Elizabeth Henry Campbell Russell (1749–1825), a sister of

Patrick Henry Patrick Henry (May 29, 1736June 6, 1799) was an American attorney, planter, politician and orator known for declaring to the Second Virginia Convention (1775): " Give me liberty, or give me death!" A Founding Father, he served as the first a ...

and

Annie Henry Christian Annie Christian Henry (1738–May 4, 1790) was a colonial pioneer who documented the journey with her husband William Christian and their children westward to Kentucky. Her brother was Patrick Henry, the governor of Virginia. Her sister, Elizabeth ...

, was born in

Hanover County, Virginia Hanover County is a county in the Commonwealth of Virginia. As of the 2020 census, the population was 109,979. Its county seat is Hanover Courthouse. Hanover County is a part of the Greater Richmond Region. History Located in the wester ...

, to John Henry and Sarah Winston. In 1776 she married Gen. William Campbell (1745–1781), the commander of the American forces that defeated the British at the

Battle of King's Mountain The Battle of Kings Mountain was a military engagement between Patriot and Loyalist militias in South Carolina during the Southern Campaign of the American Revolutionary War, resulting in a decisive victory for the Patriots. The battle took pla ...

in 1780; this was the turning point of the

American Revolution The American Revolution was an ideological and political revolution that occurred in British America between 1765 and 1791. The Americans in the Thirteen Colonies formed independent states that defeated the British in the American Revoluti ...

. Following Campbell's death in 1781, she married Gen. William Russell in 1783. They lived at Aspenvale, near

Seven Mile Ford, Virginia Seven Mile Ford is a census-designated place (CDP) in Smyth County, Virginia, United States. The population as of the 2010 Census was 783. It obtained its current name as a result of being a river crossing seven miles from the Royal Oak Fort i ...

until 1788 when they moved to

Saltville Saltville is a town in Smyth and Washington counties in the U.S. state of Virginia. The population was 2,077 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Kingsport– Bristol (TN)– Bristol (VA) Metropolitan Statistical Area, which is a compon ...

where they carried on the manufacture of salt. The Russells converted to Methodism in 1788. After Gen. Russell's death in 1793, Elizabeth spent the remainder of her life fostering Methodism in southwestern Virginia and northeastern Tennessee.

Francis Asbury Francis Asbury (August 20 or 21, 1745 – March 31, 1816) was one of the first two bishops of the Methodist Episcopal Church in the United States. During his 45 years in the colonies and the newly independent United States, he devoted his life to ...

and various Circuit Riders stopped regularly at her home. She is credited with bringing Methodism to western Virginia and northeastern Tennessee. In 1812 she moved to

Chilhowie, Virginia Chilhowie is a town in Smyth County, Virginia, United States, on the Middle Fork of the Holston River. The population was 1,781 at the 2010 census. The name Chilhowie is said to come from a Cherokee word meaning "valley of many deer". It is also ...

to be nearer the Great Road. She died in March 1825 and is buried in the

Aspenvale Cemetery Aspenvale Cemetery is a historic cemetery located at Seven Mile Ford, Smyth County, Virginia. The cemetery consists of three sections, with the most prominent marked by a "T"-shaped limestone wall and containing the graves of the Preston and Cam ...

in Seven Mile Ford, Virginia. The Elizabeth Cemetery in Saltville, Virginia is named after her.

References

* ''William Russell and his Descendants'' by Anna Russell des Cognets, Lexington, KY, 1884. * ''William Russell: a Revolutionary patriot of the Clinch Valley'' by Mary Katherine Thorp, Master's Thesis, University of Virginia, 1936. * ''Madam Russell Methodist Church'', https://www.flickr.com/photos/bluebird218/3085974050/.
''Madam Russell''
by Gladys Stallard * ''Saltville'' by Jeffrey C. Weaver * "Elizabeth Henry Campbell Russell: Champion of Faith in the Early Republic" by John Kukla, ''Virginia Women: Their Lives and Times--Volume 1'' * ''Taking Heaven by Storm: Methodism and the Rise of Popular Christianity in America'' by John H. Wigger

External links

Find-A-Grave profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Russell, Elizabeth Henry Campbell 1749 births 1825 deaths Methodists from Virginia People from Hanover County, Virginia Virginia colonial people People from Smyth County, Virginia People from Saltville, Virginia People from Chilhowie, Virginia