Bell, George

The following data is extracted from A Standard History of Kansas and Kansans.

George Bell and members of his family have been prominently identified with various localities in Kansas for thirty-five years or more. The family now reside in Topeka.

The birthplace of George Bell was Darlington, Yorkshire, England, where he was born in 1845. He grew up at Darlington, and while there he lived on an estate where Queen Victoria's three noted grandsons came to hunt. George Bell came to know these distinguished European characters very well. They are now the Czar Nicholas of Russia, Emperor William of Germany and King George of England.

George Bell in 1877 came to America, was first located at Beecher, Illinois, and in 1880 came to Kansas. In Leavenworth County be became a successful farmer and stock raiser and specialized in fine livestock.

In 1880 Mr. Bell married Miss Jean M. Christy. They were married in the city of Brantford, Ontario, Canada. Mrs. Bell is a member of a very prominent Canadian family. Her grandfather Robert Christy was a man of prominence in Canada and died there in 1876 at the age of ninety-seven. Her father, Hon. David Christy, was one of Canada's distinguished statesmen. Born in the city of Edinburg, Scotland, in 1818, he had been brought to Canada in 1834 when a boy, lived in Brantford, became a school teacher at Hamilton, but afterwards entered politics and rose rapidly in the scale of prominence. At one time he served as speaker of the Dominion Senate and held many offices under the crown, being at one time secretary of state. Hon. David Christy came to Kansas during Governor St. John's administration, and became well known to the public men of that day. A man of wealth he invested in about 4,000 acres of land in Marion County, and sent his two sons Robert and William to manage the ranch. Not long after making this investment in Kansas real estate David Christy died suddenly at the age of seventy-five. After his death the big Marion County ranch was sold to Lord Sculley. While his sons Robert and William were in Marion County their sister Jean came to visit them, and there she met Mr. George Bell, whom she married in 1880.

Mr. and Mrs. Bell had born to them three children, and the family now reside at 1617 Mulvane Street in Topeka. The children Margaret, Edna and Robert are all talented young people, Margaret and Edna have taken special courses in Washburn College and Robert, though employed in the Santa Fe offices is also continuing his work in Washburn College.

Source: A Standard History of Kansas and Kansans

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