TELEPHONE INTERVIEW — TAPE #40, SIDE #1
Q: Mark Russell Bell
D: Thaddeus Duane Russell (my relative back East)
F: Dorothy Forsyth (my cousin in Pennsylvania)
R: Darlene Y. Russell (my cousin in Kentucky)
Q: (speaking into tape recorder) So my conversation with the Andersens went on after that last side came to an end and it turns out that not only does Steven have a Bell in his family tree, he also has a Russell in his family tree so it turns out we’re cousins. (“YYYEEEAAAIII”) And I did go ahead and tell him I was Mabus and the Son of Man (“UH-HUH”) as in the Nostradamus prophecies. Because they already know about the House of Russell and all that. (“SO I” “YOU KNOW”) I hope that didn’t freak them out too much. (“YEAH” “BUT”) It’s important for them to know that because it will make them that much more dedicated in doing their job in terms of tracing my family roots and, especially, seeing if I’m Jewish.
(TRANSCRIBER’S NOTE: THE FOLLOWING INTERVIEW IS WITH THADDEUS DUANE RUSSELL. LIKE MOST OF MY TELEPHONE INTERVIEWS, ATTRIBUTED RADIO INTERFERENCE IN JAPANESE CAN BE HEARD IN THE BACKGROUND DURING THIS CONVERSATION.)
Q: Hello?
D: Speaking.
Q: Is Thaddeus there?
D: Yes, this is him.
Q: Oh hi, Thaddeus, this is Mark Russell. I guess I’m a cousin.
D: Oh, hello, Mark. How are you doing?
Q: My family historian made contact with you I believe. She just left here. She gave me the recent information. (“GO”) She said to go ahead and give you a call.
D: Sure. Sure.
Q: Anyway —
D: I’m sorry that I really — I mean, of course, like anybody, I have some interest in family tree and things like that but I’m afraid that I just never pursued it. (“NO LOVE”)
Q: Do you know who in our family was the one who put together the family tree?
D: No.
Q: I’ve been in touch with Grandpa’s wife but (“UH BUT” “SHE”) she thought you had it.
D: No.
Q: Right.
D: You were in touch with my mother Helen Russell?
Q: Right. Right. By the way, how old are you?
D: How old am I? I’m forty-five.
Q: Oh, okay.
D: I’m surprised she would have told you. (“BELOVED OF GOD”) She knows better than that.
Q: Well, maybe she just made a mistake. (“YEAH”) I had a Christmas card recently from Allen Russell. Of course, his wife mysteriously dropped dead all of a sudden. I don’t know what that’s all about.
D: Yeah, well she’s been sick for a number of years.
Q: Do you know what was — (“EACH”) you know, I had never heard from him before. It was unusual getting this card out of nowhere but I did send him a very nice card you’ll be glad to hear. It’s always good to be connected to your family at a time when you lose a loved one.
D: Yeah. (“SO UM”)
Q: Do you have any information at all like a family tree?
D: No, the only focus that I can think of —
Q: I’d be glad to share with you the information too, by the way, because I’m putting together some more information.
D: Oh, that’d be nice. I certainly would be interested. The only folks that I can think of would be Dorothy Forsyth and that’s probably a new name to you. (“UM BUT”) She was Belle Russell’s daughter, Belle being my father’s sister. I just think that of anybody —
Q: Do you know her phone number or address or anything?
D: Let’s see if I’ve got that.
Q: Okay. Thank you. (“NO”) She’s another one where we did exchange Christmas cards and a letter once a year but we haven’t really been in (“SON”) touch here.
Q: Story of my life (“KEN”) with my whole family. (“YEAH”)
D: Here we go. George and Dorothy Forsyth. I have the address here.
Q: Oh great.
D: (gives address) (“WELL I DID”)
Q: So that’s George (“AT LARGE”) and Dorothy Forsyth. Okay, great. (“WOODY”) And so just tell her that you’re —
Q: I’ll check with information first.
D: — pursuing all your leads and she was the only idea that I had about somebody who might have some information on family trees.
Q: Right. And let’s see. Also, (“AND — LIKE — YOU”) what do you think of my father, Paul? (“DI[D]”) Are you close — you’re not close to him, are you?
D: Your father Paul? Well, you know, (“DUMP”) I’ve had some limited contact with my half-brothers and sisters.
Q: I also know Uncle Bob.
D: Except for Paul, I don’t think I’ve ever had any contact. (“HAD WE MET”) I’ve seen Allen a few times and Mary Virginia — (to ?) I’m on the phone — and Bob.
Q: Well, what’s unusual in my case is that one of the reasons why I’m doing this family research work is because on my family tree that Uncle Bob sent me under Paul’s name there were three children numbered. (“SO”) Once there’s a name they assign a number. Well, it’s all very mysterious but apparently my mom or my dad (“OR BO[TH]”) — know that he, from a previous (“HAD A”) marriage had a child and he hasn’t told me who this (“NO”) child is.
D: Oh boy.
Q: So I’m (“I”) writing a book. I was almost even thinking that maybe it might have been you. (“YOU KNOW” “LIKE SOME”) You know — something strange like maybe he (“HE”) gave up his first son to Grandpa or something (“NO”) because of the strange —
D: (small laugh)
Q: — discrepancy in the ages.
D: No no no no.
Q: No, I know. I’m just saying — (“IT”)
D: It’s just that —
Q: — when you don’t know, you have to ponder these various possibilities. (“RIGHT”)
D: Your grandfather and my father are the — he just has two complete and wholly separate families. I was born when he was fifty years old.
Q: Right. (“THAT WAS”) Yeah. (“NO AND”)
D: He was nineteen when he married your father’s mother. So —
Q: And apparently he abandoned the family.
D: Pardon me?
Q: Apparently he had abandoned his first family.
D: Well, I don’t know what happened but he was in Washington and your father’s mother took your father and all these children to California.
Q: Right.
D: So I don’t know what happened.
Q: Well, it’s all very mysterious so I’m trying to put some of it together. (“IT”) In one letter, by the way, he said you worked for ‘Ma Bell’ in New York.
D: No, I work for the Federal Reserve.
Q: Federal Reserve.
D: In Manhattan. (“BUT”)
Q: Do you mean the bank?
D: Yeah. The Federal Reserve Bank in New York. Not for the telephone company. (“WH[Y]”)
Q: Why did he say that? What does that mean — Ma Bell?
D: Ma Bell is the shorthand for American Telephone and Telegraph.
Q: Right. (“WORKED FOR AND HE”) Well — you used to? (“NO”)
D: Never did.
Q: Oh, I see. I wonder why he said that. This was about seven or eight years ago. (“BELL”)
D: I would guess then that you’re getting me confused with something else because seven or eight years ago —
Q: Well, I’m not. My father in his letter was.
D: — my father — your grandfather was quite clear on where I worked. Now he may ask me where I work but —
Q: No, I mean Paul Russell Jr. in one of his letters to me said that. Anyway, I don’t know. He seems to have always been obsessed over you for some reason and I’ve never really quite understood it.
