First white child born in JC, Jewel Bell

Jewell County was organized on July 14, 1870. Twenty- three days later, on Aug. 6, 1870, the first white child was born in the new county. The baby girl was appropriately named, Jewell Bell. Jewell Bell Thomas.

She was born near White Rock, Kansas, to Eli and Barbara Willis Thomas. The location, according to various newspaper accounts was "where the Old Settlers of White Rock hold their reunion."

The reunion location is thought to be in the area where Section 12 abuts Section 13 in Sinclair Township. It is quite likely she was born there as the NW 1⁄4 of Section 13 was homesteaded by Eli Thomas.  He received the patent on April 1, 1875.

Her father, Eli Thomas, was born in Indiana around 1829. A Civil War veteran, he served with Company F of the 7th Iowa Infantry. He was first married to Martha Ann Sands sometime in the mid 1850s, likely in Indiana. Before Martha's death in 1859, they had two children, Amelia (1857) and Anderson (1859),

Barbara Willis, born around 1845 in Indiana, was Eli's second wife.  They married on Aug. 2, 1865, in Miami County, Indiana. Their first child, Elmer Elsworth, was born Oct. 23, 1866, in Indiana. 

The 1870 Census found the couple, with Amelia, Anderson and Elmer "Elsworth" in Republic County, Kansas. They were enumerated there on July 9, 1870. But by Aug. 6, 1870, when Jewell Bell was born, they were living just inside Jewell County, on the western side of the border between Jewell and Republic counties.

They had two more children, Frank W. Thomas (1873) and Eli Willis Thomas (1876). Barbara died on March 26, 1876, shortly after Eli Willis was born. It is not known where she was buried.

Jewell County Courthouse records show on Nov. 1, 1876, Eli sold a quarter of land in Montana Township to J. C. Tibbetts. This quarter had a cemetery, Montana Cemetery, in the southeast corner. Perhaps, it was there he had buried his wife, Barbara. Or, perhaps she is buried in a Republic County cemetery, such as the White Rock Cemetery or the Rose Mound Cemetery.

After he sold the land, it seems Eli left the area. He is next found in the 1880 U. S. Census in Lee County, Iowa. In his household was his younger brother, Henley, and his two sons, Anderson and Elsworth. Some researchers give 1885 as his death date. This researcher has not proven when or where he died.

Eli and Barbara's three youngest children, Jewell Bell, Frank W. and Eli Willis, were adopted by area couples. Jewell Bell and Eli Willis were adopted by Andrew and Susan Newcomb Persinger. The Persingers lived in White Rock Township, Republic County.  Sadly, Eli Willis died of scarlet fever in 1879, when he was just three years old.  He was buried in the Persinger Family Cemetery in Republic County.

Frank W. Thomas was adopted by John and Elizabeth Persinger.  He eventually married Cordelia Persinger, the oldest daughter of Andrew and Susan Persinger. They had two children. Elmer was born in 1900 and Delia in 1903. Cordelia died on Nov. 15, 1903, three days after Delia's birth.

After Frank's death on Aug. 14, 1904, their children, Elmer and Delia were raised by Andrew and Susan Persinger. Delia died on Oct. 12, 1905. She, like her mother, was buried in the Persinger Family Cemetery.  Elmer lived a long life, dying at 80 years of age in California.

Jewell Bell, the main subject of this article, grew to adulthood in the White Rock area of Republic County, living nearly all her life in Jewell and Republic counties in Kansas or Nuckolls County in Nebraska. 

On Dec. 23, 1889, she married Francis Marion Fisher. Their first home was in Pawnee County, Nebraska. Their first child was likely born, then died in Nebraska. After a short stint in Nebraska, they lived and farmed in various places in Kansas: Holmwood and Sinclair townships in Jewell County and Big Bend Township in Republic County.  In about 1922, they moved to Hardy, Nebraska.

Jewell Bell, Bell as she was generally called, had 10 children. Four died when they were young. Six lived to adulthood: Dessie Edna, Stillman Floyd, Ida Ruth, Hazel Troy, Susan Blanche and Wilma Leoti. 

She remained close to her adoptive parents, her visits to them were noted in local papers.  The New Era reported on March 9, 1905, "F. M. Fisher and children spent Sunday at the home of Andy Persinger in Republic County.

In the May 4, 1905, Jewell County Monitor, an item noted "Mrs. F. M. Fisher is the champion chicken raiser in this part of the country; she has 300 little chickens." One year it was reported she and her daughters canned 618 quarts of fruit. (Oct. 4, 1912, Scandia Journal)

The April 4, 1913, Scandia Journal carried the item "Mrs. Fisher and children will start for Alberta Canada on Monday to join Mr. Fisher who has been in the north for several months." They did not remain in Canada long.

By 1915, newspapers were announcing Francis Fisher's arrest in Republic City for forgery (Sept. 10, 1915, Western Advocate).  He was "remanded to the county jail" as he did not post the $1,000 bond dictated by his preliminary hearing.  (Sept. 24, 1915, Western Advocate)

The case was eventually discharged.  The Nov. 12, 1915, Western Advocate contained the brief item. "State of Kansas vs. F.M. Fisher, forgery.  Demurrer to evidence sustained. Charge dismissed." (A demurrer is "an objection that an opponent's point is irrelevant or invalid, while granting the factual basis of the point."  Internet definition). 

The New Era of Nov. 11, 1915, reported the case as being discharged because of the "statute of limitation."  It would seem the demurrer was based on the statute of limitations but whatever the legality, the case was dismissed.

There is little else about the family or Jewell Bell until her death on Feb. 29, 1928. Her obituary ran in the March 8, 1928, Hardy Herald. It noted such things as her birth as the first white child in Jewell County, the date of her marriage and that six of her ten children survived her.  

Significantly, her obituary notes she was buried in the Switzer Gap Cemetery. The cemetery is located in the SW 1⁄4 of the SW 1⁄4 of Section 29 of Sinclair Township, Jewell County or at the intersection of T Road and 260 Road.

When her daughter Belva died, it was noted the child was buried in Switzer Gap Cemetery alongside her twin who died in infancy (Nov. 1, 1907, Courtland Journal).  The Jan. 18, 1912, New Era carries the sad item "an infant daughter of Mrs. F. M. Fisher was buried in Switzer Gap Cemetery yesterday."

When Francis M. Fisher died on March 5, 1937, his body was brought back to Hardy from Idaho where he had been living with his son. His obituary states "Burial was made in Switzer's Gap Cemetery where his wife and three children are buried."

Today tombstones for both Francis and Jewell Bell Fisher are in Rose Mound Cemetery in Republic County. Tombstones for their three infant children are also there. When they were removed from Switzer's Gap and reinterred in Rose Mound Cemetery, has not been determined though cemetery records have been searched. Wilma Leoti Fisher, the longest surviving of the 10 Fisher children, lies next to her parents and siblings in the cemetery. She died in 1988.

Jewell County's first white child, born just days after the founding of the county, was 57 years, 6 months and 23 days old when she died. She had been orphaned, bore 10 children and buried four of them, lived in two centuries, two states and two countries. Stronger than most of us would care to be.