Generation No. 1

Generation No. 2

Thomas C. Colston bought and sold farms and plantations after the war. He was killed in Chicago-run over by a very large Beer Wagon on street downtown.

The following is a narrative sent to me (Edye Higgins) by Maxine ABLES, who is writing a book about the Bells and COLSTONS. She has graciously shared this information with us, and I am copying it just as it was written. She lives in Springfield, MO.

1.Thomas C. COLSTON was found on 1850 census of Cass, Co. GA with wife "Jincie" and four children. All were born in North Carolina.

a. Mary A., b. 1844

b. Martha F., b 1844

c. James F. M., b 1846

d. Missouri Catherine (Penn), b 1848

Other census' show they had 11 or 12 children. Tom was born in 1817 or 1818 in North Carolina. Jincie was born about 1823 in North Carolina. Early Marriages of Nash County, North Carolina show their marriage on February 23, 1843, Jincie's maiden name was Morgan.

1.Thomas Marion BELL, born 1824 – 1827 was found in 1850 census of Cherokee Co., GA with wife Nancy, born 1827 – 1828 and two children.

a. Mary Margaret, b. 1848

b. Martha F., b 1844

Other children on later census were:

c. Eveline (Maxine's great grandmother) b. 1851

d. George Washington, b. 1854

e. Mary Jane "Mollie", b. 1855

f. James, b. 1857

g. John Marion, b. 1860

1.Both families were in Cass Co., GA in 1860. (Cass later changes to Bartow, Co.) Maxine has a copy of Tom Bell and Nancy Oliver's marriage license dated January 23, 1848 in Cherokee Co. Ga.

Family in Starkville said Nancy's mother's maiden name was Ramsey and that her father was a Cherokee Indian Chief and she was a princess. Anyway, was one-half Cherokee. Maxine has a picture of her that one of Julia's daughters (Ora Ellis) let us copy and she looks like an Indian. She found Oliver and Ramsey both on Cherokee Indian Rolls.

2.In 1861 Tom Bell joined the Confederate Army and Tom Colston joined the Home Guards. Colston's third child and oldest son, James F. M. enlisted in the Confede4rate Army at age 14. Maxine has Tom Bell's Civil War Record from National Archives and Tom Colston's Company Roll in the Home Guard from the State of Georgia. She also has James' records from the National Archives. James was wounded at Vicksburg.

3.In 1864 Tom Bell was taken prisoner and sent to a camp in Illinois where he was held a year – 1865 when the war ended.

4.Between 1861 and 1865 Tom Colston and Jincie separated and Tom Colston became involved with Nancy Oliver Bell. Maybe she thought that Thomas Bell had been killed in the war.

5.Nancy O. Bell (don't know if they were married) and Tom Colston had a daughter Julia born August 22, 1866 and were now living in Holly Springs, MS. (Census of 1870) and the Bell girls were with Nancy and the boys were with Tom Bell in GA. Eveline Bell had married a Wade and didn't like living with his parents and returned to Nancy and Tom Colston. In 1871 Eveline gave birth to a son, Lucian Walter. Some of the family say it was Tom Colton's child, but can't prove. He is on the 1876 State Census of McDonald County, MO. census as Lucian Walter Wade, but appears on 1880 McDonald Co. census as Lucian Walter Colston.

Tom Colston, Nancy O. Bell, Eveline, Julia, Lucian, and Nancy's youngest son John Bell by Tom Bell all came to McDonald Co. MO shortly before or after Julian's birth in 1871. No one knows why they moved there, but an Isabell Oliver, b. Scotland and quite old, 70's or 80's, who was a widow and living in McDonald, Co. MO (Pineville) in 1880. Could have been Nancy's mother because Pineville is just a few miles from Oklahoma Cherokee Indian Reservation. She and her Indian husband might have been sent to Oklahoma when the Indians were removed from Georgia in 1839, called "the Cherokee Trail of Tears" because about one-third of them died on the forced march during a bitter winter. Another reason they may have come to Missouri is that Sarah Bell; Eveline's older sister was there with her husband, Michael Kelcher from Ireland. But maybe Sarah came to Missouri because this Isabell Oliver was her grandmother and met Michael Kelcher here and married him. This is all conjecture; we have no real proof of why they moved to Missouri. Anyway, they were there in 1876 on State Census and in 1880 on the Federal census. On the 1880 census Maxine's great grandmother Eveline had married her great grandfather, Joseph Wasson from Ireland, under the name of Eveline Wade. This marriage license was recorded December 24, 1873.

