W. S. C. (Waterman Spaulding Chapman) Russell

Born in Woodstock, New Hampshire, on April 13, 1871, Waterman Spaulding Chapman Russell was an American writer and traveler. Family records show that he married Elizabeth Winn Foster in 1895, and that he died in Woodstock on September 29, 1918, at just 47 years old.

Russell is chiefly associated with travel writing. His best-known book, Iceland: Horseback Tours in Saga Land, presents Iceland not as a distant myth but as a place to be crossed, observed, and enjoyed firsthand. The surviving edition also includes photographs, which helps give his writing a direct, companionable feel.

Although he does not seem to be widely remembered today, Russell's appeal is easy to see. He wrote at a time when northern travel still felt demanding and unusual, and his work preserves that mixture of hardship, curiosity, and excitement that makes classic travel books so readable.