter and eggs, and, for the balance, his labor. Hampton was the earthly goal of the young colored youths of that time, and Russell attained it. From Hampton he entered Major Cooke’s School in Petersburg, and graduated from the theological department, in 1882. Upon being ordered a deacon, he was at once appointed missionary to Brunswick and Mecklenburg counties, with residence at Lawrenceville. Within eight months he brought his wife, Miss Virginia M. Morgan, to make the happy home which has been the haven of the busiest man of his race in the world, with the exception of Dr. Washington. Mrs. Russell, until her death two years ago, was as vital to the life of the School as was her husband. In 1917, the Virginia Seminary conferred the Degree of Doctor of Divinity on Mr. Russell, the first person of color to receive this honor so rarely bestowed upon anyone by that venerable Seminary. Once has Dr. Russell declined election to the Episcopate, and once again to have his name presented. He felt the urge of duty too strongly at Lawrenceville to allow himself to be diverted. For many years he has been Archdeacon of Southern Virginia, and the most conspicuously wise leader among the 400,000 Negroes of the Diocese.
As a deacon, he opened a school in the vestry-room of the little church built by his own efforts. Mrs. Russell and himself were the teachers. The population was 88 per cent illiterate, and correspondingly prejudiced and superstitious. The story of the transformation is a romance of absorbing interest. The teacher was a travelling missionary, without other means than nature had provided for transporting himself over great distances. He pleaded for a horse before the Diocesan Convention. “Let’s give Brother Russell a horse,” was the response, and “Ida” became as well known as Russell himself over two large “black-belt” counties. So Russell and Ida became the missionary team, each producing fruit after its kind. The Archdeacon’s pupils became scouts and recruits in the forward army against sin and ignorance; Ida’s colts increased the transportation facilities of workers.
In the midst of besetting difficulties, the young priest found a steady sympathetic helper in Mrs. Buford whose daughter became the wife of the late Bishop of East Carolina. She had started a hospital for infirm colored people, and now extended her interest to the school.