CEA LETTER 1

Date: About 1960

LETTER 1

LETTER from Mrs W. A. SALTER (Atkison-5) to Mrs D. W. SNEED (Atkison-2) about 1960

[Transcribed from typescript by Joe Sneed (Sneed-20), 07/17/2004]

Gilbert Allen Bell came from Ireland with his parents and settled in Virginia. He married Elizabeth (don't know last name) and they moved to Tennessee. Robert Allen Bell, his son, was born in Tennessee and was one of the first lay preachers of the Cumberland Branch of the Presbyterian Church. His work was among the Choctaw Indians in Tennessee, and later in Mississippi, where he went as a young man, He farmed near the town of Randolph.

Robert Kennedy's family came from England and went down the Mississippi River from St. Louis to the New Orleans Country. He was married to Elizabeth Dixon, whose sister married Andrew Jackson's father. The Dixon's lived in Tennessee. Our grandmother, was Elizabeth Dixon Kennedy. Her brother, Tom, lived in Bonnam, Texas in later life. Her older sister married a Ridings. Jane's son Louis Ridings used to visit us. Louis's daughter Laura Duckworth used to live in Durant. His daughter-in-law or great-daughter- in-law is Hope Ridings. She is a writer.

Robert Allan Bell and Elizabeth Dixon Kennedy lived in Mississippi after they were married. They had twelve children, some dying in infancy. The children were:

Emma Bell married Ellis Perkins. Their children were:

Anna married John Henry Salmon

Don(na) Bell married W. R. Perkins

Lena never married

Beaula married Asby

Fanie Moss Bell marries but don't know who

All lived in Mississippi

Robert Donald Bell married Martha Woods. Their children were:

Gertrude, Clyde, William, Robert, and Mattie, now living in Texas City

Elizabeth Bell married Jesse G. Williams.

they came from Mississippi to Boue [?] County, later Bryan, and were farmers in the Roberta and Utica area. She dies of tuberculosis. their children were:

Gilbert Allen married a Condit girl who died, later married Salle, no children

James married Ella; two boys (Elsa, Texas)

Castilla marries Will Neely; one son Will Jr. (New Albany, Miss)

Elizabeth marries George Hubbard; three children, died of flu in 1917

May married Jeff Turner; three children; warden of Miss state prison until his retirement

John Ellis married Mabel Howard; two children; killed in auto accident while scheriff [?] of Bryan County

Robert Peyton (Pate) married Maude Yourney; three or four children (Roberta)

Jack French married Maude ....; some children one died when their house burned

Mary Emma married George Hubbard; one child Ambrose (Mississippi:)

Lewis Clark married Greenwood: after she died married he sister (California)

Leila Forrest married Enis Hayes: one child; died in California

Hugh Allen Bell married Ollie (last name unknown). Their children were:

Thrace and twins Clevlon [?] and Clyde (a girl)

All lived in Mississippi

Thomas Ellen Bell (Duck) married James Peyton Donaldson (kin to Rachel Donaldson who married :Andrew Jackson). Their children were:

Robert Peyton Donaldson married...

Sallie Irene Donaldson never married.

Melisa Merle Donaldson married Will Corbin

Cora Emma Donaldson married Marshal Jamison

Lelia Bell married Willis R. Collins. They moved to Texas and later to Durant. Their children were:

Jettie married Homer Glen

Jessie married to Ingram Calhoun

Ivy last marries John Burnett (Oklahoma City)

Ernest married Merle ... from Florida

Elizabeth married Albert Sidney Johnson, divorced (Merkel, Texas)

Robert married...

Forrest May ... married three times

Horton dies as child

A girl died as child

Bailey married......

Dan...married died number of years ago

Sarah Francis Bell married John F. V. Carrell a Methodist Circuit Rider who had served as a drummer boy in the Confederate Army

Mary Caroline Bell married General Forrest Atkinson. They cam from Ponotoc Miss. to Durant. Their children are

Don Ellis married Anne McDonald

Cammie Elizabeth married Winfred Salter; one son Forrest

Robert Pratt married Allie V. Adrian; one child Mary Alice

Walter Forrest died in infancy

Sallie Bell married Dabney W. Sneed; one son Joe

William Leonard married Lucille Walsen; one son Bill

Lottie married Otto M. Morse both died; one son Jim

Thelma married Robert T. Daniels; two sons Billy Bob and Larry

The Atkinsons or Atkins came originally from England to Alabama and then to Southern Mississippi. Giles Manuel Atkinson marries Margret Grey whose mother was a Forrest. Their children were:

