Family History

Here is some information I dug up about my family. If you want to do some research of your own, take a look at:

Name Origins


RUSSELL, a surname of England, Scotland
and Ireland, from Old French rousel, a
diminutive of rous - red, used also as a
personal name.

-- Family Names of the Island of Newfoundland, E. R. Seary


"KENNEDY, a surname of Ireland and Scot-
land, (O) Kennedy, O' Cinneide, Ir.
ceann - head, eidigh - ugly, modern
Gaelic Ceannaideach. "The Scottish
Kennedys are by remote origin Irish
Gaels". (MacLysaght, Black)

-- Family Names of the Island of Newfoundland, E. R. Seary

The families on my mothers side are Kennedys and Fitzgeralds, opening up the possibility of naming me "John Fitzgerald Kennedy Russell".

See Also

Clan Kennedy

Aggie by Proxy

In fact, I am named after the Heisman-winning football player John David Crow, now athletic director at Texas A&M University.

From Russia with Love

One branch of my family is from Latvia (which for a while was part of the USSR).

View CIA fact book entry for Latvia.

See what happens when a Latvian tries his hand at architecture.

Pilot episode of a Latvian sitcom.

How the O'Mearas Became the Strapps

In my family are some Strapps, which seems like an unusual name for Ireland.


STRAPP, a surname of Ireland, not re-
corded by MacLysaght. "The forebears
of the Strapp family, whose original name
was O'Meara, are traced to
Fetherd, Co. Tipperary. In the rebellion
of 1798 a member of the family incurred
the wrath of English law, and had to
flee Ireland with a price on his head.
This fugitive went to Germany where he
married and lived under the assumed name
Strasse, which, on his return to Ireland
he changed to Strappe, now written with-
out the final 'e'. During the exodus
from Ireland in the early nineteenth
century two young brothers of the Strapp
family embarked for America on a ship
which was wrecked. The passengers were
rescued by vessels bound for different
ports. One of the Strapp boys was
brought to Newfoundland, the other, to
the United States."

-- Family Names of the Island of Newfoundland, E. R. Seary

Newsprint in the Blood

My family always seems to have had something to do with the newspaper and publishing businesses. I'm following in the family tradition as a technical writer.

The following is a history of a family-owned local Newfoundland paper, written by my uncle D.B. Russell. The Bay Roberts Guardian was a local Newfoundland newspaper started by my grandfather. The paper and the community of Bay Roberts could have served as a model for The Shipping News.
Warning: This section contains graphic descriptions of small-town life. Sensitive readers should excercise discretion :-).


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