Guilford County NcArchives News..... Letter from John Bell concerning Captain Robert Bell February 19, 1845 ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/nc/ncfiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Paula Norman Snyder paulas1218@aol.com April 11, 2009, 4:38 pm The Jonesboro Whig, And Independent Journal, Tennessee February 19, 1845 Letter of John Bell to a friend in "The Jonesboro Whig, and Independent Journal," vol. VI, February 19, 1845, Jonesboro, Tennessee, p. 2: Nashville, Dec. 6th 1844. My dear Sir, I have received your letter informing me that I am charged with having Tory blood in my veins, and you inquire if I am the son of Saml. Bell and Margaret Edmiston, whom you say you knew, I am the son of those persons you describe in your letter. I have also heard them speak often of you, and I need not tell you who they were; but lest you may have forgotten some part of the history of my grand parents, I will inform you that Robert Bell, my grand father on the father's side, was an active Whig during the whole period of the Revolution - was with Gen. Greene in his Southern campaign - fought in the battle of the Eutaw Springs with his company, and received the thanks of Greene in a special letter to Gov. Caswell of North Carolina. He had no office higher than that of Captain, but he in effect commanded a Regiment in the battle at Eutaw Springs because the Frenchman [Col. Malmedy] who had the nominal command of the Regiment could not speak English so as to be readily understood; and I have seen his letter thanking my grandfather for his services during the battle. He was also the man who captured the celebrated Tory, Col. Fields. It is not surprising that our opponents should now seek to make the sum of Tory blood in the country as great as possible, since they have given the highest office in the country to the descendant of one - though I never used that fact against him in the canvass. With many thanks for the interest you have taken in the character of my ancestors, and trusting that you will call upon me if ever come to Nashville, I remain, Your very sincere and obliged friend, John Bell Additional Comments: John Bell, son of Samuel and Margaret Edmiston Bell, and grandson of Robert and Catharine Walker Bell was: United States Representative from Tennessee, 1827-1841; Speaker of the House of Representatives, 1833-1835; Secretary of War under Presidents W. H. Harrison and Tyler, 1841; United States Senator from Tennessee, 1847-1859; unsuccessful Constitutional Union candidate for President of the United States, 1860. Maj. Robt. Bell was born in Penn – at 12 years of age his father moved to Amherst County, VA. – subsequently to Caswell, & in ’71 to Guilford County, N.C. When he, Maj. B., was about 34 years old. At the age of 28, he had married Miss Catherine Walker, by whom he had 3 sons & 3 daughters; married a second time in Guilford County in Dec. ’74 to Miss Mary Boyd, by whom he had 10 sons & 3 daughters – 19 children in all, of whom 11 were living in 1841. File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/nc/guilford/newspapers/letterfr632gnw.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/ncfiles/ File size: 2.9 Kb