6.Meanwhile back in Georgia Tom Bell and Missouri Catherine Penn Colston were married in 1867. (Remember that "Penn" was the daughter of Tom Colston and Jincie Morgan, his first wife) and Margaret Bell, oldest daughter of Tom Bell and Nancy Oliver Bell, married James F. M. Colston, the son of Tom Colston and Jincie Morgan.

By now you're getting the idea as to why it's so difficult to get the families straightened out!

Tom Bell and Nancy's daughter, Margaret married

Tom Colston and Jincie's son, James F. M. and

Tom Colston and Jincie's daughter, "Penn" married

Tom Bell and

Nancy O. Bell married Tom Colston

Julia was their only child and she married a PARRISH, Nancy and Tom Colston went back to Mississippi about 1881 – 1882 and took Lucian with them, so Julia and Lucian were raised together in Mississippi. Tom Colston was a freight driver and family stories said he hauled freight from the mines at Joplin, Missouri, north of McDonald Co., zinc and lead mines, and that he took his family back to Mississippi in the freight wagon pulled by oxen. The story has it they left Missouri on January 1 and arrived in Holly Springs, could have been Starkville, in March, very cold time of the year to be traveling in a wagon with two small children. Lucian was 10 or 11 and Julia about 14. All we can find about Colston's death is that he was hauling barrels of beer to Chicago and was killed in an accident with the freight wagon. It is believed he is buried in the Colston plot in Oklahoma. Jincie Morgan Colston was part Indian, it is thought that some of her children moved to Oklahoma for Indian lands.

Nancy lived with Julia and her husband in Mississippi until her death and is buried in the Old Chestnut Log Cemetery, also known as Double Springs Baptist Cemetery, on Sturgis-Maben road about 10 miles north of Sturgis, 5.5 miles south of Maben. Ora Ellis said she and her sister found the grave one time when they were visiting the grave of a brother who died young. There is no marker but it is supposed to be next to the Parrish boy.

Tom Colston went back to Mississippi about 1881-1882 and took Lucian withthem, so Julia and Lucian were raised together in Mississippi.Tom Colstonwas a freight driver and family stories said he hauled freight from the mines atJoplin,Missouri, North of McDonald County.,zinc and lead mines,and that he took his family back to Mississippi in the freight wagon pulled by oxen.The story has it they left Missouri on January 1, andarrived in Holly Springs,could have been Starkville, in March, very cold time of year to be traveling in a wagon with two small children .Lucian was about 10 or 11 and Julia was about 14. All we can find out aboutColston's death is that he was hauling barrels of beer to Chicago and was killed in an accident with the freight wagon.It is beleived he is buried in the Colston Plot in Oklahoma.

Nancy Oliver may have actually been Nancy Oliver Penn with her father being John Oliver Penn and her mother Isabelle Ramsey. This information gathered from Myfamily.com from Machelle Johnson. Further information on Ancestry.com states they (John and Isabelle) were married in Georgia in 1816

Generation No. 3

Between 1861 and 1865 Tom Colston and Jincie separated and Tom Colston became involved with Nancy Oliver Bell. Maybe she thought that Thomas Bell had been killed in the war.

Nancy O. Bell (don't know if they were married) and Tom Colston had a daughter Julia born August 22, 1866 and were now living in Holly Springs, MS. (Census of 1870) and the Bell girls were with Nancy and the boys were with Tom Bell in GA. Eveline Bell had married a Wade and didn't like living with his parents and returned to Nancy and Tom Colston. In 1871 Eveline gave birth to a son, Lucian Walter. Some of the family say it was Tom Colton's child, but can't prove. He is on the 1876 State Census of McDonald County, MO. census as Lucian Walter Wade, but appears on 1880 McDonald Co. census as Lucian Walter Colston.

