Harrison Bell & Vincent Bell of Shelby County, OH

I'm finally getting around to posting these final few notes about the Bells.

Research Trip - August 2012 - Shelby County, Ohio

During my last trip to Ohio I searched the Shelby County probate courthouse records for any of our Bell relatives. There were no birth records at the time of Harrison Bell's birth (he was probably born in Hardin, Shelby Co, OH). There were no probate records for either Lewis or Harrison Bell, but I did find the last will and testament of Vincent Bell who left his estate to his brother, Harrison Bell of the same county, and his sister, Nancy Bell Bennet.

The will was filed on 22 July 1854.

The estate was settled on 14 June 1859 and signed by W. W. Skillen, Probate Judge.

This continues to link the names that were listed in the D.A.R. magazine as children of Lewis and Mary Anderson Bell. (Vincent, Harrison and Nancy were siblings.) It still doesn't give an actual primary source document listing Lewis and Mary Bell as their parents, however.



My parents and I also found two cemeteries in Hardin, Shelby Co, OH with some Bell connections.

The first was Carey Cemetery - a very old cemetery with mostly headstones that are unreadable, although one in particular was well preserved. It had the name of Elizabeth Davis, consort of the Rev. William F. R. Davis. This husband and wife were listed in the DAR query from 1918 as the parents of Rebecca Davis, who was the wife of William Bell, Lewis Bell's eldest son. They (William and Rebecca Bell) are supposed to be buried in this cemetery as well, according to Find-A-Grave information. We looked at every headstone, but most were unreadable.


The other cemetery, a mile or so south of the first, is Brookside Cemetery. It is being well maintained and there were some Bells in that cemetery as well, but none in our direct line.


All of these findings, although not direct proof of Harrison Bell's birth or parentage, supports the facts listed in the DAR magazine which makes me think that the author did have either a family bible, or some written record of the Lewis Bell family tree.

I also believe that the Bell family was moving along with other families who belonged to the same Methodist church. A history of Hardin in Shelby County says that the first church was at Joshua Cole's house in Hardin. I found tombstones for a son and a daughter of Joshua Cole at the Carey Cemetery quite near to Elizabeth Davis' tombstone. The cemetery is located on what appears to be private property - very similar to the Palmer Chapel cemetery in Miami County where many of the Slagles and Andersons are buried.

More research about the Methodist Episcopal Society might be helpful.