In this photograph taken in 1925, my mother Kathleen (far left), her mother and father Sam and Ellen Bell, and 10 other siblings pose as they leave their home in Crossgar, County Down. They journeyed to the United States and settled in Chicago, where, after only four years, my granddad died, leaving Grandma Ellen to raise a family of 11.
Ellen was a woman of tremendous faith in spite of suffering this devastating loss. The Bell home was near the Stockyards on the south side of Chicago, and she took in borders, feeding them twice a day, as they toiled at “the yards,” saving money for their families to come over. She went to Mass every morning, leaving the older girls to fix breakfast for the borders before they went off to school. She became a friend to anyone who needed help or a warm meal and became a legend on the south side of Chicago.
Grandma Bell lived to be 94 years old and left a legacy rich in faith, love, and Irish heritage.
My mother, Kathleen Bell Downs, was the 2nd youngest of the 11 Bells who immigrated in 1925. She passed on Grandma Bell’s legacy to her own family of seven children, 24 grandchildren and 5 great-grandchildren. She and our dad, John Downs, were devoted to each other.
Our mother was quite a woman, she, like her mother, also lived to be 94, and left us with a strong love of faith and family. She loved Irish music and dance. Many of her grandchildren danced here in Chicago and were very successful. She loved to see them and would often say, “Give me a wee step.”
Today, three of Kathleen’s great-grandchildren are dancing and carrying on the Irish heritage she loved so much.
We miss her daily, but we know she guides us from above. Our family has been blessed to return to her birthplace in Crossgar, Co. Down. The most recent to visit was her son Michael and his family this past year. There was a big Bell reunion!
We are planning a big celebration in the summer of 2025 to commemorate the Bell family’s immigration from Crossgar, Northern Ireland, 100 years ago.
It is a huge milestone, and there are at least 100 more descendants of Sam and Ellen Flanagan Bell.
Times were not easy in 1925, but they had the things that mattered and passed on those gifts to us.
– Submitted by Maureen Foster, the eldest of Kathleen Bell Downs’ seven children.
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