| Birth: | Nov. 28, 1880
Bryan County
Georgia, USA | | Death: | Jul. 13, 1959
Hinesville
Liberty County
Georgia, USA | 
Edna Josephine Downs Bell was born November 28, 1880 in Bryan County, Georgia. The daughter of Civil War veteran Emmitt Thomas Downs and Edna Josephine Pate Downs, Edna ("Eddie") Josephine Downs Bell had nine siblings. Edna (at age 15) married David Clayton Bell, Sr. on July 16, 1896 in Clyde, Bryan County, and they had eleven children: Marvin Barnard Bell, Birdie Mae Bell Roberts, Ruby Robena Bell McClelland, James Roy Bell, Robert Travis Bell, Lester Wiley Bell, Willie Oscar Bell, Lois Netherae Bell Peyton, Mary Caroline Irene Bell Smith, Edna Josephine Bell Deal, and David Clayton Bell, Jr. She was widowed at age 45 and worked as a sharecropper and midwife to support her children. Edna was an accomplished seamstress who could look at a dress in a magazine and produce an exact replica. She loved her flower garden. Her great-granddaughter Sharlotte Neely Donnelly remembers the beautifully crocheted dolls' dresses she made. In her old age, despite being blind in one eye and with a broken hip, at her choice Edna lived independently in her own home (near some of her children's homes) until her death July 13,1959 in Liberty County, Georgia at age 78. She is buried in Little Creek Cemetery in Bryan County. The birth date on her grave stone is inaccurate. Edna's ancestry was English and Irish.
Thanks so much to Nevada McClelland Bell and Bell family researchers for much of this information. Any errors, however, are mine alone. Please go to the "edit" link on this site with any corrections or additions.
Family links:
Parents:
Emmitt Thomas Downs (1833 - 1912)
Edna Josephine Pate Downs (1840 - 1913)
Spouse:
David Clayton Bell (1875 - 1924)
Children:
Marvin Barnard Bell (1897 - 1940)*
Birdie Mae Bell Roberts (1899 - 1975)*
Ruby Robena Bell McClelland (1901 - 1975)*
James Roy Bell (1904 - 1969)*
Robert Travis Bell (1907 - 1907)*
Lester Wyley Bell (1908 - 1987)*
Willie Oscar Bell (1911 - 1989)*
Lois Netherae Bell Peyton (1913 - 2005)*
Mary Caroline Irene Bell Smith (1916 - 1995)*
David Clayton Bell (1923 - 1966)*
*Calculated relationship
Inscription:
"Meet us in heaven where all is love."
| | | Burial:
Little Creek Cemetery
Fort Stewart
Bryan County
Georgia, USA
Plot: Plot 8 |
Created by: Sharlotte Donnelly
Record added: Dec 30, 2000
Find A Grave Memorial# 5129538 |
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