Today I will look at several unsourced family trees for Lewis Bell and Mary Anderson. Some of the information is very helpful when trying to search for source documents, especially census records.
Family Search (the LDS family history online database)
There is a Family Group Record for Lewis Bell and Mary Anderson of Fauquier Co, VA. It lists nine children, they are:
1) James male (11 Jan 1794 - 1 Jan 1835). Place of death West Lebanon, Warren, Indiana.
2) Rebecca female (1797 - none listed).
3) Fielding male (1792 - 1854). Place of death Bedford, Tennessee.
4) Nancy female (1801 - 26 Feb 1883).
5) Vincent male (1802 - June 1859). Place of death Shelby, Ohio.
6) Harrison male (1797 - after 1850). Place of death Poss, Shelby, Ohio. [NOTE: I know that all of this information is incorrect.]
7) Elizabeth female (1804 - none listed).
8) Thomas male (Jul 1809 - 2 Aug 1854). Place of death Adams, Indiana.
9) Margaret female (1811 - none listed).
Interestingly, William Bell, the one son mentioned in the deed of trust (see yesterday's post) is not listed on this Family Group Sheet.
DAR Magazine
There was a "reader query" in a 1918 DAR magazine which listed the names of all of Lewis and Mary Anderson Bell's children. There are no dates, but it does mention some spouses, which is helpful as well.
"BELL - Ancestry desired. Probably came from Maryland to Virginia; m Mary Anderson in Fauquier Co., Va., where all of their children were born, and moved to Ohio with children in about 1821; settled at Bellbrook, named for Bell. He had ten children: William, m Rebecca Davis, dau of "Parson Davis," (probably Wm. F. R. Davis, in Va., where several of their children were born) James, Margaret, Fielding, Harrison, Vincent, Thomas (my mother's father), Nancy Elizabeth (who m my uncle Geo. Anderson), Rebecca."
[NOTE: I looked into the theory that they settled in Bellbrook, Greene Co, OH and found little to support it. See later in this post regarding Thomas C Bell, son of William Bell and Rebecca Davis.]
The same reader listed two other queries - one about the Anderson family and one about the Mattox family. Both of those surnames were in his lineage. The reader signs his query "R. S. A." His grandfather was Vincent Anderson who married Mary Mattox.
One thing that I do find interesting about this query is that it ties the Anderson and Bell families pretty tightly together. There are Anderson, Mattox and Slagle's (Harrison Bell's in-laws) all buried in the Palmer Chaple Cemetery in Bethel Twp, Miami Co, OH. I saw Vincent Anderson's tombstone there this past August.
So I am taking the names of the 10 children as fairly accurate. I believe the 1918 reader query had to be based on family bibles or oral family tradition. I then began to search census records for more clues about the family.
I already found the 1810, 1820 and 1830 census records for Lewis Bell which match pretty closely with the names and dates that are on the Family Search Family Group Sheet above.
Now I have started looking for more census records about Lewis Bell's children. This is what I found today.
1840 Federal Census for Turtle Creek Twp, Shelby Co, OH
Wm Bell
The ages of the people in this household closely correlate to a family tree that I found on Family Search for William Bell, the son of Lewis Bell of Fauquier County, VA. The submitter was William Bell of Talahassee, FL.
There is also a male aged 60-69 in the household who COULD BE Lewis Bell, but also could be someone else. I believe that Lewis Bell probably died before 1840 or he would be listed as head of household - see my next note about his wife/widow.
There is also a female aged 40-49 who could be, and probably is, Rebecca Davis Bell, William's wife. I don't agree with the family trees that say William Bell had a third wife who he married in the 1830's. Rebecca Bell is listed as head of household in 1850 with all of their children listed by name.
1840 Federal Census for Franklin Twp, Shelby Co, OH
Fielding Bell
There are 3 males aged 30-39 and 1 female aged 20-29 and 1 female aged 60-69. I think this may be a household of the 4 unmarried children of Lewis and Mary Bell. That would be Fielding, James, Vincent and Elizabeth Bell. The ages don't quite match up, but that is a common error on census records. The older woman is quite possibly Mary Anderson Bell, their mother.
Two lines down from Fielding Bell is
Thomas Bell
This is another one of Lewis Bell's sons. There are 4 young children (1 male, 3 female) along with Thomas Bell aged 30-39 which matches what I know of his probable birthdate, and a female aged 20-29, who must be Minerva Helmer Bell, his wife. I have been in contact with a descendant of Thomas Bell and his information matches this Census record.