D: Paul Russell, your father?
Q: Yeah.
D: (small laugh) Well, —
Q: Isn’t that weird? (“I”) He’s never met you or —
D: I don’t think we’ve ever met. (“YOU KNOW”)
Q: Isn’t that strange?
D: But he was the oldest — (“YOU KNOW I”)
Q: You know what? Could you do me a favor and send me a picture of you? I just want to see if there’s any family resemblance between us.
D: Do you really need one, Mark?
Q: Well, (“EH”) I have a new book coming out so (“I’M G[OING]”) I think I’m going to become a very well-known celebrity.
D: Oh yeah? What’s your field, Mark? What are you going to be a celebrity in?
Q: Religion. Well, you know, all those Methodist people in our family.
D: (small laugh) Yes, yes, religion has always been there.
Q: And your name is Thaddeus. (“WITH”) D — E — U — S.
D: Yeah. D — E — U — S. (“WELL YOU SEE”)
Q: Well, my pseudonym is Mark Russell Bell. (“ALRIGHT”) And, of course, my (“YOU KNOW”) — I’m sort of encouraging my friends now to call me Mabus for short because that’s sort of an anagram for (“IN”) Mark Russell Bell. (“OKAY”) So, (“AHEH”) anyway, it’s a quite interesting book. It (“EN — EN”) encompasses angels and poltergeists and spirits.
D: Uh-huh. (“EH HAVE”)
Q: Has Bob told you anything about this?
D: No, no, he hasn’t although I did hear from my mother that he had sent a video and (“SOMETHING” “WA[S]”) was selling a — was it a food or —
Q: Oh, you mean that Russian secret?
D: Yeah.
Q: The Russian health — (“HE KNOWS”) these Russian (“MMM”) diet secrets which enabled the U.S.S.R. athletes to win at the Olympics for many, many years somehow came to him for him (“TO”) to do public relations for. (“YEAH”) So that’s an interesting bit of business there.
D: Well, my mother told me that my dad enjoyed seeing him on the video.
Q: Oh, is he on the video? I never watched it. I figure I’m in perfect health so I don’t really need to worry about dietary additions or whatever. (“BUD”)
(TRANSCRIBER’S NOTE: THIS WAS TRANSCRIBED ON MAY 30TH, SEVERAL WEEKS AFTER I CONSULTED WITH NATURAL HEALTH CONSULTANT SALLY KRAVICH. FOLLOWING MICROCASSETTES CHRONICLE MY BECOMING A VEGETARIAN. IT IS NOW INCONCEIVABLE FOR ME TO CONSIDER EATING BEEF OR CHICKEN. I ONLY SHOP AT HEALTH FOOD STORES AND I HAVE REPLACED MY MICROWAVE OVEN WITH A STEAMER WITH TERRIFIC RESULTS. I WAS ALSO TAKING CHLOROPHYLL AND LACTOBACILLUS ACIDOPHILUS CAPSULES FOR SEVERAL MONTHS. I AM NO LONGER EATING SEAFOOD AND TRYING TO AVOID EATING EGGS AS THIS INTERNET EDITION IS PUBLISHED.)
D: How old are you, Mark?
Q: I’m thirty-nine.
S: Thirty-nine.
Q: Yeah, (“YOU KNOW I HAD”) I had a few burning bushes last year so I guess it’s sort of been my call (“TO YOU KNOW”) to do this book. So — (“ANY”)
D: I hope it sells lots of copies for you.
Q: Would you mind (“S[ENDING]”) sending me a family photo or something for my book? I’ll give you my address.
D: For your book, you say? Why would you need it for your book, Mark?
Q: Because it encompasses my family tree. I worked at Paramount Pictures for many years.
D: Oh really? (“SO UM”)
Q: You know, I’m sort of like a carpenter in the Hollywood dream factory. I was a staff writer in the marketing department (“SO I WAS SORT OF” “ON”) on the lower ranks of the studio pecking order. (“BUT UM”) It was very interesting. (“I GOT TO”) I really worked with everyone in Hollywood at some point or other or in some capacity — like doing their bios or a news release.
D: Yeah, I’m sure that working for Paramount must have been fascinating.
Q: In fact, they want me to come back but I’m just (“TOO”) so busy on my book I really don’t have time. (“BUT”) It’s been a lot of fun.
D: Um-huh.
Q: And that’s what life is all about — having fun. (“TEN”) Fun and games and all that. (“TOO NICE”)
D: Ooookay, Mark. (“MARK”)
Q: Okay. (I give my address on Clinton Street) I moved there before he was elected.
D: Okay, that’s good. Well, I’ll see what I can find.
Q: I live right here across from the Angelus Temple.
D: Oh yeah?
Q: Do you like Nostradamus?
D: Yes. What about Nostradamus?
Q: You might look me up there.
D: Okay.
Q: Mabus. M — A — B — U — S.
D: Alright.
Q: Okay, thank you.
D: Good luck, Mark.
Q: Okay, bye.
D: Good night.
(TRANSCRIBER’S NOTE: THE FOLLOWING INTERVIEW IS WITH DOROTHY FORSYTH.)
F: Hello?
Q: Hello, Dorothy? You don’t know me but Thaddeus Russell referred me to call you. I guess I’m a cousin of yours. My name is Mark Russell and I live in Los Angeles. I’m doing some research on my family tree. (“HHMM”) And I was wondering do you have some of that information? (“HE’S GAY”) I have it piecemeal.
F: Which side of the Russells are you from?
Q: I’m Paul Russell’s son —
F: Mark?
Q: Correct.
F: He didn’t have any sons named Mark.
Q: No — Paul Russell Jr.
F: I think you must be connected to a different side of the family because we have a Paul Ray Russell and —
Q: Right. Right.
F: — he had three sons and three daughters by a first marriage.
Q: Correct. (“THAT’S”) That’s my grandfather.
F: Your grandfather?
Q: Yeah, he lives in Florida.
F: And (“YEAH”) your father was — (“PAUL”)
Q: Paul Ray Russell, Jr.
F: Oh, okay, I — (“SOR[T]”)
Q: He was sort of the black sheep of the family.
F: And, okay, your grandmother’s name then was Mary.
Q: Right. (“OF” “THE”) His first wife.
F: Okay. And there was a Virginia. Mary Virginia.
Q: I think so. It’s a little hazy. I just got some of that information today actually from my family history consultant and, in fact, she mentioned you. She found you too.
F: Okay, where do you live and where are you calling from?
Q: Los Angeles.
F: The one person in the family who really keeps track of all the genealogy lives down in Kentucky.
Q: Oh, okay.
F: Her name is Darlene. And she has put a lot of the family history on computer and I haven’t received any from her lately because she said there was less doing this year (“I”) and I guess she was busy moving to a new place.
Q: Is that Darlene Russell?
F: Do you have her address?
Q: No. If you have an address or phone number I’ll be glad to call her.
F: Where you’re calling from is now in the afternoon, right?
