--- title: 'Lots of company' description: "It is interesting to see the spread of a new technology reflected in my great-grandfather’s journal: in this case, the electrification of the Bells’ farm..." --- [Vita Brevis ](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org) # ['Lots of company'](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/2019/07/lots-of-company) Written by [Scott C. Steward](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/author/ssteward) | Jul 31, 2019 1:45:06 PM It is interesting to see the spread of a new technology reflected in [my great-grandfather’s journal](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/2019/06/weekend-farmer/)[[1]](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/2019/07/lots-of-company?hs_amp=true#_ftn1): in this case, the electrification of the Bells’ farm in Kempsville, near Norfolk, Virginia. A little less than a century ago, this was a project one could undertake oneself. *1920* *9 October*: Bought truck today for $793 and turned in the old one for $200. Estelle and I bought light fixtures today for the new [Delco system](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ho_ZDrVlDZw) which we installed this week. *23 October*: Turned on electric lights tonight. *9 November*: Estelle and I went to New York to attend the Hotel Exposition. *14 November*: Stopped at Annapolis on way from New York to see Fred.[[2]](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/2019/07/lots-of-company?hs_amp=true#_ftn2) *22 December*: Muddy[[3]](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/2019/07/lots-of-company?hs_amp=true#_ftn3) came to spend Christmas with us. *24 December*: Fred arrived from Annapolis accompanied by his roommate [Donald Olson](https://books.google.com/books?id=dyFIAQAAIAAJ&pg=RA2-PA183&lpg=RA2-PA183&dq=donald+olson+annapolis+1924&source=bl&ots=EF2KRLfpsL&sig=ACfU3U0IZGo-9TcXhqOzKEDrMBTl7iE8OA&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiJs8-M4c3jAhVmQt8KHapgA4IQ6AEwDXoECAgQAQ#v=onepage&q=donald%20olson%20annapolis%201924&f=false).[[4]](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/2019/07/lots-of-company?hs_amp=true#_ftn4) For all his [future worries](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/2019/07/high-tide/) about enjoying a bowl of eggnog, on 25 December 1920 Frank wrote: Having a big Christmas. Lots of company and plenty [of] Egg-Nog. *1921* The Norfolk Armory can be seen in the middle distance, beyond the Monticello Hotel. *Frank Bell’s mother-in-law went back to New York in January, and a month later Estelle and Frances*[[5]](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/2019/07/lots-of-company?hs_amp=true#_ftn5)* paid her a return visit. In a rare reference to his professional activities, on 12 April he wrote*: Rotary Convention. I served 1500 in Armory. *3 May*: Entered flowers in Norfolk Flower Show and won first prize on Snapdragons [and] Poppies and second prize on Sweet William. *16 May*: Very cool spell. Log fire in living room. *27 May*: Estelle, Frances and I went to Annapolis to see Fred off on his first cruise. Fred Bell in Glasgow, 1921. *3 June*: Fred left today on his cruise to Norway, Scotland, Lisbon & the Mediterranean. *22 June*: Presented Frances with pony. *10 July*: Estelle and Frances left for Chicago. *7 August*: Received only one letter from Fred written from Norway. Watermelons and Cantaloupe ripe in garden. No one [at home] to help me enjoy them. *14 August*: Received letter from Estelle today from Memphis, Mo.[[6]](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/2019/07/lots-of-company?hs_amp=true#_ftn6) *21 August*: Estelle and Frances returned home from Missouri and Chicago. *28 August*: Fred returned from his midshipman cruise to Christiania,[[7]](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/2019/07/lots-of-company?hs_amp=true#_ftn7) Lisbon and Tangier, Africa. *30 August*: Fred came to spend the month of September with us, leaving Sept. 29 after a happy month. Served Kiwanis banquet, 800 plates. *1 October*: My 43rd birthday. Estelle baked a wonderful cake for me and placed 43 candles on top, all lighted when I walked in the dining room. *Continued *[here](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/2019/10/far-flung-relations/)*.* ### Notes [[1]](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/2019/07/lots-of-company?hs_amp=true#_ftnref1) J. Frank Bell (John Francis Bell, 1878–1944) was married to Minnie Estelle Jackson 1902–35 and to Margaret Feller Stegall in 1936. [[2]](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/2019/07/lots-of-company?hs_amp=true#_ftnref2) My grandfather Frederick Jackson Bell (1903–1994) was in his first year at the Naval Academy. [[3]](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/2019/07/lots-of-company?hs_amp=true#_ftnref3) Estelle Jackson Bell’s mother Rebecca Jane Eggleston (1856–1937) was married to Oliver Dodridge Jackson 1875–1915 and to William E. Waterman in 1924. [[4]](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/2019/07/lots-of-company?hs_amp=true#_ftnref4) Like my grandfather’s future brother-in-law, in 1922 Donald Palmer Olson dropped back from the Naval Academy class of 1924 to ’25. [[5]](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/2019/07/lots-of-company?hs_amp=true#_ftnref5) Frank and Estelle’s daughter Frances Fairfax Bell (1909–1997), who married Robert Gentry Norman in 1929. [[6]](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/2019/07/lots-of-company?hs_amp=true#_ftnref6) Mrs. Jackson was the youngest in a family of six children. In 1920, her sister Lucinda Mankopf, her widowed sister-in-law Emily Eggleston, and her brother Harvey Eggleston all lived in Memphis: presumably the Bells were visiting their cousins in July–August 1921. [[7]](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/2019/07/lots-of-company?hs_amp=true#_ftnref7) Renamed Oslo in 1925. 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