Lavinia Rice Bell

Lavinia Rice, daughter of Cyrus Rice (1798 - 1882) and Martha Gilbert Gould (1803 - 1885), was born 22 November 1831 in Bone Gap, Edwards County, Illinois. Her family were among the earliest settlers of the Bone Gap area. On 5 May 1858 she married William M. Bell, 18 years her senior.

Their first child was a daughter born in 1859, in Greenville, Bond County, Illinois; they named her Illinois Rice Bell. About 1865, they moved to Owatonna, Steele County, Minnesota, along with several other family members. Here, their second daughter, named Minnesota Rice Bell, was born in 1867. She died at the age of ten in November 1877.

By 1880 Lavinia and her husband were divorced. William was enumerated in the 1880 United States Federal census as a divorced man in Owatonna, Minnesota. In 1895 Lavinia was living with her brother Cyrus Rice's family in Cherryvale, Montgomery County, Kansas. By 1900, she had moved back to Edwards County, and in 1910 was living with her brother Oren Rice. She died the next year in 1911 at the age of 79 and is buried in Old Trinity Cemetery, Bone Gap, Edwards, Illinois.

Sources

• Bone Gap, Illinois The Rice family were early settlers of the area.
• 1870 United States Federal Census. Name: Lavina Bell; Age in 1870: 38; Birth Year: abt 1832; Birthplace: Illinois; Home in 1870: Owatonna Ward 3, Steele, Minnesota; Race: White; Gender: Female; Post Office: Owatonna; Household Members: William M Bell 56; Lavina Bell 38; Illinois Bell 11; Minnesota Bell 2. Source Citation: Year: 1870; Census Place: Owatonna Ward 3, Steele, Minnesota; Roll: M593_716; Page: 290B; Image: 587; Family History Library Film: 552215. Source Information: Ancestry.com. 1870 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2009. Images reproduced by FamilySearch. Original data: 1870 U.S. census, population schedules. NARA microfilm publication M593, 1,761 rolls. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d. Minnesota census schedules for 1870. NARA microfilm publication T132, 13 rolls. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.
• Find A Grave Memorial# 15168317