Bell Family History: Bell Family History in Ohio

Hi all,

Sue and I joined Doug and Dorothy for some family history touring in Ohio this last week (August 2010). Doug is continuing to find information, however most of these images present he found long ago.

Remember the sequence.....Gilbert, Warren (Roy), Lewis, Beecher, William, James
Note James is our Great-Great-Great-Great Grandfather, William is three Greats (Generation count for Roger, Jan, Bonnie and Mogie)

These images are from portions of the Ohio & Erie Canal. This canal connected Lake Erie to the Ohio River and allowed Ohio to become populated (at least by Europeans). The Canal was constructed during the 1820's and completed in the early 1830's. The more northern section is now protected within Cuyahoga Valley National Park, just south of Cleveland. James bought land before the Canal was here and James and William worked on the canal. Later when the train came and largly replaced the canal function, Beecher used the train for his work

Furnace Run is where the canal passed over the Furnace Run (creek). William Bell used Oxen to haul lumber to build a portion of the crossing (at age 14).

This image show the original canal support at the crossing. The water is Furnace Run. The actual canal structure across here is missing. Most of the canal is a ditch, like....the next image shows

James Bell and his son, William, were hired to coordinate the delivery of stone for one of the locks. James hires two men to cut the stone and William hauled the stone to the lock. They were never paid as the contractor skipped town. Here are pictures of the actual lock and the quarry for the stones.

The Quarry where the stone was cut.

This is the train station where Beecher Bell dropped and picked up people to take them to Brecksville

Images in Brecksville - HISTORIC with Beecher in the image as a postman in front of the building and CURRENT as seen today (zoom on the picture I am holding)