CONFEDERATE BIOGRAPHY:  Leonidal Theodore Bell

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Submitted by Mary Love Berryman - marylove@tyler.net
28 March 2002 
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TEXANS WHO WORE THE GRAY by Sid S. Johnson - Pages 311-312

L. T. BELL

Leonidas Thomas Bell, resides nine miles east of Tyler, was the son of 
Rev. Joseph Edward Bell, a native of Virginia and a soldier of the war
of 1812.  His grandfather Thomas Bell, was a patriot of the 
American Revolution, and followed the fortunes of the American army 
until the sur­render of the English forces. His mother, Nancy (nee 
White) Bell, was a descendent of the fighting stock of the American 
Revolution, hence, Mr. Bell comes from patriotic stock who followed 
Washington. Mr. Bell entered the Confederate service from the State 
of Mississippi and served as a scout in the company of Captain Jones 
who was noted for the many acts of gallantry in which Mr. Bell acted 
a con­spicuous part. Being thoroughly Southern in birth and edu­cation 
he willingly rendered fathful service in the cause of the South, in 
defending her rights as sovereign States of the American Union. He 
still sticks to the conviction that the South was right in seceding, 
as it was clearly understood by the States forming the Confederation. 
Mr. Bell is a pros­perous farmer, a good citizen, and a Christian 
gentleman of the old South. Speaks what he thinks and sticks to his 
con­victions on any given question. On July 3, 1853 he was mar­ried to 
Miss Lucy Crane, in Madison county, Mississippi. His wife was a 
daughter of L. W. and Sarah Crane, a fam­ily of prominence in 
Mississippi. Mr. Bell was born August 13, 1831. His command was with 
Gen. Wirt Adams and fre­quently in the army of Generals Loring and 
Joseph E. John­ston. His living children are Dr. B. F. Bell, 
Whitehouse, Texas; Lina, the wife of W. G. Payne, of Van Zandt county; 
the second daughter is the wife of S. S. Truett, of Qunnah, Texas; 
another daughter is the wife of J. S. Reeves, of Big Springs, Texas; 
Joseph Edward Bell resides in San Antonio, Texas; another daughter, 
the wife of C. L. Ginn, of Bascom, Texas. All the children are prominent 
among the people where they reside. Mr Bell is a man of much reading 
and an interesting conversationalist, and ready at all times to discuss 
any question along the lines of war.