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.
From the description of James L. Bell correspondence, 1909, undated. (Atlanta History Center). WorldCat record id: 213887374
