Born in Jacksonville, Illinois, the eldest son of merchant William Scott Russel (1824–1904), who had emigrated as a boy from Scotland in 1834 and his Illinois-born wife, the former Emily Kautz Gallaher (1834–1905), daughter of a Presbyterian minister.

He was named for his by-then elderly grandfather Dr. Andrew Russel, who had become a leading member of the Jacksonville community and known for his anti-slavery stance and Underground Railroad activities before the American Civil War.

In Cairo, Alexander County, Illinois on November 18, 1891, he married Clara Elizabeth Robbins (1864–1948)[4] and they had five sons (Robbins, Stuart, Andrew Lang, John Scott and Alexander Hamilton Russel) and four daughters (Miriam, Elinor, Clara Elizabeth and Sarah Kautz Russel).

Although he lost his initial campaigns for local circuit court clerk and state senator, Russel was appointed to the Illinois Board of Pardons, and served as chairman from 1901 to 1906.

[13][14][15] Russel successfully ran as a Republican for Illinois Treasurer in 1908, so he served from 1909 to 1911 and again from 1915 to 1917 (the second time after defeating a Democrat who had succeeded to that office).

Depositors, including his alma mater, Illinois College, ultimately received about $.33 for every dollar they had deposited, substantially hurting the local economy.