Q: Yeah. (“IT’S”) It’s not late. (“IT’S ABOUT SI[X]”) Six I think.
F: It’s (“FIVE OR SIX”) 8:20 here. (“UM-HUH” “PERFECT LAY”)
Q: I’ll wait until tomorrow to call her.
F: If you can hang on, I’ll go get my address book.
Q: Oh great. Sure. Thank you. (“KATHRYN” “JIGGLE”)
( . . . )
F: Mark?
Q: Yeah.
F: It’s taking me a couple minutes to find my address book.
Q: Oh, that’s okay.
F: I’m sorry to hold you up.
Q: No rush.
F: Okay, I’ll pick you up again on the other phone.
Q: Okay. Thank you.
( . . . )
F: I went right by it. It was in the kitchen. Okay, I suppose you know Thad. Do you know Uncle Ray’s other family? (“YEAH I JUST SPOKE TO”)
Q: I just got off the phone with Thaddeus. (“HE GA[VE]”) He’s the one who told me where to find you.
F: Okay. (gives address) And here’s your phone number. (“[O]KAY” “ONE”) I think this is an up-to-date phone number but, like I say, she’s moved. (gives phone number) (“[O]KAY”)
Q: Do you think it’s too late to call tonight?
F: No no no, it’s less than 8:30.
Q: Okay, I’ll give her a call.
F: Can you bring me up to date on the other people on your side of the family?
Q: Well, I’m going to include as much of the family tree as possible in the book I’m working on. (“OOO” “SO”) You’re the daughter of Belle?
F: Yes.
Q: Because I read a quite interesting poem about her life. (“I”) Are you familiar with that? (“YOU SHOULD HAVE HER GO” “THERE WERE FOUR” “WHAT”)
F: Which one do you mean? The one that was written by her grandfather when she got married?
Q: Exactly.
F: I mean her mother.
Q: Right.
(TRANSCRIBER’S NOTE: THIS ‘HISTORICAL BIRTHDAY SKETCH’ IN MY POSSESSION WAS WRITTEN BY BELLE’S PAPA.)
F: I have a copy of that.
Q: Isn’t that interesting? (“I GAVE MINE”) It seemed like there were secret messages and things in that. Like at the end it said, “Still alive.” (“UH-HUH”)
F: I heard quite a few tales about my grandfather. He was very religious and very bookish and —
Q: Which one is this now? (“DAY” “OFF WE” “HHHHH”)
F: Thaddeus Duane is my friend.
Q: Right.
F: Wait. That’s not right. It’s funny how all these names are starting to get confusing to me. I have a Polish relative named Thaddeus and it (“I — I”) threw me for a loop. Which file I made —
Q: I can’t believe — (“UHH”)
F: — I should pull it out of.
Q: I never knew that there was anyone named Thaddeus — (“MUCH LE[SS]”) much less two of them.
F: Well, you see my father was Polish and on the Polish side of the family there’s a Thaddeus.
Q: Wow.
F: And Uncle Ray and Helen named their son Thaddeus. I don’t know where they got — (“OH”)
Q: What a remarkable coincidence. (“UM”)
F: My grandfather’s name was Joseph Duane.
Q: I see.
F: He went by J. D.
Q: Okay.
F: And my mother — there’s been quite a number of people in the family who like to write like —
Q: Do you know what year — that was Belle you’re talking about, right?
F: Yeah.
Q: What year (“DID”) did she pass away in?
F: She died in ’64. (“AND H[OW]”)
Q: Do you know how old she was at the time?
F: She was born in 1891.
Q: I see. (“OKAY CAUSE IT’S” “THE”) Apparently, there’s some age discrepancies in the family tree. (“AND I”) I don’t really know — (“WHO” “BET A” “UH”)
F: Well, she was the oldest and then there was Cecil and then there was Arthur and Willie who died in World War I. And then there was Ray and then there was Lynn who was a twin. And the twin had died.
Q: Well what I’m going to do is I’m going to go ahead and contact (“UM” “THIS”) Darlene.
F: Darlene.
Q: What’s her last name, by the way?
F: Russell.
Q: Russell, of course.
F: She’s getting married. She must be about fiftyish I would guess.
Q: I’m going to call her but I’m also going to give your number to my family historian—her name is Carol Andersen—in case she has any questions. (“UM”)
F: Tell me your address. (“OOU”) The pen is not writing.
Q: Okay.
F: That one write? (“YEAH”)
Q: (I give her my address and telephone number)
F: And what happened to your father?
Q: Paul? He’s living in a retirement (“OOH”) home. Not far from here actually. (“UM”) He keeps saying he’s going to write me a letter or something. Apparently, Michael and I — you know, we’re twins — his sons —
F: Oh, you have twins in that side of the family.
Q: Right, exactly. And (“APPARENTLY”) we have a third sibling which our father has never told us about so that’s one of the reasons why I’m doing this research.
F: (laughs)
Q: I know. Can you believe it?
F: Well, we had some peculiar things like that in my family too because when my father died, I discovered he had an earlier wife. And my mother apparently knew about it all the time but she never told me.
Q: Wow.
F: And my mother was divorced when I was about twelve. And she and my father only lived about a block apart in Philadelphia. If it hadn’t been that this aggressive man (“THE BELL WITCH”) sort of wedged his way in, they might have made up. My father and mother might have made up because after my stepfather died, they made up for just a few years before he died. (“RIGHT”) It was really sad that they finally got together again after all these years. The first time I ever saw them together was — (“ON OUR WAY” “MARY”) well, it’s just sort of —
Q: What religion are you?
F: Well, my grandmother was (“YEAH”) Wesleyan Methodist and I’m not really any religion.
Q: But you believe in God?
F: Well, I don’t know.
Q: Well, my — (“I’M”)
F: I had so much religion when I was doing —
Q: — I’m writing a book that encompasses religion and also, in fact, can I use this information in my book that I’m writing?
F: Sure.
Q: You wouldn’t mind, would you? Okay, good. (“UM”) Okay, well I’m going to give her a call. (“I’M ALSO GOING TO”) So if you get a call from my family historian, Carol Andersen, (“UM”) she might ask you a few questions sometime. (“THE”) So I thank you in advance. And maybe I’ll autograph my book for you sometime.
(TRANSCRIBER’S NOTE: I HAVE DECIDED AGAINST AUTOGRAPHING COPIES OF THE BOOK BECAUSE I HAVE NO DESIRE TO PARTICIPATE IN THE CULT OF CELEBRITY.)
F: That’ll really be interesting. There’s a whole bunch of Russells around the Lake George area in New York state.
Q: Oh really? (“YEAH”)
F: There’s one that writes up there. She writes a column for the local paper. Her name is Evelyn Russell.
Q: Well, also, my mother’s original name was King so I’m trying to research that family line next to see if I have any Jewish blood or not. (“BUT UM”)
F: Well, we’ve got just about everything else. (“JEWELRY”) You’d be surprised.
Q: Exactly. Well, thank you very much. You’ve been very pleasant. Much more pleasant than this lady I spoke to a few days ago who — (“WAS”)
F: Who’s that?
