Grave of a Governor of North Carolina.

Hickory Hill Cemetery

Through the years, when I was growing up, and mom and I would pass this place, she would usually mention that Governor Lindsay Russell, a distant relative, was buried up on the hill. I don’t ever recall us actually stopping to visit his grave. That would occur many years later, probably long after mom had died. Mom died in December of 1981.

I don’t recall when I first drove up on the hill and walked around Governor Russell’s gravesite. His wife is also buried there. There was an ornate wrought iron fence & gate surrounding their graves. But as I visited at later times, I would note that someone had removed much of the wrought iron. I remember, and have a picture somewhere, of a closeup of the wrought iron gate. I noted that there was a dog’s head as part of the gate.

Palo Alto Plantation – Swansboro-Belgrade Road, Onslow County, North Carolina

After Daniel Russell’s mother died, he came to live with his maternal grandfather at Palo Alto Plantation. I seem to recall reading that he had his own pony that he rode around the plantation. He had a black nanny and that was one reason for his attention to slaves. I think he also attended a military academy.

Years ago, probably at least 20 years, I became interested in my family’s genealogy. I then came across a posting online (early Web) that said there were images of David Ward Sanders & his wife, Alice Mitchell. They were the owners of Palo Alto Plantation, and Daniel Russell’s grandparents. I ended up spending $10 for each TIF image, which I sent to Tennessee to the Daughters of the American Revolution, and they mailed two CDs back to me. They had taken photos of two large oil paintings of the Sanders, and these were part of a publication of famous persons.

When he was running for Governor, the News and Observer Newspaper published several “racist” cartoons of Russell, one in which he had long claw like fingers.

Governor Russell was a Republican governor, who was sandwiched between two Democratic governors. He wrote that when he and his wife arrived at the Governor’s Mansion in Raleigh, it had been left in a mess with empty alcohol bottles thrown about. He made a resolution to leave the Mansion is a better condition for his successor, which he did. Charles B. Aycock was Russell’s successor, and they had a much better relationship than Republicans and Democrats do currently. I think they focused upon both being lawyers and the things they had in common. *I stayed in Aycock dorm when I attended UNC-Chapel Hill. Years later the name “Aycock” would be removed from this dorm due to Aycock’s racist activities.

After becoming Governor, he was returning to the Wilmington, North Carolina area in order to place his vote. It was revealed to him that some of the “Maxton Red Shirts,” planned to kidnap him from the train he was riding, and perhaps do even worse. But, Governor Russell outwitted these “hooligans,” and exited the train at one stop earlier than he had planned and the Red Shirts were left wondering where he was.

NOTE: I think it is a shame that this Governor’s resting place is so neglected. *The image of Daniel Lindsay Russell shown above is from family photos and is probably before he became the Governor, and while he was practicing law in Wilmington.

One of my earliest Christmas memories is of going up to a store at Palo Alto. Mom bought me a Tonka Cement Mixer toy from the store and I got it as a present for that Christmas. No, I don’t recall which Christmas it was, but that is the earliest toy I recall that I know was a Christmas present.

We would usually have Egg Nog, probably from Maola Milk Company, and a real Christmas tree. We would watch “Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer” on TV.

*I also recall the story that Burl Ives once stopped his boat in Swansboro while travelling the Intracoastal Waterway, maybe to gas it up, but he was impolite, and the people he was impolite to, did not appreciate his impoliteness.

The images below remind me of Christmases I celebrated as a child.