Georgia and Georgians - the Digital Library of Georgia

2996 GEORGIA AND GEOEGIANSmen of the county has a better record than Payton Elliot Bell, M. D., whohas for sixteen years been engaged in the practice of medicine and surgeryat the county seat of Sylvester.Doctor Bell is a Georgian by nativity, born in Webster County, August8, 1868, and is a son of R. A. and Martha Elizabeth (Elliot) Bell. Hisparents were .also natives of this state, the father having been born inWebster County and the mother in Newton County. R. A. Bell was still ayouth when the Civil war came on, but during the latter years of thatstruggle enlisted in the army of the Confederacy, with which he servedfor one year as a private. He then returned to his agricultural operationsin Webster County, and there succeeded in coming into the possession of agood property, in the development of which he continued to be active untilhis death, which occurred in 1902, when he was fifty-six years of age. Themother survived until 1904, and was fifty-three years old at the time of herdemise. Mr. Bell was one of the good citizens of his community, a man whotook an interest in all that affected the public welfare, and both he and hiswife were held in the highest esteem by their friends and neighbors. Theywere the parents of four sons and one daughter, as follows: Payton Elliot;H. F., a resident of Macon, Georgia; R. A., of Cairo, Georgia; Hon. R. C.,of Cairo, solicitor of the Albany Judicial Circuit; and Mrs. Martha Hart,who is the wife of George E. Hart, of Macon.The eldest of his parents' children, Payton Elliot Bell, received his earlyeducation in the public schools of Webster County' and Cuthbert, Georgia,following which he attended the Southwestern Agricultural College. Withhis education thus far advanced, he returned to agricultural pursuits, havingbeen raised in the atmosphere of the farm, and continued to be so engagedfor a number of years. In the meantime, he had become interested in the .study of medicine, a profession for which he bad entertained a predilectionfrom youth, and finally, after a great deal of private preparation, enteredthe medical department of the University of Georgia, paying his way throughthat institution with the money he had earned in the fields. Mr. Bell proveda close and careful student, with a retentive mind and power of application,and was duly graduated with the class of 1899, receiving his cherisheddiploma and the degree of Doctor of Medicine. In that year he began topractice at Grayson, in Gwinnett County, Georgia, but after one year ofexperience there came to Sylvester, March 1, 1900, and here'has since continued. He is now in the enjoyment of an enviable practice, large in itsextent and representative in its character. He recognizes no specialty, beingequally at home in all branches of his calling. He belongs to the variousorganizations of his profession, and holds a high place in the esteem of hisfellow-practitioners, who have found in him one who recognizes and respectsthe best and highest ethics of his honored calling. Fraternally, Doctor Bellis affiliated with the Knights of Pythias and the Independent Order of OddFellows. Not alone is he an able physician, but is possessed of soundbusiness ability, as is evidenced by the prosperous condition of his businessestablishment, the Bell Drug Store, which he established in 1905, and wherehe prepares his own prescriptions, thus insuring absolute safety and precision. Politically a democrat, his activities in public matters have beenconfined to those of any good citizen with the welfare of the communityat heart.Doctor Bell was married November 23, 1904, at Louisville, Kentucky, toMiss Ella Payton, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. J. S. Payton, an old and honorable family of Warsaw, Kentucky, where both still reside. The only childof Dr. and Mrs. Bell, Payton Elliot, Jr., who was born October 14, 1905,at Sylvester, was a most lovable and attractive lad, and his death, whichoccurred April 7, 1915, caused sincere and widespread sorrow throughoutthe community.