Martin “Pops” Russell was born in Sweden on February 14, 1868, and is the oldest of Nel Russell’s four children. Read about how the family came to have this English last name in How our Swedish Ancestors Came to be Named Russell. Martin was 11 years old when his family immigrated to the U.S. in 1880, settling in Chicago. At about age 12, Martin and his brother, John, had a job lighting lamps in the city. This job was often done by immigrants, as it required no knowledge of English. Pops worked for a time as an administrator for the Temperance Union. Then, in about 1900, went to work for the American School and Technical Society, where he remained for 40 years as the Treasurer and Board member (a position that would be called Chief Financial Officer today).
The American School was one of two mail-order high school diploma companies in Chicago (the other was the International School). There were no students on site. Pops had a reputation as a tough taskmaster. For example, there were clerks who made entries into the daily ledgers. These entries needed to be added and checked at the end of the day, the ledger books assembled and brought to a safe overnight. the latter task had to be done after 5:00 p.m., as work hours were 9 to 5, and Pops considered these hours to be for “making entries only!”
In 1891 Martin married Hilda Oberg (1864-1938) who was born in Nal, Narika, Sweden, and emigrated to the United States with her family in 1884. After Hilda’s death in 1938, Martin remarried to one of Hilda’s nieces in 1940, Violet Oberg (1903-1964). Violet outlived Martin by just 2 years.