Thursday, December 1, 2016

Marble Lura Bell Browning Graham

Aaron Bell was born February 12, 1809 in New York City.  He married Lydia Ann McDonald in Moniteau County, Missouri, in 1848/1849, and they had eight children.  Samuel H Bell was the second child, and the first son born to the couple.  He was born about 1851.
That year Aaron Bell filed a land patent for 40 acres in Moniteau County.  {My suggestion would be to contact the Moniteau County Historical Society and inquire about the history of these 40 acres in the NW quarter of the NW quarter of Section 11 of Township 43 North - Range 15 West as Aaron prospered quickly and appeared to be tied to the mining industry.}  According to Joe Pryor, lead was first mined in Moniteau County in 1841 and in Miller County in the 1850's. By 1858 Aaron Bell filed land patents for 245 acres in Miller County between the Bell Mining Company (was owned by Donnie Curty in 2003 but I think he sold it to Eddie Gibson) on the east and the Gageville Mine property on the west (Hart farm today).  Aaron Bell's property is owned today by Art Hager and Bill Bashore.
According to Clyde Jenkins, "in the early 1850's, Temple E. Bell, while sojourning down a hollow in the present community of Gageville, found the first vein of lead which was mined in Miller County successfully.  Bell's slaves operated the mine.  This photo, featured in a Joe Pryor article, is from one of Bell's mines, probably circa 1900.

I found no genealogical link between the Bell family members listed as operating the Bell Mining Company and Aaron Bell.  Further research is needed as there is significant evidence to support the theory that there was a link.





During the Civil War, Aaron Bell was one of three men to file statements against the Captain of the Clark Township Southern Guards (Cole County).
The History of Cole, Moniteau, Miller. etc.

The other Missouri State Guard Captain, James Johnson/Johnston, was the leader of the Osage Tigers in Miller County.  James Johnston returned home and was captured by Captain Daniel Rice's Cavalry unit in August 1861, and taken to Jefferson City.  Johnston declared that Governor Gamble had signed a proclamation which forgave those men who had returned back home. By December 1862 he had signed an Oath of Allegiance supporting the Union and was released to return to Miller County.

Aaron Bell would have been old enough to avoid service in the Civil War and his oldest son, Samuel, would have been young enough to avoid service.  Lydia died at the age of 37 in 1865.

Samuel married Lockey/Lockie Jane Jones in Cole County in 1873.  They had six daughters, and one son.  The youngest daughters were Grace born in 1890 and Marble born in 1894.

His father, Aaron, died at age 81 on June 12, 1891, and was buried at Spring Garden Cemetery.  By 1904 most of the acreage was owned by Samuel's brother, John S. Bell.  John's probate record is housed at the Miller County Museum.

Oral history states that Samuel and Lockey died and the two youngest girls were raised by Reverend Browning and his wife.  There is no record of Samuel or Lockey Bell in the 1900 Census.  {Possibly the old local papers at the museum hold the key to this mystery.}  Marble's oldest sister, Rosa, was 26 and working as a servant in the James Bond home in 1900.


Reverend John Henry Browning and his first wife raised a family in Vandalia, Illinois.  He married his second wife, Louisa Lnu, in Missouri, about 1881, and settled near Samuel and Lockey Bell.  In the 1910 Census Marble is living with them, along with a young hired boy.  The Browning family is living between Florel and Elsie Bell, and the William Blackburn family.

Marble married Ernest Eltry Graham in 1913. They had seven children.  She died in Eldon in 1978.  At her death, she had 18 grandchildren and 24 great-grandchildren.