Barbour County AlArchives Biographies.....J. T. Bell June 10 1841 - ? ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/al/alfiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Ann Anderson alabammygrammy@aol.com May 11, 2004, 11:26 pm Author: Brant & Fuller (1893) J. T. BELL, the gentleman whose name introduces this mention is one of the enterprising planters of Barbour county, and also one of the best known representative citizens. The Bell family came originally from England and settled in South Carolina at an early period in the history of that state, and was first represented in Baldwin county, Ala., in 1832, by John Bell, father of J. T., who purchased a home about four miles southwest of the town of Clayton. John Bell was a soldier in the Indian war of 1836, and by occupation a farmer. He was married in the year 1828 in South Carolina to Laney Hurst and became the father of five children: Mary, William, J. T., Kervin and Melissa, wife of F. M. Farrier, the last-named member of the family deceased. The mother of these children died in 1875, and the father's death occurred in 1890, at the advanced age of eighty-four, having been born in South Carolina in the year 1806. J. T. Bell is a native of Barbour county, Ala., where he first saw the light on the 10th day of June, 1841. Denied the privilege of a collegiate training, he, nevertheless, received a practical English education in the schools of his county, which, supplemented by a life of close observation and general reading, has made him one of the most intelligent and well informed men of the community of which, for a number of years, he has been such a conspicuous member. Few men of Barbour county can boast of as brilliant a military record as Mr. Bell; note it: from the spring of 1861, until the spring of 1865, from First Bull Run to the surrender at Appomattox. He enlisted in a company known as the Barbour Grays, for the Fifth Alabama infantry, and did valiant and efficient service in the campaigns of Virginia and participated in nearly all of the bloody battles from Bull Run to the final surrender, including Seven Pines, Seven days' fight near Richmond, South Mountain, Sharpsburg, Wilderness, Fredericksburg, Gettysburg, Winchester, Strasburg, and from May 4th till June 9, 1864, took part in nine different battles, none of which are included in the list enumerated. During the greater part of the year 1864, he was with his command in the trenches and was present when the banner of the Confederacy went down with Lee at Appomattox. Mr. Bell was wounded in the hand about an half hour before Stonewall Jackson met his death, and was taken to the same hospital in which that noted general breathed his last; was also wounded in both legs at the battle of Strasburg and barely escaped capture at the Wilderness, he and a single comrade being the only ones who broke through the ranks of the surrounding enemy. Returning home when the war closed, Mr. Bell engaged in farming and has since followed that useful calling in Barbour county, where he now owns a large plantation of 1,000 acres, beside that amount of land in the town of Ozark. His home is a large, beautiful, typical southern place, his hospitality is unbounded, and, believing that the good things of this world were created for use, he is enjoying his prosperity. He is in every sense of the word a successful self-made man, and Barbour county boasts of few citizens who have made as much out of life as Mr. Bell. On the 7th day of March, 1861, Sallie, daughter of Jimsey and Rachel Cox, became the wife of Mr. Bell, and ten children are the result of this union, namely: John, Mack, William A., Sarah, wife of W. O. Stallings, Edward, Kervin, Thomas, George, Mary and Benjamin, all of whom are living. Additional Comments: from "Memorial Record of Alabama" This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/alfiles/ File size: 4.0 Kb