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Wisconsin
FAMILIES and BIOGRAPHIES
.BELL.
Researched and contributed by descendant: James
Schneider
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 Sheboygan County } .....June....AD 1861............James Bell.............an alien and native of ................Canada........personally appeared before me ...E. Gilman....Clerk of the Circuit Court in and for said county, and DECLARES on his solemn oath, that he first arrived in the United States in the month of... August... AD 1848 and that it is his bona fide intention to become a citizen of the United States, and to renounce forever all allegance and fedelity to and Foreign Prince, Potentate, State, or Sovereignty whatever and particularly to... Victoria Queen of England..... Subscribed and sworn to before me this ....3rd....day of ...June.....1861 .........E Gilman......Clerk James Bell |
FAMILY OF JAMES BELL & LOUISA LOCK(E)
[emigrated (Ireland to New York to
Canada) 1826 – back to the United States in 08/1848 (James in 1855 and
Louisa in 1845 according to 1900 census) intent filed 06/03/1861
(Sheboygan County, WI) – naturalized 10/06/1868, Oconto County Clerk’s Vol.
2, page 226, file #1873, No 40]
JAMES BELL [son of
Seamus Bell and ?? ?? (Scotland)]
b. 05/20/1815 Belfast,
Ireland (Scotch/Irish decent) (d.c.)
(1817 according to his “story”)
d. 09/29/1922 Abrams,
Oconto County, Wisconsin (8/665 ©)
(107y-4m-9d) Buried: Brookside
Cemetery, Abrams, Oconto County, Wisconsin
[1880 census, death record,
immigration info]
[1825
Canadian census – (possible) James Bell living Montreal,
Quebec, Canada
(Micro Reel # C-718 – pages
2081-2100)]
[1829
Canadian Immigration Records – (possible) James Bell,
native of Ireland, listed in Settlers in the
Ottawa Valley (Micro
Reel # B-945 – C.O. 384/22, page 78)]
[1839-41
Canadian Immigration Records – (possible) James Bell,
Entries from the Crown Lands Office,
Chatham (Kent County)
Ontario (RG 1, L7, Vol. 98)]
LOUISA LOCK(E) [daughter
of Benjamin Locke (England) and Elizabeth Nell (England)]
b. 08/01/1818 Kent
County, England (on headstone: b. 1818 – d. 1923)
(emigrated 1824 England to Canada?
– newspaper article)
d. 04/24/1925 Abrams,
Oconto County, Wisconsin (9/345 ©)
(105y-8m-23d) Buried: Brookside
Cemetery, Abrams, Oconto County, Wisconsin
1st husband Ben
Brazier (Canada) - married at age 14 - first 2 children born of this
marriage - Mary Ann (Charles Edward Schultz) and Elizabeth Ann (Joseph F.
Toole). Brazier died shortly after Elizabeth was born and she
married James Bell. Louisa Locke Brazier Bell was 19 at the
time of her marriage to James Bell.
Possible Marriage
Records: Eastern
District Marriages
Volume
VII, Page 101
John
Brazier and Louise Lock, both of Walpole – witness Josiah Locke and Mary Ann
Dean
Volume
III, Page 212 (1854)
James
Bell, 25, and A. Lock, 19, by license, Mitilda
Rev Thomas Scott,
Minister Church of Scotland, Williamsburg (1852-1857)
[1851
Canadian census – James Bell (25-b.Ire), Louisa Bell
(24-b.Eng), Mary Bell (7-b.Can),
Jane Bell (4-b.Can) and Eli Bell
(2-b.Can)
living Walpole, Haldimand County,
Ontario, Canada
(roll: C-11725
schedule A – page 9 – lines 26 through 30)]
[1851
Canadian census – (possible) Louisa Locke (b.1820) living
Haldimand County, Ontario
and Benjamin Locke (b.1796)
living Ontario, Canada]
[1860
census – (possible) William Bell (52-b.Scotland), Eliza
Bell (39-b.Eng) and James Bell (24-b.Can)
living Sheboygan (ward 2),
Sheboygan County, Wisconsin
(M653-1432 – page 209 – image
210)]
[1870 census – James
Bell (52-b.Ireland), Louisa Bell (40-b.Eng), Eli (21-b.Can), James
(13-b.WI), Louisa
(11-b.WI), John (5-b.WI), William
(2-b.WI) living Pensaukee, Oconto County, Wisconsin
(TM593-1730 – page 308 – image 160)]
Annie Toble (Toole) (granddaughter-15)
and Alice Toble (Toole) (grandaughter-11)
living Pensaukee, Oconto County,
Wisconsin
(T9-1440 – page 287D – ED 107)]
(Wisconsin State Census 1895
– line 26 – roll v226-17)]
[1900 census – James
Bell (head-80-b.Ire), Louisa Bell (76-b.Eng) and James W. (son-43-b.WI)
living Pensaukee, Oconto
County, Wisconsin
(T623-1808 – page 1A – ED 144)]
Living Pensaukee, Oconto County,
Wisconsin
(Wisconsin State Census 1910
– line 39/40/41 – roll CSUSAWI 1905-20)]
[1910 census – Jams A.
