Descendants of Richard & Mary Ann McCONNELL
 Fifth Generation 
43. Elgin M. BELL (W. "Albert" BELL25, Annie McCONNELL11, William3, Richard1) was born in 1903 in Brant Twp, Bruce Co, Ontario, Canada,9 died on October 16, 1942 in Hamilton, Wentworth Co, Ontario, Canada9 at age 39, and was buried in Walkerton Cemetery, Bruce Co, Ontario, Canada.
Obituary for Elgin BELL from local newspaper
Walkerton boy passes in Hamilton. Mr. Elgin Bell stricken suddenly with fatal heart attack at home in ambitious city on Friday evening. Was in his 40th year. Remains brought to Walkerton for burial on Tuesday.
Startingly sudden was the death of Mr. Elgin Bell, only son of Mr, and Mrs. W. A. Bell of Walkerton, which occurred at his home in Hamilton on Friday evening.
Mr. Bell, who was on the night shift of the Ottis-Fensome Company, in Hamilton, engaged producing war materials, while preparing to go to his place of employment early Friday evening complained of feeling ill and before a doctor who was hastily summoned, reached the home, he had expired, his death being attributed to a heart seizure.
The late Elgin Matthew Bell, was born in Walkerton forty years ago and attended public and high schools here. He moved to Hamilton some years ago and has since made his home in that city.
Surviving are his wife (the former Merle Koenig of Hanover) and two daughters, June aged 13 and Marguerite aged 11; his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Albert Bell of town and three sisters (Mildred) Mrs. Ray Pauli of Toronto, (Jean) Mrs. Peter Gutter of Dundalk and (Elda), Mrs. Eldon Miller of Walkerton.
The deceased was prominent is Masonic circles in Hamilton having been a member of Buchanan Lodge. The brethren of which conducted a special funeral service at the family home on Monday morning, following which the remains were brought to the home of his parents here when the funeral service was conducted at 2.30 o'clock on Tuesday afternoon. Rev. A. K. Edmison pastor of St. Paul's United church, was in charge and was assisted by Rev. H. E. Secord, pastor of the Baptist church.
The high esteem in which the deceased was held by his fellow Masons is evidenced by the fact that five of brethren from Hamilton to be in attendance at the obsequies here and together with Mr. Walter Blackwell of town, acted as pall-bearers. They were Messrs. John Richardson, Thomas McKee, Roy Jewell, Pat. Jewell and Claude Kenny.
The remains were interred in the family plot in the Walkerton cemetery.
Events
• Elgin resided at 11 Huron Street in Hamilton, Wentworth Co, Ontario, Canada in 1942.
Elgin married Merle KOENIG, daughter of Jacob KOENIG and Jessie (__?__). Merle was born in December 1903 in Hanover, Grey Co, Ontario, Canada.18
Children from this marriage were:
54 i. June BELL
55 ii. Marguerite BELL
46. Elda Agnes BELL (W. "Albert" BELL25, Annie McCONNELL11, William3, Richard1) was born in 1914 in Brant Twp, Bruce Co, Ontario, Canada,17 died in 1997 in Walkerton, Bruce Co, Ontario, Canada17 at age 83, and was buried in Walkerton Cemetery, Bruce Co, Ontario, Canada.
Elda married Elden Victor "Baldy" MILLER. Baldy was born in 1914,17 died in November 2004 in Walkerton, Bruce Co, Ontario, Canada17 at age 90, and was buried in Walkerton Cemetery, Bruce Co, Ontario, Canada. He was usually called Baldy.
SURVIVAL AT SEA
At 8:10 p.m. on April 13, 1945, Elden (Baldy) Miller, along with the rest of the R.C.A.F. crew, headed out in their Lancaster bomber on a mission to bomb a German submarine base. All went well until after the bombs had been dropped and then all hell let loose when they were suddenly hit with anti-aircraft fire that wounded the Skipper and pierced the gas tanks. The crew thought they might make it home, but within half an hour the motors coughed and cut out one after the other. With one engine still operating they were still hoping to make base, but it was not to be. Just after midnight they were forced to ditch when the last engine cut out. It was pitch black with a medium sea running, but by the expertise of the pilot and the grace of God the plane bellied in and didn't break up. They estimated their position to be about 25 miles off the coast of Denmark.
Baldy, who was Wireless Air Gunner, sent out the S.O.S. calls and then screwed the key down so the call would continue until the plane sank. In the ditching the Pilot was thrown through the inch thick windscreen, still strapped in his seat. He was badly battered, but he was conscious. The crew meanwhile, proceeded to crawl out the escape hatch, and in the darkness find their way to the wing where the dinghy was stored. Baldy found himself in the ice cold water and had to swim all the way around the huge plane to the side where the raft was stored. The first prior-ity was to get the injured men into the dinghy. The Engineer was barely con-scious when he was helped on board the Susie Q. Then the Pilot, seat and all, was pulled in. All this was happening in the darkness of midnight.
The next morning the men assessed their situation. Of the crew of seven, six were on board. One of the crew, Upper Gunner F/S Vardy from Bancroft, had not been able to escape, and was drowned. Three of the men aboard were injured and the first priority was to do all they could for them. The Skipper had flak in his leg, the Air bomber's face was badly bashed and the rear gunner had a broken leg and a broken shoulder. The crew knew they would have to be rescued soon, as there was a skimpy supply of water and mini-mum rations on board.
Now the ordeal started. For the first couple of days the weather wasn't too bad. The men were crowded and uncom-fortable, but they had some rations and help would come soon. They sometimes could hear planes, but they never saw one. On the third day the weather turned cold and nasty. Some shelter was pro-vided by the dinghy cover, but it gave little protection when the high seas washed aboard. Baldy had the only watch and it finally stopped from the salt water, but they finally got it going again. He still has the watch, and it still goes.
