OBIT: B. Jones BELL, 1928, Tyrone, Blair County, PA Contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by Sharon Miller Copyright 2009. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/pa/blair/ _________________________________________ B. JONES CALLED BY DEATH ON SUNDAY He Was A Civil War Veteran and Tyrone's Oldest Citizen Tyrone's "Grand Old Man" fell in eternal sleep on Sunday afternoon at 3:30 o'clock, when the venerable B. Jones Bell, splendid churchman, citizen, and soldier, passed to his reward. Mr. Bell was 95 years old, being born on the mountains back of Graysville, February 25, 1833, the son of two of Spruce Creek Valley's early settlers, John D. and Hannah (Jones) Bell. Up until Mr. Bell breathed his last, he was rational and knew the members of his family as they met around his bed. Last Tuesday, in his usual good spirits, he went to the polls in the Third Ward, where he cast a straight Republican vote. At the same time, he met and talked with Mrs. Ida (Patton) Smith, who went home and communicated with the Herald the fact that Mr. Bell, at the age of 95, had cast his vote. On the same day, only a few hours apart, both Mrs. Smith and Mr. Bell answered the final call. On Saturday, Mr. Bell received his U. S. pension and after having the check cashed, set aside in a special envelope his monthly subscription to the church. On April 6, 1858, R. Jones Bell and Lucretia Francis Barrick of Waynesboro were united in marriage by Reverend J. L. Holmes, pastor of the Baptist Church. Mrs. Bell preceded him to the grave in 1920. Mr. Bell was the last of his immediate family, two sisters and a brother, Mrs. Selina Thomas, Mrs. Hannah Heverly and James Bell, having been dead for a number of years. He is survived by the following sons and daughter: James F. Bell Huntingdon; John D. Bell, well known merchant, Logan Avenue and Fourteenth Street, Tyrone; Benjamin and Miss Ettie, at home. These grandchildren also survive: Mrs. Frances Ray, Huntingdon; Mrs. James Halton, Altoona; and Jones Bell Jr., at home, and one great- grand child, Mary Esther Ray, of Huntingdon. In 1861, when volunteers were needed to protect the flag and save the government from dissolution, B. Jones Bell was among the first to offer his services to his country, serving faithfully for three years in Company G. 2nd Pennsylvania Volunteers Infantry, and later at the expiration of his first enlistment, went back to the battle front with the 112th Heavy Artillery. By trade, Mr. Bell was a master carpenter, and for many years before his retirement, was foreman of carpenters at the F. D. Beyer Mills in the sixth ward. He followed this trade all his life, beginning the work when a boy in Spruce Creek Valley. With a crew of other carpenters from the Valley, he helped build the first residence in Tyrone and lived to see this community grow to its present, splendid proportions. He took an intense interest, up until the last days of his life, in civic affairs and conversed freely with those who visited him on the early history of this community. Very often he was referred to on points of interest in the history and early residents of Tyrone and the surrounding community. He was also active in church work and attended the dedicatory week services at the Presbyterian Church, where he has held a membership for more than a half century. In the last fifteen years, he read his Bible through six times, and the books of The New Testament fifteen times. Mr. Bell was a man of splendid character, honest and trustworthy, one that, was held in high esteem in the town and county, and his death has removed from our midst, a citizen whose place is hard to fill in any community. Funeral services will be held at the Bell Home, 1216 Lincoln Avenue, on Wednesday afternoon at 3:30 o'clock, conducted by Reverend Dr. Joseph A Speer. Interment in Grandview Cemetery, Tyrone. Tyrone Daily Herald, Tyrone, Pa., May 7, 1928, pages 1 & 2 1880 Tyrone, Blair County census - B. J. Bell, 47 Francis Bell, 41 Elizabeth Bell, 21 Henrietta Bell, 18 James Bell, 17 John Bell, 8 Benjamin Bell, 2