The Russell Family Legacy: Absalom Russell and the Southern Argus

Rutherford B. Hayes was President in 1880 when Hernando County had its first newspaper, The Florida Crescent. Other publications quickly followed. The Brooksville Register, The Brooksville Herald, The Brooksville Star, and the Southern Argus are names from more than 100 years ago. These newspaper ghosts of the past shaped a growing central Florida. They guided us through important times such as the Women’s Suffragette Movement, Prohibition, and two World Wars. Some of the publications lasted a few years, and others remained viable for decades. One Brooksville family named Russell became well known for their involvement in the world of newspapers.

Absalom McKinney Curry Russell was born in Bibb County, Georgia, on August 7, 1851. His father, Willis McKinney Russell, was owner and editor of the Bainbridge Argus, a Georgia weekly published from 1856 to 1871. A teenage Absalom apprenticed at the Albany Herald while finishing high school. He later attended Emory College in Oxford, Georgia.

Absalom married Annie Elizabeth Mounger in 1872. Their union produced seven children, four boys and three girls. Of the boys, three of them took to the newspaper business. Their mother, Annie Mounger, came from a well-known southern family. Her father was a judge. She was also a direct descendant of Brigadier-General Elijah Clarke, a Georgia Revolutionary War hero.

Absalom Russell came to Florida and worked at a newspaper in Apopka City. Eventually, he made his way to Hernando County and Brooksville.
He must have socialized quickly and made quite an impression. As a “newcomer,” Absalom Russell was Mayor of Brooksville in 1882. And he was barely thirty years old! In 1883, he was elected superintendent of schools for Hernando County. During this time our school district was much larger than today. In June 1887, the state legislature separated Hernando County into three parts, creating Citrus to the north, leaving Hernando in the middle, and putting Pasco County to the south. Being a superintendent was a fitting job for Absalom as he always had a keen interest in educational matters. He was our fourth superintendent of schools.

In December 1884, Absalom was appointed Hernando County’s postmaster, serving a five-year term. In 1893, he was superintendent of the school system and served a total of 18 years as superintendent of schools. In 1906, he campaigned by horse and buggy. One of his platforms (although not a popular one at the time) was to have free textbooks for all schoolchildren.

Absalom Russell became an ordained minister. as his father Willis McKinney Russell had done before him. Absalom directed Brooksville’s Methodist Episcopal Sunday School for 30 years and founded the First United Church of Brooksville. He was a member of Brooksville’s Masonic Lodge and also served as City Commissioner.

By 1901, his interests in education and newspapers merged, and Absalom founded the Southern Argus. It began as a monthly publication covering education. (It would later become a weekly). His newsroom consisted of two rooms in his house on S. Main Street, and he printed by way of a small one-page Army press. The Army press dates back to the Civil War. This portable contraption could print 200-300 forms per hour.

Absalom sent most of his early newspapers to Atlanta for printing. In 1906, he was successful enough to afford a power press. Printing was still not an easy job. One person had to turn a crank for hours while another person fed paper into the machine. As the years progressed, some larger and finer Linotype machines were purchased and used, making the Southern Argus one of the best-outfitted weekly papers.

The Southern Argus reached a wide audience. Quotes and paragraphs from it appeared in other publications, such as the Tampa Tribune.
From 1901-1912, Absalom Russell was editor of the Southern Argus. Upon Absalom’s death, his 21-year-old son Edwin took over as editor and was joined by younger brother Clarence, who spent several decades as a part-time editor, printer, and Lino typist.

Other papers of the 1920s were the Brooksville Star (established 1888) and the Brooksville Herald (1926-1930).

In June of 1922, a fire destroyed the Southern Argus publishing plant. Everything was a total loss, and there was little insurance money for rebuilding. In September 1922, Edwin Russell absorbed the Brooksville Star and purchased all its equipment. In 1924 Edwin’s newspaper changed names from the Southern Argus to the Brooksville Argus. (Today, you’ll notice the names used interchangeably regardless of the year).

