HISTORY OF SESSUMS COMMUNITY THROUGH 1976 MRS ...

41
Winston
(Also Barr, Bell, Ellis, Ridgeway, Ware and Wilder)
Shortly after the Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek in 1830, settlers came in great
numbers into the area that is now Oktibbeha County. Among them were William K. Bell
and his wife, Cecelia, from Greene County, Alabama, originally from Fairfield
District, South Carolina. In Oktibbeha County they settled land from "Red Acre"
just north of Sessums to approximately where Oktibbeha Memorial Gardens Cemetery is
today. Of course there were no roads, and when one was built it did not follow the
present road.
William M. and Cecelia Bell had six daughters and no sons. Their children were:
Mary Aiken, who married a Mr. Chiles and remained in Alabama with her husband and
baby son; Rebecca, who married Thomas Ware and moved to Louisville. She died young;
Melissa Elizabeth, who married Thomas Ware after her sister, Rebecca died. This
couple and their descendants lived in Winston County and none of them were
residents of Oktibbeha County until Mrs. Harden Blankenship moved to this area. She
is a descendant of Melissa Elizabeth. Lenora married James (Jim) Reese (see Reese
information).
Henrietta married William L. Ellis. Their children were: Mary, who married Walton
Williams. She died young. Floribelle, married Harry Foster of Starkville; Mittie
who married John Elliott of Artesia; Willie Rieveland married Reuben Boswell Nash
of Columbus; and Martha Curry (Pat) who married David Castles. They lived in
Starkville (see Castles information). Margaret married Bruce Ridgeway.
There were three Ridgeway children by a former marriage-- Mattie, Bert, and Marvin,
who were brought up in this community. The children of Margaret and Bruce Ridgeway
were: Joe, Edwin, and Willie.
Mary Aiken Bell Chiles, who stayed in Alabama, lost her husband and baby son within
a year of each other, and was a widow while still in her teens. Later she married a
distant cousin, Rufus Alexander Wilder. Eventually they moved to Oktibbeha County
and lived in the old log house with the dog trot through the center. Until a few
years ago this house was still standing. It was across the road from where the
Ralph Winston house now stands. Children of Rufus Alexander and Mary Aiken Bell
Chiles Wilders were: William Joseph who was killed in an accident when he was
twenty years old; and Margaret Bell, who married Ferdinand DeKalb Ellis. These two
are the maternal grandparents of the Winston children whose parents were Mary
Louise Ellis and Ralph Baggley Winston.
William Bell lived some years after the death of his wife, Cecelia. In his will he
left a farm to each of his daughters or their heirs. Also he left a tract of land
situated almost across the road from where the McKell School was later built. This
land was designated as a woodlot for the use of all of his children. Forestry
professors have been interested in this plot of woods since it is almost an
undisturbed forest, and has some plants that are not found elsewhere in the area.