History of Lycoming County, Pennsylvania, 1887



Bell Family - G. FRANKLIN BELL, M. D Biography

Dr. G. Franklin Bell, a graduate from the College of Physicians and Surgeons, Baltimore, Maryland, and one of the prominent and representative members of the profession in the city of Williamsport, where he has been engaged in active practice since 1886, is the fifth child in order of birth in the family of Stephen and Amelia (Litzelman) Bell, the former a native of Frankfort, Germany, and the latter of Cherry township, Sullivan county, Pennsylvania. Stephen Bell (father) was one of the pioneer millwrights in Lycoming county, erected many of its oldest mills, and conducted an extensive and remunerative business. He was a staunch adherent of the principles of Democracy, casting his vote for the candidates of that party since he became a citizen of the United States, and was the incumbent of several political offices in Mifflin township, where he took up his abode.

G. Franklin Bell acquired his rudimentary education in the public schools of Salladasburg, Lycoming county, Pennsylvania, where he was born September 27, 1860, and later for one year pursued advanced studies at Dickinson Seminary and for two years at the Muncy Normal School. He subsequently taught for three years in Mifflin township, a vocation for which he was well qualified both by education and disposition. He began the study of medicine with Dr. Thomas W. Meckley, of Jersey Shore, and graduated from the College of Physicians and Surgeons, Baltimore, Maryland, in 1885. He began the practice of his profession in Cogan House township, and continued until the fall of 1886, when he came to Williamsport and opened an office in Newberry, where he has since been engaged in the active duties of his chosen calling. In 1887 he was elected coroner of Lycoming county, re-elected in 1890, and for three years was a member of the Williamsport board of health. He is one of the chief general surgeons of the Williamsport Hospital, and has been ever since the hospital was established. He is a member of the Lycoming County Medical Society, and was a member of its board of censors for two years; a member of the State Medical Society, the American Medical Association, and was a delegate to the medical convention held at Reading, Pennsylvania, in 1890, and the American Medical Association held at Portland, Oregon, 1905. The work of Dr. Bell in both his professional and public career has been prosecuted and carried out in an intelligent manner, and in the best interests of the whole community.

Dr. Bell married, July 23, 1885, Minnie J. Thomas, daughter of the late John M. Thomas, of Millville, Pennsylvania. Their children are: Stephen Roscoe, Warren Dalton and Lalla C. Bell.


Source: Genealogical and Personal History of Lycoming County, John W. Jordan, Lewis Historical Publishing Co., 1906.










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