1850 Federal Census for Bethel Twp, Miami Co, OH
Jeremiah Bennett
The descendant of Thomas Bell has also given me some information about Nancy Bell, daughter of Lewis Bell, and recorded that she married Jeremiah Bennett. I know that Harrison Bell's son James B Bell's middle name was Bennett, so that is a probable connection to the family. This census record lists Nancy Bennett, aged 36 - which sounds a little young for the Nancy Bell who was Lewis Bell's daughter. However, the writing is very hard to read, and I've certainly known many census record ages to be wrong.
Vincent Bell is also a member of the household - aged 45 or 48 (hard to read). That matches the age of Vincent Bell who was the son of Lewis Bell. Another household member is Mary Bell, aged 83. This could easily be Mary Anderson Bell, widow of Lewis Bell and mother of Nancy and Vincent Bell.
John Anderson
The same township census record has John Anderson, aged 36, born in Kentucky with Mary Bell, aged 73, born in Virginia, living with him. This could also be Mary Anderson Bell, widow of Lewis Bell, living with a nephew. I would guess it more likely that she would be living with her daughter and son than with a nephew.
Find-A-Grave Carey Cemetery, Shelby County, OH
William Bell
There is a memorial listed on the Find A Grave website for William Bell, husband of Rebecca (Davis) Bell. It lists his birth date as Feb 18, 1796 and his death date as Jan 15, 1845. There is no photo, so I don't know if a lookup was done at the cemetery, or just listed by a descendant.
Rebecca Bell
Another memorial is listed for Rebecca (Davis) Bell. Her birth date is listed as Aug 1, 1793 and her death date as Mar 29, 1862. Again, no photo or source is indicated. Her parents are listed - William A Davis (1766 - 1837) and Elizabeth (Cocston) Davis (1760-1841).
Someone else linked Thomas Cowan Bell to these two memorials saying that they were his parents. He was one of the founders of the Sigma Chi fraternity when he attended Miami University in Oxford, OH in the 1850's. This Thomas C Bell was born in Greene Co, OH according to the Sigma Chi biography, and served in the Civil War (I looked up his pension records on Footnote and they matched a biography I found on the Sigma Chi website). He died in Oakland, CA in 1919 according to the Civil War records. He is buried at the San Francisco National Cemetery.
William and Rebecca (Davis) Bell did have a son named Thomas C Bell - the 1850 census for Turtle Creek Twp, Shelby Co, OH lists him, aged 18, living with his mother - who was already a widow in 1850 - and his other siblings. It is certainly possible that he is the same man who attended Miami University in Oxford, OH in the 1850's. He had an Aunt Lizzie Davis who he apparently lived with while he attended school, so her husband could have been related to Rebecca Davis.
One of Thomas C Bell's sons applied for membership to the Sons of the American Revolution in 1897 and used Rebecca Davis's father, William A Davis, as his Revolutionary War ancestor. (I found his application on Ancestry.com today.)
1830 Federal Census for Sugar Creek Twp, Greene Co, OH
William Bell
There is a record for William Bell in Sugar Creek Twp, Greene County in 1830, and I don't find any William Bell head of households in Miami, Clark or Shelby County in 1830. The ages match those of William and Rebecca Davis Bell and their children, so it is probable that they are the parents of Thomas Cowan Bell who was a founder of the Sigma Chi fraternity. There were no other Thomas Bell's listed in Greene, Shelby, Miami, or Clark County in 1850 who were born in 1832 - at least not that I found so far.
This seems to link our Bell line with Stephen Bell, the founder of Bellbrook in Greene County, OH, but I don't think it's a very strong connection. Our Bell ancestors loved to name their children after relatives, and I don't see a single Stephen among any of the records that I've found so far. William and Rebecca moved to Shelby County before 1840 and lived out their lives there.
In summary, I believe that most of Lewis Bell's children settled in Shelby County (a little ways north of Miami County) in the 1840's - 1850's and lived near each other for a period of time before they began to migrate to other counties and states. The only one who possibly lived in Greene County was William Bell, and that only for a short period of time.
My next post will be about Lewis Bell's son Harrison Bell, my great-great-great grandfather.
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