| 1881 | Born Manchester, CT, youngest of 11 children |
| 1901–04 | Yale University |
| 1904–07 | Studies at Art Students League, New York City |
| 1907–10 | Studies at Académie Julian, Paris |
| 1910–11 | President Art Students League, NYC |
| 1911 | Exhibited at le Salon des Artistes Français |
| 1912–15 | Establishes studio in Manchester, CT; paints in Maine, Santa Fe, NM, southern California; solo exhibits in New Haven and at Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford |
| 1916 | Paints in Topsham, VT, and Woodstock, NY; diagnosed with TB, sent to sanatorium in Colorado Springs |
| 1917 | Paints at Colorado Springs; solo exhibit at Wadsworth Atheneum and Society of Independent Artists, NYC |
| 1916–21 | Paints in Connecticut and Vermont |
| 1919–20 | Exhibits at Wadsworth Atheneum; Portland, ME |
| 1921–22 | Santa Barbara; Buffalo; Babcock Galleries, NYC; Rhode Island School of Design; Wadsworth Atheneum |
| 1923 | Exhibits Colorado Springs; San Francisco; NYC; summer in France with niece Helen and Farwell Knapp; winters with H. Phelps and Ruth Putnam in Calais, France |
| 1924 | Solo exhibits Oakland; Babcock Galleries, NYC; Hartford and Washington, DC, galleries. Returns to France and Italy, meets F.O. Matthiessen |
| 1925–26 | Returns for solo exhibits NYC, Hartford, Baltimore |
| 1926 | Paints and solo exhibits in Santa Barbara and Pasadena; Wadsworth Atheneum |
| 1927 | Solo exhibits Babcock Galleries, NYC; Wadsworth Atheneum; invited portrait of F.O. Matthiessen, National Academy of Design Modern Group exhibition; begins summering at Kittery, ME |
| 1928–29 | Changes representation to Montross Gallery, NYC; solo exhibits Montross, Yale Art Gallery; group shows in NYC, Hartford, Philadelphia, Chicago |
| 1930 | Paints and exhibits in Santa Fe; NYC; Hartford; F.O. Matthiessen buys him house and studio in Kittery, ME |
| 1931–33 | Group shows Chicago; Cleveland; Hartford; Ogunquit, ME; Andover, MA; solo exhibits San Antonio; Montross, NYC; Hartford; Santa Fe; Santa Barbara, San Diego, and San Francisco |
| 1934–35 | Exhibits Montross Gallery, NYC; Grace Horne Gallery, Boston; Hartford; Museum of New Mexico, Santa Fe; Addison Gallery, Andover, MA; Portsmouth; group shows Ogunquit; Chicago, Century of Progress; Century Association, NYC |
| 1936–41 | Exhibits Grace Horne Gallery, Boston; Portland; Kittery Point, ME; Portsmouth; new NYC representation at Ferargil Galleries, NYC |
| 1941–45 | Hospitalized for alcoholism, painted Portsmouth, Kittery, and Texas; exhibits at Santa Fe, and Abilene |
| 1945 | July 12, Russell Cheney dies at home, Kittery, ME |