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Thomas Hastings Russell (September 26, 1825 – February 9, 1887) better known as Judge Thomas Russell was an abolitionist, orator, Judge, Collector of the port of Boston and Resident Minister of Caracas Venezuela. Russell grew up on Leyden Street in Plymouth Massachusetts, the oldest street named by the Pilgrims. Through his father he was a descendant of John Russell a merchant in Scotland who came to this country in 1745. His mothers ancestry traced back to Miles Standish, Richard Warren, John Alden and other Mayflower Pilgrims.

In 1841, at the age of 16, Russell enter Harvard College where he graduated in 1845 with high honors and was an overseer from 1855-1867. He studied at Harvard Law, Whitting and Russell law firm of which his brother William Goodwin Russell was a partner. He was admitted into the Suffolk bar on November 9, 1849.

In 1853, Russell was appointed Judge of the Municipal Court of Boston by Governor George S. Boutwell, where he presided for 6 years. In 1859 he was appointed Associated Justice of the newly formed Superior Court by Governor Nathaniel P. Banks where he proceeded for 8 years. During his judgeship he had a reputation for "decisions hastily made, and many persons thought ill timed" but he was also thought "by the community at large to be an upright magistrate and an impartial dispenser of the law". While serving on the Superior Court he is remembered for putting a stop to robberies and garroting on Boston Commons with his tough sentences.

Russell married Mary Ellen (Nellie) Taylor, daughter of Father Taylor on June 4, 1853. They had three daughters, Ellen Taylor (Nelly) Russell b. January 3, 1854, Mary Ann (Minnie) Russell b. January 20, 1855 d. May 6, 1894, Dora Watson Russell b. August 31, 1861.

He was an Harvard overseer from 1855 - 1867 and was chosen president of the Pilgrim Society in 1879 and held that position until his death. Russell was a trustee for the Massachusetts Nautical School for a number of years, up to 1872. As a trustee and collector of port of Boston he would visit the School Ship, "George M. Bernard" which was moored in the harbor with varies invited guest to talk with the boys on the Sabbath. In April 1871 he argued in favor of the freedom of immigration at the port of Boston to the Committee on state charities of the Massachusetts legislature.

Russell was active in the Anti-Slavery movement of the time. Athough a member of the Free Soilers Party of 1848, Russell declined an invitation to their 1877 reunion. In 1857, when John Brown was traveling in New England to raise funds for his war on slavery, he hid himself from U.S. marshals in the home of Russell. On that trip in April 1857, Brown gave Russell a pike made by Charles Blair. This pike would later be given to the Massachusetts Historical Society in 1910 by Russell's daughter Dora.

In 1867 he resigned as Associate Justice and accepted an appointment by President Andrew Johnson to a position in the United States Custom Service as Collector of the Port of Boston where he worked from the Boston Custom House on State Street.

On April 20, 1874 Russell was appointed Resident Minister of Venezuela.

Member Mt. Lebanon Lodge

Orator at General Grants Funeral

last public address aniverrcery of the pilgrims society w/ james russell lowel

Epitaph

Quotation from john brown

Mary Russell

Plymouth Society

father taylor

thomas russell brother/sisters

john swift

History of judges in mass

sleepy hollow cemetery

mary russell

whiting and russell law firms

emancipation reading

funeral

20 hancock st

john brown

Venezuela

signature

Election rock at Clark's Island

Hingham Massachusetts

temp
Category:Collectors of the Port of Boston