Q: She wasn’t from the Russell family. She was a member of the Bell family. And she wasn’t very helpful. Unlike you. You’re very nice and kind.
F: Well, I always wondered what happened to my uncle Ray’s first family because my brother did a similar thing. He left his wife of twenty-three years and married somebody else.
Q: And that happened in the Bell family too. (“SO IT”) It’s a very common occurrence. The only thing is — (“THAT”) the funny thing about my family is not knowing who my third sibling is. I was mentioning this to Thaddeus. I was thinking that maybe he might be (“AAA”) my half-brother or something and (“HIM”) he, himself, doesn’t know it.
F: Hmm.
Q: I know. You just never know. But my guess — (“BUT I”) it might not be that because I found a picture recently. It might be there were triplets instead of twins (“HE KNOWS YOU”) because I found three baby pictures. (“GOOD”) So (“IT”) I either have — it’s too confusing. (“UH”) I just (“HOPE”) hope I figure it out someday.
F: What did your father do for a living?
Q: Paul? Well, after the war, I guess he had problems so he really didn’t stay with any one job too long. (“BUT”) But Michael and I, his twin sons, both were working in public relations. I also was a talent agent and now I’m, of course, about to become an author.
F: And have you been writing long?
Q: Yeah. All my life. (“IN SOME CAPA”) In different capacities. (“IT’S BEEN FUN”) Marketing. Lots of press kits at Paramount and what-have-you.
F: Well, I took advertising art and (“MY MOVIE”) I’ve (“LOST BOYS”) worked in the art field in one way or another all my life. And now I’ve hit seventy and it isn’t that I’m any less busy. It’s just that I’ve done so many different things. I’m not really an expert in any one thing like — (“SCARED”)
Q: Well, take time now to smell the roses.
F: But I did a painting just over Christmas for cousin Doris. And this is a house of her son who lives over in Boston. I mostly worked in water color recently and do silk screen prints.
Q: I do some painting too. (“I USE”) I work in acrylics. (“UH”)
F: What sort of things?
Q: Religious symbols, usually.
F: Oh, so you’re interested in the religious angle, yourself?
Q: Oh, definitely.
F: From which religion?
Q: All of them.
F: All of them? (“YEAH”)
Q: I believe that there’s only one religion and that is love. (“FUN”)
F: Well, I had sort of a rough time when I was growing up because my folks were split and I got religion instead of love. I sort of had the feeling (“WHEN I LOOK BACK”) back on — in other words, my grandmother, even though she was a very religious woman, her views of things are that they are black or white. And she felt so strongly about the fact that my father smoked that she didn’t really make any effort to keep their marriage together when they were split by the depression because to her smoking was just a real sin. You know, it’s really strange. (“SOMETIMES I WOULD”)
Q: Well, there was a very mysterious — (“UH”) are we talking about Belle again?
F: No, we’re talking about her mother.
Q: Oh, I see.
F: See, my mother and father split.
Q: Well, that was a very, very strange poem or whatever you want to call it about Belle and I haven’t figured it out. I think I might include that in my book too. (“JUST TO”) Just to show people how mysterious (“YOU”) your ancestry can be. Because that really was mysterious.
F: It’s interesting that you have been seeing things in it that nobody else has. (“ME”) Well, it’s at the end. It said:
65 and
Still alive. March 6, 1920
Q: It just seemed to be set apart like it was some kind of secret message pertaining to somebody being still alive. I don’t know.
F: Well, they were very religious. (“AND I SUPPOSE” “UM-HUH”)
Q: Yeah, it runs in the family —
F: Yeah. (laughs)
Q: — in fact, several families I’m related to.
F: Uh-huh. (“SO UM”)
Q: But, anyway, thank you for your time. I’m going to go ahead and call her now and you might be getting a call from my family historian. Okay, thank you. Bye.
F: Thank you. Interesting. Bye.
(TRANSCRIBER’S NOTE: THE FOLLOWING INTERVIEW IS WITH DARLENE RUSSELL.)R: Hello?
Q: Hello, is Darlene there?
R: This is Darlene.
Q: Oh hi, Darlene. I’m a cousin of yours and I was referred to speak to you by Dorothy Forsyth.
R: Okay.
Q: Anyway, I’m doing some research. My name is Mark Russell. And my grandfather is Paul Ray Russell. My father is (“SO”) Paul Russell, Jr. (“UH-HUH” “DID” “DID”) Are you familiar with those?
R: Yeah. (“SEVEN”)
Q: You are? Oh good. Well, anyway, (“I’M”) I’m currently working on a book and I want to include — I have a pretty extensive family tree put together so far but there’s still some things I’m missing. I also have that old book about the House of Russell that is all about (“THIS”) the kings that our family is descended from.
R: Oh, I don’t have that.
Q: Well, you know what? (“HAVE IT” “TO TELL”) I’m willing to trade you whatever information you have for this fabulous book that will blow your mind. (“YEAH”) It’s got all kinds of things — like fire-breathing dragons. (“IT’S GOT”) It’s got everything. (“HAVE”) I can’t even go into it, it’s got so many things. (“IT”)
R: Is it an old book?
Q: It’s an old historical book. It’s like a lost piece of history. (“EEGA”) It’s about the House of Russell. I think it comes from the name Le Rozel. (“ALL”) But, anyway, there are all these kings in our family. (“AND I”) And I’ve done some of the recent research but I don’t have that in-between period that connects our family to Scotland. (“YEAH” “SO”) Do you have a family tree or something?
R: Yeah, but I can’t get past about 1790 going backwards.
Q: Well, if you go ahead and send me what you have, (“THE”) I’ll go ahead (“I”) and send you what I have. (“DOUBT WHETHER TOO MUCH”)
R: Do you have a computer? (“UM-HUH”)
Q: I have a family historian and we both have computers. (“AND SHE’LL”) She’ll be able to work with that fine. She’s a Mormon so I’m not quite sure what (“THE”) program they have.
R: I’ve got mine on my Works program. (“FOR MIC”) Microsoft Works. I don’t have a genealogy program. I haven’t found one I really like. (“OKAY WELL” “GO HAVE”)
Q: Go ahead and give me what you have (“I”) and I’ll — (“JUNK”)
R: Okay, I have about 30 disks and there are 120 pages on each. (“DISK”)
Q: That many? Oh my God. (“THE”)
R: But it’s not all Russell so that’s what I was wondering. (“OOOO”) Probably if I just sent you basically what I sent Merlin Jr. the other day — put it into an ASCII file. Can your machine read ASCII? (“UM”)
Q: Well, I’m sure that they’ll find a way of doing it. (“BECAUSE THIS IS THEIR”) This is their business. (“IS — IS — IS”) Family history. (“SO” “AND ALS[O]”) And what I’ll do is — (“I’LL GO AHEA[D]”) if you can send this to me I’ll send you in return this wonderful photocopy of the (“I”) House of Russell. (“JUN”) And I really do (“UH-UH”) guarantee (“WHATEVER”) it’ll be the best read you’ve had all year next to my book which will also have some of this information. (“I GE”)
R: It’s funny you should say Scotland because (“NO”) the (“LEF”) man (“IS”) who lives next door on the corner. Their name is (“MARK”) Russell. (“SHE”) She was saying his family comes from — (“BELL WITCH”)
(TRANSCRIBER’S NOTE: TAPE #40, SIDE #1 ENDS HERE.)
