Hardesty's History of Calhoun County, West Virginia

JOHN W. BELL 

     John W. Bell, grandson of Henry Bell, one of the pioneers of 
this vicinity and son of Henderson and Leah (Collins) Bell, was born 
March 12, 1847, in what is now Calhoun County, West Virginia. 
     He married in this state and county, Ellen Vandall becoming his 
wife on the 3rd if May, 1874, and they have one daughter, Fannie, 
born August 15, 1875. Ellen Vandall was born in the adjoining county, 
Wirt, Nov. 28, 1852, a daughter of N. B. Vandall, who died in 1862, 
and Virginia (DePugh) Vandall. 
     The father of John W. Bell was a soldier of the Federal army, a 
member of Company C, 11th West Virginia troops, in the war of 1861. 
Hiram Campbell, his wife's half-brother was in the same regiment, 
Company B. Henderson Bell died in 1875, and his widow still lives in 
this county, aged 60 years. 
     John W. Bell is a Republican in politics, but is one of the most 
popular men in the county as is evidenced by his election to his 
present office, that of sheriff, in a county largely Democratic. He 
was elected in 1880, and is the present incumbent. He owns a fine 
farm of 290 acres on the Little Kanawha, six miles below Grantsville, 
and is also engaged in buying and selling stock, and is in the real 
estate business. 

(Linda Fluharty)