Helen Russel
Toronto Daily Star, December 30 1922
I am endlessly fascinated by the society pages of old Toronto newspapers. For example, here's a photograph of a young woman whose mother was hosting a social event at their home:
Needless to say, some of the text in this caption would have a different meaning today. I am assuming that the phrase "not-out" meant that Miss Russel had not made her official debut in society.
The society pages also provided more details on the event:
I am fascinated by the idea of an orchestra in the hall. How many people did it have?
I looked the Russel family up in the Toronto city directories. The 1923 directory lists William B. Russel as the vice-president of Vacuetts Limited and living at 16 Chestnut Park (which is in Rosedale). The 1926 directory lists him at the same address with no listed occupation.
After this, the listings get confusing. Poor Mr. Russel probably spent his lifetime correcting people who spelled his surname as "Russell". The Toronto city directories had this problem also, and I'm not entirely certain I always had the right man:
- The 1927 directory lists William B. Russell as the president of Federal Gold and Copper Mines and living at 16 Chestnut Park.
- The 1928 directory lists William B. Russell as the vice-president of Construction and Engineering Limited and at 16 Chestnut Park. But it also lists a William B. Russel as a contractor and living at 130 Farnham Avenue, which isn't that far away. 130 Farnham also is listed as the residence of Helen, Jean, Margaret, and William M. Russel.
- To add extra confusion: the 1929 directory lists both William B. Russel and William B. Russell at 16 Chestnut Park. It also lists Helen Russel as a clerk at the Liquor Control Board and Helen Russell as working at Ontario Electric Control, both at the same address. Margaret and Jean Russell are listed at 16 Chestnut Park but not Margaret and Jean Russel. This all suggests sloppy editing by whoever was updating the city directories. I'm reasonably certain that both Helen Russell and Helen Russel are the person in the photo above.
- The 1930 directory lists William B. Russel as a contractor at 16 Chestnut Park, but has no reference to Helen. Jean Russel is listed as a clerk at Canada Life Assurance at that address.
- The 1931 directory lists William B. Russell as a contractor, now at 18 Teddington Park, unit 1. There is a Helen Russell at the same address with no listed occupation. Jean and Margaret are also listed; Jean is an employee at Eaton's.
- The 1932 directory lists William B. Russel as a contractor, now at 122 Rosedale Heights Drive. Jean and Margaret reappear, but Helen is not listed.
- I couldn't find a listing for the family in the 1933 directory.
- The 1934 directory lists William B. Russel at 189 Wanless Avenue. Margaret is there also, but no other family members. The 1935 listing was the same. At this point, I would assume that Miss Helen Russell or Russel is now married. But who knows?
Created October 14, 2025.