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Submitted: 7/9/12 • Approved: 9/27/20 • Last Updated: 9/30/20 • R726294-G446784-S3
December 18, 1821 - March 13, 1920
*Obituary
Benton County Record
Friday, March 19, 1920
COFFELT, Louisa C. BELL Russell Sooter - Mrs. Louise Coffelt, one of the oldest residents in Benton county, died at the home of relatives in Gravette last Saturday at the age of ninety-nine years and three months. The body was taken to the Coffelt cemetery, southwest of Vaughn for interment, to be placed beside her husband who died several years ago. She was the step-mother of R.L. Coffelt, the fruit grower near Vaughn. During the civil war and afterwards, she lived with her husband on their farm on the Spavinaw.
*Obituary (as written)
Gravette News-Herald
Friday, March 19, 1920
Louisa C. Bell was born in Tennessee Dec. 18, 1820 and moved to Southwestern Missouri in 1844 and at the age of 25 was married to Eliga Russell to which union were born 6 children, two of whom survive - Mrs. E.H. Setser and Mrs. R. Galyean, both of Gravette. Mrs. Russell was later married to Berry Sooter and then to Wyatt Coffelt who preceded her in death. The old lady was laid to rest in Coffelt cemetery southwest of Centerton. She was aged 99 years and three months.
*Obituary (as written)
Gravette News-Herald
Friday, April 2, 1920
The subject of this sketch was born in Tenn. Dec. 1821, died March 13th, 1920, aged 98 years and 2 months. She was married in young womanhood to Elijah Russell who lost his life in that deplorable affair of 61 to 65. She was again married to Berry Sooter and a third time married Wyatt Coffelt, both of whom preceded her in death. Grandmother was the mother of six children, Mrs. R. Galyean, Mrs. E.H. Setser, who survive her, Mrs. J.H. Fair, who died in 1899, G.W. Russell in 1887, on the fortieth anniversary of his birth. {only 4 named} With her going closed one of the most remarkable lives I have ever known, her earthly treasures were her relatives and her friends, of which she possessed many. She lived in memories of the past, relating to me many times her gruesome experiences during the civil war. Dear Grandma is gone, never again will your poor, feeble arms encircle our neck and your sweet voice say to us "Oh! I love you, Hugh, God knows I love you." It would be cruel to wish you back yet our heart is sad. Good by, dear grandma, good by. Hugh L. Fair.
Note: Additional information from a grandchild.
This entry states an impossibility: that my great great great grandfather, Elijah Russell died in 1863 and in 1869 he married my ggg grandmother, Louiza Bell (note the correct spelling of her first name). They were actually married when she was 25 years old. She was born in 1820, so one can assume the marriage was in 1845. According to family lore as printed in Louiza's obituary, Grandfather Russell was shot in the back in front of Louiza by "bushwhackers" who then burned their home to the ground. A few years later Louiza moved to Missouri. Twelve years after Elijah Russell's death, she remarried (Sooter). Her second husband predeceased her. She then married for the third time (Coffelt). She is buried in the Vaughn Cemetery in Benton County, Arkansas. She died at the age of 99 after accidentally overdosing with medication to treat what may have been the second wave of Spanish Flu.
Contributed on 7/9/12 by judyfrog
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Record #: 726294