(TRANSCRIBER’S NOTE: THE FOLLOWING INTERVIEW IS WITH THADDEUS DUANE RUSSELL. LIKE MOST OF MY TELEPHONE INTERVIEWS, ATTRIBUTED RADIO INTERFERENCE IN JAPANESE CAN BE HEARD IN THE BACKGROUND DURING THIS CONVERSATION.)
Q: Hello?
D: Speaking.
Q: Is Thaddeus there?
D: Yes, this is him.
Q: Oh hi, Thaddeus, this is Mark Russell. I guess I’m a cousin.
D: Oh, hello, Mark. How are you doing?
Q: My family historian made contact with you I believe. She just left here. She gave me the recent information. (“GO”) She said to go ahead and give you a call.
D: Sure. Sure.
Q: Anyway —
D: I’m sorry that I really — I mean, of course, like anybody, I have some interest in family tree and things like that but I’m afraid that I just never pursued it. (“NO LOVE”)
Q: Do you know who in our family was the one who put together the family tree?
D: No.
Q: I’ve been in touch with Grandpa’s wife but (“UH BUT” “SHE”) she thought you had it.
D: No.
Q: Right.
D: You were in touch with my mother Helen Russell?
Q: Right. Right. By the way, how old are you?
D: How old am I? I’m forty-five.
Q: Oh, okay.
D: I’m surprised she would have told you. (“BELOVED OF GOD”) She knows better than that.
Q: Well, maybe she just made a mistake. (“YEAH”) I had a Christmas card recently from Allen Russell. Of course, his wife mysteriously dropped dead all of a sudden. I don’t know what that’s all about.
D: Yeah, well she’s been sick for a number of years.
Q: Do you know what was — (“EACH”) you know, I had never heard from him before. It was unusual getting this card out of nowhere but I did send him a very nice card you’ll be glad to hear. It’s always good to be connected to your family at a time when you lose a loved one.
D: Yeah. (“SO UM”)
Q: Do you have any information at all like a family tree?
D: No, the only focus that I can think of —
Q: I’d be glad to share with you the information too, by the way, because I’m putting together some more information.
D: Oh, that’d be nice. I certainly would be interested. The only folks that I can think of would be Dorothy Forsyth and that’s probably a new name to you. (“UM BUT”) She was Belle Russell’s daughter, Belle being my father’s sister. I just think that of anybody —
Q: Do you know her phone number or address or anything?
D: Let’s see if I’ve got that.
Q: Okay. Thank you. (“NO”) She’s another one where we did exchange Christmas cards and a letter once a year but we haven’t really been in (“SON”) touch here.
Q: Story of my life (“KEN”) with my whole family. (“YEAH”)
D: Here we go. George and Dorothy Forsyth. I have the address here.
Q: Oh great.
D: (gives address) (“WELL I DID”)
Q: So that’s George (“AT LARGE”) and Dorothy Forsyth. Okay, great. (“WOODY”) And so just tell her that you’re —
Q: I’ll check with information first.
D: — pursuing all your leads and she was the only idea that I had about somebody who might have some information on family trees.
Q: Right. And let’s see. Also, (“AND — LIKE — YOU”) what do you think of my father, Paul? (“DI[D]”) Are you close — you’re not close to him, are you?
D: Your father Paul? Well, you know, (“DUMP”) I’ve had some limited contact with my half-brothers and sisters.
Q: I also know Uncle Bob.
D: Except for Paul, I don’t think I’ve ever had any contact. (“HAD WE MET”) I’ve seen Allen a few times and Mary Virginia — (to ?) I’m on the phone — and Bob.
Q: Well, what’s unusual in my case is that one of the reasons why I’m doing this family research work is because on my family tree that Uncle Bob sent me under Paul’s name there were three children numbered. (“SO”) Once there’s a name they assign a number. Well, it’s all very mysterious but apparently my mom or my dad (“OR BO[TH]”) — know that he, from a previous (“HAD A”) marriage had a child and he hasn’t told me who this (“NO”) child is.
D: Oh boy.
Q: So I’m (“I”) writing a book. I was almost even thinking that maybe it might have been you. (“YOU KNOW” “LIKE SOME”) You know — something strange like maybe he (“HE”) gave up his first son to Grandpa or something (“NO”) because of the strange —
D: (small laugh)
Q: — discrepancy in the ages.
D: No no no no.
Q: No, I know. I’m just saying — (“IT”)
D: It’s just that —
Q: — when you don’t know, you have to ponder these various possibilities. (“RIGHT”)
D: Your grandfather and my father are the — he just has two complete and wholly separate families. I was born when he was fifty years old.
Q: Right. (“THAT WAS”) Yeah. (“NO AND”)
D: He was nineteen when he married your father’s mother. So —
Q: And apparently he abandoned the family.
D: Pardon me?
Q: Apparently he had abandoned his first family.
D: Well, I don’t know what happened but he was in Washington and your father’s mother took your father and all these children to California.
Q: Right.
D: So I don’t know what happened.
Q: Well, it’s all very mysterious so I’m trying to put some of it together. (“IT”) In one letter, by the way, he said you worked for ‘Ma Bell’ in New York.
D: No, I work for the Federal Reserve.
Q: Federal Reserve.
D: In Manhattan. (“BUT”)
Q: Do you mean the bank?
D: Yeah. The Federal Reserve Bank in New York. Not for the telephone company. (“WH[Y]”)
Q: Why did he say that? What does that mean — Ma Bell?
D: Ma Bell is the shorthand for American Telephone and Telegraph.
Q: Right. (“WORKED FOR AND HE”) Well — you used to? (“NO”)
D: Never did.
Q: Oh, I see. I wonder why he said that. This was about seven or eight years ago. (“BELL”)
D: I would guess then that you’re getting me confused with something else because seven or eight years ago —
Q: Well, I’m not. My father in his letter was.
D: — my father — your grandfather was quite clear on where I worked. Now he may ask me where I work but —
Q: No, I mean Paul Russell Jr. in one of his letters to me said that. Anyway, I don’t know. He seems to have always been obsessed over you for some reason and I’ve never really quite understood it.
D: Paul Russell, your father?
Q: Yeah.
D: (small laugh) Well, —
Q: Isn’t that weird? (“I”) He’s never met you or —
D: I don’t think we’ve ever met. (“YOU KNOW”)
Q: Isn’t that strange?
D: But he was the oldest — (“YOU KNOW I”)
Q: You know what? Could you do me a favor and send me a picture of you? I just want to see if there’s any family resemblance between us.
