Finding Norman Bell

Hey, Y'all!  If you've been reading my blog or if you know me at all, you've probably heard a tale about Norman Bell, my great grandfather.  And not just any tale...a scandalous tale in which he allegedly stabbed my great grandmother in the throat with a fork while everyone was eating dinner!  I know, right...well, I did say it was scandalous.

This story has been told in hushed whispers in my family since it supposedly happened somewhere around 1912-1915.  And while I definitely agree this is worthy of all the whispers, I have always been more upset with the repercussions of those whispers.    As you might expect, the family lost touch with Norman Bell and his family line.  No one talked about this openly with other family members so people have different versions of this story while others have no knowledge of it at all. I have not yet found any evidence to back up this story but there were other family stories about how abusive he was to his wife, Docia and their young children.  Whether if it did actually happen or if it was just a convenient fabrication made up to keep his children from looking for this abusive man, the result is the same.  His branch on my family tree has been completely vacant.  He has been my genealogical brick wall.

But then Lenora (AKA Booger) got on the case with me and we think may have found something! We found a man named N.G. Bell who was born in 1888 in NC living in Walterboro on the 1910 census. Could this be our Norman Bell? Well, maybe.  The census lists his job as a foreman in the locomotive industry. It also says he has been married for 1 year but doesn't list his wife. We will get into those little clues in a bit.  But first, here is a little background information if you are new to this story.

1910 Census for N. G. Bell

Docia Beatrice Lane was the oldest child of William Henry Lane and Hettie Jane Herndon.  Their other children were Grady, Cobie, Pearl, Ruby, Nina, Elease, and Jewel.  Docia was born in Colleton County, South Carolina in August 1892.  She married Norman Bell around 1909-1910 and had two children with him.  They were Maude Elizabeth Bell (born 1910) and Claude Charles Bell (born 1912).  Now back to the scandal... I have heard different versions of this stabbing event over the years but this is the gist of it. Norman Bell was an abusive man and at some point, he was put in jail for something.  When he was released from prison, he came to the family home where everyone was eating dinner.  Norman didn't feel like he was getting the kind of welcome he deserved and so stabbed Docia in the throat with a fork.  Here is where the consensus on the story ends. Most family members said Docia died from this.   But according to the story told by family members, the children were left to fend for themselves.  Maude and Claude were roaming the streets of Charleston, South Carolina until they were found and adopted by a man named Fred Fraser.  But others say they were shuffled around to different Aunts and Uncles, all of whom took turns raising the children.

Here is what I know from my genealogy research.

Docia's parents, Henry and Hettie Lane were born and spent most of their lives in Walterboro, SC. However, in 1900, they are living in Tattnall County, Georgia.  By 1910 her family is back in South Carolina. I don't know exactly why they would have moved there and then moved back to South Carolina but if I had to guess, I would say that Henry Lane found a good job there and relocated his family.

1900 Census in which the Lane family is living in Tattnall County, GA

When the Lane family moves back to South Carolina, they lived in Pocotaligo. It just minutes from Colleton County. However, Docia is not on the census with her family.  I know my Aunt Maude was born September 22, 1910.  With the census in this area being taken in April of 1910, I have always assumed Docia would have been married and living with her husband, Norman Bell, awaiting the birth of her first child.

1910 Census in which the Lane family is living in Pocotaligo, Hampton County, South Carolina

But, not only is Docia not listed with her family, she can't be found anywhere on the 1910 census.  Looking at the Lane family in the 1910 census, the first child listed is Grady Lane which we would expect since he is their next oldest child and since we are assuming Docia is already married and living with her husband.  But, if you look even closer, you might see where the Census Taker wrote "Dot" as if he were going to write Dotia (a common misspelling for Docia) but then was given different information and instead wrote Grady. This may have been taken at one of the numerous times when Norman was being abusive to Docia and she left him for a while to stay with her parents?  This could be an explanation for why she isn't listed with Norman Bell.

I also know that both Maude and Claude were born in Hampton County.  So then I searched for any Bell family living in Hampton County, SC in the 1910 census and found a Edward W. Bell (and his wife, Mary E. Bell) who was born in North Carolina just like old N.G. Bell.  So I was getting closer to some answers but I still needed more.  I needed to find Norman living with them to prove this is his family.  So then I checked on the same family in the 1900 census.  Eddie Bell is living with his wife, Mary, and children, Edna, NORMAN, Clifford, and Warren.  JACKPOT!

Over the years, I have looked for Norman Bell in prison records, chain gangs, military, censuses, newspapers and grave records...any and everywhere I could think to look.  Could this be our guy?!?!
To find out or further conclude, I should say, lets go back a bit on Norman's family tree.  So just be patient with me a minute here.

Thomas W. Bell and Penelope "Penny" Wedding/Weddon were married on November 13, 1852 in Raleigh, Wake County, North Carolina. Thomas worked for the Seaboard Air Line Railroad as a machinist which meant he serviced, maintained, tested and repaired the trains.  He and Penny had these children:  Estelle, Eddie, and Emma.  Estelle was born in 1858 but she must have died before the next census because she is not listed with them in 1870.  Eddie is the line we want to follow and he was born in 1865.  Emma was born in 1866 and died in 1931.  Penny died between 1867-1869 and Thomas was then married to Mary Francis Bruce on December 23, 1868.

Obituary of Thomas W. Bell

Eddie W. Bell married Helen L. Newton on 25 August 1885.  They had four children: Edna Earl Bell, Norman G. Bell, Clifford Bernard Bell, and Warren Edward Bell.  Helen died in 1892 when Norman was just 4 years old.  Then 3 years later, his grandfather Thomas W. Bell died in 1895.  I found these documents from Thomas' will regarding his grandchildren.

