William F. Bell
A long lifetime varied by many unusual experiences has been that of William F. bell, one of the most esteemed old residents of Fairmount Township. Mr. Bell has lived in grant County thirty-two years. He came to Indiana about the time of the Civil war, having lived in Henry Country for sixteen years, from 1865 to 1881, and then came to Grant County. As the following article will show, he and his wife made their start in this state with practically nothing except their own energies, and with the passing of years their thrift and industry enabled them to accumulate more than a comfortable competence, while at the same time they grew in the honor and esteem of their wide acquaintances.
William F. Bell was born in Randolph County, North Carolina, February 14, 1832. He grew up as a farmer boy, was married when a young man, and was the father of two children when the war broke out. His early training had been that of the Quaker religion. both by religious principles and moral conviction he was opposed to the principles of the south. However, the south needed every one of its sons to fight in behalf of the Confederacy, and he had to accept one of two alternatives, either enlist as a private soldier or take employment at a soldier's wages in the salt works in Wilmington, North Carolina. He accepted the latter as the less of two evils, and remained at the salt works for two years. When the Union army captured the works, he was then conscripted into the active service of the southern army. He refused to carry arms and was swung up by his thumbs to a tree, and hung three hours before his spirit was so broken that he submitted to pick up his gun and go along in the ranks. However, he had firmly resolved that he would not serve long and would take the first opportunity to escape. Three weeks later, when the army was six miles south of Petersburg, at a place locally known as Yellow House, the opportunity came. His comrade in this adventure was Henry Stewart, a brother of Mrs. Ivy Luther of Grant County, and the incident is also related in another sketch to be found in this publication concerning the family of Ivy Luther. These two Quakers were on picket duty, and their line of guard was only a few hundred yards away from the pickets of Grant's army which lay opposite the Confederate forces. Bell and Stewart received permission to go into the pine woods and gather some fire wood, and separating the two lines of army, they were received within the picket lines of the Union forces, and were permitted to go under guard to the Union headquarters. They were also allowed the happy privilege of obtaining all they wanted to eat from the commissary, and since rebel rations had been extremely short, they did not hesitate to feed themselves liberally. They were given the privilege of going wherever they liked, and in a short time both Bell and Stewart found their way to Indiana. The day of their escape was December 11, 1864, only a few months before the close of the war, and they soon afterwards arrived at Indianapolis. From there they went to Knightstown in Henry County, and there Mr. Bell worked on a farm until the close of the war was over. Going back to his native county in North Carolina, he rejoined his wife and three children, and then returned to Henry County, where he spent four years as a renter. At this time Mr. Bell and wife were actually poverty stricken, and it is nothing to their discredit to say that when they reached Indiana, at the close of the war, they possessed nothing except what they carried on their backs in their hands. That early period of privation has long since been forgotten in their steady prosperity, but it is worthy of record that the entire family during their fifth year in Indiana and the first year after buying their own farm expended only one dollar in actual cash, and most of that was spent for sugar. All the other sources of their scanty living were raised on the farm. To his wife Mr. Bell gives great credit for their successful escape from that early period of hardship, and by effective management they were at the end of four years able to buy some land in Henry County, and lived twelve years on their own farm. Selling out their Henry County farm they moved to Grant County in the fall of 1881, and Mr. Bell then bought eighty acres in section thirty-one of Fairmount Township, where he has ever since had his home. Much of that land was still uncleared, and he employed his industry in improving it and making a comfortable home. From timber growing upon the farm was manufactured the timber with which Mr. Bell put up a fine home of eight rooms, and also a bran, built in the best modern style, and another feature of the place which shows the progressive methods used at the Bell homestead is a silo with eighty tons' capacity. Mr. bell for many years has been a successful grower corn, wheat, oats, ahs considerable land in meadow, and his crops in quantity and quality will compare favorably with those produces anywhere in this county.
Mr. Bell was married in his native vicinity to Miss Nancy M. Ferguson. She was born in Randolph County, North Carolina, April 30, 1830, and through her mother, whose maiden name was Boone, is a descendant of the famous Daniel Boone. She was a woman of unusual capability, as will be understood from what has been said in preceding paragraphs. During the war, while her husband was an unwilling soldier in the Confederate army, she lived with her children and managed to provide for their wants, and on moving to Indiana at once proved a worthy helpmate in establishing a home and prosperity. She died at her home in Fairmount Township, January 15, 1910, being within a month of her eightieth birthday. the children of Mr. and Mrs. Bell are: James M., who was born March 14, 1859, in North Carolina, and all his life ahs lived at home and has been associated with his father. He has combined the two occupations of farming and carpenter work. Mr. James M. Bell is well known and influential citizen in Fairmount Township, for the past two years has served as treasurer of the Fairmount Academy, and for three years previous to that was a member and secretary of the board of trustees of the Academy. James M. Bell married Miss Etta Harvey, who was reared and partly educated in Indianapolis. Their children are: Mildred O., and Edna. Mildred is a graduate of the Fairmount Academy, while Edna is a member of the Fairmount eighth grade class of 1914.
Mary, the second child of Mr. and Mrs. Beel, is the wife of Alvin Free, a farmer in Liberty Township. Their children are Iva J., Webster and Edison. Iva J. Free is highly educated having taken courses in several schools and colleges, and is now a teacher at Kalamazoo, Michigan.
Sadie Ellen, the third child, is the wife of Rev. Hiram Harvey, a successful farmer of Liberty Township, and for a number of years a preacher in the Friends Church of that township. Rev. Harvey is now custodian of the Fairmount Academy endowment fund. Mr. and Mrs. Harvey have one son, Russel Terry, who is married and lives at home with his parents. The fourth child is Julia Ione, wife of Elwood S. Townsend, a house painter and decorator of Marion. they have two daughters, Ida and Inez.
Mr. Bell and members of his family are all members of the Friends Church, and in politics he supports the Prohibition cause as championed by St. John.
Centennial History of Grant County Indiana 1812-1912. The Lewis Publishing Co., 1914.