Tabitha L. Russell
  b: 1805 - Grayson Co., VA
  d: 16/Jun/1887 - Grayson Co., VA - bur: Old Bonham Cem.

Father: Phillip Russell, Jr.
Mother: Rebeckah Russell

Spouse: Joseph Bonham
  m: 29/Aug/1822 - Grayson Co., VA

Child-1: Hannah D. - b: 6/Jul/1823 - Grayson Co., VA
                                 d: 10/Sep/1870 - Grayson Co., VA - bur: Comers Rock Cem.
                                m: Abraham Shuler - 10/Feb/1838 - Grayson Co., VA
          2: William Privett - b: 29/Oct/1824 - Grayson Co., VA
                                       d: 19/May/1906 - Grayson Co., VA - bur: Young Cem.
                                      m: Sarah Bishop - 17/Jun/1847 - Smyth Co., VA
                                      m: Mary (Polly) Brewer - 19/Feb/1857 - Grayson Co., VA
          3: Elizabeth - b: 5/Jul/1826 - Grayson Co., VA
                              d: 10/Nov/1906 - Grayson Co., VA
                             m: John P. Tucker - 10/Oct/1850 - Grayson Co., VA
          4: Rebecca - b: 3/Jan/1828 - Grayson Co., VA
                              d: 11/Nov/1895 - VA
                             m: Creed Porter - 5/Sep/1850 - Grayson Co., VA
                             m: William Roe - 18/Mar/1865 - Grayson Co., VA
          5: Ludema Susannah - b: 24/Jan/1830 - Grayson Co., VA
                                            d: 10/Mar/1899 - Grayson Co., VA - bur: Grubb's Chapel Cem.
                                           m: Samuel Jackson Bishop - 6/Nov/1851 - Grayson Co., VA
          6: Ephraim Harvey - b: 24/Oct/1831 - Grayson Co., VA
                                          d: 18/Apr/1880 - Grayson Co., VA - bur: Old Bonham Cem.
                                         m: Martha (Patsy) Bishop - 22/May/1851 - Grayson Co., VA
                                         m: Mary (Polly) Roe - 2/Nov/1872 - Grayson Co., VA
          7: Rosamond - b: 20/Dec/1833 - Grayson Co., VA
                                 d: 29/May/1859 - Grayson Co., VA - bur: Old Bonham Cem.
                                m: John Wiley Brewer - 26/Feb/1857 - Grayson Co., VA
          8: Evaline Mahala - b: 15/Jan/1836 - Grayson Co., VA
                                       m: Elkanah Bishop - 5/Feb/1854 - Grayson Co., VA
                                       m: Martin Haga - 23/Nov/1865 - Grayson Co., VA
                                       m: David Lane - 1/Nov/1883
          9: Allen Lofton - b: 24/Mar/1838 - Grayson Co., VA
                                    d: 9/Jan/1905 - Grayson Co., VA - bur: Old Bonham Cem.
                                   m: Candace P. Jones - 28/Dec/1865 - Grayson Co., VA
        10: Lucy - b: 29/Jul/1840 - Grayson Co., VA
                         d: 1930 - Grayson Co., VA - bur: Rock Bridge Baptist Church Cem.
                        m: Andrew Jackson Ross, Jr. - 1/Jan/1856 - Grayson Co., VA
        11: Lettie or Cazada - b: 18/Feb/1843 - Grayson Co., VA - d: 25/Dec/1843 - Grayson Co., VA

Biographical Details:

Tabitha Russell was was born about 1805 in Grayson County, Virginia, and was the daughter of Philip, Jr., and Rebeckah Russell.  Apparently, she spent her childhood and adolescence in Grayson County and married Joseph Bonham on August 22, 1829.  Evidently, this was a double wedding since Tabitha's brother, William, married Joseph's sister, Anna, on exactly the same day.  As noted elsewhere, Joseph and Tabitha Russell apparently spent their entire married life in Grayson County.  They were the parents of eleven known children, ten of whom survived to adulthood.  (Alternatively, in her history of the Bonham family, Ms. Trula Purkey identified the youngest daughter of Joseph and Tabitha Bonham as "Lettie" and indicated that she married someone named Hall; however, there is no evidence of this child in subsequent census records, which probably means that if she existed at all, she likely died young and; hence, did not marry.)  In their old age Joseph and Tabitha Russell Bonham lived with their son, Allen, and his wife and family.  Joseph died in 1881.  Tabitha died on June 16, 1887, in Grayson County and was almost certainly buried in the Old Bonham Cemetery.  In contrast, other sources report that she was buried in the Rockbridge Cemetery; however, this is probably not factual since the earliest burials in this cemetery seem to date only from the first decade of the twentieth century (although, perhaps, her body was moved later).  Even so, many younger members of the Bonham family were evidently buried in the Rockbridge Cemetery and, perhaps, this accounts for the assumption by other researchers that Joseph and Tabitha were buried there also.


Source Citations:

1. Marriage Register, Bk. 1, Grayson Co., VA, pg. 16, Library of Virginia, Richmond, VA, (microfilm: roll - City and County Records #18)("Grayson County Marriages 1793-1836", Jeffrey Weaver (tr), New River Notes, www.newrivernotes.com/index.htm, 2015.)

2. Trula Fay Parks Purkey,"Old Bonham Cemetery", unpublished. (Jeffrey Weaver (tr), New River Notes, www.newrivernotes.com/index.htm, 2015.)

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3. Grubb's Chapel Cemetery, Grayson County, Virginia (www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=cr&CRid=2211816&CScn=Grubb&CScntry=4&CSst=48&CScnty=2840&, continuously updated).

4. Rock Bridge Baptist Church Cemetery, Grayson County, Virginia (www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=cr&CRid=760068&CScn=Rock&CScntry=4&CSst=48&CScnty=2840&, continuously updated).

5. Shirley Campbell Ramos and Patricia Campbell Kratz, Descendants of Phillip and Rebecca Russell, Gregath Publishing Company, P. O. B. 505, Wyandotte, OK, 74370, 1997: pgs. 36-50.

6. Henry Hardy Catron, The Kettenring Family in America, 1619 N. 19th St., Springfield, IL, 1956.  (Reprinted by Unigraphic, Inc., Evansville, IN)

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