Located beside of 612 Nunley Dr., Johnson City, TN.
GPS Location: 36.18.06N 082.24,43W, Elevation 1792 ft.
An obelisk stone has been erected on this site with the thirteen names that were in the Bell Family Bible. They are as follows:
James Bell II, b. March 5, 1793, d. January 5, 1856
Sarah Anders Bell, b. April 11, 1794, d. August 4, 1870
Children:
John Bell, b. August 14, 1820, d. March 24, 1822
William Bell, b. April 9, 1824, d. May 27, 1865
James M. Bell, b. June 5, 1829, d. 1832
Elbert Bell, b. January 8, 1834, d. April 21, 1852
Frederick Bell, b. May 7, 1822, d. date unk, still living 1880
Sarah Ann More Bell, b. 1824, d. date unk, still living 1880
Daughter:
Marie Ellen Bell, b. September 4, 1851, d. March 24 1926 (Aunt Mary)
[Note: June 2003, the following children listed on the marker are not buried here. They are in the Vine-Bell Cemetery off of West Walnut St. DF]
Children of Thomas J. and Loretta Vines Bell:
Carl David Bell, b. February 14, 192, d. September 2, 1896
Roxie Mae, b. November 11, 1901, d. December 8, 1901
Charles Grayson Bell, b. August 25, 1904, d. CA 1905
Twin Girls, b&d 1906
Surveyed, transcribed and donated to the Washington County TNGen Web JUNE 2003 by Donna Briggs, Elaine Cantrell, Dawn Peters, and Betty Jane Hylton, members of thethe Cemetery Survey Team of Northeast Tennessee.
Copyrighted 2012 by the Cemetery Survey Team of Northeast Tennessee. No part may be copied without written permission from the Cemetery Survey Team.
Information submitted by:
Dorothy M. Griggs Franklin, 3446 Street Drive, Johnson City, TN 37604-2704.
Over many years, the little cemetery had become obliterated. The last burial had been in 1926, and prior to that, 1906. It has subsequently become an impenetrable thicket. When the property surrounding it was sold in 1945, the new owners asked and were given permission remove this growth. As a result, the field rocks that marked the gravesites were either buried in the sunken graves or removed. This eventually became a yard.
In the Cemeteries of Washington County, there were probably three children buried there. No other information has ever been recorded of this cemetery. In walking across this property, depressions of many graves can be felt underfoot. I learned from an elderly neighbor, Kate Burleson Morley, that Frederick and Sarah and also their daughter, Marie, known as Aunt Mary, definitely were buried there. In further searching, I learned more from Don Thompson, the son of the owner, that he was the young lad whose job it was to clean the ground. He distinctly remembered that there were 14-15 gravesites at that time.
After comparing the birth and death dates of the family members living on this property, which is only about 100 feet from the cemetery, it is obvious that these members are buried here. There has never been any evidence of another cemetery on this property.
As there are probably thirteen graves here, (twins occupied one), it causes me to wonder if possibly one or two family members of an earlier generation could also be buried here. The first James, whom we call James I, received the land grant in 1784. We do not know if he was father of James II. We have some reason to believe that James I had three brothers, John, Thomas, and William. This is speculative as there is no written record of this. But this seems to be fact. James I either gave or sold property to John, who in turn deeded it to James II in 1817. The word “son” does not appear in deed, so we still can only guess at the relationship. There is also an unsubstantiated fact that James I had a wife named Mary. We cannot even locate how this bit of information came to us.
I wish to gratefully acknowledge the following family members who were instrumental in the restoration of this little forgotten cemetery: Dean & Launa Bell Bailey (dau. of Alvin Bell); Richard & Margaret Bell (son of Oscar Bell); Donald & Gerry Griggs (son of Nora Bell); Martha C. Marshall (g-grandaughter of Eliza Jane Bell Killey). It was truly a labor of love!