I ran across this and felt it extremely interesting.

....Archaeologists comb newly-found Civil War POW camp


By RUSS BYNUM - Associated Press
AP – SAVANNAH, Ga. (AP) — When word reached Camp Lawton that the enemy army of Gen. William T. Sherman was approaching, the prison camp's Confederate officers rounded up their thousands of Union army POWs for a swift evacuation — leaving behind rings, buckles, coins and other keepsakes that would remain undisturbed for nearly 150 years.

Archaeologists are still discovering unusual, and sometimes stunningly personal, artifacts a year after state officials revealed that a graduate student had pinpointed the location of the massive but short-lived Civil War camp in southeast Georgia.

Discoveries made as recently as a few weeks ago were being displayed Thursday at the Statesboro campus of Georgia Southern University. They include a soldier's copper ring bearing the insignia of the Union army's 3rd Corps, which fought bloody battles at Gettysburg and Manassas, and a payment token stamped with the still-legible name of a grocery store in Michigan.

"These guys were rousted out in the middle of the night and loaded onto trains, so they didn't have time to load all this stuff up," said David Crass, an archaeologist who serves as director of Georgia's Historic Preservation Division. "Pretty much all they had got left behind. You don't see these sites often in archaeology."

Camp Lawton's obscurity helped it remain undisturbed all these years. Built about 50 miles south of Augusta, the Confederate camp imprisoned about 10,000 Union soldiers after it opened in October 1864 to replace the infamous Andersonville prison. But it lasted barely six weeks before Sherman's army arrived and burned it during his march from Atlanta to Savannah.

Barely a footnote in the war's history, Camp Lawton was a low priority among scholars. Its exact location was never verified. While known to be near Magnolia Springs State Park, archaeologists figured the camp was too short-lived to yield real historical treasures.

That changed last year when Georgia Southern archaeology student Kevin Chapman seized on an offer by the state Department of Natural Resources to pursue his master's thesis by looking for evidence of Camp Lawton's stockade walls on the park grounds.

Chapman ended up stunning the pros, uncovering much more than the remains of the stockade's 15-foot pine posts. On neighboring land owned by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, he dug up remnants of the prisoners themselves — a corroded tourniquet buckle, a tobacco pipe with teeth marks in the stem and a folded frame that once held a daguerreotype.

"They're not just buttons and bullets," Chapman said. "They're little pieces of the story, and this is not the story of battles and generals. This is the story of little people whose names have been forgotten by history that we're starting to piece together and be able to tell."

A year later, Chapman says he and fellow archaeology students working at Camp Lawton have still barely scratched the surface. In July, they used a metal detector to sweep two narrow strips about 240 yards long in the area where they believe prisoners lived.

They found a diamond-shaped 3rd Corps badge that came from a Union soldier's uniform. Nearby was the ring with the same insignia soldered onto it.

The artifacts also yield clues to what parts of the country the POWs came from, including the token issued by a grocery store in Niles, Mich., that customers could use like cash to buy food. Stamped on its face was the merchant's name: G.A. Colbey and Co. Wholesale Groceries and Bakery.

Similarly, there's a buckle that likely clasped a pair of suspenders bearing the name of Nanawanuck Manufacturing Company in Massachusetts.

Hooks and buckles that appear to have come off a Union knapsack also hint that, despite harsh living conditions, captors probably allowed their Union prisoners to keep essentials like canteens and bedrolls.

The Georgia Southern University Museum plans to add the new artifacts to its public collection from Camp Lawton in October along with a related acquisition — a letter written by one of the camp's prisoners on Nov. 14, 1864, just eight days before Lawton was abandoned and prisoners were taken back to Andersonville and other POW camps.

The letter written by Charles H. Knox of Schroon Lake, N.Y., a Union corporal in the 1st Connecticut Cavalry, was purchased from a Civil War collector in Tennessee. Unaware that Camp Lawton will soon be evacuated, Knox writes to his wife that he hopes to soon be freed in a prisoner exchange between the warring armies.

He doesn't write much about conditions at the prison camp, but rather worries about his family. He tells his wife that if she and their young son need money for food or clothing, there's a man who owes him $9. Knox also gives his wife permission to sell the family's cow.

Brent Tharp, director of the campus museum, said his growing collection from Camp Lawton has definitely drawn Civil War buffs to visit from far beyond southeast Georgia.

"The people who are real Civil War buffs and fanatics, those are definitely coming," Tharp said. "But I think we've also created a whole new group of Civil War buffs here because it's right here in their own backyard."



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Trying a New Direction

In an effort to both increase readers as well as hopefully generate more genealogical input, like there are lines forming now, I am going to change things a little.  While the title to this blog is "Bell Genealogy" and that is my primary focus, I am going to include other surnames.  Perhaps this blog will be picked up by the various search engines and more interest will be generated.

After more than thirty years of research, I am still lacking in finding some of my ancestors.  Yeah, that's embarassing, but honest and hopefully someone will reach out and offer information, clues or even hints for my quest.

On my Dad's side other than Bell I have the following surnames - Rushing, Farrar, Frazier, Yates, Crutchfield, Leigh, Spence and Moore to name a few.

On my Mother's side I have Robinson, Park, Barnes, Cole, Marchbanks, Uptegrove, Smothers, Lyle/Lyles and Wyatt.

My ancestors seemingly came to Tennessee primarily from Virginia and North Carolina.  In the days and weeks ahead, I will be more detailed, submit more information and hopefully someone will make a connection that we can share information.

Have a GREAT weekend,

T Bell

Bell Marriages - Williamson and Marion Counties Illinois 1763 - 1900

I apologize for the lack of organization, but hopefully they make sense!

Williamson County, IL Marriages


1763-1900



BRIDES

ALLISON, JOHN G - BELL, NANCY 1843-03-22 A /33

BAGGETT, JOHN F - BELL, IDA 1900-11-11 I /619

CHEW, MARTIN ADOLPH - BELL, MAY ALICE 1890-11-23 G /191

EDWARDS, MARTIN A - BELL, MARGARET F 1892-02-28 G /328

FARRON, JAMES - BELL, L 1848-10-24 A /128

FARROW, JOHN - BELL, SARAH 1859-01-05 B /115

JACKSON, A T - BELL, LUCRETIA 1874-05-28 C /383

JENKINS, JOSHUA T - BELL, NANCY J 1877-01-25 D /201

JOHNSON, JAMES N - BELL, MARY 1887-04-20 F /263

JONES, GEORGE W - BELL, CAROLINE 1875-09-09 D /76

SPRINGS, SAMUEL JEFFERSON H V - BELL, ELIZABETH 1849-10-25 A /139



GROOMS



BELL, A S BOREN, BERTHA 1899-11-08 I /437

BELL, BENJAMIN B ALLEN, ELIZABETH 1865-01-05 A /172

BELL, JOHN (ILLEGIBLE), MATILDA J 1856-12-17 B /71

BELL, JOHN G WIGGS, NAOMI 1867-12-22 B /250

BELL, MILES N SMITH, MARTHA 1886-05-16 F /184

BELL, SETH W CORNWELL, NANCY 1853-02-27 A /163

BELL, SETH W HENRY, MARTHA 1858-02-02 B /102

BELL, STEPHEN D WIGGS, FREDONIA 1881-01-27 E /530


Marion County, IL Marriages

1763-1900


GROOMS


BELL, GEORGE A WILKINSON, MARY A CAMPBELL (MRS) 1892-01-25 /237 17 MARION

BELL, GEORGE F LORD, ATHENA G 1895-07-25 /307 149 MARION

BELL, GEORGE W S PHILLIPS, ETTA 1895-09-11 /309 176 MARION

BELL, GREEN KNIGHT, SUSANNAH 1872-03-13 00D/0079 00079/45 MARION BELL, HENRY EDDINGS, HARRIET L 1864-01-07 00D/0019 00000645 MARION BELL, HENRY SNOW, MARY 1873-11-30 00D/0091 MARION

BELL, HENRY SNOW, MARY 1873-11-30 091/0210 MARION

BELL, HENRY (COL) SCALES, ADA MRS (COL) 1889-00-00 00E/0006 MARION BELL, JACKSON W KING, CARRIE 1894-00-00 /280 57 MARION

BELL, JACOB R JENKINS, ELIZABETH 1857-07-29 C/ 162 MARION

BELL, JACOB R JENKINS, ELIZABETH 1860-12-17 00D/0006 00000195 MARION BELL, JAMES KNIGHT, MARY D MRS 1878-12-27 00D/0128 MARION

