The Bell branch starts with Mary Anne Bell(300), who married James Milnes(299).
| Generation | Townsend Ancestor | Spouse | Date and place of marriage |
|---|---|---|---|
| O | Mary Anne(300) (1769-1858) | James Milnes(299) (ca.1755-?) | ? |
| N | Robert Bell | a daughter of William Turner of Hull | unknown, but about 1765 |
Mary Anne's dates come from a book about Katharine Briggs [H.R.Ellis Davidson, Katharine Briggs: Stopry-Teller, Lutterworth Press, Cambridge, 1986]. I am not sure where she was born. ASB write that she was the daughter of Archibald Bell of Edinburgh [ASB Diary p.42], but it is clear from the unpublished letters of the family that his name was Robert Bell and that, at least at the time his two grand-daughters were children, he lived at Whitestone (possibly the name of a house), near Manchester. A brother is mentioned, living at Chamber, also near Manchester, and a sister Margaret living in Edinburgh. So the Bells may well have come from Edinburgh.
Mary Ann married James Milnes, and they lived at Manor House, Flockton. They had two daughters, Margaret, who married William Stansfield in 1815, and Marianne, who married ....
Mary Ann outlived her husband by over 50 years, dying in 1858 {GRO deaths index, Jun quarter of 1858, Wakefield, vol.9a, p.1]. She was buried at Flockton, Yorkshire, at St. James the Great [National Burial Index, data provided by Huddersfield and District Family History Society].
Robert Bell, incorrectly called Archibald Bell, was said to have come from Edinburgh, but later lived near Manchester. In a pedigree of Cappe and Jardine {Fam. Min. Gent., p.188] it appears that Robert's wife was a sister of the 1st wife of Newcome Cappe, and so a daughter of William Turner of Hull. A William Turner married Ann Robson on 23 Jul 1723 at St. Mary's, Kingston-upon-Hull [IGI based on parish records, Film 990837, batch M107522, 1716-1744]. There are also two records of a Robert Bell marrying an Ann Turner, one on 11 Jul 1757 at Garstang, Lancashire and the other on 12 Nov 1766 at Manchester Cathedral. These are all just possibles, and it may not be possible to confirm that any of the are the right people.
© John Stowell 2010 Last updated on 05 Jun 2010.