Fayette Co., AL: Holland M. BELL

Holland M. BELL, probate judge of Fayette county, was born in Tuscaloosa county, Ala., June 25, 1839. He was the fifth of ten children born to Anthony F. and Elizabeth (MIDDLETON) BELL, the former a native of South Carolina, and the latter of Alabama. Anthony F. BELL came to Alabama in 1816, and was thus one of the very earliest settlers of the state. He was a tanner by trade, and became one of the prominent citizens of the county of Fayette. He was elected county commissioner a number of times before the war, and was elected county treasurer in 1874. His parents were John and Amelia (HEARD) BELL, the former a native of Pennsylvania and the latter of South Carolina. The father of Mrs. Elizabeth BELL was Zachariah MIDDLETON.

Judge Holland M. BELL was reared in Alabama, and educated in both public and private schools until he was twenty-one years of age. He then entered the La Grange Military academy in Franklin county, Ala., where he remained fifteen months, when upon the breaking out of the war he enlisted, April 14, 1862, in Company H, Forty-first Alabama infantry, and served until captured, 29th of March, 1865. He was in several of the important battles of the war, among them being that of Murphreesboro, Drewry's Bluff, Chicamauga, Richmond, Petersburg and Hatcher's Run, in which last battle he was captured [...] and taken to Washington, where he was held eight days, and then taken to Johnson's island. Here he was kept two months and was then paroled. He enlisted as a private soldier, but was soon promoted to sergeant major of his regiment, which position he held until a vacancy occurred in the position of first lieutenant until 1864, when he was promoted to captain, and held this position until the close of the war.

He was married in 1866 to Miss Margarette MILES, a native of Georgia, and a daughter of Robert P. MILES, of Georgia. To this marriage there were born seven children, viz.: John M., Edna and Ethel, all deceased: Ernest S., Claude and Lucy, and one not named, having died in infancy.

Mr. BELL is a member of the Missionary Baptist church. Mr. BELL is very popular in his county. He was elected circuit clerk in 1874, and was elected county and probate judge in 1880, and has held this position ever since.

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Source: Memorial Record of Alabama: A Concise Account of the State’s Political, Military, Professional and Industrial Progress, Together With the Personal Memoirs of Many of Its People, (Brant & Fuller, Madison, Wisconsin, 1893), Vol I: Fayette County, pp. 1023-1024.