Historical Hall of Fame: Landon Covington Bell
(1880-1960) was a lawyer and author who compiled/published vital records for
several Virginia counties in the early 1900s (many of which are frequently cited in genealogical records for ancestors from "Southside"
Virginia)
Virginia History Series
See Southsider, A Lawyer's Life: Law, Lumber and Coal. [Autobiography of/by BELL, Landon Covington, Richmond Publisher (1954) -- Illus.] See also:
Mr. Bell graduated from Milligan College in TN in 1900 and received his law degree from the Univ. of VA
in 1902. Later his received an "honorary" L.L.D. degree from Milligan College. His legal career was a distinguished one
where he was associated with the W. M. Ritter Lumber Co, Columbus, Ohio until retiring in 1946 from his position as Chairman of their
Board of Directors.
He was industry advisor to the US Commerce Dept. under Sec. Hoover; and, he was an organizer of the Southern
Coal Producers Assoc. He was a noted author of history and genealogy. His work, The Old Free State (in 2 volumes) is considered
the most comprehensive and authoritative history and genealogy of Southside, Virginia. Extensions of that work were: Cumberland
Parish and Sunlight on the Southside. His last published work (1954), Southsider, was autobiographical in nature.
A partial list of Publications by Landon Covington Bell: