Jefferson-Calhoun County AlArchives History - Letters .....Letters Between Brothers Of The Black Bell Family 1871-1888 ************************************************ 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: L. Hanke lhbham@yahoo.com January 18, 2006, 3:08 pm Book Title: Letters found in loose records of Birmingham City Court, Jefferson County AL in the case entitled: Bell vs. McLaughlin, a land dispute. (Spelling as is) Crittenden Co Ark Nov 8th 1874 I received your letter on the 7th of this month. was very glad to hear from you, and to learn of the health of all. very sorry to hear of sister Julia bad health. I promised to come but cannot come at the appointed time on account of gathering my crop. I will make more then I expected to. I have eight or nine bales in the field, and have picked out eleven. My expenses this year was $200. and I have settled all, and don't want to make any more, and just as soon as I can get through I will come. My wife have never seen you, but she was very proud when I received the letter, and sends howdy to you. You wrote to me that you, Bob Bell, and Sam Barker were coming out west. I want you to come right away, as I may not come at the time I appointed. the land which you wrote for me to get, I have already got, and it is splendid land. I will make you a present of 30 acres when you come. I have bought some that I have never seen, but from all accounts it is good. there [sic] only five acres cleared but you can clear as much more as you want. land here is not like land there, it will bring 3/4 of a bag the first year of attendence, and if well tended will bring 4/4 or the whole to the acre. You wrote me word that you had seen all the Bell family, and that they wanted to see me, and just as soon as I can make it convenient I will come, for I would be glad to see them also, but cannot come at this time present. tell Gaston Bell, Largus and the Dr. howdy for me, as I cannot see them my self and wish to very much. tell Miss Dialtha howdy, and tell her that I have not forgotten her and never will. I remember how she nursed me when I was sick, and I always will remember her as long as I live. sell your land for what you can get and come out here. I have land in Birmingham, and I am going to write to Mr. McGlother the one that I left it in the [care?] of to sell and send me the money. he said he can get $3000. for it. I have said enough for you to be satisfide, and you need not look for me until you see me. I want you to come if you can make it convenient, and tell Bob and Sam to come too. give my love to all of the colored Bell family. I must bring my letter to a close. write soon as I shall expect an answer from this as soon as you receive it. write soon from you Aff. brother Stephen Bell ------------------------------- Oxford Calhoun Co Jan 16th 1876 Dear Bro. I received your very wellcomed letter not may [sic] days since Was very glad to hear from you as it leaves us all well, hoping to find you injoying the same good blessing. You stated in your letter to [me] That you want me to go to Birmingham and see after your land in that place, and pay $40. fourty dollars that you thought you owed one Mr. McGloplon. I went to Birmingham last June, And I inquired concirning of that matter. And I could not learn any thing about the man of Whome you spoke they say he is dead. I did not find any one that knew him, But they say that Mr. King is living there, but I did not find him I Will go down again soon. Your’s very truly Brother Richard Bell ------------------------------- Choccolocca Ala Calhoun Co. Aug. 11th 188(ripped, looks like piece of a 6) Mr. Stephen Bell Mound City Ark My Dear Brother I take pleasure this after noon to write you a few lines that you know that we are all well and are doing very well I received a letter from you some time since, glad to hear from you. I have been to Birmingham time and again I can not do any thing with the land. I con- sulted an attorney and he looked into the matter And he said that you will have to come out here yourself and get it up. Said that I can not do any thing. You come as soon as you can. every thing is all right you come to my house. I will go down with you. And I think it will be hard to get up. land is worth a great deal in Birmingham A man will give his life almost for a house place. Come soon Very Respectfully, Richard Bell Additional Comments: Gist of the case: Bell's claim: bought land in 1871, paid substantial part of cost of land, lived on and cultivated the land. 1872, Owner wanted rest of money, Bell didn't have it, made agreement with McLaughlin to pay the owner, hold a mortgage on the land for him, and he would pay it off in cord wood. Bell said McLaughlin agreed to this. However, Bell was shot at from ambush and wounded near his home a few months later, so he 'hastily left the State' and went to Arkansas. Bell said before he left, he asked McLaughlin to take care of the land while he was gone, and McLaughlin agreed. Bell said he wrote McLaughlin several times from Arkansas, with no answer. He got his brother in Alabama to look for McLaughlin about the land, but brother couldn't find him. In 1888 Bell went back to see about the land, but found the mortgage he signed was, in reality, a deed giving McLaughlin title to the land. He tried to get the land back but was unsuccessful. McLaughlin, in his Answer, said Bell asked him to buy the land for him, which he refused to do. Then Bell suggested McLaughlin buy the land, allow Bell to cut the timber off the land and sell it to get money. With that money, Bell would buy the land back from McLaughlin in a year. When the books of the original owner were checked, it turned out Bell had paid very little of the price, leaving McLaughlin to pay pretty much the full price for it. A Justice of the Peace, Mr. Moore, drew up the deed in the presence of all parties, read it to all, and witnessed the payment and signing of the deed. McLaughlin found the land deserted a year later, nothing left in the house, etc. He said he assumed Bell had decided to leave and forgo the arrangement. He heard nothing about or from Bell from 1872 to 1888. He sold the house to a black man, John Johnson who lived there a year or two then left. Several white women lived in the house rent-free until about 1883 - some railroad workers a few months, then it was deserted. McLaughlin continued to pay taxes, but the land made no profits. Even so, the value of the land went up over the years. McLaughlin said an offer of $10,000 was made for it at one time, but whether it was a 'good-faith' offer or not, he didn't know. Attorney for Bell said Bell, '... being untutored in letters, and unlearned, together with being a former slave..." placed great trust in McLaughlin (a Major in the Federal Army) and felt he had been deceived. Bell said the rent and profits from the land had long ago paid the mortgage debt, and wanted McLaughlin to account for the overage. McLaughlin's side denied the allegations that he had agreed to a mortgage, or had known that Bell was leaving the state, or that he had agreed to watch the land for him. They pointed out discrepancies of facts stated in the Complaint, and that more than 15 years had passed before Bell returned wanting the land. The land made no rents or profits, and had cost McLaughlin in taxes. An interesting note regarding Bell. When he saw McLaughlin in 1888, he was missing a leg. McLaughlin asked what happened to it, and what Bell was doing now. Bell said the leg was cut off due to a 'sore heel.' He also said he owned over 1,000 acres of land outside Memphis, and said, 'I am rich now.' But the court found Bell didn't have enough proof to support his claim, and the case was dismissed. File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/al/jefferson/history/letters/lettersb67gms.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/alfiles/ File size: 8.3 Kb