Tom Colston, Nancy O. Bell, Eveline, Julia, Lucian, and Nancy's youngest son John Bell by Tom Bell all came to McDonald Co. MO shortly before or after Julian's birth in 1871. No one knows why they moved there, but an Isabell Oliver, b. Scotland and quite old, 70's or 80's, who was a widow and living in McDonald, Co. MO (Pineville) in 1880. Could have been Nancy's mother because Pineville is just a few miles from Oklahoma Cherokee Indian Reservation. She and her Indian husband might have been sent to Oklahoma when the Indians were removed from Georgia in 1839, called "the Cherokee Trail of Tears" because about one-third of them died on the forced march during a bitter winter. Another reason they may have come to Missouri is that Sarah Bell; Eveline's older sister was there with her husband, Michael Kelcher from Ireland. But maybe Sarah came to Missouri because this Isabell Oliver was her grandmother and met Michael Kelcher here and married him. This is all conjecture; we have no real proof of why they moved to Missouri. Anyway, they were there in 1876 on State Census and in 1880 on the Federal census. On the 1880 census Maxine's great grandmother Eveline had married her great grandfather, Joseph Wasson from Ireland, under the name of Eveline Wade. This marriage license was recorded December 24, 1873.

Julia was their only child and she married a PARRISH, Nancy and Tom Colston went back to Mississippi about 1881 – 1882 and took Lucian with them, so Julia and Lucian were raised together in Mississippi. Tom Colston was a freight driver and family stories said he hauled freight from the mines at Joplin, Missouri, north of McDonald Co., zinc and lead mines, and that he took his family back to Mississippi in the freight wagon pulled by oxen. The story has it they left Missouri on January 1 and arrived in Holly Springs, could have been Starkville, in March, very cold time of the year to be traveling in a wagon with two small children. Lucian was 10 or 11 and Julia about 14. All we can find about Colston's death is that he was hauling barrels of beer to Chicago and was killed in an accident with the freight wagon. It is believed he is buried in the Colston plot in Oklahoma. Jincie Morgan Colston was part Indian, it is thought that some of her children moved to Oklahoma for Indian lands.

Nancy lived with Julia and her husband in Mississippi until her death and is buried in the Old Chestnut Log Cemetery, also known as Double Springs Baptist Cemetery, on Sturgis-Maben road about 10 miles north of Sturgis, 5.5 miles south of Maben. Ora Ellis said she and her sister found the grave one time when they were visiting the grave of a brother who died young. There is no marker but it is supposed to be next to the Parrish boy.

7.Marriage records show that Julia A. Colston married George E. Parish, April 15, 1883 in Oktibbeha Co. Mississippi. Aunt Ora, their youngest child, says that most of the children were born there, but she and maybe other younger ones were born in Webster Co. near Eupora. She said they lived in a big house with about 10 rooms when she was small. George Parish's mother Lera, said the old Parish home was at Clarkson, and that their home church was the Shady Grove Baptist Church. She also said the family came from Ireland, Aunt Ora thought it was England.

George E. Parish was blind from birth and Aunt Ora said many people wondered why Julia, who was a very pretty girl married him. She also said "love is not blind". Aunt Ora said her daddy had surgery for Cataracts and could see for awhile, but lost his sight again. She doesn't know if they grew back or if it was due to other problems. Although blind, Grandpa George was a talented musician who won all the fiddling contests. He was paid to play at dances, and also wove baskets and caned chairs for people. Una Mae McCluskey (Uncle Wash's daughter) said he also cut cross ties for the railroad and Grandma Parish was a telephone operator in their home. You have to admire someone who coped with this severe handicap, married and with the help of what must have an extra ordinary wife, reared a large family. They must have had a lot of faith in God and themselves. These names and dates were copied from the family Bible, which Aunt Ora has. Notice that PARISH is spelled with one "r" and it is also spelled that way on tombstones of George E, Hallie S., and George W. Parish. Many of the family members spelled their name with two "r's" as PARRISH.

George says that all the Parish family played musical instruments when he was growing up. Grandpa played the fiddle, his daddy's main instrument was the banjo, but he also played the guitar and mandolin. Aunt Bell played the mandolin, ("taterbug", shaped like an irish potato bug), and the organ. Aunt Ora played the guitar and the organ, and Aunt Leona played the guitar and some other instruments. He thinks Uncle Bill played one or more stringed instruments and all of his boys play. Aunt Anna's children, the Denneys and George played for dances together. Lois played the guitar and Clinton's main instrument is the bass guitar. He played in a band while he was overseas in Japan and wrote some music.

