The History of The Bell Family Bell

This is the story of a dinner bell, but first I need to give you just a bit of background.

My mother’s name was Shirley DeMumbrum and my father was John Bell. My grandfather was Robert Bell (also my brother’s name) and his parents were Josh and Kate Bell.

Josh and Kate married in 1890 and lived on a farm very near where my other set of great-grandparents (The DeMumbrums) lived.

Josh and Kate Bell

During those years it was very common for farm families to have dinner bells. They rang these bells to call the workers in from the fields to eat. They were also used to announce the death of a family member and some of my older family members remember that the bell was rung when Great-grandpa Josh died.

This picture of Roy Rogers with his dinner bell on a comic book is not the type dinner bell my great-grandparents had. Theirs was made in Ohio by the company founded by C. S. Bell (no relation to me that I know of).

The Bell’s Bell

My great-grandparents have been gone for decades and the dinner bell on my great-grandparent’s farm was most recently owned by one of my cousins. When he passed away his house, many of his belongings and the bell were sold at an auction.

The weekend of the auction I was out of town but I left a bid with one of my cousins for the bell. My cousin messaged me to let me know I was outbid by the man who bought the house. I was very disappointed because I already had the perfect place picked out to hang the bell.

We now own the farm where my mother was born and raised (The DeMumbrum farm) and we are building an agri-tourism business there. We will have a playground, a petting zoo, wagon rides, corn maze, pumpkin patch, concession stand, country store and more. I wanted to put the bell on our farm, which is called Bellview Family Farm.

Persistence Pays Off

I waited a few weeks and then went to visit the man who bought the house and the bell. I explained who I was and the bell belonged to my great-grandmother (she died before I was born) and that I wanted to keep it in the family. Then I asked him if he was interested in selling the bell to me, but he wasn’t so I thanked him and told him if he should ever reconsider I would appreciate it if he would call me.

He never did.

About a year later I’m driving by the house with two of my grandchildren in the car with me and I saw a car pull into their driveway. I thought to myself, why not give it one more try? I pulled into their driveway just as a woman got out of her car. I told her who I was and asked her if her husband would reconsider. I had a Bellview Family Farm business card with me and I handed it to her and told her to have him call if he changed his mind.

He called the next day and my husband and son went and got the bell. It was rusted and the cradle was broken but it still looked beautiful to me. We called a nearby business and took it over to be sandblasted, repaired and painted.

I wish we had a picture of what it looked like before but we don’t so you will just have to take my word for it….it looks soooo much better!

You can see at the top that it was made by the C. S. Bell Company in Hillsboro, Ohio. There’s also a number 4 on the bell, which really surprised me. I was told it was a number 2 bell but it’s obviously a 4. It is 20 inches in diameter, which also surprised me. Standing on the ground and looking up at it I knew it was big but didn’t realize it was that big.

There are two web sites that have information about the making of the bells and the history of C. S. Bell and his company that you might find interesting. I know I did! Click here and here if you want to read more about bells.

Also, we would love for you to keep up with Bellview Family Farm on Facebook. Just click and Like and Follow our page. There is a video there of my husband ringing the bell if you want to hear what it sounds like.

Have you ever seen a dinner bell like the one we bought? Tell me about it in the comment section.

This is the home of Josh and Kate Bell (built around 1902) and where the bell was for many, many decades.