Gramps

A few years ago, my sister gave me a bag with a tiled picture in it. It was wrapped in newspaper, so I didn't look at it closely. I put it on a shelf and forgot about it. The other day, I ran across that bag. I opened it up and found that it was a mosaic portrait of my mom's great-grandfather, William Augustus Russell, created by his grandson. 
William Augustus Russell lived in Key West, Florida. He owned the Russell House Hotel (extra - photo found on the internet.) He also ran a supply and mail boat out to Ft. Jefferson at the time that Dr. Samuel Mudd was incarcerated there. He became friends with Mudd, who made him a pair of cufflinks. My mom inherited those cufflinks. She donated them to the Dr. Samuel A. Mudd House Museum, where they are on display in a case at the top of the stairs. 
I have been to Ft. Jefferson and was a docent at the Mudd Museum for several years, so I feel a bit of a connection to this ancestor. It is fun to know what he looked like.