J.F. Bell Funeral Home

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J.F. Bell Funeral Home was established by John Ferris Bell in 1917. It is now located at 108 6th Street NW, Charlottesville, VA 22903.

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History

John Ferris Bell (1890-1959) was born in Petersburg, Virginia. After graduating from the Hampton Institute, he taught tailoring in Missouri for four years until he learned to become a funeral director and mortician. A relative convinced him to move to Charlottesville, and he set up the J.F. Bell Funeral Home. The business first operated at 275 West Main Street in a building shared by the Messenger Printing Company. In 1925, the company moved to its current location, while the Bell family lived in an apartment upstairs.

The Bell Funeral Home has remained in family hands for four generations, having been led first by John Ferris Bell, Sr., followed by his son Henry H. Bell, then Henry's daughter, Deborah and her husband Marvin Brooks. The home made the arrangements for both Cain Hawkins and his wife, Alice Wood Hawkins, to be buried near the former's ancestral home in White Hall.

The home is the oldest African-American owned business in Charlottesville. [1]

The proclamation issues by City Council for the Funeral Home's 100th Anniversary

References

  1. Web. About J.F. Bell, J.F. Bell Funeral Home, retrieved December 17, 2012.

External Links

Official Site