The Brooksville Argus changed ownership in 1925. It was placed in the hands of Frederick Williamson, formerly of the St. Petersburg Independent and the Boston Globe. Williamson was president of the Chamber of Commerce and editor of the Brooksville Herald. For five years, the Brooksville Herald and the Brooksville Argus were published side by side. Edwin Russell bought back the Brooksville Argus in 1930, and the Herald ceased publication.

In 1932, there was another new paper in town, the Brooksville Sun. For the next twenty-five years, the Brooksville Sun and the Brooksville Argus competed and sometimes complimented each other. Finally, in 1959, they merged to become the Brooksville Sun Journal. The Brooksville Sun Journal became a reader favorite of the 1960s and 1970s, publishing two or even three times per week.

Edwin Russell managed the Brooksville Argus throughout the 1940s and 1950s. He later owned and published the Brooksville Sun Journal. He learned the newspaper business well despite having little formal education. He lived in downtown Brooksville with his wife, Gaye Dora Gray Russell (1896-1993). They had four children —Jewell Gaye, Edwin Wallace, Myra Aleta and Martha Naoma. Young Martha died at age two. It’s interesting to note that Jewell Russell married William G. Underwood in 1941, and Myra Russell married Thomas Leland Varn in 1947.

With these marriages, the Russell family solidified themselves with other prominent Brooksville families.

Newspapers were often a family affair. In 1950, Edwin Russell Sr. (Absalom’s son) was a managing editor, while his own son Edwin Wallace was an assistant editor. Edwin Sr’s wife Gaye pitched in and contributed 35 hours per week as society editor. Gaye Russell somehow found time for other duties as well, such as club activities, Methodist Sunday School, and church stewardship.

Absalom’s son Edwin Russell had many sides. He was not just a newspaper editor. He also worked for Hernando Realty Co, was superintendent of schools, a member of Kiwanis, and an active member in Brooksville’s Methodist Church.

Various Russell family members were part of other Florida newspapers. Absalom’s younger brother Rufus was one of the founders and owners of the Jacksonville Metropolis, an afternoon paper. The Metropolis began in 1887, evolved into the Jacksonville Journal, and later ceased publication in the 1980s.

One of Absalom’s four sons, Absalom McKinney Curry Jr., published the Palmetto News. This publication later sold out to the Bradenton Herald. Absalom had younger brothers like Clarence N. Russell and Walter S. Russell, who worked as newspaper printers and Lino typists.

The 1912 death of patriarch Absalom McKinney Curry Russell shook Brooksville. It was unexpected, although he’d been ill for several weeks. He’d recently been active and campaigning for state superintendent of public instruction that spring. His chances of winning were good.

Absalom’s passing was noted in telegrams and condolences. Florida mourned. His obituary filled nearly an entire column on the front page of the Tampa Daily Times. Absalom Russell died on May 4, 1912, at the age of 60, after developing a blood infection. His illness was attributed to a freak occurrence, a nicked carbuncle on his neck, which then bled and became infected. (A carbuncle is a cluster of raised boils, which can be quite painful).

Absalom’s funeral on May 5, 1912, was held in the Methodist Church downtown. The large building was full to overflowing, and many people had to stand outside. After the service a funeral cortège traveled Main Street, went past the Russell house, and made its way slowly to the Brooksville Cemetery. Absalom Russell was given a Masonic Ritual Service at the graveside. Meanwhile, a large group of Sunday School children followed the procession. A photo was taken as they gathered around Absalom’s flower-draped casket.

If you travel to Brooksville today, you may notice the sign for Russell Street off South Main. It’s located before the railroad tracks and travels in an east-west direction between S. Main Street and S. Brooksville Avenue. The street borders a small park and trailhead for the Good Neighbor Trail. On a good day many people ride their bikes and enjoy the Florida sunshine.

Also on Russell Street are two historic buildings—the 1885 Train Depot Museum and the Countryman One-Room Schoolhouse. The school structure is new yet patterned after the 1852 Lykes one-room schoolhouse of its day. Inside the building are desks, chairs, slates, and blackboards, all set up as if ready for a school day in the 1800s. The schoolhouse and museum are fitting reminders of Brooksville’s highly regarded Absalom McKinney Curry Russell.