Bells in the Giltner Cemetery

Quiety resting in the Giltner Cemetery are several members of the Bell family. In January, I wrote about my maternal Grandparents grave in the Aurora Cemetery and then followed my Grandma's ancestoral line as far as the graves I have visited. Just a few miles southwest of Aurora is the Giltner Cemetery on the east edge of the small town of Giltner. It's a good sized cemetery with all natural grass, once lined with cedar trees on the north side, there are no trees left there. The grave of my Great Grandparents, Cicero and Allie Bell is sinking.

BELL

Father                      Mother

CICERO                      ALLIE L

June 29, 1869              May 19, 1871

Apr 4, 1944                  JAN 19, 1959

Cicero and Allie were both gone before I was born so I have no memories of them. Both orginally from Kentucky, they moved several times before bringing their combined family to Nebraska. There is no mention of it on the grave, but both Cicero and Allie had lost a previous spouse. The blended family of seven boys remained close throughout their lives. 

Allie had one son from her first marriage, Bill Vickrey, who is buried in Fairbury, Nebraska. Her parents are buried in Wayne County, Kentucky. Allie had one brother living in Illinois who died just 3 months after her death. Another brother and seven sisters died before her and are buried in Kentucky, Tennessee and Illinois. Allie also had two half-sisters who were 20 and 21 years younger than her. 


Cicero had four children from his first marriage to Mittie Ramsey. Two infants died and are buried in Flint, Texas along with their mother. The family had only lived in Texas a few years. Cicero and the two oldest boys, Frank and Oren, moved back to Kentucky and the boys grew up with Allie as their step-mom. Frank is also buried in the Giltner Cemetery. Oren is buried in Oklahoma. At the time of Cicero's death he knew seven grandsons and eight granddaughters. Two grandsons and another granddaughter were born in the following few years. 

The four sons Cicero and Allie had together all died in Hamilton County and are buried within 30 miles of each other. Ben, the oldest, is also in Giltner, Virgil, the youngest, lies in Phillips, and Ed and my Grandpa Stan, are in Aurora.

I know I was at this cemetery in the 1980's or even earlier, but I was surprised when I learned from the book "Historical Sketches of Giltner," that Cicero's mother was buried there. Until I saw that I assumed she had never left Kentucky. It was probably 1995 when I first visited Martha's grave and aside from getting chipped up by the lawnmower, it's in good shape and not sinking much. It sits right next to Cicero and Allie's grave.

Martha Bell's daughter, Laura Alcorn, is buried in the Westlawn Cemetery, here in Grand Island. John, the middle son of Martha, is buried in Russellville, Kentucky. I have been to Martha's parents grave in Wayne County, Kentucky, which I'll post next.