(1865-1936)
One of the interesting turn-of-the-century Knox County, Ohio, residents who was affected by the poetic muse was Isaac Warren Bell. The Bells were early settlers in Knox County. Isaac was born near Martinsburg in 1865. His father was Robison Bell. In 1889 Isaac married Eunice Ann Blackledge, and the couple settled on the family farm in Morgan Township. They had five children.
The evidence for Mr. Bell’s existence, in addition to the family records, is a booklet of poetry that has been located. The Old Apple Tree gives as its author I. W. Bell, Newark Road, Mount Vernon, Ohio. There is no date, but a photo illustration with an automobile in front of a gasoline filling station places the date in the early 1920’s. The station was presumably owned by one of Isaac’s sons.
Mr. Bell (he was referred to as “Ike”) was inspired by progress, and especially by the automobile. His poetry is direct and unpolished, but has the charm of creativity. I quote from his poem, “The Newark Road”: “The traffic on this road is great/ from very early till very late--/ The Gasoline that people burn/ Is surely more than what they earn.”— and there is more, about Henry Ford and John D.
Isaac Bell died in 1936. He would be amazed to know that his creation, The Old Apple Tree, might still be available throughout the world in this 21st century on a device called the Internet.