My Genealogy Hound

GEORGE A. BELL, the subject of this sketch, is a native of Meigs county, Ohio, and was born May 24, 1854. His father, Francis Bell, is a native of Pennsylvania, and his mother, who bore the maiden name of Rebecca Thompson, is a native of Ohio. In 1863, after several years’ residence in the Buckeye State, the parents moved to Vermillion county, Ind., and in 1868 to Cedar county, Iowa, where they have since continued to reside. The senior Bell is a carpenter by trade, and while a resident of Ohio he worked at repairing and building boats and barges on the Ohio river for several years. Upon his removal to Iowa, he purchased a farm and he has since given his attention almost wholly to agricultural pursuits. The Bell family are of Scotch-Irish extraction, the paternal grandfather William Bell, having emigrated from Ireland in an early day. George A. Bell is one of a family of five children, and his early life was passed with his parents; he attended the common and public schools in the locality where he lived, and also spent a few terms in the Wilton (Iowa) Collegiate Institute. He was a close student and made such progress in his studies that in a short time he obtained a certificate and taught school for several terms very successfully. Not caring to make teaching a profession, he engaged in farming for himself in 1880. In the spring of 1886 Mr. Bell moved to Harlan county, Nebr., and purchased unimproved land in Spring Grove township. The country was new, and time and much patience were required for its improvement. It was fully three years before Mr. Bell realized any thing like a crop, as a compensation for the vast amount of time and labor expended in breaking sod and getting it ready for cultivation. In 1887 he erected a handsome and substantial frame house and a commodious barn, which add materially to the appearance of his farm and the country around it. Mr. Bell was married February 1, 1881, to Miss Nina J. Stewart. She was a native of Scott county, Iowa, born December 23, 1860, and is the daughter of Sidney A. and Alice A. (Osborne) Stewart, both of whom are natives of Meigs county, Ohio. Sidney A. Stewart moved to Iowa in 1855, but returned to his native county in Ohio in 1863. He was twice married and is the father of fifteen children, thirteen of whom were by his second wife. The paternal grandfather, James H. Stewart, was born near Albany, N. Y., in 1800. He came West in 1830, settling in Meigs county, Ohio, is still living and is hale and hearty. He was an original whig and a prominent abolitionist, but was one of the organizers and chief promoters of the republican party, and has voted in his day for many a president. The paternal great grandfather was also James H. Stewart. He was born in New York State and died in 1865, at the remarkable age of 93 years. The Stewarts are a long-lived race.

Mr. and Mrs. George A. Bell have five children, namely — Joy L., born March 15, 1882; Glennie L., born August 13, 1883; Alice R., born October 7, 1884; Bonnie N. born November 28, 1887; and Blythe S., born January 24, 1889. Mr. Bell is a member of the Farmers’ Alliance, and has always been a stanch advocate of the principles of the republican party. His farm comprises four hundred acres, all fenced and a goodly portion under cultivation. He is a careful, judicious farmer and has succeeded remarkably well.