When George was born, his parents were living in the area of Mathiston and Clarkson and his daddy was operating a sawmill. These were small sawmills called "pecker-wood sawmills" which moved to wherever the timber was to be cut, then moved on to the next location when it was completed. The family was fairly prosperous during those years and at one time owned 2 vehicles, a 1928 Chevrolet Touring Car, and a T-Model truck.

After the depression began in 1929-30 they started farming, "share-cropping". The landowner got half of whatever was made and the sharecropper did the work. They started out around Springhill, moved to Tomnolen, then to the Harrison place close to Alva. From there they moved to the B. Woods place between Alva and Tomnolen. During the farming years, their daddy ran a sawmill for the WPA for a few months, and after that ran sawmills for different people during the months after the crops were laid by, then after harvesting the crops, went back to saw milling. As the boys got old enough, they helped with the farming and at the sawmill – carried and threw slabs on the fire, pulled a cross-cut saw cutting timber, etc. George says he must have been no more than ten years old when he started plowing. Life was hard in many ways, but good in many other ways.

They went to school in several places, first at Springhill, Eupora and Alva, the nearest school to where they were living at the time.

Their Daddy got sick when they were on the Harrison place and George was doing the farming with the help of the rest of the family and working at sawmills. His daddy was sick for several years and the doctors didn't know what was wrong with him; he was 58 when he died and Mother was 46. Mary Lee was married and had two little girls. Lois was also married and her oldest son; Gene was six months old. The three younger brothers were still at home.

After George went into the Army in January of 1943, Clinton was still farming and working in sawmills, but he decided to quit farming and just work at the sawmill. He also went to the delta where Russell and Lois were farming and picked cotton after the sawmill was moved.

Someone told Mr. T.B. Mitchell about mother being a widow. He bought and sold cows, horses, and other things, and farmed during farming season. He had lost two wives to cancer and although most of his children had left home by then, he still had three at home and mother also had three children at home. The Parish boys at home were Clinton, James and Glynn. The Mitchell's were Dale, Odette, and Sidney. Sammi9e was working in Grenada and had an apartment, Conway was staying with Oliver going to Holmes College, and Travis and Odean were married and gone from home. Marvin Lee, Papa's, son by his first wife was married and on his own.

Papa Mitchell was farming a place he was renting near Eskridge at the time. I'm sure that they both needed a mate and found the right person in each other. They were married 22 September 1943 in Winona, MS.

Clinton was expecting to be drafted and Papa wanted him to stay on with them and help harvest the crop. After harvesting was done, Papa bought a place at Alva and Clinton helped them to move. He said it was a bitterly cold day. Clinton was drafted 13 December 1943 and reported for active duty on 12 January 1944 to Camp Blanding, FL.

The Parish and Mitchell families were very close, called each other brother and sister, and acted like they loved each other. I'm sure that it was partly because Mother and Papa were happy together and set the example for them to follow. All of those who were away from home were welcomed back at any time and encouraged to visit. Sometimes mattresses on the floor took up most of the floor space, even under the dining room table. For years we went there for Thanksgiving, Easter, and many other times, enjoying the fellowship and hospitality so freely offered by Mother and Papa. It was truly the family home.

After Dale married and moved to Jackson, and the younger boys had finished high school, Mother and Papa were having health problems and needed to be near someone who could take them to the doctor, the grocery, etc. The sold the place at Alva and moved just outside Greenwood near Conway in April 1962. The family continued to get together there and everyone tried to be there for a reunion on the fourth of July weekend. This, too, was truly the family home.

After Mother's death in January '78, Papa continued to live at home with the help of Conway and his family until shortly before his death when he went into a nursing home there in Greenwood where he was happy to visit with the other residents. Papa died 7 May 1980 at the age of 85. Both Mother and Papa had lived Long and happy lives, although each of them had suffered loss of loved ones and may other hardships. They set an example for each of us as they lived and put their Christian beliefs into practice. As long as each of us knew and loved them live, we will continue to be influenced by them and try to set a good example for our own children and grandchildren.

