When George Washington Bell was born on 5 February 1866, in Patterson, Madison, Iowa, United States, his father, Abner Henry Bell, was 36 and his mother, Mary Jane Crossley, was 35. He married Minnie Ake on 2 July 1905, in Hancock, Ohio, United States. He lived in Crawford Township, Madison, Iowa, United States in 1880 and Madison, Iowa, United States in 1895. He died on 24 March 1936, in Findlay, Hancock, Ohio, United States, at the age of 70, and was buried in Findlay, Hancock, Ohio, United States.
English (northern) and Scottish (Lowlands): from the Middle English personal name Bell. As a man's name this is from Old French beu, bel ‘handsome’, which was also used as a nickname. As a female name it represents a short form of Isabel .
English (northern) and Scottish (Lowlands): from Middle English belle ‘bell’ (Old English belle), in various applications; most probably a metonymic occupational name for a bell ringer or bell maker, or a topographic name for someone living ‘at the bell’ (as attested by 14th-century forms such as John atte Belle). This indicates either residence by an actual bell (e.g. a town's bell in a bell tower, centrally placed to summon meetings, sound the alarm, etc.) or ‘at the sign of the bell’, i.e. a house or inn sign (although surnames derived from house and inn signs are rare in Scots and English).
English: from Middle English bel ‘fair, fine, good’ (Old French bel ‘beautiful, fair’). See also Beal 1.
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