D.B. Russell

David B. Russell was born at Bay Roberts on 29 July 1916, son of Charles E. and Francis (Pike) Russell. He was educated at Snowden Hall Methodist School. He was married in 1937 to Dorothy B. Jones and their children include: Howard, Elizabeth, Robert, Wilson and Donna. He had been in the printing business 52 years. His community involvements included: member of the Patriotic Association and Comforts Committee during World War II, member of the Bay Roberts Road Board, 12 years as a member of the Bay Roberts Town Council, member of the Kiwanis Club, active with the Red Cross Society, the Canadian Cancer Society and Newfoundland T.B. Association. He was sole operator of the Bay Roberts Guardian and D.B. Russell Printing from 1944 and associated with the operation in every capacity since 1930. He died in April 1990. He inherited the family- owned business from his father, Charles E. Russell.

C.E. Russell was born in Bay Roberts in 1877. The family moved to St. John’s and Charles began selling newspapers at the age of 9. He began as a member of the staff of the Telegram until the age of 17 when he moved to Toronto. He found employment with the Methodist Publishing House. He returned to St. John’s and along with Kenneth Barnes, printed and published a weekly newspaper called “The Citizen”. He moved back to Bay Roberts and in 1909 bought a small printing plant from Harris and Wesley Mosdell. On July 9, 1909, the first issue of “The Guardian” rolled off the man- power driven press. At the death of C.E. Russell, on October 30, 1937, the name of “The Guardian” was changed to “The Bay Roberts Guardian”. In 1920, an automated typesetting machine (linotype) was acquired along with an eight ton press. Photostat copies of “The Guardian” and “The Bay Robert’s Guardian” from 1909 – 1949 may be viewed at the Newfoundland Archives, St. John’s.