January 5, 1789: ‘Voted that the school money for the past year be divided according to the taxes, and that Nathaniel Hawkins, Samuel Swan, Esq., and Philemon Russell be a committee to make division accordingly. Benjamin Hurd, Jr., & Seth Wyman were added to this committee.’
October 19, 1789. ‘Voted that Coll. Hawkins, Philemon Russell, and Seth Wyman provide masters for the schools outside the Neck.’
Philemon Russell, youngest son of Joseph, and brother of Walter Russell, was born August 1, 1740, and married June 28, 1764, Elizabeth Wyman, who survived her husband many years, and died in 1825. The many references we have made to his name show that he was active in town affairs, and particularly interested in the schools. We shall have occasion to refer to him and his son, Philemon R. Russell, in our next period. He was licensed as a victualler, was employed by the town as a surveyor, and lived in the house which stood on the spot where his grandson, Levi Russell, erected a more modern structure, which is now owned by the city of Somerville. Mr. Russell died in 1797. His will, dated May 27, was probated June 7 of that year.
Our notes on the name of Gardner are exceedingly meagre for a family of so much prominence. It seems to have started in Woburn. Richard Gardner, of that town, and his son Henry were the grandfather and father, respectively, of Henry (1698-1763), who lived at the upper end of Charlestown. His brother was the Rev. John Gardner, of Stowe. By his wife Lucy, daughter of John Fowle, he had five sons, Edward, Samuel, John, Henry, and James.
Edward Gardner, born in Charlestown March, 1739, married Mehitable Blodgett, of Lexington, and died January 23, 1806. It was he whose name figures in these pages. His brother Samuel, born 1741, died at the age of fifty. He, also, as we have attempted to show, rendered valuable service to his section of the town. James, the youngest son of Henry Gardner, according to the family genealogist, graduated from Harvard College, and was long located at Lynn as a physician, where he died in 1831.
