Allen line: The Bell family of New Jersey: John and Martha

 I know very little about this family, and am hoping someone can help to verify this information, or myth, whichever it might be.  I am coming up short on documentation and some of what is said here is taken from the undocumented work (or at least not publicly shared work) found on various online sites.

John Bell seems to be the first known Bell family member in America, but that may or may not be correct.  He is thought to have been born about 1695 based on a supposed birthdate of son Isaac of roughly 1715.  Of course, he could have been born earlier than 1695, but probably not much later.  His wife is given as Martha Deal or Odell.  If she is Martha Odell, she may be the daughter of John and Mary Walker Odell, who died in Connecticut.  I am not sure I buy that connection at this point.  How would John and Martha have met?  But it is worth remembering as we continue our search for documents.  

John and his wife may have lived in New York, perhaps on Long Island, for a time, as the last three of his children are said to have been born there.  But they seem to have settled in New Jersey, where at lest some of the children were born.

Their first known child was Isaac, born in 1715, and again, this family is a hot mess.  Isaac has been assigned at least four different wives-Elizabeth Hixon, Elizabeth Dixon, Keziah Corwin, Deborah Peck and Deborah Hazen.  I think I've eliminated Elizabeth Dixon, Keziah Corwin, and Deborah Hazen.  They all seem to have married men surnamed Bell, but none of them are our Isaac.  Elizabeth Dixon and Elizabeth Hixon seem to have much the same information as far as vitals are concerned, so they may well be the same person.  That leaves us Deborah Peck (or possibly Pack), but I've not yet found anything that will definitely include or exclude her as a possibility.  I have notes in my file (also undocumented) that her first name may actually be Sarah, but again, I'm at a dead end there.  At any rate, Isaac is given a very large number of children, and I've been able to tentatively exclude several.  I believe his children are Ephraim, James, Henry, John, Robert, and George.  Other names mentioned, which I think may belong elsewhere, are Jesse, Sarah, Samuel, Zephaniah, Peter, Mary, and Isaac.  I will try to follow this family, or at least some of them, in my next post.

The next child was Jabesh, born in 1721 and died in 1787.  He married Elizabeth Drake, the daughter of Abraham and Deliverance Wooden Drake.  (As an aside, Deliverance is a granddaughter of Edward and Elizabeth Blossom Fitzrandolph, who are ancestors in the Beeks family line.) Their children are Abraham, Hannah, Mehitabel, Unice, Susanna, Elizabeth, Deliverance, Catherine, and Abigail.  That's a lot of girls, who must have looked up to their big brother!

John was the next born, about 1725, and died in 1780.  He married Martha Fancher, the daughter of Richard and Martha Richards Fancher.  Their children are Levi, Easter, John, Jeremiah, Margaret, and Isaac.  

I find a Joseph listed as having been born in 1730 and died in 1789.  Some think he is the same as Jabesh, above, but the birth and death dates are different.  I have not located anything further about Joseph, so he may be a myth. 

The final child was Onesimus, who some refer to as Simeon.  He was born in 1738 and died in 1826 in Clarksville, Greene County, Pennsylvania.  He married Anna Cossart or Cozan, the daughter of Jacob and Anna Cox Cossart.  Their children are Joseph, Nathaniel, Sieon, Elizabeth, Sarah, Anna, Jacob, Aaron, Phoebe, and John.  Onesimus married a second time, late in life, Eleanor "Nellie" Blatchely.  In researching Onseimus, I found indications that he may have been associated with the "Colverites", a religious sect with land near his, that eventually became the Shakers.  I am not sure he ever joined this group, but he did act as a witness on at least one land deed, so they were at least acquaintances.

As I've found time and time again, these early families, who were pioneers in their areas, can be very difficult to research.  Whether new records will eventually come to light or not is of course unknown, but we can hope.  Meanwhile, we can be grateful to the Bells, who contributed to the beginnings of our country.