BELL, Elsie Ingraham

Photos Courtesy of California Historical Society, MSP 3800

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Last Name
 
BELL
Given Names
 
Elsie (Ingraham)
AKA's
 
Better known as
 
Date of Birth
 
6/11/1918
Age at Death
 
60
Place of Birth
 
Eudora, Chicot County, Arkansas
Race
 
Black
Gender
 
Female
Religion
 
Family Tree
  Bell Family Tree
Birth Mother
 
Birth Father
 
Siblings
 
(cousin) Essie Mae Towns
Partner
 
Alfred Bell
Children
 
Beatrice Claudine Bell aka Bea McCann; (grandchildren) Daniel Bernard Berry aka Danny McCann, Rori Lynette Bell Madden
Non-Temple Relatives
 
Body Identification Number
 
Burial Location
 
Evergreen Cemetery, Oakland, CA
Source of Death Information
 
FBI document 89-4286-1302 (prepared 12/78)
Entry into Guyana
 
8/14/1977
Residence (US)
 
San Francisco, California
Residence (JT)
 
Dorm 1
Occupation in U.S./Skills, Talents & Interests
 
cook (RYMUR 89-4286-X-5-a-26b); domestic worker, maintenance, sewer, frm work, landscaping (RYMUR 89-4286-E-2-A-1ss)
Occupation in Jonestown (Temple Records)
 
Library (RYMUR 89-4286-E-2-A-1ss)
Jonestown Roles (FBI Records)
 
Government Income
 
Discrepancies
 
Remembrances
 
“The permanent paralysis on one side of Elsie Bell's face prevented her from speaking, although not totally, yet her family gathered around her and supported her, and she and her husband were respected faces in the congregation as long as I can remember. In January 1977, Elsie was sharing a commune in San Francisco, and complained to another person that Penny Dupont slept all day and kept people up all night talking. For this, her confidante brought her on the floor (as she had not complained directly to the person at issue), and Elsie was instructed to spend three hours pamphleting. A light punishment, really. (ERJ 1/77) Pamphleting was a dreaded activity and we all had our cans with slots cut in clear plastic tops, decorated and stuffed with a supply of brochures and leaflets about the "PL", to ask for money for the Agricultural Mission on the sidewalks of SF and LA. (Don't dare say you didn't like it, or you'd be doing it for weeks and maybe have a hefty amount of hundreds of dollars to raise.) It probably drove many to land jobs or otherwise busy themselves, who would not have otherwise done so, just to get out of it. We all got out of it anyway we could. But for poor Elsie it must have been especially painful, because she was never one to call attention to herself. Elsie was well educated, and her job in Jonestown was as librarian. She also helped Edith Roller in her adult literacy classes, supervising students in reading aloud. (ERJ 6/78). The arrival sequence of members of this family seemed significant to me: The grandchildren arrived first, on 7/29 and 7/28/77, followed by their mother Beatrice on 8/7, Elsie on 8/14, and Alfred on 12/3/1977. ” - Kathryn Barbour