Robert Russell

Robert's Story

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The Story

Robert's Story

researched by Penny Magnusson Hannum

Birth:  January 1st, 1854   |   male   |   in West Elizabeth, Allegheny, Pennsylvania

Death:  ?? ??, 1861   |   7 years old   |   by the Weber River in Utah

Memorial:   Stone 10   |   right column

Robert Russell is the son of James Russell from Scotland and Elizabeth Householder from Pennsylvania.

In 1861, when Robert was 6-year-old, the family joined an “unknown company” with other members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saint to journey west to the Great Salt Lake Valley.

Exhaustive travel conditions, disease, injury, lack of food and medicine, prematurity, and extreme weather were some of the greatest threats to pioneers. Robert died of unspecified causes just as the company reached the Weber River in the Utah Territory. He is buried alongside the Mormon Trail.

submitted by The Daughters of Utah Pioneers and Days of ‘47