Robert McWatty Russell

Robert McWatty Russell,  president of Westminster College, a noted educational institution which is located at New Wilmington, Lawrence County, Pennsylvania, was born on his father's farm in Mercer County, Pennsylvania, April 6, 1858. He is a son of John T. and Jane (Williamson) Russell.

Dr. Russell comes of Scotch-Irish ancestry. He was reared to manhood on the home farm, attending the district schools of the neighborhood and later enjoyed better advantages in the Blacktown Academy and the Mercer High School. In the fall of 1875 he entered Westminster College and in 1880 was graduated with the degree of A. B. During the year of 1880-1 he taught in the academy at McKeesport, and in the winter of 1882 he entered the Allegheny Theological Seminary and was graduated in April, 1884. In the following July he took charge of the First United Presbyterian Church at Caledonia, N. Y., where he remained for six years and three months. In 1896 he accepted a call from the Sixth United Presbyterian Church of Pittsburg, Pa., where he continued ministerial work until April 1, 1906. When Dr. Russell first located in Pittsburg he was elected a member of the board of control of Westminster College and has been closely identified with its interests ever since his student days. In 1906 Dr. Russell was invited to become the president of this institution and his name and services have added luster to an educational center that has long been a point of pride to citizens of Western Pennsylvania.

Dr. Russell was married, in 1888, to Caroline B. Keech , who is a daughter of Elisha and Hannah (Swan) Keech. Mrs. Russell was born at Brooklyn, N. Y. She has been most intimately associated with her husband in both church and college work. They have three children: Robert McWatty, Jane Walker, and Donald.

Twentieth Century History of New Castle and Lawrence County, 1908, page 394