BELL, JAMES J YOUNG, MARY E 1875-01-26 00D/0100 MARION

BELL, JOHN CHAPMAN, GEORGIA 1872-06-00 00D/0080 0080/100 MARION

BELL, JOHN GREEN, MELISSA (MRS) 1870-09-05 00D/0067 0067/142 MARION BELL, JOHN KNIGHT, ALCY A 1867-12-25 00D/0049 00000308 MARION

BELL, JOHN A CASKEY, LUCY (MRS) 1896-04-20 E /49 72 MARION

BELL, JOHN F BORDEN, ELIZABETH M 1864-12-18 00D/0025 00000854 MARION BELL, LEVI EDWELL MISENHAMER, MYRTLE 1893-07-12 /266 108 MARION

BELL, MOSE BURK, JANE (MRS) 1895-10-00 /311 202 MARION

BELL, PLEASANT W WILLIAMS, LOTTY 1859-08-30 C/ 311 MARION

BELL, SAMUEL PARKER, SARAH 1895-10-09 /311 198 MARION


BRIDES

ALLEN, GEORGE B BELL, CECLIA J 1868-07-14 00D/0054 00000121 MARION ANDERSON, THOMAS M BELLOMY, SUSIE T 1884-05-28 00D/0170 MARION AUGHNIBAUGH, GEO M BELL, FLORA J 1896-02-09 E /48 22 MARION

CALAWAY, THOMAS BELL, SUSIE 1891-12-25 /234 261 MARION

EDDINGS, WESLEY S BELL, MARY BELL 1888-11-17 00E/0005 MARION

EWING, LEANDER BELLAMY, ANN S 1871-03-22 00D/0072 00072/46 MARION FORSYTH, THOMAS BELL, EMMA 1878-04-18 00D/0122 MARION

GETTS, JOHN A BELL, EMELINE 1879-10-19 0OD/0134 MARION

GLASS, HARRISON (COLORED) BELL, HENRIETTA (MRS) 1870-05-08 00D/0066 00066/77 MARION

HAMILTON, O F BELL, EMMA 1873-12-25 00D/0091 MARION

HARKER, CHARLES WADE BELLAMY, IRENE A 1892-09-28 /251 200 MARION HARRIS, JOHN T BELLINGTON, MELISSA C 1874-01-14 00D/0091 MARION HECKMAN, J B BELL, HATTIE 1882-08-17 0OD/0156 MARION

JONES, W P BELL, STORANCE 1886-06-19 00D/0185 MARION

KENADAY, FINESS BELL, MARTHA 1875-12-30 00D/0106 MARION

KINYON, CHRISTOPHER BELL, MARY J 1867-12-30 00D/0050 00000317 MARION MCFARLAND, JAMES A BELL, MARY E BETHERD (MRS) 1892-01-13 /236 14 MARION

NEWELL, HENRY M BELLS, MARY E 1886-01-17 00D/0183 MARION

OFFORD, ZACHARIAH BELLE, ARCH 1888-08-29 00E/0003 MARION

PEACE, DANIEL BELL, CLARA 1898-03-27 E /62 MARION

PHILLIPS, STEPHEN A BELL, ALMEDIA F 1886-09-23 00D/0187 MARION

PTOMEY, ALEXANDER BELL, MARY A MRS 1877-12-24 00D/0119 MARION RAINEY, WILLIAM BELL, ISABELL (MRS) 1866-05-24 00D/0036 00001229 MARION SCHWARSKOPF, OTTO BELL, ANNA 1882-02-28 0OD/0153 MARION

SMITH, FRANCES M BELL, MATILDA 1871-12-24 00D/0077 0077/202 MARION SPEAR, NATHAN BELL, MARY J 1869-01-17 00D/0058 000058/7 MARION THURSTON, BENJAMIN F BELL, JENNIE E 1869-06-17 00D/0060 00060/81 MARION

TULLY, ANDER F BELL, JULIA M 1892-10-16 /253 222 MARION

WILSON, CHARLES E BELL, ANNICE 1867-10-16 00D/0048 00000244 MARION WINSEN, JOSIAH BELL, PATSY 1831-00-00 A/ 4 MARION