RUSSELL is compounded of two Norman and French words—roz, castle, and el, a synonym for eau, water.  The name was first given to a castle in 1045 in lower Normandy, and implied a tower or castle by the water.  Hugh, son of William Bertrand, was invested with this strong hold and took its name, calling himself Hugh Rozel, from which came Rosel, Rousel, and the present orthography.  The Bertrand ancestry is traceable as far back as the seventh century, to the Norwegian Zarls, to Rerick, the first King of Normandy, down through King Harold, who reigned there in 885.  William Bertrand and his sons Roger, Hugh, Theobold and Richard, accompanied William on his first expedition to England, and received large grants of the public domain confiscated from the subjugated Saxons.  These were the founders of the English Russels.  John Russell, who lived in the sixteenth century, was of this descent, a son of James, in the west of England.  He rose in favor with Henry's executors.  Upon the accession of Edward VI he continued near to the throne and distinguished himself at St. Mary's Cyst, and was created Earl of Bedford.  The fourth Earl of Bedford was a Georgian statesman, and Lord John Russell was premier of England in 1846 and again in 1865.  William H. Russell, the famed war correspondent, known as "Bull Run" Russell, is another of the name and lineage.  In this country we have had the Hon. John E. Russell, and William A. Russell, Massachusetts congressmen, and Governor William E. Russell.  The armorial bearings of the Russells was:  Crest: a demi lion, rampant, collared sable, studded or, holding a cross of the shield.  Conspicuous representatives appear in the professions, in civil affairs and in the annals of war. (Genealogical and Personal Memoirs Relating to the Families of the State of Massachusetts, Cutter & Adams, v.4, 1910).