David Abel Russell

David Abel Russell (1780 – November 24, 1861) was a United States Representative from New York who was active in state and national politics during the early nineteenth century. He was born in Petersburg, New York, in 1780, in what was then a developing region of the state. Little is recorded about his parents or early childhood, but he came of age in the post-Revolutionary period, when New York was rapidly expanding westward and its legal and political institutions were taking shape.

Russell trained as a lawyer and established his legal practice in Salem, New York, in Washington County. His professional life was closely tied to the communities of eastern New York, where he became a prominent local attorney. On February 14, 1805, in Lansingburgh, New York, he married Alida Lansing, the fifth of eight children of Capt. Cornelius Lansing and Hester Van Der Heyden, who had married on March 13, 1773. Alida was a granddaughter of Abraham Jacob Lansing, the founder of Lansingburgh, linking Russell by marriage to one of the region’s leading early families. The couple’s children included David Allen Russell, who later became a Union general in the Civil War and was killed in action, and William A. Russell.

Russell’s public career began at the local level. In 1807 he was appointed a justice of the peace, an office that combined judicial and administrative responsibilities and reflected his growing standing in the community. His legal expertise and political reliability led to further responsibilities during a period of national conflict. From 1813 to 1815, during the War of 1812, he served as district attorney of the Fourth District of New York. In that capacity he oversaw prosecutions and represented the state in legal matters at a time when New York’s northern and eastern frontiers were of strategic importance.

Russell entered state-level politics as a member of the New York State Assembly, first serving in 1816. After more than a decade primarily devoted to his legal practice and local affairs, he returned to the Assembly as an Anti-Jacksonian in the 1830 and 1833 sessions. His alignment with the Anti-Jacksonian cause placed him in opposition to the policies of President Andrew Jackson and associated him with the emerging National Republican and later Whig movements that favored a stronger role for Congress, internal improvements, and a more cautious approach to executive power.

Building on his state legislative experience, Russell was elected to the United States House of Representatives as an Anti-Jacksonian and subsequently affiliated with the Whig Party as the national party system evolved. He represented New York in the 24th, 25th, and 26th Congresses, serving three consecutive terms from March 4, 1835, to March 3, 1841. During these years Congress grappled with issues such as the Bank of the United States, federal funding for internal improvements, and the economic dislocation following the Panic of 1837. As a Whig-aligned member from New York, Russell participated in the legislative debates of this period, reflecting the views of a constituency skeptical of Jacksonian executive authority and supportive of a more active legislative role in economic policy.

After leaving Congress in 1841, Russell returned to Salem, New York, where he resumed private life. Although specific details of his later activities are sparse, his long service in local, state, and national offices had established him as a significant figure in his region’s legal and political circles. He lived in Salem until his death there on November 24, 1861. David Abel Russell was interred in Evergreen Cemetery in Salem, New York, closing a career that spanned from the early republic through the eve of the Civil War and linked a prominent New York family to both state politics and national legislative service.