Posted on: Austin Co. Tx Obituaries Reply Here: http://cgi.rootsweb.com/~genbbs/genbbs.cgi/USA/Tx/AustinObits/43 Surname: BELL, Cloyd, Grimes, Granville, Stephenson, Smith ------------------------- James Bell who with brother Thomas Bell came to Texas as early as 1822 and were amongst the first settlers in the area owned a very large plantation at the time of his death in what is today northern Waller County but then Austin County. The property consisted of 7777 acres at the time of his death and ajoined that of Jared Groce. The Austin County mortality census of 1860 reveals that James Mathew Bell, a farmer from North Carolina died at age 70 of an affliction of the heart that lasted 80 days. Bell died on the 16th of October 1859 and was buried in the Cedar Creek cemetery which lay in the southern part of his plantation. He left a will which was probated in November of 1859 with the Hon. William S. Day, Chief Justice of the County of Austin presiding. His wife, Margaret Bell, a resident of Austin County, was the petitioner and Frank Lipscomb was her attorney. Later on Margaret retained Ben T. Harris as her attorney. The following are excerpts from the will: The Estate of James Bell, Deceased. "It is my will and desire that my wife Margaret Bell shall have and possess during her natural life the following property, 800 acres of land ..so as to include the plantation and homestead, a Negro girl named Jenny, a child's part of all the stock. I have at my death namely horses, cattle and hogs all the plantation tools she wants, all the household and kitchen furniture and one year's provision. It is my will also that my wife Margaret Bell shall keep all my negroes to make a support and educate my children that are not of property, land, stock and everything whatever not before disposed of in this will shall be equally divided between the following named children with one exception. I have given my daughter, Rebeccah Cloyd four thousand and eighty dollars in land and I want her to like that much of having an equal share with the other children whose names are as follows: Dicy Shaw, Thomas Bell, Margaret Bell, Mathew Bell, Eliza Bell, Enoch Bell and Nancy Amelia Bell....I have appointed my wife Margaret Bell sole executrix of this my last will and testament ...in the event of her death, it is my will...that my son Thomas Bell be my executor."At the time of his death, the estate consisted of 1 negro boy, Daniel valued at $1400.00, negro Egg ($1400) Caleb ($1500) Isham ($1400) Jacob ($800) Bob ($600) Mary ($600) Jenny ($1800), 5 yoke oxen ($250), 1 wagon, 3chains ($120) 1 horse ($50) 1 mule ($80) 1 Stallion named Eagle ($200) 3 mules ($450) 1 mule ($75) 21 bales cotton ($945) 350 head of cattle ($2100), 60 head of hogs ($120), 1 mule named Fanny ($75) 2 Filleys ($150), 1 lot farming tools ($25.75) blacksmith tools ($25.00) 4 beef hides and 4 guns ($48) railroad Bono subject to recording ($500) 1 note due from Thomas S. Pinckny ($80) 1 note from T.S. Wallingford ($9.24) 7777 acres of land less 200 acres ($75,770), 1 negro Boy Tom ($1000) and 1111 acres land in Fayette County ($11,110) The total of the estate came to $102.082.99, a considerable amount for that day and time. The division of the property was such that James' wife Margaret Bell received the northern part from Beason's Creek extending to Cedar Creek totalling 1663 acres. The children each received parts of the plantation with Rebecca Cloyd keeping only 178 acres called "West Place" along the Donoho Creek. W. O. G. Wilson was deeded the rest of her share of the plantation. In the 1850 census, entry #415 shows that William Wilson was 41 from South Carolina and that living in his home at the time were Ophelia Cloyd 7 and Mary Cloyd 5 born in Alabama. These two children were Newitt Cloyd's daughters by his deceased wife Mary. Newitt Cloyd had married Rebecca Bell Cloyd after his wife's death. The reason why the two girls were living with Wilson is uncertain but possibly the reason why the majority of Rebecca's inheritance went to this man. James Bell's eldest child was named Rebecca Bell. In 1833, a year after James Bell's marriage to Margaret Grimes while Texas was still a Mexican possession, Margaret gave birth to Rebecca in Austin County. According to the census records, she received an English education. Rebecca's grandparents, George and Eurydice Grimes had arrived in Austin's Colony from Tennessee in 1827. Their daughter Margaret Grimes, having been illiterate always signed her name with an X as did all the Grimes daughters. In the 1850 census, we find a certain twenty eight year old widower by the name of Newitt Cloyd living at the Bell residence and listed as a farm laborer. Cloyd had come from Alabama with his two daughters, Ophelia, age