BELL Ancestors of East Tennessee

PRICE and BELL Family - taken ca. 1906

I'm a bit confused at this time as to the early lineage of John Bell. There may have been "two" John BELL's who were born in Knox Co. TN... who each had a son named Joseph (born abt. the same time???)
My husband's ancestor was Josephus "Joseph" C. Bell and his death certificate lists his father as "John Bell" and his mother is listed as "Malinda Ralston".

Josephus Bell appeared on the 1850 Knox Co. TN census with father John Bell and mother Mary (Clark).
John was married to Mary Clark on November 19, 1846 in Knox Co., TN. She died sometime after 1850 (because she appeared on the 1850 Knox Co. Tn census with him and three children (see below).
There is also a record of John Bell married to Malinda Ralston on January 26, 1848 in Knox Co. TN).
If John Bell was married previously to Mary Clark on November 19, 1846 in Knox Co., TN and she did not die until after 1850, then John Bell could not have married Malinda Ralston in 1848..., or he had two wives at the same time. Who knows?

1850 Knox Co. TN census (548-169):
John BELL, age 27, b. TN
Mary 31, b. TN (Mary Clark shown married to John Bell in Knox Co. TN on Nov. 19, 1846)
Harriett E. 11.........(John would have only been 16 yrs. old when this child was born - this may have been a child of Mary's from a previous marriage..? since she is older than John - or perhaps she is a daughter of one of John Bell's brothers who had died? - I have no additional info. on Harriett....)
Ann Eliza, age 3
Josephus BELL 7/12
I have the following children listed for John Bell in my database, but I'm really not sure if these were two separate marriages by two separate John Bell's... If anyone can help me sort this out, please contact me!

(Children with wife Mary Clark):
1. Harriett E. BELL, b. 1839 could be a daughter from a wife's previous marriage?
2. Josephus C. BELL, b. 1845, TN; d. June 20, 1921 and is buried in Ballard's Chapel Missionary Baptist Church Cem., Blount Co., TN. He married on 17 Oct. 1872 in Blount Co., TN to Ann Eliza BALLARD, dau. of Samuel BALLARD and Nancy SCOTT. (THIS IS MY HUSBAND's LINE...)
3. Ann Eliza BELL b. 1847, TN.

(Children with wife Malinda Ralston):
4. Nancy E. Bell b. 1850 (per cousin Anthony Bell)
5. William BELL, b. 1855, TN.
6. George BELL, b. 1858, TN.
7. John BELL, b. 1860, TN.
8. Martha BELL, b. 1863, TN.

Josephus C. (Joseph) BELL (b. 1845, TN) and his wife Ann Eliza (Anlisa) BALLARD (b. Dec. 1854, TN), daughter of Samuel BALLARD and Nancy SCOTT - appeared in the Blount Co., TN Census of 1900. They had eight "known" children as follows:

1. John BELL, b. after 1872 in TN.

2. James L. "Jim" BELL, b. 11-18-1877, TN. He married Hattie E. McClanahan on 13 Jan. 1901 in Blount Co., TN and had two children: one daughter named Gladys BELL (never married) who was a nurse and a son named Herbert Leslie Bell.
Jim and his wife Hattie are buried in Ballard's Chapel Missionary Baptist Church Cem. in Blount Co., TN.
This is the line of Herb Bell (hbell@vallnet.com)

3. Samuel Henry BELL, born Oct. 6, 1872, Knox Co., TN; died 13 April 1952 and is buried at Chattanooga Memorial Park Cem., Hamilton Co., TN. His occupations were Logger and Farmer. He married 1st to Cordena (Deannie) PRICE (daughter of William "Billie" PRICE (b. 1849- Feb. 1911, TN) and Emma "Angeline" TARWATER, (b. 1847 TN, d. after 1910, TN), daughter of Peter Wesley TARWATER and Sarah "Sally" BEAN. They were farmers in Knoxville, Knox Co., TN).

