My Genealogy Hound

MAJ. ROBERT BELL, one of the old citizens and farmers of the Twenty-third District, was born in 1805 in Davidson County, Tenn. He is the son of James and Mary (Dean) Bell. The father was born in 1777, in North Carolina, and in 1783 came with his parents to Sumner County, Tenn., but afterward moved to Davidson County. His father, Robert Bell, our subject’s grandfather, was the father of nineteen children, eighteen of whom lived to be grown. He was a captain in the Revolutionary war, and died in 1816 at the age of eighty-five years. In 1819 James Bell came to Wilson County and bought 515 acres in the Twenty-third District, settled and remained here until his death, which occurred in 1823. The mother was born in 1777, in Virginia, and died in 1829. They had nine children, three of whom are now living. Our subject received his education mostly outside of the school room. During his boyhood days and youth the schools were few and far between, and educational advantages were very poor. After the death of his father, Robert being the eldest child, the responsibility of the family fell largely upon his shoulders. January 21, 1830, he married Polly Hooker, a native of Wilson County, born in 1811, and the daughter of Benjamin Hooker. To them was born one child, Erastus P., who resides in Rutherford County. Mrs. Bell died June 3, 1841, and the following year he married Sarah A. Furgason, a native of Virginia, born in 1818, and by her became the father of ten children, five of whom are living: Jane M., wife of James A. Neal, who lives in Lebanon; Samuel S., Byron, George F. and Willie S., wife of A. D. Peyton. Maj. Bell is now living on the old homestead and is esteemed as an honest and upright citizen. In politics he was formerly a Whig, casting his first vote for Andrew Jackson. February, 1876, he lost his wife, and since then his son, G. F., has been living with him. Maj. Bell is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church South, and has led a conscientious Christian life for the past forty-seven years.