D: Do you really need one, Mark?
Q: Well, (“EH”) I have a new book coming out so (“I’M G[OING]”) I think I’m going to become a very well-known celebrity.
D: Oh yeah? What’s your field, Mark? What are you going to be a celebrity in?
Q: Religion. Well, you know, all those Methodist people in our family.
D: (small laugh) Yes, yes, religion has always been there.
Q: And your name is Thaddeus. (“WITH”) D — E — U — S.
D: Yeah. D — E — U — S. (“WELL YOU SEE”)
Q: Well, my pseudonym is Mark Russell Bell. (“ALRIGHT”) And, of course, my (“YOU KNOW”) — I’m sort of encouraging my friends now to call me Mabus for short because that’s sort of an anagram for (“IN”) Mark Russell Bell. (“OKAY”) So, (“AHEH”) anyway, it’s a quite interesting book. It (“EN — EN”) encompasses angels and poltergeists and spirits.
D: Uh-huh. (“EH HAVE”)
Q: Has Bob told you anything about this?
D: No, no, he hasn’t although I did hear from my mother that he had sent a video and (“SOMETHING” “WA[S]”) was selling a — was it a food or —
Q: Oh, you mean that Russian secret?
D: Yeah.
Q: The Russian health — (“HE KNOWS”) these Russian (“MMM”) diet secrets which enabled the U.S.S.R. athletes to win at the Olympics for many, many years somehow came to him for him (“TO”) to do public relations for. (“YEAH”) So that’s an interesting bit of business there.
D: Well, my mother told me that my dad enjoyed seeing him on the video.
Q: Oh, is he on the video? I never watched it. I figure I’m in perfect health so I don’t really need to worry about dietary additions or whatever. (“BUD”)
(TRANSCRIBER’S NOTE: THIS WAS TRANSCRIBED ON MAY 30TH, SEVERAL WEEKS AFTER I CONSULTED WITH NATURAL HEALTH CONSULTANT SALLY KRAVICH. FOLLOWING MICROCASSETTES CHRONICLE MY BECOMING A VEGETARIAN. IT IS NOW INCONCEIVABLE FOR ME TO CONSIDER EATING BEEF OR CHICKEN. I ONLY SHOP AT HEALTH FOOD STORES AND I HAVE REPLACED MY MICROWAVE OVEN WITH A STEAMER WITH TERRIFIC RESULTS. I WAS ALSO TAKING CHLOROPHYLL AND LACTOBACILLUS ACIDOPHILUS CAPSULES FOR SEVERAL MONTHS. I AM NO LONGER EATING SEAFOOD AND TRYING TO AVOID EATING EGGS AS THIS INTERNET EDITION IS PUBLISHED.)
D: How old are you, Mark?
Q: I’m thirty-nine.
S: Thirty-nine.
Q: Yeah, (“YOU KNOW I HAD”) I had a few burning bushes last year so I guess it’s sort of been my call (“TO YOU KNOW”) to do this book. So — (“ANY”)
D: I hope it sells lots of copies for you.
Q: Would you mind (“S[ENDING]”) sending me a family photo or something for my book? I’ll give you my address.
D: For your book, you say? Why would you need it for your book, Mark?
Q: Because it encompasses my family tree. I worked at Paramount Pictures for many years.
D: Oh really? (“SO UM”)
Q: You know, I’m sort of like a carpenter in the Hollywood dream factory. I was a staff writer in the marketing department (“SO I WAS SORT OF” “ON”) on the lower ranks of the studio pecking order. (“BUT UM”) It was very interesting. (“I GOT TO”) I really worked with everyone in Hollywood at some point or other or in some capacity — like doing their bios or a news release.
D: Yeah, I’m sure that working for Paramount must have been fascinating.
Q: In fact, they want me to come back but I’m just (“TOO”) so busy on my book I really don’t have time. (“BUT”) It’s been a lot of fun.
D: Um-huh.
Q: And that’s what life is all about — having fun. (“TEN”) Fun and games and all that. (“TOO NICE”)
D: Ooookay, Mark. (“MARK”)
Q: Okay. (I give my address on Clinton Street) I moved there before he was elected.
D: Okay, that’s good. Well, I’ll see what I can find.
Q: I live right here across from the Angelus Temple.
D: Oh yeah?
Q: Do you like Nostradamus?
D: Yes. What about Nostradamus?
Q: You might look me up there.
D: Okay.
Q: Mabus. M — A — B — U — S.
D: Alright.
Q: Okay, thank you.
D: Good luck, Mark.
Q: Okay, bye.
D: Good night.
(TRANSCRIBER’S NOTE: THE FOLLOWING INTERVIEW IS WITH DOROTHY FORSYTH.)
F: Hello?
Q: Hello, Dorothy? You don’t know me but Thaddeus Russell referred me to call you. I guess I’m a cousin of yours. My name is Mark Russell and I live in Los Angeles. I’m doing some research on my family tree. (“HHMM”) And I was wondering do you have some of that information? (“HE’S GAY”) I have it piecemeal.
F: Which side of the Russells are you from?
Q: I’m Paul Russell’s son —
F: Mark?
Q: Correct.
F: He didn’t have any sons named Mark.
Q: No — Paul Russell Jr.
F: I think you must be connected to a different side of the family because we have a Paul Ray Russell and —
Q: Right. Right.
F: — he had three sons and three daughters by a first marriage.
Q: Correct. (“THAT’S”) That’s my grandfather.
F: Your grandfather?
Q: Yeah, he lives in Florida.
F: And (“YEAH”) your father was — (“PAUL”)
Q: Paul Ray Russell, Jr.
F: Oh, okay, I — (“SOR[T]”)
Q: He was sort of the black sheep of the family.
F: And, okay, your grandmother’s name then was Mary.
Q: Right. (“OF” “THE”) His first wife.
F: Okay. And there was a Virginia. Mary Virginia.
Q: I think so. It’s a little hazy. I just got some of that information today actually from my family history consultant and, in fact, she mentioned you. She found you too.
F: Okay, where do you live and where are you calling from?
Q: Los Angeles.
F: The one person in the family who really keeps track of all the genealogy lives down in Kentucky.
Q: Oh, okay.
F: Her name is Darlene. And she has put a lot of the family history on computer and I haven’t received any from her lately because she said there was less doing this year (“I”) and I guess she was busy moving to a new place.
Q: Is that Darlene Russell?
F: Do you have her address?
Q: No. If you have an address or phone number I’ll be glad to call her.
F: Where you’re calling from is now in the afternoon, right?
Q: Yeah. (“IT’S”) It’s not late. (“IT’S ABOUT SI[X]”) Six I think.
F: It’s (“FIVE OR SIX”) 8:20 here. (“UM-HUH” “PERFECT LAY”)
Q: I’ll wait until tomorrow to call her.
F: If you can hang on, I’ll go get my address book.
Q: Oh great. Sure. Thank you. (“KATHRYN” “JIGGLE”)
( . . . )
F: Mark?
Q: Yeah.
