By Tracy Gupton

Those attending the annual Columbia Historical Museum’s “Meet Your Ancestors” event at Old Columbia Cemetery on Saturday, November 4^_th, will get to hear first-hand what life was like in the earliest days of Anglo settlements in this area of Texas from not one, not two, but three female pioneers who made that long, arduous trek from Louisiana as part of Stephen F. Austin’s “Old 300” families in the early 1820s.  Well, not exactly “first-hand,” but visitors to the historic graveyard Saturday evening will be led by a guide to the gravesites of women who played an important role in West Columbia’s and East Columbia’s past. There, actors portraying five women of note will entertain the visitors with stories about what exactly made each of them worthy of being included in this year’s “Meet Your Ancestors.”

The trio of “Old 300” settlers and the women who will be portraying them are Mary McKenzie Bell (Sarah Lamb), Angelina Caldwell Kerr (Edie Weems) and Rachel Carson Underwood (Tina Crawford). Also being portrayed at Saturday evening’s event will be Zula Winstead Loggins (Mary Wooderson Holler) and Beth Griggs (Kaye Crocker).

State of Texas Historical Markers at Columbia Cemetery, located across East Jackson Street from the Columbia Methodist Church, now number in double digits.  Many early Texas pioneers are buried in the historic West Columbia cemetery, including Josiah Hughes Bell, founder of both East Columbia (originally known as Marion but often referred to as Bell’s Landing) and West Columbia (originally known as simply Columbia).

The most recent addition to Columbia Cemetery’s collection of Texas State Historical Association markers is that of Josiah Bell’s widow, Mary Evaline McKenzie Bell.  West Columbia Mayor Laurie Kincannon hosted the unveiling ceremony of Mary Bell’s historical marker in front of a group of onlookers that included many descendants of Josiah and Mary Bell who had gathered in West Columbia over a year ago for the special occasion.  Mayor Kincannon, vice president of the Columbia Cemetery Association Board of Trustees, wrote the script of Mary Bell’s historical marker and spearheaded the effort by the CCA to acquire the TSHA marker.  Not far from Mary Bell’s state historical marker are those of her husband, Josiah Bell, and their son, Thaddeus Constantine Bell, who is believed to be the first male Anglo child born in Texas among Stephen F. Austin’s original colonists.

Josiah Hughes Bell, born in South Carolina in 1791, was the son of John and Elizabeth (Hughes) Bell. In 1818 he sold his farm in Missouri and on December 1^st of that year married Mary Evaline McKenzie, according to a brief biography of Josiah Bell on the Texas State Historical Association website [https://www.tshaonline.org]. After a period of living in Natchitoches, Louisiana, Mary and Josiah Bell came to Texas with Stephen F. Austin in 1821 and settled on New Year Creek near Washington-On-The-Brazos.

Mary McKenzie was the eldest of Andrew McKenzie and Elizabeth “Betsy” Stevenson McKenzie’s eight children. Most likely all eight of the McKenzie children were born in Iredell County, North Carolina. Andrew McKenzie died in 1817 at the relatively young age of 46 and his widow Betsy took some of her children to Texas with her in 1832.

Her eldest daughter Mary McKenzie married Josiah Bell in 1818 at Hopkinsville, Kentucky, and almost immediately moved to Natchitoches, Louisiana, before joining up with Austin’s “Old 300” Anglo settlers in what was then still part of Mexico in East Texas.

While Austin was in Mexico City attempting to gain governmental approval to bring more settlers from America into his new colony, he left Josiah Bell in charge from 1822 until August of 1823. Bell made the first survey of the Austin colony on February 10, 1823, attempting to locate Josiah and Mary Bell’s land grants on the west side of the lower Brazos River.

The Bells moved to what became known as Bell’s Creek in January 1824 and by 1829 the community of Marion (Bell’s Landing) had sprung up along the Brazos around Mary and Josiah’s home. Josiah Bell developed a sugar plantation along the banks of Bell’s Creek and subsequently laid out the two towns that came to be known as East Columbia and West Columbia in later years. He built the area’s first hotel in 1832, constructed a school, and was considered by many to be the most important colonist in the earliest days of this region’s history as an Anglo community.

The Bells sold their land in what is now known as East Columbia to Walter C. White and James Knight in October 1837 and moved to Columbia on their plantation where Josiah Bell died on May 17, 1838, at the age of 46, less than two years after the death of his good friend, Stephen F. Austin, who also passed away in his forties near Columbia. While Austin’s body was taken down the Brazos River by boat to what is present day Jones Creek and buried at Peach Point, his sister’s plantation, the body of Josiah H. Bell was interred on his property in Columbia.

Mary Bell continued to reside on the property that would be deeded over to the Columbia community for a public cemetery following her death. Mary was known to be an altruistic resident who took in many in need of food and shelter, providing medical care and allowing others outside her family to be buried at the Bell family cemetery.  Many of her children lived with her and around her.

Her third child, Thaddeus C. Bell, was born in 1822 and was the second Anglo baby (the first boy) born in Stephen F. Austin’s colony.  When Mary and Josiah Bell made entry into Mexico as new Texas settlers in 1821, they brought with them young son Samuel McKenzie Bell (1819-1833) and daughter Elizabeth Lucinda Bell (1820-1893).

After settling in Texas, the Bell family expanded with the addition of five more children: James Hall Bell (1825-1892), William Washington Bell (1828-1833), John Josiah Bell (1832-1835), Mary Evaline Bell (1834-1835) and Amanda Jane Bell (1836-1841). One can easily see by glancing at the short spans of time between several of those children’s dates of birth and death that Mary and Josiah Bell suffered greatly with grief over losing several of their offspring at such young ages.

History reveals that an unfortunate fall from her carriage while on her way to church resulted in the death of Mary McKenzie Bell at her residence between the forks of Bell’s Creek on May 30, 1856.

Her son, James Hall Bell, was a justice of the Supreme Court of Texas from October 1858 to August 1864 after his mother had passed away. Mary’s brother, William Washington McKenzie (1803-1894), was a magistrate of Christian County, Kentucky, for 38 years, a county judge and a Kentucky state senator.

Buried at Columbia Cemetery near the graves of Josiah and Mary Bell are Mary’s mother, Elizabeth “Betsy” Stevenson McKenzie, and Mary and Josiah’s young son, Samuel McKenzie Bell, who died at 13.

When Texas won its independence from Mexico after the Battle of San Jacinto in April 1836, Columbia became the first capitol of the new Republic of Texas.  General Sam Houston was elected the first president of the Republic, and he had a small office in the yard near Mary and Josiah Bell’s house, which was located in what today is known as West Columbia.

And beautiful Columbia Cemetery, which stands out due to the many moss-strewn oak trees, was once a part of the Bell family’s plantation.  Through Mary Bell’s generosity and that of her surviving children, their donation of the land surrounding the final resting places of Mary and Josiah Bell for use as a public cemetery remains the gift that keeps giving.

“Meet Your Ancestors” will begin at 5 p.m. Saturday, November 4^_th.  Admission is free and light refreshments will be served at the main gates of Columbia Cemetery.