Cherokee Roots

The family's Cherokee connection runs through Albina McNair Rogers Bell and her Rogers, McNair and Vann ancestors, not through the Bell surname. Every statement below is drawn from the family research report and tagged as the report tags it. This page records family history only; it makes no claim about tribal enrollment or citizenship.

Removal forced the Cherokee people from their homelands in the Southeast in 1838–39. [source: National Park Service, Trail of Tears]

Several people on this page lived on Cherokee land in the years before Removal: James Vann at Spring Place [source: New Georgia Encyclopedia, Chief Vann House], whose plantation lay in the Cherokee Nation in what is now Murray County [source: Georgia State Parks, Chief Vann House]; the McNairs at McNair's Stand, and the Rogers family above the Chattahoochee. [source: Tennessee Historical Commission marker] [source: Mt. Zion UMC history] James Vann enslaved more than 100 people on his plantation by the time of his death in 1809. [source: Enslaved.org] Albina married into the Bells of Shake Rag, Georgia, is buried at Rogers-Bell Cemetery, and appears on the Eastern Cherokee rolls of 1852, 1857 and 1884. [source: 1926 Eastern Cherokee application of Raymond B. Bell] [source: USGenWeb Rogers-Bell Cemetery transcription]

Handwritten ledger page from the 1884 census of Eastern Cherokees, with ruled columns for name, relationship, sex, age, ancestor, residence and remarks. Near the bottom, Albina Bell is listed as Wife, 52, followed by her children, then Robert H. Bell's household. — 1884 Hester Roll, p. 62: the household of Albina Bell, wife of Anderson S. Bell, of Sheltonville, Forsyth Co. National Archives and Records Administration, 1884 Hester Roll (RG 75)

The Chief Vann House at Spring Place

These images show the Vann family home, a place tied to the Vann line. They are not Bell family photographs.

Two-story red-brick house with a white columned double porch, gabled pediment and tall end chimneys, on a lawn under a blue sky. — The Chief Vann House at Spring Place, the Vann family home, built in 1804 (photographed 2017). Photo: Thomson200, Wikimedia Commons (CC0)

Black cast-metal Georgia historical marker headed “Chief Vann House,” standing beside a paved road among trees. — Georgia Historical Commission marker at the Chief Vann House, Spring Place, the Vann family home. Photo: Dsdugan, Wikimedia Commons (CC0)

Architectural line drawing of the house's west elevation, showing the brick chimney, windows, two-level porches and floor levels. — West elevation of the Chief Vann House at Spring Place, the Vann family home — measured drawing, sheet 7 of 7. Historic American Buildings Survey, HABS GA,107-SPLA,1-, Library of Congress

Lineage

James Vann
- likely Cherokee chief of Spring Place, GA (1760s–1809). [source: RootsWeb]
Delilah Amelia Vann
- verified Daughter of a Cherokee chief, per the Tennessee Historical Commission marker; Chronicles of Oklahoma names her as the daughter of James Vann. [source: Tennessee Historical Commission marker]
Mary Vann McNair
- likely Daughter of Delilah and David McNair. That Mary was the daughter who married William Rogers rests on WikiTree. [source: WikiTree Bell-4096]
Albina McNair Rogers Bell
- verified Daughter of William Rogers and Mary Vann McNair, per her grandson Raymond B. Bell's sworn 1926 application and Starr (1921). [source: 1926 Eastern Cherokee application of Raymond B. Bell]
Louis Raphael Bell
- verified Listed as the son of Anderson S. and Albina M. Bell (“Rhalphael L.”, 11) in the 1880 Milton Co. census. [source: 1880 U.S. census, Grogans district]
William Anderson “W. A.” Bell
- likely Son of Louis Raphael Bell and Julia Blanch Allen, per WikiTree, his name, and burial in the family plot. [source: WikiTree Bell-4096]
Thomas Randall Bell
- verified Nell Lambert's 2010 death notice names W. A. and Mamie Bell as the parents of Thomas and his siblings. [source: Nell Lambert death notice, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 4 Oct 2010]

On balance the report calls descent from James Vann highly likely. The weak links are Delilah → Mary (WikiTree) and Louis → W. A. (WikiTree and circumstantial evidence).

