William Russell

Russell, William, was born in Glasgow in 1798, and educated at the University of Glasgow. Removing from Scotland to America, he was at Savannah in 1817, and subsequently at other places in the United States. He was an active promoter of education, teachers' associations, and kindred objects, and did much to further the cause of education in the States. He was originally a Baptist, but did not hold to close communion. He died at Lancaster, Massachusetts, Aug. 16, 1873. His hymn, "O'er the dark wave of Galilee" (Christ in Solitude), begins with st. iii. of a poem written by him at the request of Dr. Ware, editor of the Unitarian Christian Examiner, and printed therein in 1826. [Rev. F. M. Bird, M.A.]

--John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)