Bell, James L., 1837-1918.

James L. Bell (1837-1918) was born on April 24, 1837 in Jackson County, Georgia. At age twenty-three, he moved to Atlanta and began working for Atlanta and West Point Railroad. On May 31, 1861, Bell enlisted as a private in the Seventh Georgia Infantry. He was later promoted to Sergeant after the Battle of Fair Oaks in Virginia in October 1864. In that battle, he single-handedly captured the 19th Wisconsin Federal Regiment, a deed which attracted the notice of General Robert E. Lee. After the war, Bell returned to the Atlanta and West Point Railroad where he worked as a passenger conductor for fifty years. He married Alice Magnon and had one daughter, Eva. In 1893, Eva Bell married Mauson Wilson, and they had four children: Mrs Paul T. Harber, Misses Alice and Helen Wilson, and James Wilson. James L. Bell died on May 12, 1918.