This 122 year-old bell belongs to the Jewell Trinity Methodist Church. It was given to the Methodist Episcopal Church in 1901 by J.D. Robertson. It stood on a concrete pad behind the church building until 1977. At that time, Darrell Bohnert built the stand just east of the church and the bell was hung there. The stand is in memory of the late Howard Edwards.
Linda Woerner, always one with a bit of Jewell history, tells of finding a news item about the Methodist Church Bell. Not the two-thousand-pound bell that exists today beside the Jewell Trinity Methodist Church, but its predecessor, a smaller, "six or seven hundred" pounder that hung in the belfry of the old M. E. Church.
That item, from the Jewell Republican of Aug. 19, 1895, relates how "Janitor Fox" was ringing the bell when the "bolt upon which the bell swings broke." The bell crashed down on the belfry's trap door, leaving the door "considerably broken" but holding.
Further investigation found that "boys" playing in the belfry had "not been careful" in shutting the trap door. The item concluded with gratitude the door was "strong enough" and Janitor Fox "who had dodged many a cannon" was not "hit at last by a peaceful church bell."
The "nice man," Janitor Fox, was an early Jewell settler named James Henry Fox. Fox was born in England in 1836. According to his obituary, he immigrated to the U.S. when he was 15. (Jewell County Republican Nov. 3, 1911) He was in Beaver Dam, Wisconsin, in the 1860 U. S. Census, married to Sarah Fardell Fox and the father of one month old, Ida Belle.
Fox, though married, served as a private with the Company B of the 1st Wisconsin Calvary during the Civil War. After the war, he and Sarah, with Ida, Will and Clara, were again found in Beaver Dam, Wisconsin, in the 1870 U. S. Census.
Sometime between the birth of Kitty in 1871 and Daisy in 1874, the Fox family moved to Jewell County. According to Sarah Fardell Fox's obituary, they arrived in 1872. (Jewell County Republican June 27, 1913) Eventually there were six daughters and one son in the family.
The Fox homestead was the NE 1⁄4 of Section 34 of Calvin Township. That location is at the southwest corner of H Road and 170 Road. The land patent was granted on March 1, 1879.
Over the years, Fox was elected road overseer in Calvin Township several times. He also was assigned by the 1880 County Commissioners to be a "road viewer" for the six miles of road across the south side of Calvin Township. Today that road is part of G Road. (Jewell County Republican July 15, 1880).
A carpenter, Fox was the head carpenter on the construction of James Kelsey's hotel during the winter of 1877-1878. A loyal Mason, he held several offices in the organization over the years. He was also a long-time member of the S. R. Deach Post No. 58 of the Grand Army of the Republic (GAR). Fox was a GAR member from 1883 until his death in 1911.
James and Sarah bought property other than their homestead, living on one or the other of their farms until after their golden wedding anniversary in September of 1908 (Jewell County Republican Sept. 4, 1908). They did move to Jewell in November of 1909 when they were in their 70s (Jewell County Republican Nov. 12, 1909).
Those early Jewell settlers, James Henry Fox and Sarah Fardell Fox, died on Oct. 29, 1911, and June 21, 1913 respectively. They both are buried in the Jewell City Cemetery west of Jewell.
But what about the bell hanging on the stand just east of the Jewell Trinity Methodist Church? That bell, replaced the one which did not fall on James Fox. The one that didn't fall, was cracked and according to the Feb. 4, 1898, Jewell County Republican, sounded like "a noise that reminds you of a boy pounding his mother's iron kettle with a hatchet."
On Jan. 25, 1901, the Jewell County Republican reported "The Methodist congregation was delighted to receive a magnificent 2,000-pound church bell this week." The bell was a gift of early Jewell businessman, J. D. Robertson. The bell was a surprise as "only a very few were in on the secret."
The bell's tone was "deep and mellow." The next week's paper, reported those in Brownscreek Township, six miles away, could hear the bell.
Because of issues with the old bell, the belfry and the steeple of the old church, the congregation did not want the new church to have a steeple. Thus, the bell sat behind the church on a concrete pad until late in 1977.
At that time, Darrell Bohnert built the present stand and the old bell now hangs beside the church. The bell is now 122 years old. The stand is in memory of the late Howard Edwards (1892-1976) a long-time member of the congregation.
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