Bell (91), Louisa Bell (86-b.Eng) and James W. (52-b.WI)
living Pensaukee, Oconto County,
Wisconsin
(T624-1729 – page 242B – ED 111 – part 2
– line 27-34)]
[1920 census –
James Bell (head-103-b.Ireland), Louisa Bell (wife-101-b.Eng) and James
(son-63-b.WI)
living Abrams, Oconto County, Wisconsin
(T625-2007 – page 2B – ED 155 – image
634)]
Marriage: Before
August 1838, Matilda Township, Dundas County, Ontario, Canada (1838
according to newspaper account) – However, the 1851 Canadian Census shows
Mary (Braizer) age 7 and Jane (Bell) age
4 – therefore, probable date of marriage would be 1848
(1847 in Louisa Bell’s Obituary)
Immigration: Entered
U.S. from Canada at Detroit 09/1855? – letter of intent indicates they
arrived in Sheboygan, WI in August 1848 but they were in Canada during 1851
Canadian Census
Children: (10)
Mary Ann (Brazier) (Schultz)
b. 1832/35 Ontario,
Canada
d. 1928 Wisconsin
Buried: Fort
Howard Cemetery, Fort Howard, Brown County, Wisconsin
Married: 09/28/1862,
Charles Edward Shultz, Oconto County, Wisconsin (Vol.
1, Page 7)
b. 10/08/1837 Prussia (marriage
record) Germany (d.r. & census
records)
d. 04/11/1910 Green
Bay, Brown County, Wisconsin (Vol. 12, page 365)
Buried: Fort
Howard Cemetery, Fort Howard, Brown County, Wisconsin
Parents: Charles
Shultz and Mary Pfeifer (d.r. & m.r.)
Elizabeth A. (Brazier) (Toole)
b. 1835/38 Ontario,
Canada
d. before
1880 Wisconsin
Buried: Brookside
Cemetery, Abrams, Oconto County, Wisconsin
Married: 08/17/1863,
Joseph F. Toole, Oconto, Oconto County, Wisconsin (Co
File #1/8 ©)
(State
of WI #01 005 N 07693)
b.
1824 Ireland
d.
before 1880 Wisconsin
Parents: Dominick
Toole & Mary (unk) (m.r.)
Jane (Christian)
b. 02/28/1848 Walpole,
Haldimand County, Ontario, Canada
d. 12/28/1939 Abrams,
Oconto County, Wisconsin (Co File #14/98 ©)
Buried: Brookside
Cemetery, Abrams, Oconto County, Wisconsin
Married: 07/02/1867, Peter
Christian, Green Bay, Brown County, Wisconsin (Vol
3, P 263 ©)
(State
of WI #2471)
b. 01/07/1837 Denmark
d. 02/13/1911 Pensaukee,
Oconto County, Wisconsin (Co File #5/925 ©)
Buried: Brookside
Cemetery, Abrams, Oconto County, Wisconsin
Eli
b. 04/16/1848 Hamilton,
(Haldimand County?) Ontario, Canada (d.c.)
d. 09/18/1934 Kenosha,
Kenosha County, Wisconsin (WI Reg. No. 1333 ©)
09/21/1934 Buried: Riverside
Cemetery, Peshtigo, Marinette County, Wisconsin (d.c.)