Received of Mrs. Mary F. Bell, Adminx, of T.W. Bell, Twenty five dollars out of the distributive share of E.W. Bell in the estate of his father, T.W. Bell, of which ten dollars is due me for one months (July 1895) board of two children of E.W. Bell and the remaining fifteen dollars due me for money advanced in defraying railroad expenses of the two children of said E.W. Bell from Raleigh, NC to Manasses, GA. signed Mary F.Bell

Received of Mrs. Mary F. Bell, Admnx of T.W. Bell five dollars out of the distributive share of E.W. Bell in the estate of T.W. Bell, my charges for taking two children of said E.W. Bell from Raleigh to Manassas, Georgia in the month of July 1895.  signed Emma S. Bell

It seems that after the death of his father in June 1895, Eddie asked his step-mother and sister to each take care of two of his children perhaps while he got a job and got settled in Manasses, Georgia.  By the way, Manasses is in Tattnall county Georgia, just minutes away from where Docia and her family were living at the same time.  It is probable that Docia and Norman met and began their relationship here around this time.

Now back to this throat-stabbing story...if this really did happen and happen around 1912-1915, Docia did not die from this.  She is found living in Walterboro, SC in the 1920 census.  She is remarried to Fred Fraser (he is the same Fred Fraser that some of my family said adopted Maude and Claude after Docia's death) and living with him, Maude and Claude.

1920 census showing Docia living with Fred Fraser and her children, Maude and Claude

The next document I have concerning Docia is also the last.  This is her obituary from The Press & Standard newspaper in Walterboro, SC.

Mrs. Fred W. Fraser. Mrs. Docia Fraser, wife of Fred W. Fraser and daughter of Mr. and Mrs. W.H. Lane died at the Clara EsDorn Infirmary on Tuesday Aug. 30 following an illness of about a week. Mrs. Fraser was taken to the hospital only a few hours before her death, but it was seen that nothing could be done to prolong life. The funeral and interment took place at Peniel Methodist Church being conducted by Rev. S.R. Hope, pastor of the Presbyterian Church. Mrs. Fraser was twice married, her first husband, Mr. Bell, having died several years prior to her marriage to Mr. Fraser. Of the first marriage, two children were born, Maud and Claude, aged 10 and 8 years. There were no children by the second marriage. Besides her husband, parents and children, Mrs. Fraser is survived by the following sisters: Mrs. Cora Gibson, Strawberry; Mrs. Ruby Ostrum, Goose Creek, Texas; Mrs. Pearl Custody, now of Adams Run; Misses Nina, Elise and Jewell Lane of Adams Run. Mrs. Fraser's little daughter asked that the following verse be used. A precious one from us is gone, A voice we loved is stilled, A place is vacant in our home, Which can never be filled. God in his wisdom has recalled the one his love had given, her body slumbers here below, her soul is safe in heaven.

Her cause of death is not stated in the obituary, only that it was an illness.  It is possible that her death is caused by Norman Bell stabbing her in 1921 as opposed to the 1910-1912 time frame but the obituary doesn't say that.   It also states that her first husband died several years prior to her marriage to Fred Fraser.  I know that is not true because he shows up on the 1930 census in Savannah, Georgia.  I also know that he was alive from the story told by my uncle Charles who is Norman's grandson through Claude Bell.

"Somewhere around 1945,on a Sunday, We were eating Sunday dinner when a man who looked amazingly like my Dad comes to the house. I saw him once or twice the following week but never spoke to him personally. It was my understanding that this man was Norman Bell, My father's father. I remember nothing else about that visit. The adults didn't talk about it."

-Charles Bell, September 2011

1930 Census for Norman Bell.  He is remarried to May C. Jones (maiden name unknown at present).  He is living with her and her son from a previous marriage.

The last information I have regarding Norman Bell is from the Georgia Death Index.  He died on December 22, 1945.  My guess is that he knew he was sick during the his 1945 visit and wanted to make an attempt to see his children, with whom he had been supposedly out of contact with for many years, before he died.  I haven't been able to get a copy of his obituary or death certificate so that is purely guesswork.

What I do know, however, is that Norman's father, brothers, and sister all lived and raised their families in Savannah.  Being just an hour away from Walterboro, it makes me wonder if Claude did always keep in touch with his family, even if it was kept secret from everyone else.  After collecting all of these documents, I was feeling about 95% certain that this is our Norman Bell.  I decided to look back at the very few pictures I have of Claude and I found this.

"This is one while in service of Orell, on left".  On the back of this picture, it says "me and Thomas Melvin"

The caption on this picture never made any sense to me.  I tried researching it any which way I could.  I thought Orell might be his commanding officer (please forgive my lack knowledge of military terms) or something like that.  And how do these soldiers just happen to have a camera and time to just stop and take a quick picture with your friends?  But when I was filling in all the branches of Norman Bell's family tree, all of a sudden, it all came together.

It turns out that Orell Bell is Claude's first cousin.  In fact all the people in pink boxes are first cousins. Orell is a pretty unique name.  When I found Orell's obituary, everything was even more clear.  

Orell "served in World War II in the Signal Photographic Service in India and China".  From what I can gather, these trained soldiers traveled to and photographed military operations.  I am planning on doing some more research on this unit soon.

Well, now that I've presented you with all this information I've gathered about Norman G. Bell and his family, what do you think? I know this has been an extremely long post but I am so looking forward to everyone's input!  Would you come to the same conclusion or am I just crazy?