Albina on the Cherokee rolls

verified 1852 Chapman Roll, Forsyth Co.: “Albina Bell 21” with sons Alexander Stephen (2) and Wm. Joseph (1), listed beside her father Wm. Rogers 46. [source: 1852 Chapman Roll, Forsyth Co., GA]
verified 1884 Hester Roll, p. 62 (original): Albina Bell, Wife, 52, of Sheltonville, Forsyth Co., ancestor “William & Mary Rogers”; remarks “Anderson S. Bell, husband, white. Was a delegate to council.” Her household: Mary J. (daughter, 25), Albert Mathew (son, 23), Walter Lenoir (son, 20), Raphael Lewis (son, 18), Wilber Parks (son, 14), George Atticus (son, 8). Robert H. Bell, 21, heads the next household, ancestor Albina Bell. [source: 1884 Hester Roll]
likely Raymond B. Bell's 1926 Cherokee application names Anderson S. Bell and Albina McNair Rogers as his grandparents, through their son Robert H. Bell (blog transcription). [source: 1926 Eastern Cherokee application of Raymond B. Bell]

The Vann and McNair families

verified Delilah Vann, “daughter of a Cherokee chief,” married Capt. David McNair; the marriage bond is dated 30 Dec 1801. [source: Tennessee Historical Commission marker]
likely Her father was the Cherokee chief James Vann (1760s–1809) of Spring Place, GA, son of the trader Clement Vann. [source: RootsWeb]
verified David McNair built McNair's Stand at a Cherokee council ground near Old Fort, Polk Co., TN around 1800 and commanded a company of Cherokee scouts in the War of 1812. [source: Tennessee Historical Commission marker]
likely David McNair served at Horseshoe Bend in Jan–Apr 1814. [source: Christopher Feldt, “McNair's Stand,” North Georgia History]
verified Delilah McNair died in 1838 on the Hiwassee River during Cherokee Removal; her children were allowed to bring her home for burial in the family plot near Old Fort, TN. [source: Chronicles of Oklahoma 50]

The Rogers family

verified John Rogers fought under Andrew Jackson at Horseshoe Bend, ran a Chattahoochee ferry, and founded Mt. Zion Methodist (1828). [source: Chronicles of Oklahoma 50]
verified His son William Rogers (1805–1870), who married Mary Vann McNair, was one of the Cherokee delegation's agents in Washington in 1839. [source: Chronicles of Oklahoma 50]

Albina on the Eastern Cherokee rolls

verified Raymond B. Bell's sworn 1926 Eastern Cherokee application (Baker Roll records, NARA M2104) names his grandmother Albina M. Bell as 1/4 Cherokee, descended through Mary Vann McNair Rogers, and lists her on the Chapman (1852), Siler (1857) and Hester (1884) rolls. The rolls themselves have not been viewed. [source: 1926 Eastern Cherokee application of Raymond B. Bell]
verified This comes from a free secondary transcription; the original application on NARA M2104 or Fold3 has not been checked. [source: 1926 Eastern Cherokee application of Raymond B. Bell]
verified The application was rejected in 1927 for “non-affiliation” with the Eastern Band, not for lack of descent. [source: 1926 Eastern Cherokee application of Raymond B. Bell]
verified Emmet Starr's History of the Cherokee Indians (1921) lists “Albina McNair Rogers. Anderson Smith Bell” with her brothers Henry, David M. and Robert Nicholas Rogers, in the line from David McNair and Delilah Vann. [source: Emmet Starr, History of the Cherokee Indians]

Louis Raphael Bell in the census

verified 1880 census, Milton Co., GA: Anderson S. Bell, 57, wife Albina M., 49, and son “Rhalphael L.”, 11. Age 11 suggests a birth around 1869, versus Oct 1867 on his gravestone. [source: 1880 U.S. census, Grogans district]
likely 1870 census, Milton Co., GA: a “Rayford” Bell, 3, in Anderson and Albina's household, which fits a birth around 1867. “Rayford” is probably a mis-indexing of Raphael, but that is unconfirmed. [source: 1870 U.S. census, Milton Co., GA]
verified Both households are transcribed in the report's census check (lines 283–289). [source: Bell family research report]

John Bell and the Bell Route

testimony Family belief: the family should be connected to John Bell and Chief Vann. This is a belief, not proof. [source: Testimony from family members]
verified John Adair Bell (born 1805), a Cherokee official and signer of the Treaty of New Echota, led the 1838–39 Bell Detachment of about 650 Treaty Party Cherokee on their forced removal west. [source: Access Genealogy]
verified No shared ancestor, marriage or record tying his family to Francis Bell's family has been found; our Bells were white settlers from North Carolina who came to Forsyth Co. in 1838–40, after Removal. The shared surname alone is not evidence. [source: Hiram P. Bell, Men and Things]
verified The Bell Route archive documents that removal; nothing in the material read so far mentions the Vann or McNair families. [source: Retracing the Bell Route]