Married: 02/10/1874,
Julia Windross, Brown County, Wisconsin (Vol 3, Page
0170)
(State
of WI #2471)
b. 04/09/1857 Wisconsin
(d.r.)
d. 10/12/1908 Peshtigo,
Marinette County, Wisconsin (Co File #5/400)
Buried: Riverside
Cemetery, Peshtigo, Marinette County, Wisconsin
John
b. 01/07/1865 Abrams,
Oconto County, Wisconsin
d. 05/31/1932 Abrams,
Oconto County, Wisconsin (Co File #11/486 ©)
Buried: Brookside
Cemetery, Abrams, Oconto County, Wisconsin
William
b. (1853-55) Sheboygan
County, Wisconsin (1869 according to 1880 census)
d. 1933
Buried: Brookside
Cemetery, Abrams, Oconto County, Wisconsin
Married: 03/31/1891,
Theresa R. Pancratz, Abrams, Oconto County, Wisconsin (Co
File #4/99/13 ©)
(State
of WI #02 0023 N 00603)
b. 08/22/1870 Little
Suamico, Oconto County, Wisconsin (m.r.)
d. 05/05/1910 Coleman,
Marinette County, Wisconsin (Co File #6/1088 ©)
Buried: Brookside
Cemetery, Abrams, Oconto County, Wisconsin
James W.
b. 1856-58 Sheboygan
County, Wisconsin (census records)
d. 1923 Oconto
County, Wisconsin
Buried: Brookside
Cemetery, Abrams, Oconto County, Wisconsin
Louisa (Heider)
b. 01/29/1860 Oconto,
Oconto County, Wisconsin (d.r.)
d. 07/10/1945 Abrams,
Oconto County, Wisconsin (Co File #15/603)
Buried: Brookside
Cemetery, Abrams, Oconto County, Wisconsin
b. 09/27/1845 Slazigin,
Germany
d. 01/14/1930 Oconto
County, Wisconsin (Co File #10/786)
Buried: Brookside
Cemetery, Abrams, Oconto County, Wisconsin
Eliza (died
as a child)
b. Oconto
County, Wisconsin
d. 01/09/1868 Oconto
County, Wisconsin
Caroline (adopted
granddaughter - died as a child)
b. Oconto
County, Wisconsin
d. 09/20/1874 Oconto
County, Wisconsin
JAMES BELL (1815 – 1922)
James Bell emigrated from Ireland to the United States in 1826 with is
mother and 2 brothers - his mother died during the ocean crossing. He
then moved to Canada with one brother (unknown, possibly George) and another
family. The 3rd brother was taken
“west” by another family and was never heard from again. He
married Louisa Locke in 1938 (according to a newspaper account) and they and
their family moved to Sheboygan County, Wisconsin in 1848. They
then moved to Fort Howard (Brown County) and then to Oconto County,
Wisconsin in approximately 1861 or 1862 (after his declaration of intent to
become a United States citizen) where they settled along the shore of the
Pensaukee River near the Town of Pensaukee. On 05/02/1859
James Bell owned 40.00 acres of land in Section 9, Township 27 North, Range
21 East. On 05/25/1870 records show him owning 120.00 acres in
the same section. The road named “Bell Bridge Road”
intersecting U.S. 41 west of Pensaukee and east of Brookside is named after
James and Louisa.
Declaration of Intent to Become a
United States Citizen: On
06/03/1861, in Sheboygan County, Wisconsin, James Bell appeared before the
Clerk of the Circuit Court and declared that he first
arrived in the United States in August1848 and intended to
become a citizen of the United States.
THE BELLS OF ABRAMS
(a
short version of the life of James and Louisa Bell)
“It seems like yesterday I left the Port
of Cork and on a ship from Erin’s Isle, I landed in New York. There
wasn’t a soul to meet me there, a stranger on the shore, but Irish Luck was
with me and fortune sailed galore”.
The words from this song are strangely
entwined in the life of James Bell, who was born in Ireland May 20, 1817,
came to Wisconsin to live and made Abrams his home.
Let’s go back to Ireland in the year
1826. Living was hard. There was never enough to
eat and the land would not yield the crops. The landlords were
strangling the people with their cries for “more rent”.