Cammie burned to death as a child

Mary married several times; children called Johnson

Sallie married William Boeckmann (DeLeon, Texas)

General Forrest Atkinson

born during the Civil War when the guerrillas were following Sherman's March to the Sea. Their house was burned and his mother with it. Mary who was seven took Forrest and Sallie to the home of neighbors as the father was in the army. A family who had a small boy took Forrest with them to Alabama. When his father came home he found the house burned. After burying the bones and things he found Mary and Sallie with another family who later came to Texas. When Forrest was fourteen he came back to Mississippi and found his father who had married his aunt Mary Larrimore whose husband had been killed in the war. She had two sons Ubioe [?] and John and they had a daughter Eunivecce. Forrest's father lived with her in his old age.

It is possible that these events occurred in connection with the Siege of Vicksburg  (May 18 – July 4, 1863), some time before G. F. Atkison's birth. Soldiers or deserters from either the Union or Confederate army could have been involved. The dates are hard to reconcile.

The events need not to have occurred immediately after G. F. Atkison's birth. He might have been up to roughly three years old.

In any event, they appear to have nothing to do with "Sherman's March to the Sea".

Joe Sneed

Sneed-20 10:26, 7 August 2018 (EST)

COMMENTS

LETTER 1

LETTER from Mrs W. A. SALTER to Mrs D. W. SNEED

Joe Sneed

Sneed-20 18:26, 8 March 2011 (EST)

Here I'll try to tie this document to this data base. There are 4 documents produced by Aunt C. (Atkison-5). I will refer to them as 'L1', 'L2', 'L3' and 'T'. L1 is this letter; L2 and L3 are other letters; T is a family tree sketch

Gilbert Allen Bell [Does not appear in this data base. He may be identical with begins with Robert Bell II, (Bell-884)] came from Ireland with his parents and settled in Virginia. He married Elizabeth (don't know last name) and they moved to Tennessee. Robert Allen Bell, [Apparently, Bell-920] his son, was born in Tennessee and was one of the first lay preachers of the Cumberland Branch of the Presbyterian Church. His work was among the Choctaw Indians in Tennessee, and later in Mississippi, where he went as a young man, He farmed near the town of Randolph.

There are major discrepancies here, both among three accounts provided by Aunt C. (L1, L2 and T) and between these accounts and that provided by this data base.

In L2 and T, The role of Gilbert Allen Bell in L1 is attributed to Robert Bell ("Our Great Grandfather" in L2 and top of tree in T). According to this data base, the father of Robert Allen Bell (Bell-881) is Hugh Bell (Bell-883).

It appears that the Robert Bell of L2 and T might be the Rev. Robert Bell III (Bell-920) in this data base. It may be that "... was one of the first lay preachers of the Cumberland Branch of the Presbyterian Church. His work was among the Choctaw Indians in Tennessee, and later in Mississippi..." actually describes Bell-920 rather than (or as well as) Robert Allen Bell (Bell-881). In L2 Bell-881 is said to have "held services in the Cumberland Presbyterian Church", but there is no mention of missionary work.

There is independent evidence that (Bell-920) may have been a preacher of the Cumberland Branch of the Presbyterian Church and a missionary among the Choctaws in Mississippi (So far as I know, there were no Choctaws in Tennessee).

Kidwell, Clara Sue, Choctaws and Missionaries in Mississippi 1818-1918, University of Oklahoma Press, 1995

mentions (p. 42, and note to p. 51) "Robert Bell" as a missionary to the Choctaws and Chickasaws from the Cumberland Presbytery who was involved in negotiations with the Native Americans about establishing mission schools. The events Kidwell describes occurred in 1819. So it would have been possible for Bell-920 to have participated in the events, but not Bell-881.

In L2 Aunt C. says that "Robert Bell...was supposed to have married an Indian woman". In T Robert Bell is matched with "Indian Woman". Responding to my inquiry, Dr. Kidwell said she knew no more about her Robert Bell than appears in her book, but that it was not unlikely that he married a Choctaw and may even have presented himself (in certain contexts) as a member of the tribe. Since the Choctaws are matrilineal, this would not have been regarded as peculiar (by the Choctaws, at least).

This data base tells us that Bell-920 married Grizelle McCutchens (UNKNOWN-30624), but there is no mention of Native American ancestry for her. There is a substantial list of their descendants in this data base. It would be interesting (and probably possible) to know if any of these appear in the post 1895 tribal roles of the Choctaws or Chickasaws produced by the Dawes Commission.

