UPDATED, July 5: Actor Kurt Russell and his son Boston stood shoulder to shoulder in the Jason Russell House museum in front of the Ruth L. Berry painting that depicts the bloody battle on the first day of fighting between the Colonists and British soldiers.
Kurt spoke of learning the history of Jason Russell and “Menotomy and what is modern day Arlington,” and where his ancestor lost his life “in defense of his home.”
Jason Russell died 250 years ago “on the front stoop there having been stabbed somewhere between 11 and 27 times,” said Kirk, pointing to the scene in the painting. “And [Jason Russell] being part of the first day, such a significant part of the first day, of the American Revolution. …I love learning, in an informative way, about Arlington and its importance.”
Russell then noted that of the 25 Colonial soldiers who died on April 19, 1775, 21 of them died on his sixth great-grandfather’s land. “This was where the heaviest fighting was. This was the bloodiest part of the day. It was the most fatalities…and he had some pretty great things to say. I guess he was pretty hot, ” Kurt said. “And, he was not about to give up his house. …The new appreciation I have when John Adams was given the news of what happened here it was game on and we’re not turning back. This is a revolutionary war.
“I often think of what the world would be like in the last 250 years without America,” Russell said. “It certainly changed the world.” He added that he’s proud to be connected to that heritage and even held up a sheet from the family tree that shows how he’s related to Jason Russell. “I’m carrying this now,” he said.
The July 4th visit was part of the planned years-long Arlington250 celebrations, marking the country’s semiquincentennial anniversary and Arlington’s – then known as Menotomy – part in the first days of the country. (John Guilfoil, whose public relations firm works with area towns and on the 250th anniversary celebrations, reached out to Kurt’s representatives.)
Located at 7 Jason St., the Jason Russell House stands just off Mass. Avenue at Jason Street in Arlington Center. It was built by farmer Jason Russell around 1745 on land he inherited along the main thoroughfare, then the Concord Road. The house was purchased in 1923 by the Arlington Historical Society, which restored it in 1926 and operates it as a museum.
Thousands of passersby trek by the site daily, many never giving much thought to the events that took place there 250 years ago.
How the Russells arrived in Arlington on the Fourth of July just as the country’s 250th anniversary events ramp up, happened as genealogy research on the family tree by Boston and his brother Wyatt. Boston took one path; Wyatt the other. “He was right and I was wrong,” said Boston. He added that he was glad to be wrong in this case and not because he got to tour the Arlington site and see the ancestral home and the bullet holes from the Battle of Menotomy first-hand.
The 74-year-old actor’s career has stretched from appearances in film and TV shows as a child, through major movies such as “Escape from New York,” “Silkwood,” “Backdraft,” “Tombstone,” and to “Smufs.” Boston Russell is a psychoanalyst. Wyatt Russell is an actor, who first started to talk about this family heritage in interviews promoting the movied “Thunderbolts*” earlier this year.
For Kurt, it was a return to the area, with a new appreciation not of just how his family member died, but how he lived.
Born in Springfield, Russell said that he was aware of his connections to the region, just not to the patriot Jason Ruseell and said that he’s sure his own grandparents and other relatives would have toured the Arlington area. Kurt noted that he knew his great-grandfather who was only a few generations removed from Jason Russell. (Each person has 256 sixth great-grandparents.)
As word spread of this newfound connection to the Battle of Menotomy and Arlington’s history, some adjustments and corrections were made to the relationship. The updated information actually deepens Kurt Russell’s living family connection to Jason Russell and the founding of what is now Arlington.
Arlington Historical Society’s Executive Director Matt Beres provided the family tree:
- Boston Oliver Grant Russell (b. 1980) | Wyatt Hawn Russell (b. 1986) Sons,10th generation
- Kurt Vogel Russell (b. 1951) Married: Season Hubley | (b. 1951), Goldie Jeanne Hawn (b. 1945) “Self,” 9th generation
- Neil Oliver “Bing” Russell (1926-2003) Married: Louise Julia Crone (1928-2021) Father, 8th generation
- Warren Oliver Russell (1906-1993) Married: Ruth Stewart Vogel (1905-2008) Grandfather, 7th generation
- Edwin Oliver Russell (1873-1959) Married: Edith Ellen Hathaway (1875-1927) Great-grandfather, 6th generation
- Warren Chester (or Oliver) Russell (1841-1908) Married: Sarah Ann Robbins (1850-1927) Great-great-grandfather, 5th generation
- William Russell (1796-1864) Married: Achsah Kelly (1804-1864) Great-great-great-grandfather, 4th generation
- Jason Russell III (1763-1840) Married: Rebecca Laughton (1769-1848) Great-great-great-great-grandfather, 3rd generation
- Jason Russell Jr. (1741-1825) Married: Elisabeth Lock (1745-1789) Great-great-great-great-great-grandfather 2nd generation
- Jason Russell (1717-1775) Married: Elizabeth Winship (1721-1786) Great-great-great-great-great-great-grandfather, 1st generation
(Side note: William A. Russell (1605-1661), a later ascendant, migrated to the Ipswich area from England probably after the 1620 and 1629 Mayflowers. But, sources indicated that he first settled in Menotomy, so probably around 1640 or so.)
