A nice warm day in the office...

 My cousin in Toronto has  been gathering information on the Bell Family for over 30  years and her output is prolific and fantastic!  Through years of clever detective work she has found records back to 1766.  In 1999 a chance conversation with a business contact of mine in Cookstown, NI revealed that there was a strong Bell presence in the area.  I'd previously heard about an Irish family connection and this was a great link but I stumbled at the first hurdle with an 'unwilling to help' local church minister.  My cousin persevered and in 2015 we visited the area, searching the old abandoned village of Tattykeel, exploring old churchyards and meeting the new Reverend at Orritor who opened the records for us.  This has resulted in a treasure trove of knowledge which I'm now presenting in a chapter of the document.  

Only last week we found another family link closer to home, only 8 miles away, still a rural farming area, there was an old mill in the mid 1800's - now long gone - and a branch of our ancestors were millers there.  Here I go again, wading through waist high nettles, dirty ditches and abandoned stonework looking for clues.  Fun innit?