Sunday, August 10, 2014

Bell Frances West















According to records in the Daughters of the American Revolution Lineage Books (Vol. 39, page 85), Miss Bell Frances West (Miss West's middle name is sometimes spelled Francis)  was descended from Robert Francis West, who served in the Revolutionary War. Bell F. West was born in the early 1870s to Robert Francis West and Julia Bell West. She lost her father when was just a toddler. Bell's ancestors on both her mother's and father's sides were among the earliest settlers of Erie County, Ohio. Her great great grandfather Eleazur Bell came west to Perkins Township in 1815, with a group of several families from Connecticut, led by another of Bell F. West's ancestors, John Beatty. Bell F. West's grandfather, T.D. West was a pioneer merchant in Sandusky. Sadly, Bell F. West's great grandparents, Horace Bell and Sarah Rickie Beatty Bell both died in the cholera epidemic in Sandusky. When Bell F. West married Dr. Charles E. Perkins, the local newspaper printed a feature article, including a drawing of the happy couple. The article appeared in the February 4, 1891 of the Sandusky Daily Register. A portion of the article is pictured below.
























According to census records, by 1900 the couple had divorced.

On August 14, 1922, Bell F. West passed away at Good Samaritan Hospital after a lengthy illness. She had been a longtime employee of the Bender-Woodward Company. Obituaries for Miss West are found in the 1922 OBITUARY NOTEBOOK at Sandusky Library. The articles stated that Miss West had been held in high esteem. Funeral services were held at Miss West's home at 428 East Washington Street in Sandusky, with Rev. E. G. Mapes officiating. Burial was at Sandusky's Oakland Cemetery in the West family lot.








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