The day finally came when the Bell
family sold their small holding of land and used the money to pay for their
passage to America. Seamus Bell and his lovely, young, pretty
wife and their three children would live in America where they would never
know the pangs of hunger again.
At last the day came in which they were
to leave. Seamus left his wife and the young ones at the ship
in Cork Harbor. He said he had some last minute business that
needed tending. The young Mrs. Bell knew he was owed money and
he went to collect it. The men who owed him money were a rowdy
lot, with their drinking and carrying on. “Please God, keep him safe”, she
silently prayed.
But a messenger came, Seamus Bell had
been dragged by his horse on the Dublin Road. Sure’n he had
some poteen (Irish Whiskey) in him. Thank God.
With a long last look at Ireland, Mrs.
Bell and her family set sail for a new land and a new life. But
the young Mrs. Bell was never to see the new land. She became
ill, as so many did on that crossing, died and was buried at sea.
The three young boys were left homeless,
alone and in a strange country. The youngsters lived in
packing boxes in back of an old dry goods store. A couple
going west took the younger brother, and they never saw each other again. Another
couple befriended James and his brother and took them to live in Canada.
“The Bells of Abrams” – page 2
With the passing of years, James Bell
married Louise Loche. The traveled to Wisconsin and lived near
Sheboygan for a time, then to Fort Howard and came by row boat along the
shore of the Pensaukee river. The settled by Bell Bridge,
which is named after the couple.
James Bell remembered the Pensaukee
tornado and how it followed the Pensaukee river and took the water out of
the river and twisted big elms and oaks right out of the ground. It
took from 3 to 4 days for the water to come back in.
The Bells moved from West Pensaukee to
Abrams to where the Earl Bartz place now stands.
James and Louisa Bell raised 10 children
and most of them seemed to have inherited a long life.
The Bells were the most picturesque
couple in Wisconsin and believed to be in 1921, the oldest couple in the
United States. At 104 James hadn’t missed a day walking into
the post office at night after the chores were done and bringing the papers
to his wife to read to him. Her eyes were just a “wee mite
better than his”, he reluctantly would admit when asked who read the papers. Mrs.
Bell at 102 milked her cow each day.
Someone once asked the Bells what their
secret for longevity was. They said, “we just minded our own
business and didn’t worry. That is the way we have always
lived. We have had hard knocks before, but we didn’t let them
put us down, and that is about all there is to living a long time and
enjoying everything in life”.
James Bell died at the age of 105
September 29, 1922, and his wife died in 1923 at the age of 103.
Incidental Information:
Information found in the Ontario
Register 1780-1870
Eastern District Marriages: Volume VII, Page 101
John Brazier
and Louise Lock, both of Walpole – witness Josiah Locke and Mary Ann Dean
Eastern District Marriages: Volume
III, Page 212 (1854)
James Bell, 25,
and A. Lock, 19, by license, Mitilda
Rev Thomas Scott, Minister Church of
Scotland, Williamsburg (1852-1857)
News Releases:
Green Bay Press-Gazette:
ABRAMS HOME OF COUPLE BELIEVED OLDEST IN U.S. –
LIFE STILL SWEET TO COUPLE, PAST
100 YEAR MARK, WED 81 YEARS
Abrams, Wis. – This little village,
nestling in the southeast corner of Oconto County, claims the distinction of
having the oldest couple in the United States. Mr. and Mrs.
James Bell, Sr., who live with their son, James Jr., in a small cottage near
the outskirts of the town have each passed the century mark.
Mr. Bell is 104
years old. He was born in Belfast, Ireland, May, 1817. His
mate, English by birth, was born in 1819.
Despite their
advanced age the couple take a wholesome interest in life and are keen
observers of all that is going on around them. They know
all the gossip of the village and are generally referred to as the township
biographers. The have a certain number of chores which they
perform diligently each day and count that day lost when they do not finish
some odd job around their home.
Mr. Bell walks
down to the postoffice, about a quarter of a mile away, daily. He
gets the mail and chats with friends and then returns home, where his wife,
whose sight is just a trifle better than his, reads him the daily papers,
preferably the Green Bay Press-Gazette.