seven and Mary, age five. His two daughters were living at the residence of a lawyer by the name of W.O.J. Wilson of South Carolina at that time. Evidently, James Bell had hired Cloyd to help him run his plantation which by the number of slaves, livestock and bales of cotton it produced was a considerable endeavor. For his day, Bell was considered a fairly wealthy man, probably second only in the county to the Groce family. Quite naturally, Newitt must have been attracted to Bell's beautiful, young seventeen year old daughter. Somewhere along the way they evidently fell in love and Newitt proposed marriage. It has been told by family members that James was furious when he found out about the attraction between the two, and from the beginning, forbid the marriage. Nevertheless, regardless of her father's initial rage, the two were married on June 13, 1857. Newitt Cloyd was born in Clarke County, Alabama around 1821. Coincidentally a young lawyer, William Barret Travis had also lived in that same county before he came to Texas. Newitt's mother was Elizabeth Doddridge and his grandfather was Noah Doddridge. This information comes from the last will and testament of Noah Doddridge of Clarke Co., Alabama which read: "bequeathed to the heirs of Elizabeth Murphy to wit Hiram Cloyd, Nvett Cloid and Mary Bettis one equal share after giving to A.J. Benson two hundred dollars" dated July 18, 1840 and signed by Nevett Cloid. >From this 1840 will, Newitt Cloyd's mother can be traced. Elizabeth Doddridge first married _____Cloyd by which she had Hiram and Nevett. According to Clarke Co. marriage records on January 1, 1825, she married John Bettis by whom she had a daughter, Mary Bettis. She then married William M. Murphy on 12-21-1837. Noah Doddridge, Newitt Cloyd's grandfather was married to Nancy Leathern on March 24, 1821 in Clarke County, Alabama. He is listed on the Clarke County Census of 1816. Noah Doddridge & his wife Constance moved from Hancock Co. or Baldwin County Georgia since there are deeds on file in both counties bearing his name. Newitt's mother Elizabeth Doddridge was born in Hancock County Georgia. Of interest is a land transaction between Noah Doddridge of Baldwin Co. to Joshua Cloud of Hancock Co. The 1810 Tax List of Baldwin Co. Georgia shows Noah Doddridge living in the area of the Oconee River, Camp Creek, Fishing creek, and Reedy Creek. He had no slaves or land at the time. Newitt Cloyd married Elizabeth Macon on September 21, 1840 in Clarke County, Alabama. Elizabeth was the daughter of Nancy Pugh and Gideon A. Macon. (This derived from a deed dated 3-8-1843 in which Nevitt Cloid and wife Elizabeth sold to Meredith T. Pugh...Gideon A Macon, decd. the estate of wife Elizabeth land from estate of Gideon A. Macon. Newitt and Elizabeth both signed the deed.) When Newitt moved to Texas, Elizabeth was with him. The 1850 mortality census of Austin County shows that Elizabeth Cloyd age 24 who was born in Alabama died of a pulmonary infection leaving behind two daughters, Ophelia and Mary. The oldest marker in the Cedar Creek cemetery where James Bell supposedly was buried has the name Elizabeth Cloud on it. This may have been Newitt's first wife. In the 1860 census, Newitt Cloyd, 39, is shown to be a farmer from Alabama, with $9000.00 and $1000. Rebecca 28 born in Texas, Ophelia 16 and Mary 14 born in Texas. Also listed were Joshua 8 and Margaretta 5 born in Texas. Since Ophelia was born in Texas, this means that Newitt and Elizabeth must have come to Austin County sometime in the early 1840's. The 1860 mortality census reveals that a male child of two years had died in the household of Newitt Cloyd. A man by the name of Herbert Anderson, 30 from Virginia was living on the estate. The other children of Newitt Cloyd and Rebecca Bell were Eli and Perry. Margaretta we assume was "Maggie". Newitt Cloyd and his wife Rebecca transferred to W.O. G. Wilson their interest in the estate of James and Margaret Bell in settlement of a $12,000.00 law suit. Almost immediately, even before James Bell's will was probated, they had transferred their interest in the estate over to Wilson. It seems that this man Wilson was the attorney handling the administration of the James Bell estate and a suit had arisen over mismanagement. Wilson brought accusations against Margaret Bell for squandering the money and land left to her by Bell before the estate was settled. He also represented Rebecca's brother and sister, Thomas Bell and Dicey Shaw, in the suit against their mother. Out of Rebecca's inheritance from her father's estate, she only kept 150 acres from the McLin Bracey League, known as West Place, in Austin County, and 414 acres of the Granville League in Fayette County west of Cummins Creek.