Milton C. Russell

The late Milton Culbertson Russell, who died at his home in Maysville on the 21st of July, 1902, was long numbered among the representative business men and most highly honored citizens of his
native county, and he contributed in generous measure to the social and material progress and upbuilding of Maysville, in which his varied interests were centered and in which he wielded much influence as a public-spirited citizen and enterprising business man. His life was signally true and earnest in all its relations and left the heritage, of worthy thoughts and worthy deeds. Milton Culbertson Russell was born in Maysville on the 6th of April, 1844. He was a son of Christopher and Mary M. (Maulei Russell, the former of whom was born near the city of Leeds. England, and the latter of whom was born at Westchester, Pennsylvania. Christopher Russell was reared and educated in his native land and was but sixteen years of age at the time of his emigration to America. He landed in the city of New Orleans and thence made his way by boat up the Mississippi anil Ohio rivers to Kentucky. He established his residence in Maysville in the year 1830, and here engaged in the work of his trade, that of a brick mason, in which connection he built many of the prominent buildings in the town and surrounding districts.
In Maysville there are still standing a number of substantial buildings that remain as enduring monuments to his technical skill. He continued to reside in Maysville until his death and was one of the well known and highly esteemed business men of the city for many years. His wife was a girl at the time of her j-arents' removal from Pennsylvania to Cincinnati, Ohio, and there is ample authority for the statement that she was the first woman to be employed as clerk in a mercantile establishment in that city. She passed the closing years of her life in Maysville, and both she and her husband held membership in the Christian church. They became the parents of eight children, all of whom are now deceased. Milton C. Russell attended the private school conducted by Rand & Richardson in Maysville until he had attained the age of fifteen years, when he secured a position as clerk in the wholesale grocery establishment of John Richeson, in whose employ he continued until 1864, when he became a salesman in the wholesale house of !l. A. Richardson, dealer in groceries, liquors and seeds. He eventually made himself virtually an indispensable factor in connection with the business, as he thoroughly familiarized himself with all details thereof and showed marked discrimination and executive ability. In 1881 he purchased an interest in the enterprise, after having been long identified therewith, and in 1886 he became the sole proprietor of the business. In 1890 he admitted his eldest son, J. Barbour Russell, to partnership, and thereafter the enterprise was conducted under the firm name of M. C. Russell & Son until his death. The business is now conducted under the title of the M. C. Russell Company. He gave his splendid energies to the upbuilding of this important commercial enterprise, and the house has long held leadership in its specific field. The annual transactions have now reached large proportions and the house does an exclusively wholesale trade in the handling of groceries, seeds, liquors, etc. A large corps of traveling salesmen is retained and the concern has contributed in large measure to the commercial prestige of Maysville. The building occupied is a substantial structure of brick, is five stories in height and fifty-seven and one-half by eighty-seven feet in lateral dimensions. This building v.as erected by Mr. Russell and is one of the best business blocks in the city. The company also utilizes two large warehouses, in which surplus stock is kept.

Note: The M.C. Russell building is located at the corner of Third and Market Streets. Shown on the left in the above photo