Civil War Veterans Buried in Fairview Cemetery
James Bell was born in Virginia in about 1824, and is buried at Fairview Cemetery. His date of death is not known. The 1880 census shows him as a single man living near Fountain in Township 16 South Range 67 West, with his father Zebulon Bell, and the Keetons. Samuel Keeton homesteaded near Rock Creek and Highway 115. Although their relationship to Sam Keeton was given as brother and father, it is more likely that they were his wife Mary Keeton’s relatives. Both men were wagon makers. In 1870, James Bell lived with the Priest family, who homesteaded in Dead Man’s Canyon along Hwy 115, and the father Zebulon lived with his son Lance Bell in Fountain. The Bells appear to have moved to Colorado by about 1866. In 1860, the family lived in Springfield, Illinois.
William Christian Private Co. G&H 16th Regt TN Infantry
William Briton Christian was born in Tennessee on May 18, 1839. He enlisted at Harris, Franklin County, TN. He married Lovica Bess in 1870 and they had five children. William's mother, Margaret Pace, was 1/8 Cherokee and when he heard that Native Americans could obtain free land there, he moved to Missouri. He did not qualify, and they stayed in Missouri for 2 years before coming to Colorado.