For almost twelve days the men were adrift in the small dinghy, on the cold waters of the North Atlantic in mid April. They were all soaked through and never got dried out because of the continual slopping aboard of sea water. After a few days the men noticed the raft was losing pressure. It was only with the greatest of difficulty that the weakened men were able to open the pressure valve so air could be pumped in with a hand bellows. This had to be done almost daily after the first few days.
The limited rations were soon gone, as was the water. The men could still hear planes from time to time, but because of the foggy conditions they never did see one. By the eighth day the men were desperate for water. Then some rain came and they were able to catch some in the dinghy cover that was acting as their only shelter. Night and day they grew steadily weaker as they waited and waited for help. By day eleven some of them were getting delirious, as they were again out of water. Then they started to see shore birds. The next morning they found that they were in very shallow water and they could see lands. It turned out that they had drifted into the estuary of the Elbe River at low tide. They decided to try and walk to the land, but found none of them could walk when they got out of the dinghy.
About then a small German fishing sail boat came by. He couldn't tow the heavy raft, so he signaled that he would send help. Meanwhile the tide came up and they were swept back out to sea. A few hours later a German Red Cross boat came to their aid. After eleven days and fifteen hours the men were taken ashore as prisoners, to a German hospital. Now comes the unbelievable!
The war was ending and the men were transferred to a huge hangar at an airfield that was being used as a holding hospital. It housed about five thousand stretcher cases. The M.O. in charge was a Dr. Brian. During his rounds one morning he stopped beside Baldy Miller's stretcher and asked who he was and where he was from. Baldy said, "You will never have heard of the place." "It's a small town called Walkerton in Ontario". To Baldy's amazement Dr. Brian asked him if he knew Mildred Appel. "Well", the Dr. said, "She's my wife." Then he said, "I suppose you would like to get out of here". At this time Baldy and the Engin-eer were the only members of the crew at this location. In twenty minutes the men were on their way.
One more thing! One of the men had a New Testament with him on the dinghy and part of the effort to stay alive con-sisted of a vesper service that the men took turns conducting each evening. The men all felt this helped with their sur-vival.
P.S. Mildred Appel was a Walkerton girl whose father owned a shop here.
Children from this marriage were:
56 i. Dan MILLER
57 ii. Susan MILLER
47. Laural "Jean" BELL (W. "Albert" BELL25, Annie McCONNELL11, William3, Richard1) was born on April 25, 1912 in Brant Twp, Bruce Co, Ontario, Canada, died on April 9, 1965 in Wingham, Huron Co, Ontario, Canada at age 52, and was buried in Starkvale Cemetery, Bruce County, Greenock Twp. She was usually called Jean.
_peter_1911-1998.jpg "Peter CUTTER (338 KB)
(Click on Picture to View Full Size)")
Jean married Piet "Peter" CUTTER, son of Albert GUTTER and Jannetje MOLENAAR, on July 10, 1941 in Brampton, Peel Co, Ontario, Canada. Peter was born on March 4, 1911 in Sint Pancras, , Noord-Holland, Netherlands, died on June 17, 1998 in Port Elgin, Bruce Co, Ontario, Canada at age 87, and was buried in Starkvale Cemetery, Bruce County, Greenock Twp.. Another name for Peter was GUTTER. He was usually called Peter.
Pieter Gutter left home for Canada in 1928 at age 17. He worked on a farm for the Switzer family near Kitchener, Ontario and then on to Guelph Agricultural College for a degree in the Dairy feild. he worked in Walkerton, Ontario where he met and married Jean BELL. They lived for a while in Dundalk where Pete managed the Creamery and then on to Paisley, Ontario where they purchased the Paisley Creamery.In the late fifties Peter was a partner in the 4-Way Milk Plant in Tara which he sold and moved to Wingham managing the Creamery there. Jean died in Wingham and Peter relocated to St. Mary's Ontario. Eventually he moved to port Elgin where he was a Real Estate salesman for many years before his retirement.
Children from this marriage were:
58 i. Laurel Bonnie Jane CUTTER was born on March 5, 1945 in Flesherton, Grey Co, Ontario, Canada, died on July 1, 1961 in Paisley, Bruce Co, Ontario, Canada at age 16, and was buried in Starkvale Cemetery, Bruce County, Greenock Twp. The cause of her death was Auto accident.
+ 59 ii. Patricia Janette CUTTER
49. Kenneth Harvey McCONNELL (Harvey Orville30, Joseph14, William3, Richard1)
Kenneth married Thelma Joanne DALY.
Children from this marriage were:
+ 60 i. Deborah Lynn McCONNELL
+ 61 ii. Cathy Joanne McCONNELL
+ 62 iii. Robert Denton McCONNELL
+ 63 iv. Dale Kimberly McCONNELL
+ 64 v. Robyn Ann McCONNELL
51. Eleanor Isabel McCONNELL (William Cecil35, Oliver16, William3, Richard1) was born on September 18, 1910 in Sioux Falls, Minnehaha, South Dakota, USA1,4 and died on February 14, 1998 in Phoenix, Maricopa, Arizona, USA4 at age 87.
Eleanor married James Richard ENGLE, son of Oliver Reuben ENGLE and Olive Adele CHASE, about 1932 in Renton, King, Washington, USA.1 James was born on June 28, 1907 in Richland, Benton, Washington, USA4 and died on January 2, 1961 in Inglewood, Los Angeles, California, USA4 at age 53.
Children from this marriage were:
+ 65 i. Kenneth James ENGLE
66 ii. Joann Barbara ENGLE
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