John Russell was born near
Derry,
Ireland, and immigrated to the United States with his family in 1830. His father, also named John Russell, was a farmer and settled in
Tyler County, Virginia (now
West Virginia). At 16, Russell left for
Wheeling, where he clerked at a hardware store for five years. he purchased the land of the former Amanda Furnace and, in 1869, platted out a new city named "Riverview" along the expected route of a new
Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad spur between
Huntington, West Virginia, and
Cincinnati, Ohio. This town was renamed "
Russell" in his honor in 1873. He subsequently served as president of the
Catlettsburg National Bank, the Means & Russell Iron Co. in Russell, the St. Clair Coke Works (in
Fayette County, West Virginia), and the
Norton Iron Works in Ashland. John Russell married Anna Mead in 1856 and sired five children: Mollie, Helen Virginia, John III, Emma Clancy, and Charles. ==References==