James S. Russell was born around 1845 in Michigan to Lockwood and Emmaretta Russell. His father was a farmer who owned $2,000 of real estate and $850 of personal property by 1860. He grew up and attended school in Sterling, Michigan. He enlisted in the Union army on March 20, 1862, and he mustered in as a private in Company I of the 16th Michigan Infantry on April 10. He died sometime after April 1862.