Mrs. Bell keeps
informed on all the world’s happenings. Her mind is remarkably
clean and she can discuss the early history of Wisconsin with all the
knowledge and fineness of a historian. Despite her frail
build, up to two years ago, she milked seven cows twice daily, never missing
a milking for any reason.
At present,
Mrs. Bell is sewing a patchwork quilt.
“What do you
think of those seams,” asked her 64 year old son as he proudly showed
samples of her work to a press-Gazette correspondent. The
seams were nigh perfect. “I expect to finish this quilt in a
few days and start another” chimed in Mrs. Bell. “My little
girl tells me I work too much, but I like to be always doing something and
my needle is seldom idle,” she added. The “little girl” she
referred to is Mrs. M.A. Schultz, a 76 year old daughter, and the oldest of
seven children living. The baby of the family is William, of
Mason, Wis. 53 years of age.
Mr. Bell is a
woodsman of the old school. He knows every foot of timber land in Oconto
County and when he was a bit younger, spent most of his time among the tall
trees and tiny birches. While on one of his jaunts through the
forests a few years ago he discovered a real white pine. “I
decided right then and there that I wanted that tree” he said. “I
cut it down, hauled it to town and hewed it into that flagstaff that you see
standing near the village depot.” The staff is 96 feet high
and was erected a few years ago by Abrams residents. During
the war Old Glory snapped from this mast, being raised each morning and
taken down in the evening by residents.
The
centenarians had no particular recipe for their longevity. “We
just minded our own business, didn’t worry and worked hard” said Mr. Bell. “Sure,
I smoke and I drank a little liquor, too, before prohibition. No,
I don’t think much of prohibition. I drank moderately for many
years and no one can say that it has injured my health. I have
never been sick a day in my life and I don’t know what a doctor looks like.” “No
I don’t need any help” said Mr. Bell indignantly when the correspondent
offered to help him down the porch steps into the yard where he and his wife
posed for a picture. “With this old stick I can get anywhere.”
Mr. and Mrs.
Bell have lived in their present home 45 years, being among the first
settlers in this section of the county. Prior to coming to
Abrams, they lived at Pensaukee for a number of years, going there from
Sheboygan County. They came to Sheboygan from Canada, where
Mr. Bell met his wife.
The couple have
been married for 81 years, having celebrated a silver, golden, and diamond
wedding anniversary. “We might celebrate our 100th anniversary
too, you can never tell” remarked Mr. Bell. “We both feel
pretty pert.”
Mr. and Mrs.
Bell are the parents of ten children, seven of whom are living. “How
many grandchildren have we got?” he queried. “Let’s see.” After
thinking awhile, Mr. Bell gave it up. “I can’t tell you; ask
my daughter.” Mrs. Schultz said that there were 31
grandchildren and several score great grandchildren living.
OBITUARIES
Obituary of James Bell, Sr.
DEATH SEPARATES NATION’S OLDEST
COUPLE FRIDAY
James Bell Sr., Died At Home Of Daughter In Abrams At Age Of 105
– Couple Made Home In Oconto County For
Sixty-Seven Years
The oldest
couple in the United States, Mr. and Mrs. James Bell, Sr., Abrams, was
separated by death Friday.
After an
illness of several months from a complication of troubles incident to old
age, James Bell, Sr., died at the home of his daughter, Mrs. Jane Christian
Friday. At the time of his death he was over 105 years old. His
wife, who survives him, is 103 years old.
James Bell was
born in Ireland May 20, 1817. At the age of nine he moved to
Northern Canada. In 1847 he was married and a few years later
he with his wife moved to Oconto County where they made their home for 67
years. Their first home was located near the bridge between
Pensaukee and Abrams that for many rears has been known as the Bell bridge. Their
home at that time was a little cabin located in a small clearing in the
wilderness. A few miles east was the little settlement known
as Pensaukee. A small lumber mill was located there, and a few
small trails extended out into the surrounding country. This
with a few logging camps and small sawmill communities constituted about the
only habitation in the county at that time.
A few years
later Mr. and Mrs. Bell with a family of five children moved onto a piece of
land in Morgan. Here for several years they struggled and
toiled to carve a farm out of the forest, and just as they had begun to make
headway, just as they had accumulated enough for a comfortable home, and had
enough ground under cultivation to support them in comfort, along came the
great forest fire of 1871 destroying everything in it’s path.
