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Howdy, here's a good time-line on the 44wcf & 44-40 cartridge from over at leverguns.com:
http://www.leverguns.com/articles/44wcf.htm

No mention of it evolving into the .44 special though. Now Chuck Hawks has a lot of info on it, the .44 special, as he twells it:
"Smith & Wesson introduced the .44 Special in 1907 as a smokeless powder cartridge. Its case was based on a lengthened version of the older .44 Russian black powder cartridge. The .44 Russian had an impressive reputation for accuracy and so does the .44 Special."
http://www.chuckhawks.com/44special.htm

Of course he says a bit more also.
I spent a great part of my youthful energies reading Elmer Keith, so his early experimentation with the .44 special are the stuff of legends...but, as he said..."Hell, I was there!"...so he must be right. He had the big ol N-frames and he just went up from the basic. Pretty soon he was shooting deer across them valleys.
A good article is here:
http://www.reference.com/browse/wiki/.44_Special

It looks like the .44 Russian was the main, there were others it looks like, ancestor to the .44 special which came along in 1907 for "New Century model, also known as the .44 Hand Ejector, or 1st Model of 1908. In common parlance of the time it also become known as the Triple Lock."
http://www.reference.com/browse/wiki/.44_Special

I had always thought its lineage came from the .44-40 blackpowder line. Oh well, I still like it.