F: It’s taking me a couple minutes to find my address book.
Q: Oh, that’s okay.
F: I’m sorry to hold you up.
Q: No rush.
F: Okay, I’ll pick you up again on the other phone.
Q: Okay. Thank you.
( . . . )
F: I went right by it. It was in the kitchen. Okay, I suppose you know Thad. Do you know Uncle Ray’s other family? (“YEAH I JUST SPOKE TO”)
Q: I just got off the phone with Thaddeus. (“HE GA[VE]”) He’s the one who told me where to find you.
F: Okay. (gives address) And here’s your phone number. (“[O]KAY” “ONE”) I think this is an up-to-date phone number but, like I say, she’s moved. (gives phone number) (“[O]KAY”)
Q: Do you think it’s too late to call tonight?
F: No no no, it’s less than 8:30.
Q: Okay, I’ll give her a call.
F: Can you bring me up to date on the other people on your side of the family?
Q: Well, I’m going to include as much of the family tree as possible in the book I’m working on. (“OOO” “SO”) You’re the daughter of Belle?
F: Yes.
Q: Because I read a quite interesting poem about her life. (“I”) Are you familiar with that? (“YOU SHOULD HAVE HER GO” “THERE WERE FOUR” “WHAT”)
F: Which one do you mean? The one that was written by her grandfather when she got married?
Q: Exactly.
F: I mean her mother.
Q: Right.
(TRANSCRIBER’S NOTE: THIS ‘HISTORICAL BIRTHDAY SKETCH’ IN MY POSSESSION WAS WRITTEN BY BELLE’S PAPA.)
F: I have a copy of that.
Q: Isn’t that interesting? (“I GAVE MINE”) It seemed like there were secret messages and things in that. Like at the end it said, “Still alive.” (“UH-HUH”)
F: I heard quite a few tales about my grandfather. He was very religious and very bookish and —
Q: Which one is this now? (“DAY” “OFF WE” “HHHHH”)
F: Thaddeus Duane is my friend.
Q: Right.
F: Wait. That’s not right. It’s funny how all these names are starting to get confusing to me. I have a Polish relative named Thaddeus and it (“I — I”) threw me for a loop. Which file I made —
Q: I can’t believe — (“UHH”)
F: — I should pull it out of.
Q: I never knew that there was anyone named Thaddeus — (“MUCH LE[SS]”) much less two of them.
F: Well, you see my father was Polish and on the Polish side of the family there’s a Thaddeus.
Q: Wow.
F: And Uncle Ray and Helen named their son Thaddeus. I don’t know where they got — (“OH”)
Q: What a remarkable coincidence. (“UM”)
F: My grandfather’s name was Joseph Duane.
Q: I see.
F: He went by J. D.
Q: Okay.
F: And my mother — there’s been quite a number of people in the family who like to write like —
Q: Do you know what year — that was Belle you’re talking about, right?
F: Yeah.
Q: What year (“DID”) did she pass away in?
F: She died in ’64. (“AND H[OW]”)
Q: Do you know how old she was at the time?
F: She was born in 1891.
Q: I see. (“OKAY CAUSE IT’S” “THE”) Apparently, there’s some age discrepancies in the family tree. (“AND I”) I don’t really know — (“WHO” “BET A” “UH”)
F: Well, she was the oldest and then there was Cecil and then there was Arthur and Willie who died in World War I. And then there was Ray and then there was Lynn who was a twin. And the twin had died.
Q: Well what I’m going to do is I’m going to go ahead and contact (“UM” “THIS”) Darlene.
F: Darlene.
Q: What’s her last name, by the way?
F: Russell.
Q: Russell, of course.
F: She’s getting married. She must be about fiftyish I would guess.
Q: I’m going to call her but I’m also going to give your number to my family historian—her name is Carol Andersen—in case she has any questions. (“UM”)
F: Tell me your address. (“OOU”) The pen is not writing.
Q: Okay.
F: That one write? (“YEAH”)
Q: (I give her my address and telephone number)
F: And what happened to your father?
Q: Paul? He’s living in a retirement (“OOH”) home. Not far from here actually. (“UM”) He keeps saying he’s going to write me a letter or something. Apparently, Michael and I — you know, we’re twins — his sons —
F: Oh, you have twins in that side of the family.
Q: Right, exactly. And (“APPARENTLY”) we have a third sibling which our father has never told us about so that’s one of the reasons why I’m doing this research.
F: (laughs)
Q: I know. Can you believe it?
F: Well, we had some peculiar things like that in my family too because when my father died, I discovered he had an earlier wife. And my mother apparently knew about it all the time but she never told me.
Q: Wow.
F: And my mother was divorced when I was about twelve. And she and my father only lived about a block apart in Philadelphia. If it hadn’t been that this aggressive man (“THE BELL WITCH”) sort of wedged his way in, they might have made up. My father and mother might have made up because after my stepfather died, they made up for just a few years before he died. (“RIGHT”) It was really sad that they finally got together again after all these years. The first time I ever saw them together was — (“ON OUR WAY” “MARY”) well, it’s just sort of —
Q: What religion are you?
F: Well, my grandmother was (“YEAH”) Wesleyan Methodist and I’m not really any religion.
Q: But you believe in God?
F: Well, I don’t know.
Q: Well, my — (“I’M”)
F: I had so much religion when I was doing —
Q: — I’m writing a book that encompasses religion and also, in fact, can I use this information in my book that I’m writing?
F: Sure.
Q: You wouldn’t mind, would you? Okay, good. (“UM”) Okay, well I’m going to give her a call. (“I’M ALSO GOING TO”) So if you get a call from my family historian, Carol Andersen, (“UM”) she might ask you a few questions sometime. (“THE”) So I thank you in advance. And maybe I’ll autograph my book for you sometime.
(TRANSCRIBER’S NOTE: I HAVE DECIDED AGAINST AUTOGRAPHING COPIES OF THE BOOK BECAUSE I HAVE NO DESIRE TO PARTICIPATE IN THE CULT OF CELEBRITY.)
F: That’ll really be interesting. There’s a whole bunch of Russells around the Lake George area in New York state.
Q: Oh really? (“YEAH”)
F: There’s one that writes up there. She writes a column for the local paper. Her name is Evelyn Russell.
Q: Well, also, my mother’s original name was King so I’m trying to research that family line next to see if I have any Jewish blood or not. (“BUT UM”)
F: Well, we’ve got just about everything else. (“JEWELRY”) You’d be surprised.
Q: Exactly. Well, thank you very much. You’ve been very pleasant. Much more pleasant than this lady I spoke to a few days ago who — (“WAS”)
F: Who’s that?
Q: She wasn’t from the Russell family. She was a member of the Bell family. And she wasn’t very helpful. Unlike you. You’re very nice and kind.
F: Well, I always wondered what happened to my uncle Ray’s first family because my brother did a similar thing. He left his wife of twenty-three years and married somebody else.
