FRISBEY, Russell Mallory
Russell Mallory FRISBEY, residing on
section 16, Steuben township,
Marshall
county, has been a resident of the county since 1843, a period
of fifty-three years. He is well known and universally respected
by all, a man who has gone in and out among the people, winning
their confidence and esteem, and whose friends are many and
enemies none. He was born in Middletown, Rutland county,
Vermont, March 15, 1812, and comes of good old Revolutionary
stock, his grandfather, James FRISBEY, who prior to the
Revolution settled in Vermont, serving faithfully in that
struggle that secured the independence of the American colonies.
His father, Samuel FRISBEY, was also a patriot and served in the
second war with Great Britain,
his service being on Lake Champlain.
Samuel FRISBEY married Hannah MALLORY, a daughter of Silas
MALLORY, who also served in the Revolutionary war, and who drew
a pension from the government for such services. Our subject has
a clear recollection of his grandfather MALLORY, who died at the
age of about eighty year. His grandmother subsequently married
when she was past eighty years old.
The boyhood and youth of our subject were
spent in his native county. His father dying when he was but
twelve years old, he was compelled to shift for himself at a
very tender age, and rapidly developed the qualities incident to
manhood. His marriage with Miss Rosalinda T. JOHNSON occurred
before he was twenty years of age. She was also a native of
Rutland county, Vermont, and was a woman of superior native
ability. About one year afterward they removed to
New York, and six months later to
Summit county, Ohio, where they spent
eight years, Mr. FRISBEY working for others at odd jobs, but
mainly in a sawmill.
Not content with their Ohio home, and believing that in
Illinois
they would find a place better suited to their condition, and
with better opportunities for rearing their family and giving
them a chance in life, in 1843 they came to
Marshall
county. The trip was made by lake to
Chicago, where Mr. FRISBEY hired teams to
continue their journey. Loton FRISBEY, a brother, some seven
years previously, had come to Marshall county and had located northwest of
Henry where he now lives. It was by his advice that Russell came
to Marshall county. After
residing here about one year he purchased forty acres of school
land on section 16, Steuben township, for which he paid one
hundred dollars in trade. Here he has now resided fifty-three
years, and in the many changes that have taken place, developing
this country from an almost unbroken wilderness, he has borne an
honorable part. To his original tract he has added eighty acres,
making his home farm consist of one hundred and twenty acres,
all of which is well and substantially improved. In addition to
this, however, he owns nearly three hundred acres on section 14,
much of it underlaid with a fine vein of coal. Ten coal banks
are now in operation in this vicinity, and a large quantity of
the “black diamonds” are annually taken out, much of which is
shipped to other points. In the development of the coal
interests of this locality, Mr. FRISBEY has always been greatly
interested, and was one of the original stockholders in the
Sparland Coal Company.
Mrs. And Mrs. FRISBEY are the parents of
three children – Edwin, now lives in Sparland; Lewis, died at
the age of fourteen years; Orrin, served three years in the war
for the Union as a member of the eighty-sixth Illinois volunteer
infantry, and now receives a pension for disabilities incurred
in the service. He married Mrs. Mary STEPHENSON in 1866, and
they have three children – William S., who was engaged with
George A. OGLE, a leading map publisher of Chicago, Illinois,
was drowned July 14, 1896; Russell Mallory, in a drug store in
Blue Island, Illinois, and Clara L., now attending the Sparland
high school.
Russell M. and Rosalinda T. MALLORY pursued
the journey of life together a period of fifty years. Their
married life was a particularly happy one, and the love given
each other while yet in their teens was never broken, but rather
increased as the years went by. Mrs. FRISBEY was called to her
long home in March, 1887, leaving behind a tender and loving
memory cherished by husband, children and friends alike.
In politics, Mr. FRISBEY is a stanch
republican, and has voted that ticket since the organization of
the party. In its principles he ahs an abiding faith, believing
them best for the interests of the whole country.
Extracted April 2011 by Norma Hass from
The Biographical Record of Bureau, Marshall and Putnam Counties, Illinois,
1896.
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