Samuel and Cordena "Deannie" Price BELL had the following children:
(1) Lula BELL, born 1899, TN, married a Mr. Maddox and resided in Sweetwater, TN;
(2) Bessie Lee? BELL, b. 1901, TN;
(3) William "Bill" BELL, b. Knoxville, TN? married Icee? Unknown, resided in Knoxville, TN;
(4) Viola BELL, b. July 15, 1905, Knoxville?, TN, mar. Luther Warner GRIFFITH (this is my husband's line)...she died in 1977 and is buried at the Chattanooga Memorial Park Cemetery, Hamilton Co., TN.
(5) Mary Jane BELL, b. 1908, TN mar. a Mr. Jenson;
(6) Samuel "Mark" BELL, b. 1910, TN, later resided in Rockford, Illinois;
(7) 7th child - I have no info. on at this time...

Samuel Henry BELL married a second time (so the family says) possibly to his wife Deannie's younger sister after Deannie died having her seventh child (Deannie's younger sister was Viola F. "Francis" PRICE) - Supposedly the younger sister did not live long after their marriage and they never had children. Family tradition has it that the BELL and PRICE families lived on opposite sides of the river and disliked each other - possibly known to "feud"!

4. William J.. BELL, born August 20, 1880, TN. He married Mary Eva McClanahan on Sept. 21, 1902 in Blount Co., TN. They are buried at Ballard's Chapel Missionary Baptist Church Cemetery, Blount Co., TN.

5. Nellie R. BELL, born May 1882, TN and married a Mr. Bailey and died about 1969. This is the line of Doris (Dorisbed@aol.com)!! A newfound cousin! :-)

6. Charles S. BELL born Nov. 1885, TN.

7. Carrie F. BELL, (male) born June 1888, TN. He died June 24, 1946 and is buried at Ballard's Chapel Missionary Baptist Church Cem, Blount Co., TN.

8. Lula L. BELL, born July 1890, TN. She married Richard ABBOTT on Feb. 18, 1907 in Blount Co., TN.

If anyone has any further information on the BELL families of Knox and Blount Co., TN area please contact me! Also - if you wish to be included here as an "BELL Researcher" please let me know and I'll add your e-mail link and name and information here!

Census Data for BELL families in Knox and Blount Counties of East TN:

BELLs are located on the following pages of the 1830 Knox Co. TN census:
320-326-339-344-345-353-355-364-371-386-395

BELLs are located on the following pages of the 1840 Knox Co. TN census:
2-5-19-26-31-32-41-59-60-68

BELLs are listed on these pages of the 1850 Knox Co. TN census:
pages 71A-84B-85A-93B-108B-175A-192A-200A-200B

For additional census data, please e-mail me.

Blount County, Tennessee Marriages, found at Blount Co. TNGenWeb marriage site

BELL, Burrell marr. YANCEY, Sophia on 17-JAN-1797
BELL, Elizabeth marr. STERLING, John P on 20-MAY-1839
BELL, Elizabeth J marr. ELLIOTT, John B on 20-DEC-1822
BELL, Esther Ann marr. CLARK, James on 08-SEP-1823
BELL, Ferrybe marr. SPILMAN, Charles on 02-DEC-1835
BELL, John marr. CRAIG, Jane on 19-APR-1796
BELL, John marr. WEIR, Nancy on 11-MAR-1801
BELL, John B marr. -MAY-1841
BELL, Josiah marr. KENDRICK, Sarah on 12-AUG-1804
BELL, Margaret marr. MILLIGAN, Barton on 07-MAR-1841
BELL, Martha marr. MCADOO, Wiley on 19-MAR-1858
BELL, Saml F marr. JAMES, Martha F on 24-DEC-1851
BELL, Silas marr. WALLACE, Eleanor on 22-JAN-1826
BELL, Tamer marr. BARNETT, James C on 21-JAN-1819

"History of Hamilton County and Chattanooga, Tennessee", Volumes I and II are both by Zella Armstrong. The reprint dates are 1993 for both books, by The Overmountain Press. One has a copyright date of 1931 and the other has a copyright date of 1940, both by The Lookout Publishing Co.