I can see two explanations for these discrepancies:

1) Hugh Bell (Bell-883) is identical with Gilbert Allen Bell (of L1);

2) Robert Allen Bell (Bell-881) is the son of Robert Bell III (Bell-920).

Neither seems completely satisfactory.

Explanation 1) appears to be the most probable simply because it is consistent with all sources except Aunt C.. However, there is no reference to a Hugh Bell any family documents known to me, except for Hugh G. Bell (Bell-888) mentioned below in a later generation. I never heard anyone mention Hugh Bell.

Aunt C. could not have had much, of any, communication with her grandfather (Bell-881). He died 3 years after she was born. She probably got most of her information from her mother Mary Caroline Bell (Bell-1124),

From one perspective, it is Gilbert Allen Bell who is the mysterious character here. He does not appear in this data base and only in L1 in the Bell-Atkison corpus.

Explanation 2) is consistent with all of what Aunt C. says except for the reference to Gilbert Allen Bell in L1. It is also consistent with what she says about "Our Great Grandfather"'s connection with the Choctaws, provided one takes the description of missionary work in L1 as applying to him (again confusion?). The Kidwell account of the missionary Robert Bell lends some credence to this interpretation. The problem is, this account is inconsistent with all known Bell genealogies. But, at this point, we don't know the evidential base for these genealogies. It is not uncommon for a single error to propagate through a large literature, repeatedly cited with increasing confidence.

Robert Kennedy's [ probably Gilbert Kennedy (Kennedy-446)] family came from England and went down the Mississippi River from St. Louis to the New Orleans Country. He was married to Elizabeth Dixon (Dixon-419), whose sister married Andrew Jackson's father.

[Actually, the Andrew Jackson (Jackson-1299) connection appears to be that Gilbert Kennedy's wife Sarah Lesslie's (Lesslie-21) aunt Elizabeth Hutchinson (Hutchinson-251) married his father (Jackson-1298) and is his mother.

The Dixon's lived in Tennessee. Our grandmother, was Elizabeth Dixon Kennedy (Kennedy-445). Her brother, Tom (Kennedy-461) [There appears to be a reference to him in L2 under the name of 'Tome'], lived in Bonnam, Texas in later life. Her older sister married a Ridings. Jane's (Kennedy-450) [I guess this is the older sister mentioned in the previous sentence.] son Louis Ridings (Ridings-4) used to visit us. Louis's daughter Laura Duckworth (Ridings-16) used to live in Durant. His daughter-in-law or great-daughter-in-law [How could this be Louis' sometning "in-law" when she bears his last name?] is Hope Ridings. She is a writer [This is possibly Hope Ridings Miller. A Google search on 'Hope Ridings' reveals that "Hope Ridings Miller... once edited the society page of the Washington Post and was part of the capital's social scene since the days of Roosevelt. There is a lot more about her including reference to a scholarship named for her at Austin College in Bonham, TX and some connection with Sam Rayburn. This indicates she may have had ties to our part of the world. Her Washington Post obituary is [here] ].

From here on, this data base and L1 seem to be in close agreement.

Robert Allan Bell (Bell-881) and Elizabeth Dixon Kennedy (Kennedy-445) lived in Mississippi after they were married. They had twelve children, some dying in infancy. The children were:

Emma Bell (Bell-886) married Ellis Perkins (Pickens-139). Their children were:

Anna (Pickens-141) married John Henry Salmon (Salmon-59)

L1 does not mention Donnie Lee (Pickens-142)

Don(na) Bell (FH380) married W. R. Perkins

Lena (Pickens-143) never married

[This at data base shows, husband Hugh L. Morris (Morris-1085).]

L1 does not mention Mary Duck (Pickens-144)

Beaula (Pickens-145) married Asby (Abney-36)

Fanie Moss Bell (Pickens-146) marries but don't know who

[This at data base shows, husband John Toy Short (Short-290).]

All lived in Mississippi

Robert Donald Bell ['William Donald'] (Bell-887) married Martha Woods (Wood-1782).

Their children were:

Gertrude (Bell-893), Clyde (Bell-895), William (Bell-897), Robert (Bell-898), and Mattie (Bell-896), now living in Texas City

[Lillie Irene (Bell-8920, is not clearly mentioned in L1. Martha Jane (Bell-896), may be identified with Mattie, who can not be otherwise identified in this data base.]

