William Edward Russell
Marfa, Presidio County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Kentucky native William Edward Russell (1839-1890) came to Texas in the 1850s and worked his way to the Big Bend region, where he traded along the Chihuahua Trail and had a store at the Horsehead Crossing of the Pecos River. Russell became a prominent landowner, rancher, merchant, farmer and silver miner in the Presidio County/Northern Mexico region. He acquired property along the Old River Road between Candelaria and Presidio and founded the settlement of Ruidosa, where he constructed irrigation ditches and set up a mill. He held several county political offices, including commissioner and sheriff. He and his wife, María Tomasita Rodriguez, had seven children, four of whom lived past young childhood. (2002)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
William Edward Russell left Kentucky as a young man and worked his way into the Big Bend, trading along the Chihuahua Trail and keeping a store at the Horsehead Crossing of the Pecos. He became one of far West Texas's leading figures—rancher, merchant, farmer, and silver miner—founding the settlement of Ruidosa, where he dug irrigation ditches and ran a mill, and holding county offices including sheriff. With his wife María Tomasita Rodriguez he raised a family straddling the Texas–Mexico borderland he helped develop.
Why it matters
Russell's career embodies the Anglo-Hispanic frontier of the far Southwest, where enterprising newcomers built ranching and mining economies across a sparsely settled desert region.
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Related people
- · William Edward Russell
- · María Tomasita Rodriguez
Themes & tags
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