Q: And that happened in the Bell family too. (“SO IT”) It’s a very common occurrence. The only thing is — (“THAT”) the funny thing about my family is not knowing who my third sibling is. I was mentioning this to Thaddeus. I was thinking that maybe he might be (“AAA”) my half-brother or something and (“HIM”) he, himself, doesn’t know it.
F: Hmm.
Q: I know. You just never know. But my guess — (“BUT I”) it might not be that because I found a picture recently. It might be there were triplets instead of twins (“HE KNOWS YOU”) because I found three baby pictures. (“GOOD”) So (“IT”) I either have — it’s too confusing. (“UH”) I just (“HOPE”) hope I figure it out someday.
F: What did your father do for a living?
Q: Paul? Well, after the war, I guess he had problems so he really didn’t stay with any one job too long. (“BUT”) But Michael and I, his twin sons, both were working in public relations. I also was a talent agent and now I’m, of course, about to become an author.
F: And have you been writing long?
Q: Yeah. All my life. (“IN SOME CAPA”) In different capacities. (“IT’S BEEN FUN”) Marketing. Lots of press kits at Paramount and what-have-you.
F: Well, I took advertising art and (“MY MOVIE”) I’ve (“LOST BOYS”) worked in the art field in one way or another all my life. And now I’ve hit seventy and it isn’t that I’m any less busy. It’s just that I’ve done so many different things. I’m not really an expert in any one thing like — (“SCARED”)
Q: Well, take time now to smell the roses.
F: But I did a painting just over Christmas for cousin Doris. And this is a house of her son who lives over in Boston. I mostly worked in water color recently and do silk screen prints.
Q: I do some painting too. (“I USE”) I work in acrylics. (“UH”)
F: What sort of things?
Q: Religious symbols, usually.
F: Oh, so you’re interested in the religious angle, yourself?
Q: Oh, definitely.
F: From which religion?
Q: All of them.
F: All of them? (“YEAH”)
Q: I believe that there’s only one religion and that is love. (“FUN”)
F: Well, I had sort of a rough time when I was growing up because my folks were split and I got religion instead of love. I sort of had the feeling (“WHEN I LOOK BACK”) back on — in other words, my grandmother, even though she was a very religious woman, her views of things are that they are black or white. And she felt so strongly about the fact that my father smoked that she didn’t really make any effort to keep their marriage together when they were split by the depression because to her smoking was just a real sin. You know, it’s really strange. (“SOMETIMES I WOULD”)
Q: Well, there was a very mysterious — (“UH”) are we talking about Belle again?
F: No, we’re talking about her mother.
Q: Oh, I see.
F: See, my mother and father split.
Q: Well, that was a very, very strange poem or whatever you want to call it about Belle and I haven’t figured it out. I think I might include that in my book too. (“JUST TO”) Just to show people how mysterious (“YOU”) your ancestry can be. Because that really was mysterious.
F: It’s interesting that you have been seeing things in it that nobody else has. (“ME”) Well, it’s at the end. It said:
65 and
Still alive. March 6, 1920
Q: It just seemed to be set apart like it was some kind of secret message pertaining to somebody being still alive. I don’t know.
F: Well, they were very religious. (“AND I SUPPOSE” “UM-HUH”)
Q: Yeah, it runs in the family —
F: Yeah. (laughs)
Q: — in fact, several families I’m related to.
F: Uh-huh. (“SO UM”)
Q: But, anyway, thank you for your time. I’m going to go ahead and call her now and you might be getting a call from my family historian. Okay, thank you. Bye.
F: Thank you. Interesting. Bye.
(TRANSCRIBER’S NOTE: THE FOLLOWING INTERVIEW IS WITH DARLENE RUSSELL.)R: Hello?
Q: Hello, is Darlene there?
R: This is Darlene.
Q: Oh hi, Darlene. I’m a cousin of yours and I was referred to speak to you by Dorothy Forsyth.
R: Okay.
Q: Anyway, I’m doing some research. My name is Mark Russell. And my grandfather is Paul Ray Russell. My father is (“SO”) Paul Russell, Jr. (“UH-HUH” “DID” “DID”) Are you familiar with those?
R: Yeah. (“SEVEN”)
Q: You are? Oh good. Well, anyway, (“I’M”) I’m currently working on a book and I want to include — I have a pretty extensive family tree put together so far but there’s still some things I’m missing. I also have that old book about the House of Russell that is all about (“THIS”) the kings that our family is descended from.
R: Oh, I don’t have that.
Q: Well, you know what? (“HAVE IT” “TO TELL”) I’m willing to trade you whatever information you have for this fabulous book that will blow your mind. (“YEAH”) It’s got all kinds of things — like fire-breathing dragons. (“IT’S GOT”) It’s got everything. (“HAVE”) I can’t even go into it, it’s got so many things. (“IT”)
R: Is it an old book?
Q: It’s an old historical book. It’s like a lost piece of history. (“EEGA”) It’s about the House of Russell. I think it comes from the name Le Rozel. (“ALL”) But, anyway, there are all these kings in our family. (“AND I”) And I’ve done some of the recent research but I don’t have that in-between period that connects our family to Scotland. (“YEAH” “SO”) Do you have a family tree or something?
R: Yeah, but I can’t get past about 1790 going backwards.
Q: Well, if you go ahead and send me what you have, (“THE”) I’ll go ahead (“I”) and send you what I have. (“DOUBT WHETHER TOO MUCH”)
R: Do you have a computer? (“UM-HUH”)
Q: I have a family historian and we both have computers. (“AND SHE’LL”) She’ll be able to work with that fine. She’s a Mormon so I’m not quite sure what (“THE”) program they have.
R: I’ve got mine on my Works program. (“FOR MIC”) Microsoft Works. I don’t have a genealogy program. I haven’t found one I really like. (“OKAY WELL” “GO HAVE”)
Q: Go ahead and give me what you have (“I”) and I’ll — (“JUNK”)
R: Okay, I have about 30 disks and there are 120 pages on each. (“DISK”)
Q: That many? Oh my God. (“THE”)
R: But it’s not all Russell so that’s what I was wondering. (“OOOO”) Probably if I just sent you basically what I sent Merlin Jr. the other day — put it into an ASCII file. Can your machine read ASCII? (“UM”)
Q: Well, I’m sure that they’ll find a way of doing it. (“BECAUSE THIS IS THEIR”) This is their business. (“IS — IS — IS”) Family history. (“SO” “AND ALS[O]”) And what I’ll do is — (“I’LL GO AHEA[D]”) if you can send this to me I’ll send you in return this wonderful photocopy of the (“I”) House of Russell. (“JUN”) And I really do (“UH-UH”) guarantee (“WHATEVER”) it’ll be the best read you’ve had all year next to my book which will also have some of this information. (“I GE”)
R: It’s funny you should say Scotland because (“NO”) the (“LEF”) man (“IS”) who lives next door on the corner. Their name is (“MARK”) Russell. (“SHE”) She was saying his family comes from — (“BELL WITCH”)
(TRANSCRIBER’S NOTE: TAPE #40, SIDE #1 ENDS HERE.)