[Apparently Mattie was still living at the time L1 was written. I have a vague memory of someone by the name of 'Mattie Bell' being spoken of in family conversation. She even may have visited Aunt C. in Kerrville, TX while I was there as a child, from time to time, in the 1940-50's.]

Elizabeth Bell (Bell-876) married Jesse G. Williams (Williams-2701). they came from Mississippi to Boue [?] County [ I can find no information about what Bryan County was called when it was part of Indian Territory. Presumably, someone knows this. ], later Bryan, and were farmers in the Roberta and Utica [ both Bryan County, OK ] area. She dies of tuberculosis. their children were:

Gilbert Allen (Williams-2705) married a Condit girl (Conditt-3) who died, later married Salle (Farris-28), no children

James (Williams-2711) married Ella (Alverson-11); two boys (Elsa, Texas)

Castilla (Williams-2687) marries Will Neely (Neeley-15); one son Will Jr (Neeley-16). (New Albany, Miss)

Elizabeth (Williams-2688) marries George Hubbard (Hubbard-321); three children, died of flu in 1917

May (Williams-2704) married Jeff Turner (Williams-2704); three children; warden of Miss state prison until his retirement

John Ellis (Williams-2706) married Mabel Howard (Howard-907); two children; killed in auto accident while scheriff [?] of Bryan County

Robert Peyton (Pate) (Williams-2713) married Maude Yourney (Youree-1); three or four children (Roberta [Bryan County, OK] )

[ L1 does not mention Minnie Earl Williams (Williams-2708). ]

Jack French ([Williams-2709]]) married Maude (Lynch-267) ....; some children one died when their house burned

Mary Emma (Williams-2690) married George Hubbard (Hubbard-321); one child Ambrose (Hubbard-324) (Mississippi:)

Lewis Clark (Williams-2703) [Clark Lewis] married Greenwood (Greenwood-58): after she died married he [r] sister (Greenwood-59) (California)

Leila Forrest (Williams-2712) married Enis Hayes (Hayes-438): one child; died in California

These people are of my mother's (Atkison-2) generation and were frequently mentioned.

My mother told of "picking cotton" ("I neva picked cotton, but my Momma did...": Jonny Cash) as a teenager at "the Williams place". It was common even in the 1940's that rural schools started in August and closed during September so the children could help with the harvest. This practice ceased in Durant (a metropolis) sometime earlier. I don't know when.

I recall Pate (Williams-2713) visiting us on several occasions in the 1940-50's. I think I may have spoken on the phone with Pate's son Gil (Williams-2745) in San Francisco CA sometime in the late 1960's -early 1970's. I recall my mother urging me to contact some Williams who was working for Del Monte, the fruit processing firm. Perhaps I did.

There were a few Williams people at my mother's funeral in 1998. They were elderly women. I don't think I'd never seen them before and, though they identified themselves and expressed condolence, I can not remember their names.

Hugh Allen Bell (Bell-888) [Hugh Gilbert] married Ollie (Morrow-105) (last name unknown). Their children were:

[ Note that this is the only mention of anyone called 'Hugh' in our family documents. But, it does suggest there may have been a predecessor who bore this name. ]

Thrace (Bell-900) and twins Clevlon [≈ Cleon ?] (Bell-901) and Clyde (Bell-902) (a girl)

All lived in Mississippi

Thomas Ellen Bell (Duck) (Bell-889) married James Peyton Donaldson (Donaldson-77) (kin to Rachel Donaldson who married Andrew Jackson (Jackson-1299)).

[ No evidence of relation to Rachel Donaldson has been found. ]

Their children were

Robert Peyton Donaldson (Donaldson-78) married...

Sallie Irene Donaldson (Donaldson-79) never married.

Melisa Merle Donaldson (Donaldson-80)(?) married Will Corbin (Corbin-52)

Cora Emma Donaldson (Donaldson-90) married Marshal Jamison (Jamison-51)

Lelia Bell (Bell-890 ) married Willis R. Collins (Collins-785). They moved to Texas and later to Durant. Their children were:

Jettie (Collins-786 )married Homer Glen (Glen-5)

Jessie (Collins-787) married to Ingram Calhoun (Calhoun-262)

Ivy (Collins-788) last marries John Burnett (Burnett-123) (Oklahoma City)

[ I remember people speaking of Ivy Burnett. She even may have visited us in Durant, OK. ]

Ernest (Collins-790) married Merle (Stallings-21) ... from Florida

Elizabeth (Collins-791) married Albert Sidney Johnson ([[Johnson-3041]), divorced (Merkel, Texas)

Robert (Collins-792) married...

