I have been following your discourse on the BELLs of Hornby and wondered whether there is any connection with a William Bell who married Rebecca Sunman in 1764 at Holtby (which lies NE of York and close to where she had been baptised). They settled at Hutton Bonville, which lies less than 3 miles from Great Smeaton and Hornby. (Rebecca had a younger brother John BELL who was a witness to this marriage.) The couple moved to Hutton Bonville sometime between 1764 and 1772 where there is recorded the baptism in 1772 of a James(son of William and Rebecca BELL) and in 1775 a Mary Bell (dau of William). William must have died between 1775 and 1777 as Rebecca Bell remarried, to local farmer Michael Sayer in November 1777 at Hutton Bonville parish church by licence. Rebekkar would have been about 35 so an educated guess would place William BELL's birth at around 1740. Unfortunately I have not discovered anything relating to William's death, or to their children James and Mary BELL. I assume that William BELL came from the Hutton Bonville/ Gt Smeaton area given that the couple settled there rather than in Rebecca Sunman's parish of Holtby (arnt these similar names confusing!). Would anyone be able to identify him or locate his burial or find any information in the PRs of either the marriages or burials of his 2 children? Best wishes Laurel Sayer (gggg granddaughter of Michael Sayer of Hutton Bonville b 1778!) -----Original Message----- From: eng-north-yorks-bounces@rootsweb.com [mailto:eng-north-yorks-bounces@rootsweb.com] On Behalf Of eng-north-yorks-request@rootsweb.com Sent: 10 February 2008 08:06 To: eng-north-yorks@rootsweb.com Subject: ENG-NORTH-YORKS Digest, Vol 3, Issue 25 Today's Topics: 1. BELL, Hornby nr Great Smeaton (Howard Mais) 2. BELL, Hornby near Gt. Smeaton (Diane Johansen) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Message: 1 Date: Sat, 9 Feb 2008 16:12:17 -0000 From: "Howard Mais" <themaises@totalise.co.uk> Subject: [ENG-NORTH-YORKS] BELL, Hornby nr Great Smeaton To: <eng-north-yorks@rootsweb.com> Cc: lizzy.johansen@btinternet.com Message-ID: <005901c86b46$6ca737c0$1da8bd50@windows> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Diane I cannot help you with any of the Bells in your note but my ancestor William Mais (1792-1865), who lived in East Cowton, kept a notebook for several years in which he recorded local births, marriages and deaths. Amongst these is a reference that a Thomas Bell of Great Smeaton died on Wednesday 17/1/1849 aged 72 years with a note that he was assistant to W and J Mais, who were William's sons. I thought that this may be of interest. Cheers Howard Mais Date: Thu, 7 Feb 2008 11:58:37 -0000 From: "Diane Johansen" <lizzy.johansen@btinternet.com> Subject: [ENG-NORTH-YORKS] BELL, Hornby nr Great Smeaton To: <eng-north-yorks@rootsweb.com> Message-ID: <A9DD1261CF1B4905BF3627858C892163@Office> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" William George BELL was born in Hornby, near Gt. Smeaton, in 1827. He was son to James BELL by his wife Margaret (STEPHENSON). At some point he married Sophia THOMPSON (born Louth, Lincs about 1824) though I have not managed to find a suitable marriage (despite looking at all name variations and locations!) On the 1851 Hornby Census William and Sophia are living with their daughter Emma, age 1. William was a grocer and cabinet maker in the village. I sent off for Emma's birth certificate and from this I found out that her full name was Emma Stephenson BELL, she was born in August 1849 and that her mother, Sophia, was previously THOMPSON. I would be interested in any baptism for Emma at Great Smeaton around that time and any suggestions of where to start looking to find out what happened to the family after 1851 because they disappear! Many thanks! Diane Johansen Researching BELL, Gt. Smeaton, Middleton-on-Leven, Yarm, Ingleby Arncliffe ------------------------------