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Becky (a fellow Bell Researcher) has provided the following Bell family extracts for her fellow Bell researchers! Thank you Becky!

Volume 1 Copyright 1931 Reprinted 1993
Bell pg.80
Charles K. pg. 304
David N. pg. 112,113,115,116,308
Elizabeth K. pg.304
George pg. 187
James S. pg. 296,308,394,395
John R. pg. 180,190
Margaret pg. 222
Samuel pg. 308
Willaim pg. 101,282
Mrs. William pg. 254
William S. pg. 144,145,190,299,304
W.H. pg.235

Volume 2 Copyright 1940 Reprinted 1993
Bell, Mrs. pg. 86,87
E.A. pg.75
David N. pg. 128,193,194
Granville pg. 193
J.S. pg. 135
M.M. pg. 303
Pleasant M. pg. 9,199

Here are some things that Becky found on the Bell name:

1. Bell were some of the traders who came into the area and married Cherokees and were adopted into the Indian nation.
2. Dr. William S. Bell, mayor of Chattanooga in 1858, resided in Chattanooga about 10 years before the War Between the States. He served in the Mexican War. He offered his service to the Confederate Government and was assigned to duty in Memphis. He was killed in 1861 while on duty on a steamboat on the Mississippi River. He married Elizabeth Keith, daughter of Judge Charles Keith, of Athens, Tennessee. Mrs. Bell survived her husband many years, making her home with her son in Fort Worth, Texas. Dr. and Mrs. Bell had 2 children: Charles Keith, born April 18, 1853, died April 21, 1913, who served as a member of Congress from Texas for many years. Annie who married ??? Thornton and lived in Birmingham, Alabama.
3. Trustees of the Hamilton Male Academy bought a lot from David N. Bell in 1848 for the use of the Academy.
4. David Newton Bell, son of Samuel Bell was born in Wythe County, Virginia in 1787. He died in Bradley County, April 16, 1882. He moved to Knox County with his parents when he was a boy. In the early 1840's he moved to Harrison. Late in life he lived for a time with a daughter in Warren County and with a daughter in Bradley County. He married in Monroe County, a widow, Mrs. Eliza A. Martin Manley, who was born June 10, 1813, in Philadelphia, Tennessee. She was the daughter of John Martin. She died in November 1898.
5. George Bell was among the men in Captain Jacob Peake's command in the Cherokee War.
6. James S. Bell,born 1848 and died 1930, married Ann, daughter of Samuel and Keturah Taylor Williams.
7. John R. Bell was Second Lieutenant of the Fifth Company of the Fouth Regiment Tennessee Volunteers of Hamilton County.
8. Margaret Bell married Thomas S. Marks in 1863.
9. In surveyors' book of 1826, William Bell bought 92 acres of land, at one cent per acre.
10.A company enlisted for service in the Cherokee War in Marion County and was mustered in, in May 1836. William Bell was on the list copied from records in the War Dept. 11.Mrs, William Bell, nurse who died of yellow fever is buried at The Citizens Cemetery.
12.Wlliam S. Bell was on the Board of the Bank of Chattanooga. William was mayor in 1858.
13.W.H. Bell was pastor of the Sale Creek Church in 1850. This church was established in 1842.
14.E.A. Bell was a Circuit Court Clerk in James County.
15.J.S. Bell vice-president of the Bank of Commerce and Savings Company which was organized in 1911.
16.Yellow fever victims in Chattanooga in 1878: Miss M.M. Bell,Mrs. W.M. Bell and William M. Bell.
17.Pleasant M. Bell killed in action December 12, 1861; Company H, Fourth Tennessee Cavalry.

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This page was created on 9 February 1997
and last updated on 1 January 2006.