Western Pennsylvania Genealogy
Compiled by Douglas H. Lusher


Family Group Record



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[Ancestor] Bell




Husband [Ancestor] Bell

           Born: 
     Christened: 
           Died: 
         Buried: 
       Marriage: 



Wife

           Born: 
     Christened: 
           Died: 
         Buried: 


Children
1 M William Bell 1 2 3

           Born: Abt 1705
     Christened: 
           Died: 29 Oct 1783 - Paxton Twp, Lancaster Co, PA 4
         Buried: 
         Spouse: Jane Lea (      -Bef 1780) 3



General Notes: Husband - [Ancestor] Bell


The Scotch-Irish

The term Scotch-Irish is applied to the descendants in America of the early Scotch Presbyterian emigrants from Ireland. These Scotch people for 100 years or more after 1700 settled with their wives and families in Ulster, northern Ireland, whence their descendants for 100 years after 1700, having long suffered under the burdens of civil and religious oppression, sought a more promising home in America (Hanna). They were Irish only geographically because racially the Scotch in Ireland have remained Scotch. The country folks of Antrim and Down were known to say "We're no Eerish bot Scotch".
The Scotch settlers in north Ireland were from the Lowlands. The Lowlanders were hereditary foes of the English and engaged in many border wars. They are today as a rule, of fair height, long-legged, strongly built, with no tendency of becoming stout; eyes bright, features regular, and cheeks prominent. Of all the men of Great Britain, those of southwestern Scotland are noted for their tall stature.
As one writer (Bolton) puts it, "The lowland Scotch left heather clad mountains and grazing flocks to cross the narrow waters of the North Channel into Antrim and Down. They abandoned pastoral land for flax fields and bleach green." It was in the seventeenth century that the best of the middle class of the Lowland Presbyterians went to Antrim and Down. The Scotch settlers in Ireland sowed flax and started the linen trade. Belfast became the center of this industry. They had sought better conditions, but in Ireland there was likewise unrest, both religious and civil, so they turned to America.

The Name Bell

The first record of Bells is in Dumfriesshire (a county in southern Scotland) where they were established before 1300. They were reputed to be of Anglo-Norman origin. In 1547 among the clans of the west border who submitted to the English at Annerdale (Annandale) were Bells of Tostints and Bells of Tindills.
In 1597 the Bells were listed as one of the "certain broken clans" of Dumfriesshire. In that year at Anandaill (Annandale) we find the following Bells listed: "Will Bell of Albv. John Bell of the Tourne, Mathie Bell called the King, Andro Bell called Lokkis Andro, Will Bell Reidcloke". These were "chief men of name not being lairds". The Bells are listed among the "borderers who gallantly bore the sword in defence of their fatherland". Annandale is the name of a valley or dale extending north from the town of Annan, Scotland.
After 1600 we find many Bells mentioned in Scotch history. Vermont's Heraldica gives the motto of the Bells as "Nec quaerere honorem nec spernere". (Neither seek nor disdain honors.) The coat of arms is a shield of three gold bells on a blue background and gray fleurs-de-lis on silver. The upper portion of the shield has two bells, the middle portion the fleurs-de-lis, and the lower one bell. The crest is a falcon with wings expanded, ermine. Today the name Bell is common in Scotland and Ireland, especially in Counties Antrim and Down.

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Sources


1 William Henry Egle, M.D., M.A., Pennsylvania Genealogies; Chiefly Scotch-Irish and German (Harrisburg, PA: Harrisburg Publishing Co., 1896), Pg 250.

2 —, Commemorative Biographical Record of Washington County, Pennsylvania (Chicago, IL: J. H. Beers & Co., 1893), Pg 471.

3 Raymond Martin Bell, The Bell Family of Mifflin County, Pennsylvania (Ann Arbor, MI: Edwards Brothers, Inc., 1941), Pg 10.

4 Raymond Martin Bell, The Bell Family of Mifflin County, Pennsylvania (Ann Arbor, MI: Edwards Brothers, Inc., 1941), Pg 20.


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