The Unforgotten - Samuel M BELL

Yesterday I wrote about how in my years of researching, I occasionally come across relatives that have been forgotten. They stop showing up in records and more often than not, never marry or have children. In an effort to honor them I'm going to write a series of posts highlighting these various people connected to our ancestors so that they are not forgotten. 

Yesterday was my first post and it focused on one of the siblings belonging to my husbands 2nd grandmother, Joseph P BELL.

Today, I'm going to write about another one of her siblings that time forgot. He did have a wife and child but because of a census error or a lack of family record keeping his birthdate is way off from the last record he is in with his father. So, I'm not sure his ancestors will know where to find his parents and siblings. 

It all started with me looking deeper into the school census records for my husband's grandmother. 

Things to note are: the children's names, birth dates, the fact that Ralph Jr. is "hard of hearing" the date of the census is11 January 1933, and they lived at 407 North River Street. 

Since discovering a few good newspapers from Ottawa County, OK, I decided to search newspapers for their address. 

Here are a few articles I found:

In 1930 their home would've ran $10/month. It was a five room home. 

Miami Daily News, Friday, 3 Jan 1930

Ralph, Bessie and their children lived there in 1933 according to the school census, but in 1937, there seems to be a different family. One with a young daughter named Alta BELL, her father's name is Sam.

Now remember from yesterday's post that Bessie's mother's maiden name is BELL and she had a brother named Samuel, who according the 1900 census was born May 1891. 

Miami News Record 22 Dec 1937

Now, before I found the above article last week, I had found one more piece of information on Samuel way back 2017. I  had come across a snippet from The Mountain Echo in Yellville, where Sam BELL was witness to his brother-in-law's land claim, placing him in Bruno, Marion County, AR, in 1916

The Mountain Echo, Friday, 04 Feb 1916

Back to Sam BELL with the daughter Alta BELL. If I go to the census records for 1930, I find living in North Miami, a Sam BELL with wife Ella and daughter Alta. 

There's one catch, this Sam was born in 1883 not 1891 and that's a difference of at least 8 years. But census records have been wrong before. And drastically so, therefore that doesn't discount that this could be the same Sam. He is a shoveler for a lead and zinc mine and his wife is a laundress working from home. 

**BACKUP I just caught something!** 

Below is a screen shot of the 1900 census that says he was born in 1891. If you look a little closer it also says he is 18. Only one of those statements can be true. Because if he were born in 1891 he would have been 9. But if he were 18 his birth year would have been 1882 and viola we have a date that matches him in later records, like his WW1 draft record.



A little more research shows that Sam's wife was Sara Ella ADAMS and she was born in Bruno, Marion County, AR. Remember where I  had found Sam as a witness back in 1916? Sam and Ella married in 1917, in Ottawa County, OK.

Another piece of evidence I have is a WW1 draft registration for Sam. Like the 1900 census it gives his birth month as May, but unlike that census or the 1930 census, his birth year is now 1882. He's a miner for the Royal Mining Co.
.

But there's one more piece of evidence that leaves me feeling certain that this is indeed Samuel BELL son of Quincy A BELL. It's another little snippet from Miami Daily Record, dated 17 April 1921.

If you were following along in yesterday's post, I showed that Quincy had a daughter named Cordovia Jane and that she married a James W. ROSE. I'm not entirely sure what happened to Mr. ROSE but in 1906 she remarries a Mr. Floyd Edward Saunders. And in 1910 you can find them in Chillicothe, Missouri with some of Cordovia's children from her previous marriage. 

After putting this information into my tree, a few pictures from other contributors showed up. 

This brings us to the end of Samuel's life. I'm happy to know I can now complete his story in my family tree.

My next post will be about Sam and Joseph's nephew, a son of their sister, Eliza Emoline BELL WILLIAMS SNEARY.

Until then, 
Becky