Sebastian County ArArchives Biographies.....Bell, Marion T. ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/ar/arfiles.html ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Robert Sanchez http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00027.html#0006574 July 31, 2009, 8:25 pm Source: See Full Citation Below Biography Author: S. J. Clarke (Publisher, 1922) MARION T. BELL. One of the most important commercial interests of Fort Smith is that conducted by Marion T. Bell, under the name of the Bell Lumber Company. He has built up an enterprise of vast proportions and the success of the undertaking is the outcome of his clear judgment, his broad experience and his sagacity. Arkansas numbers him among her native sons and is proud of the record which he has made. He was born on the 1st of December, 1876, and is a son of Christopher Columbus and Mollie (Cherry) Bell. The father, also a native of Arkansas, resided in this state until he had reached the age of forty-four years, when he removed to Texas, where he still resides. To him and his wife were born seven children and the family circle remains unbroken by the hand of death. Marion T. Bell obtained his early education in the primary schools of Arkansas, mastered the branches of learning taught in successive grades of the public schools and eventually became a student in the University of Arkansas, his liberal educational training well qualifying him for the important duties and tasks which have since claimed his attention. Early in his business career he became identified with the lumber trade, and constantly extending and enlarging his activities in that field, he ultimately became the owner of a line of lumberyards in Oklahoma, which he sold prior to establishing his lumberyard in Fort Smith. Here he has built up a business which is one of the important commercial interests of the city. He sells both to the wholesale and the retail trade, handling yellow pine lumber, white pine, cypress, gum and oak. His yard covers five lots and the business is constantly growing as the result of his enterprise, his capable management and his thoroughness in all that he undertakes. In addition to handling lumber he carries a full line of all building supplies and his patronage is very extensive. Mr. Bell was united in marriage to Miss Emily A. Hobart, a daughter of H. L. Hobart of Garden City, Missouri, and they have become the parents of four children: Marion, Jr., now fifteen years of age: Ellen; Clarence; and Howard. Mr. Bell is identified with the Business Men's Club and with the Ad Club and takes an active interest in everything that pertains to the development and extension of trade relations in Fort Smith and to the substantial upbuilding and improvement of the city. Fraternally he is connected with the Masons and the Elks and is a loyal follower of their purposes and teachings. His life record indicates the fact that the sources of our power lie within ourselves and that advancement may be won by any man who cultivates perseverance and determination and is watchful of opportunities. Moreover, Mr. Bell's breadth of view has not only recognized possibilties for his own advancement but for the city's development as well, and bis lofty patriotism has prompted him to utilize the latter as quickly and as effectively as the former. Additional Comments: Citation: Centennial History of Arkansas Volume II Chicago-Little Rock: The S. J. Clarke Publishing Company 1922 File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/ar/sebastian/bios/bell365bs.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.poppet.org/arfiles/ File size: 3.7 Kb