Forrest May (Collins-789)... married three times

Horton (Collins-794) dies as child

A girl died as child

[ There is no one in in this data base unaccounted for. ]

Bailey (Collins-793) married......

Dan...(Collins-795) [Don ?] married died number of years ago

Sarah Francis Bell (Bell-882) married John F. V. Carrell (Carroll-304) a Methodist Circuit Rider who had served as a drummer boy in the Confederate Army

L3 suggests strongly that (Bell-882) is "Aunt Sallie", but this could be wrong. Until reading L3, I had always thought that Aunt Sallie was not a member of our family. I thought the 'Aunt' was a kind of courtesy title. But, I don't know where I got this idea. Anyway, this is what prompts me to question Aunt C.'s identifying her with (Bell-882).

[ I remember Aunt Sallie living with my grandmother (Bell-1124) in the 1940's in a house on the SW corner of 10th and Evergreen Streets in Durant, OK.

The two old ladies kept squirrels in a cage in the back yard, for what purpose I don't know. My mother was very concerned that I might play with them, be bitten and contract rabies.

After Aunt Sallie's death, my grandmother (Bell-1124) came to live with my mother (Atkison-2) in a house at 512 North 6th Street in Durant, OK. We moved into this house sometime before WWII ended in 1945, just when I don't know. I think it may have been 1944 when I started first grade. I think we moved so I could walk to school and come home for lunch. Grandmother died in that house (hospital?) in 1948. ]

Mary Caroline Bell (Bell-1124) married General Forrest Atkinson (Atkison-3). They came from Ponotoc Miss. to Durant. Their children are

Don Ellis (Atkison-4) married Anne McDonald (McDonald-673)

[ No children. Don died in the winter of 1969. I heard the news while I was teaching in Sweden. As I write, I 'm looking at his dress saber hanging on the wall of my study. ]

Cammie Elizabeth (Atkison-5)

married Winfred Salter (Salter-77); one son Forrest (Salter-78)

Robert Pratt (Atkison-6) [known to me as 'Uncle Skeet'] married Allie V. Adrian (Adrian-3); one child Mary Alice (Atkison-11)

Walter Forrest (Atkison-7) died in infancy

Sallie Bell (Atkison-2) married Dabney W. Sneed (Sneed-23); one son Joe (Sneed-20)

William Leonard (Atkison-8) [known to me as 'Uncle Bill'] married Lucille Walsen (Walson-1); one son Bill (Atkison-12)

Lottie (Atkison-9) married Otto M. Morse (Morse-289) both died; one son Jim 9Morse-290)

Thelma (Atkison-10) [known to me as 'Aunt Jones' see L3 for explanation] married Robert T. Daniels (Daniels-145); two sons Billy Bob (Daniels-146) and Larry (Daniels-147)

The Atkinsons or Atkins came originally from England to Alabama and then to Southern Mississippi. Giles Manuel Atkinson (Atkinson-179) [hereafter 'GMA'] marries Margaret Grey (Gray-862) whose mother (Forrest-76) was a Forrest. Their children were:

Cammie (Atkinson-181) burned to death as a child

Mary (Atknison-1) married several times; children called Johnson

Sallie (Atkinson-180) married William Boeckmann (Boeckmann-3) (DeLeon, Texas)

General Forrest Atkinson born during the Civil War when the guerillas were following Sherman's march to the sea. Their house was burned and his mother with it. Mary who was seven took Forrest and Sallie to the home of neighbors as the father was in the army. A family who had a small boy took Forrest with them to Alabama. When his father came home he found the house burned. After burying the bones and things he found Mary and Sallie with another family who later came to Texas. When Forrest was fourteen he came back to Mississippi and found his father who had married his aunt Mary Larrimore whose husband had been killed in the war. She had two sons Ubioe [?] and John and they had a daughter Eunivecce. Forrest's father lived with her in his old age.

The events described here appear to be related to Siege of Vicksburg (May 18 – July 4, 1863), several months before General Forrest Atkinson's birth. The dates are hard to reconcile. In any event, they appear to have had nothing to do with "Sherman's march to the sea".

[The question of 'Atkison" vs. 'Atkinson' is fully addressed in L2. There is more about the events described above in L2.]