OBITUARY
Name: Russell C. Atkinson
From: The Leader, McLeansboro, Illinois
Date: January, 1894
R. C. Atkinson died at his residence in this city on Jan. 22, at 5:50 o'clock a.
m., at the age of 62 years, 3 months and 9 days.
The funeral services were conducted at the M. E. Church by Rev. J. L. Waller
after which the remains were interred in Odd Fellows' cemetery, conducted by the
Masonic Order.
The deceased was born October 13, 1831 in McMinn county, Tennessee. He was the
fourth of fifteen children of James and Winnie Atkinson. He emigrated, with
his parents, to Jefferson county, Illinois in 1853. In 1855 he married his
bereaved wife and soon after engaged in the mercantile business at Spring
Garden, (then Middleton) Belle Rive and McLeansboro, amassing considerable
property by the legitimate profits accruing from the large amount of business
that he was enabled to
control by his honesty and fair dealings with his many customers.
Politically he was a Democrat and for many years a member of the Masonic Order,
being a member of Polk Lodge No. 57. The deceased was a consistent worker of
the M. E. Church, a
good man and highly esteemed by all who knew him.