James served the 40th Georgia Infantry, Co. H. as a private. Enlisted March 4, 1862. Captured at Baker's Creek, Mississippi May 16, 1863. Exchanged off Mobile Harbor, Alabama August 4, 1863. Appointed 3d Corporal. Surrendered at Greensboro, N.C. April 26, 1865

"Was a heavy-set man; wore a mustache, smoked a pipe and rode a gray horse around on the farm to see afther the hands on the place. He was a Justice of the Peace and a Baptist in church. He was very jolly and also run a store." (John Colston 129 Vandorn ST. Holly Springs, MS 38635 --son of Marshall Colston)

from Grady S. Colston, son of John (above)

"James F.M. Colston was big, fat, short, red-faced man with a heavy mustache. He was a land-owner and owned a store. He had several wage hands. His by-word was "con-found-it". He was a Justice of the Peace at one time."

The following is a narrative sent to me by Maxine ABLES, who is writing a book about the Bells and COLSTONS. She has graciously shared this information with us, and I am copying it just as it was written. She lives in Springfield, MO.

1.Thomas C. COLSTON was found on 1850 census of Cass, Co. GA with wife "Jincie" and four children. All were born in North Carolina.

a. Mary A., b. 1844

b. Martha F., b 1844

c. James F. M., b 1846

d. Missouri Catherine (Penn), b 1848

Other census' show they had 11 or 12 children. Tom was born in 1817 or 1818 in North Carolina. Jincie was born about 1823 in North Carolina. Early Marriages of Nash County, North Carolina show their marriage on February 23, 1843, Jincie's maiden name was Morgan.

1.Thomas Marion BELL, born 1824 – 1827 was found in 1850 census of Cherokee Co., GA with wife Nancy, born 1827 – 1828 and two children.

a. Mary Margaret, b. 1848

b. Martha F., b 1844

Other children on later census were:

c. Eveline (Maxine's great grandmother) b. 1851

d. George Washington, b. 1854

e. Mary Jane "Mollie", b. 1855

f. James, b. 1857

g. John Marion, b. 1860

1.Both families were in Cass Co., GA in 1860. (Cass later changes to Bartow, Co.) Maxine has a copy of Tom Bell and Nancy Oliver's marriage license dated January 23, 1848 in Cherokee Co. Ga.

Family in Starkville said Nancy's mother's maiden name was Ramsey and that her father was a Cherokee Indian Chief and she was a princess. Anyway, was one-half Cherokee. Maxine has a picture of her that one of Julia's daughters (Ora Ellis) let us copy and she looks like an Indian. She found Oliver and Ramsey both on Cherokee Indian Rolls.

2.In 1861 Tom Bell joined the Confederate Army and Tom Colston joined the Home Guards. Colston's third child and oldest son, James F. M. enlisted in the Confede4rate Army at age 14. Maxine has Tom Bell's Civil War Record from National Archives and Tom Colston's Company Roll in the Home Guard from the State of Georgia. She also has James' records from the National Archives. James was wounded at Vicksburg.

3.In 1864 Tom Bell was taken prisoner and sent to a camp in Illinois where he was held a year – 1865 when the war ended.

4.Between 1861 and 1865 Tom Colston and Jincie separated and Tom Colston became involved with Nancy Oliver Bell. Maybe she thought that Thomas Bell had been killed in the war.

5.Nancy O. Bell (don't know if they were married) and Tom Colston had a daughter Julia born August 22, 1866 and were now living in Holly Springs, MS. (Census of 1870) and the Bell girls were with Nancy and the boys were with Tom Bell in GA. Eveline Bell had married a Wade and didn't like living with his parents and returned to Nancy and Tom Colston. In 1871 Eveline gave birth to a son, Lucian Walter. Some of the family say it was Tom Colton's child, but can't prove. He is on the 1876 State Census of McDonald County, MO. census as Lucian Walter Wade, but appears on 1880 McDonald Co. census as Lucian Walter Colston.