Detail of the Ellen L. Berry 1975 painting.Patriots Day, 2025
Kurt Russell said that he wished he and his family had been in Arlington for this Patriots Day on April 20, when a couple of thousand people lined Mass. Avenue from Grove Street past the Jason Russell House and Town Hall to Mystic Street for the reenactment for the 250th anniversary of the Battle of Menotomy.
It was at this very busy intersection of Mass. Avenue at Jason Street in the center of Arlington where “the bloodiest engagement” of the opening day of the Revolutionary War took place on the afternoon of April 19, 1775, with 25 colonial casualties and more than 40 British soldiers killed, according to the “History of the Town of Arlington, Massachusetts: 1635-1879.”
You can be forgiven if you have not heard of this important part of the country’s history or have only noted it when the town shuts down Mass. Avenue on the Sunday of Patriots Day weekend. With the fear and confusion of the start of the war, accounts were lost, and Arlington’s leading citizens began the quest to fully write the record of April 19, 1775, for the centennial in 1875. It’s an effort that continues to today. Even in Lexington and Concord, there is an ongoing debate over which town was really the spot where the Revolutionary War began. (For more of YourArlington’s coverage of the 250th events in April, click here. >>)
Boston and Kurt Russell just steps away from where their ancestor Jason Russell lost his life defending his home on the opening day of the Revolutionary War.
House tour
While on the tour of the house, Kurt and Boston were fully conversant on the history of their ancestor and of the battle that changed history.
Kurt, who served in the military, marveled at the bravery of the both the professional British soldiers and the local militia men who took up arms to fight for as Jason Russell was quoted as saying “an Englishman’s home was his castle.”
With the weaponry of the day, it was tough to get off a shot in under two minutes. “I could see why someone would want to cut and run,” Kurt said.
Although active in his community’s civic life and considered a Patriot, Jason Russell was not required to take up arms becuase he was 59-years-old and has a leg injury that left him lame.
In fact, Russell had been attempting to move his wife, Elizabeth, and children out of Menotomy when he turned back to arrive as the fighting was breaking out. Asked about Russell’s decision to stay at his home, Kurt said “I think he made the right one. Everybody has got to die sometime. It was his choice and it is an important part of American history…and I’m proud [of my] ancestor.
The historic Jason Russell House on July 4.
Arlington has been searching for Jason Russell’s family links and those of other figures from the Revolutionary War era since before the Bicentennial celebrations in 1976.
Asked about that link and it only recently being discovered, Kurt said that he has not been focused solely on how Jason Russell died, but in how all his ancestors live.
“I’m already hearing things that remind me of my father, my grandfather, my great-grandfather that I remember in my life, maybe even in myself,” Kurt said. “DNA is a funny thing.”
“That’s what I’m being struck by,” Russell added, “Is how connected — it’s not that long ago. It’s only seven men ago before me.”
Standing in the kitchen of the historic house near the steps with the bullet holes from the Battle of Menotomy and just steps away from the spot where Jason was killed, Kurt marveled at the house that Jason, an apple farmer, had built. Pointing to the ceilings, which have decorative spots made with corn cobs, Kurt said: “You know that Jason didn’t think of that…at least I don’t think he did. That’s how they lived.”
After their time in Arlington, the Russells made their way to the Boston Pops Orchestra’s July Fourth concert and fireworks concert, where Kurt was interviewed by TV hosts and was still holding forth about his time in Arlington. “I just found out about all of this in the last 24 hours,” he told WHDH-TV’s Adam Williams. “I am so incredibly proud.”
This news story, published July 4, 2025, was prepared using interviews, field reports and historic records. It was updated on July 5 to correct information provided to YourArlington.