The night of
horror, where they were, hemmed in by a raging forest fire has left and
indelible impression on Mrs. Bell’s memory. She tells the
story of how they fought desperately to save their home and how they
struggled to save their lives with a vividness that makes it seem as thought
the disaster must have happened but yesterday.
After fighting
the fire with water, mud and dirt, they finally found themselves powerless
before the onrush of the destroying flames. They managed to
tie a team and one cow in an open field and then they with the five children
saved their lives by getting out into a marsh, and standing all night in
water waist deep.
Last January
along in the very latter days of their lives they again met disaster by
fire. This time their home was destroyed completely in an
early morning fire.
After this fire
a comfortable little home was built out of a granary. Here
they made their home with Mrs. Mary Schultz, daughter of Mrs. Bell,
seventy-four years of age, until Mr. Bell’s recent illness forced him to
take up his residence with his daughter, Mrs. Jane Christian, Abrams.
A great deal
has appeared in newspapers everywhere about this couple much of which is
true and some of which is fantastic exaggeration. For several
years both Mr. and Mrs. Bell have been too feeble to work, but Mrs. Bell
cared for her home and did all of her own work when she was well past the 90
year mark in life.
Deceased is
survived by his aged wife, and four sons, Eli Bell, Kenosha; James Bell,
Abrams; John Bell, Mason, Wisconsin, William of Tipler and two daughters,
Mrs. Jane Christian, and Mrs. William Heider, Abrams.
The funeral was
held from the Methodist Episcopal Church, Abrams Monday afternoon, Reverend
J. O. Eninger officiating. Burial was made in the Abrams
cemetery.
Obituary of Louisa Bell
FUNERAL SERVICE HELD FOR STATE’S
OLDEST RESIDENT
Mrs. Louisa Bell, 105, Who Died Friday, Is Buried In Brookside Cemetery
(Special to the Press-Gazette)
OCONTO, Wis., –
Mrs. Louisa Bell, one of the first settlers of Wisconsin and the oldest
pioneer in this part of the state was laid to rest today in the Brookside
Cemetery having seen more than 105 years of this life of which 76 years were
spent in Wisconsin.
Mrs. Bell, who
died Friday afternoon in Abrams, was born in England, county of Kent, on
August 1, 1819 and at the age of 5 migrated with here parents to Canada. She
was first married at the age of 14 and was married a second time, to James
Bell, in Canada, at the age of 19. In 1849 Mr. and Mrs. Bell
came to Wisconsin with their family and settled in Sheboygan County where
they pioneered in the woods. Along about 1860 the family came
north and settled in Pensaukee. Here they were in the midst of
the wilderness at that time and the children, now great-grandmothers tell of
how they would not venture from their log-cabin for days on account of the
bears, wolves and wild-cats that surrounded their homestead.
Kept
Faculties to the Last
Asked if the
Indians troubled them any or if there were many here at that time, Mrs.
Schultz the oldest daughter replied “Indians there were few, but mosquitoes
they troubled us” raising both her hands in a sign of memory of despair. For
in those days these parts were nothing but swamps and mosquito-killing
methods were unknown.
Mrs. Bell
always attributed her longevity to plenty of hard work which a pioneer
usually enjoys, and plain foods. She was able to be about the
house up to a few weeks of her death and up to five years ago did all her
own housework. Her mind was clear to the last and her eyesight
never failed her, although in recent years she could not read.
These physical
conditions which she enjoyed to the end were the gratification of her one
wish, that she should not live so long as to lose any of her five senses.
Her husband
preceded Mrs. Bell in death about two years ago also at an age of over a
century.
Scores of Grand-children
Of her family
of 12 children, 5 are dead and she is survived by the daughters and four
sons; Mrs. M.A. Schultz, 80; Mrs. Jane Christian, 77 and Mrs. Louisa Heider,
65 at home; Eli, 75, of Kenosha; James, 69, at home; John, 59, Delta, Wis;
and William 48, of Tipler.
No one in the family would make an attempt to figure up accurately the number of grand-children, great- grand-children and great-great-grand-children.