Martha MacFarlane McGee Bell

Jennifer M. Wellborn

On September 14, 1997, the National Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) officially recognized Martha MacFarlane McGee Bell for her patriotism and bravery during the Revolutionary War. An official Historical Marker was dedicated at her gravesite during a formal ceremony attended by over 200 people, including members of the U.S. House of Representatives, the Speaker of the North Carolina House of Representatives, DAR national and state officials, and Bell’s descendants. It almost didn’t happen, says Jennifer M. Wellborn: "In the early Spring of 1997 a controversy arose in some quarters over whether recorded information about Martha MacFarlane McGee Bell was sufficient to permit remembering her, 216 years later, as a North Carolina heroine, patriot, and spy during the Revolutionary War. The contention was that there was not enough information about her from a 'primary source' to authenticate her story." This book recounts how the daughter of historian Fred W. Wellborn was able to set the record straight, thus ensuring her ancestor's rightful place in American history. It establishes three books written by the Reverend Eli W. Caruthers ("A Sketch of the Life and Character of the Rev. David Caldwell, D.D., near sixty years pastor of the Churches of Buffalo and Alamance" 1842, "Interesting Revolutionary Incidents and Sketches of Character Chiefly in the Old North State" 1854, and "Interesting Revolutionary Incidents and Sketches of Character Chiefly in the Old North State, Second Series" 1856) as trustworthy historical resources. Also contains color photographs of historic sites that were later obliterated after a dam was constructed in Randolph County, North Carolina. Lovingly and exhaustively researched!