RUSSELL, Lester (1814-1898) and (first wife) Ordelia (c. 1820-before 1860) and (second wife) Paulina P. (1819-1898)

It is not known what year Lester Russell, a farmer and carpenter from Otsego, Michigan, became a Sabbatarian Adventist, but he submitted an affirmative letter to the Review in 1856, and two references to an “L. Russell” appear dating back to 1853. Numerous receipts in the Review through the years attest to his generosity to various church causes.1EGWLM 886.4

In her diary Ellen White related a visit to Otsego in January 1859, when the Sabbatarians were locked out of the Baptist meetinghouse and their meetings were relocated to “Brother Russell's house.” Russell's strong support of the visions is clear from Gilbert Cranmer's account of his confrontation with Russell in 1858 over the authority of the visions. Cranmer finally responded to Russell with the words “Perhaps Mrs. White's visions are proof to you, but they are not to me.”1EGWLM 886.5

See: Obituary: “Lester Russell,” Review, Jan. 24, 1899, p. 62; obituary: “P. P. Russell,” Review, Aug. 16, 1898, p. 530; 1850 U.S. Federal Census, “Ordelia Russell,” Michigan, Allegan County, Otsego, p. 47; 1860 U.S. Federal Census, “Lester Russell,” Michigan, Allegan County, Otsego, p. 54; 1870 U.S. Federal Census, “Lester Russell,” Michigan, Allegan County, Otsego, p. 4; Lester Russell, “From Bro. Russell,” Review, Dec. 25, 1856, p. 62; search term “Russell” in Words of the Pioneers; Ellen G. White, Ms 5, 1859 (Jan. 9 entry); Richard C. Nickels, A History of the Seventh Day Church of God, vol. 1, p. 36.1EGWLM 887.1