Tom Colston, Nancy O. Bell, Eveline, Julia, Lucian, and Nancy's youngest son John Bell by Tom Bell all came to McDonald Co. MO shortly before or after Julian's birth in 1871. No one knows why they moved there, but an Isabell Oliver, b. Scotland and quite old, 70's or 80's, who was a widow and living in McDonald, Co. MO (Pineville) in 1880. Could have been Nancy's mother because Pineville is just a few miles from Oklahoma Cherokee Indian Reservation. She and her Indian husband might have been sent to Oklahoma when the Indians were removed from Georgia in 1839, called "the Cherokee Trail of Tears" because about one-third of them died on the forced march during a bitter winter. Another reason they may have come to Missouri is that Sarah Bell; Eveline's older sister was there with her husband, Michael Kelcher from Ireland. But maybe Sarah came to Missouri because this Isabell Oliver was her grandmother and met Michael Kelcher here and married him. This is all conjecture; we have no real proof of why they moved to Missouri. Anyway, they were there in 1876 on State Census and in 1880 on the Federal census. On the 1880 census Maxine's great grandmother Eveline had married her great grandfather, Joseph Wasson from Ireland, under the name of Eveline Wade. This marriage license was recorded December 24, 1873.

6.Meanwhile back in Georgia Tom Bell and Missouri Catherine Penn Colston were married in 1867. (Remember that "Penn" was the daughter of Tom Colston and Jincie Morgan, his first wife) and Margaret Bell, oldest daughter of Tom Bell and Nancy Oliver Bell, married James F. M. Colston, the son of Tom Colston and Jincie Morgan.

Generation No. 4

Belle was the mother of 5 children. Only two were living according to the 1910 Marshall County, Mississippi census (Dwelling 80)

Harvey's sister, Mary Margaret Bell Colston, was also his aunt because his mother, Missouri "Penn" Colston was sister to James Forest Marion Colston who was Mary Margaret Bell's husband. Harvey's wife, Hettie Lenora Colston, was also his grandniece, because Hettie was the grand daughter of James Forest Marion Colston, brother to Harvey's mother.

Information above provided by Maxine Ables from her book THE FAMILIES OF THOMAS MARION BELL AND THOMAS CHARLES COLSTON

Generation No. 5

Mother (Mary Lee) was a loving wife and mother. She and Daddy farmed near Ruleville, MS. She was sick for several years and had surgery twice for brain tumor/cancer in Memphis. Mary Lee died peacefully in her sleep at the age of 28 on 14 August 1948; most of the family had been to visit her that day. Daddy moved to Memphis and worked for Bruce Lumber Company. We stayed with Grand mama and Granddaddy Mitchell until Daddy remarried. Ilene was 11 and I was 8.

ILENE DULANEY ASBURY

Bob and Ilene met in Syracuse, New York where they were both stationed at Hancock Field, New York, with the United States Air Force. They were married in Cicero, New York.

Both of them spent the next 20+ years in the Air Force and were stationed in Germany, Alabama, Philippines, Michigan, Spain, New Mexico and Washington, D.C. Bob retired from the Air Force in 1978 and since Ilene did not have 20 years at the time she remained on active duty. She subsequently received an assignment to the Pentagon in Washington, D.C.

While Ilene was still on active duty, Bob worked as a Personnel Management Specialist for the U.S. Navy where he worked until he quit in 1988 for health reasons. Bob's health deteriorated until he passed away quietly in his sleep on 8 July 1990, three months shy of their 29th wedding anniversary.

Harvey's sister, Mary Margaret Bell Colston, was also his aunt because his mother, Missouri "Penn" Colston was sister to James Forest Marion Colston who was Mary Margaret Bell's husband. Harvey's wife, Hettie Lenora Colston, was also his grandniece, because Hettie was the grand daughter of James Forest Marion Colston, brother to Harvey's mother.

Children are listed above under (20) Harvey (Pink) Bell.

served in World War I. Inducted into the service on October 22, 1918 at Marietta, Oklahoma

"to serve for the period of the emergency" Honorably Discharged on December 14, 1918 by

reason of demobilization Army Serial Number 1429813

Private of Company E 388th Infantry

SS# 467-09-1051

Buried in Mt. Olivet Cemetery, Ft. Worth, Tarrant County, Texas Lots S 1/2 124 Sec 19 (Valley of Hope)

Entrance to Mt. Olivet Cemetery is located on North Sylvania Avenue. "Valley of Hope" plots are near Northeast 28th Street.

Lois Daisy Martin Reeves Colston more affectionately known as Nanny was very special to me. She

never treated me as a step grandchild. I loved her as much as if she were truly my blood grandmother.

She taught me about Jesus and kindness. She worried and cared for me. I miss her tremendously.

Endnotes