William Bell and Catherine McChain

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Husband William Bell ¹

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           Born: Cir 1 May 1782-1788 - Killade, County Antrim, Ireland 2
     Christened: 
           Died: 16 Feb 1878 - Sandy Creek Twp, Mercer Co, PA 3
         Buried: 

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         Father: Sir William Bell (      -      ) 2
         Mother: 

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       Marriage: 

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   Other Spouse: Lavina Boylan (Abt 1812-1875) 4

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Wife Catherine McChain ³

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           Born:  - Ireland
     Christened: 
           Died: Abt 1838 - Mercer Co, PA
         Buried: 

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Children

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1 M James Bell ³

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           Born: 
     Christened: 
           Died: 1826
         Buried: 

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2 M William J. Bell ³

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           Born: 
     Christened: 
           Died: Bef 1888
         Buried: 

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3 M Arthur Bell ³

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           Born: 
     Christened: 
           Died: 
         Buried: 

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4 F [Infant] Bell ¹

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           Born: 
     Christened: 
           Died: in infancy
         Buried: 

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General Notes: Husband - William Bell

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He received his higher education at a college in Belfast, Ireland, and was especially trained as a civil engineer for the India service. Instead of going east, however, he emigrated to Quebec in 1826. On the passage his son James died, and as the vessel was followed by sharks the superstitious sailors refused to have the corpse buried at sea. The body was carried aboard for four days and finally cast overboard at the entrance of the St. Lawrence river, in latitude 46 degrees. The young Irishman of Scotch blood taught school in the city of Quebec for a time, later cultivated a farm at the head of Lake Chautauqua, New York, and afterward located at Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, where he both farmed and taught. He then removed with his family to Trumbull County, Ohio, where he purchased a farm and became a neighbor of five families which afterward formed with his own household a colony which located in Mercer County. Among these were the Whites, the Palmers, the Stewards, Morisons of Hadley. Selling their farms in Trumbull County, for which they received gold, the heads of these families started with one team and wagon, in which they loaded their wives, children and household goods, and, with the coin of the realm in a bag hanging from a pole (borne by the men), the caravan finally arrived in Sandy Creek Township. Here the gold was divided and the newcomers paid five dollars per acre for their land in the locality. William Bell bought the old Woods farm of sixty-five acres, in a clearing of five acres standing a crude log house. His first crops were potatoes and corn. Not long after his arrival his first wife passed away. [HMC 1909, 1090]

1 J. G. White, A Twentieth Century History of Mercer County Pennsylvania (Chicago, IL: The Lewis Publishing Company, 1909), Pg 1012, 1090.

2 J. G. White, A Twentieth Century History of Mercer County Pennsylvania (Chicago, IL: The Lewis Publishing Company, 1909), Pg 1090.

3 J. G. White, A Twentieth Century History of Mercer County Pennsylvania (Chicago, IL: The Lewis Publishing Company, 1909), Pg 1012.

4 —, History of Mercer County, Pennsylvania. Its Past and Present (Chicago, IL: Brown, Runk & Co., Publishers, 1888), Pg 1054, 1095.