Reverend J.S. Bell (1911- ) a native of western Tennessee, has become one
of the most respected ministers in Knott County and Eastern Kentucky. He
began preaching at age 17 in Tennessee.  After graduating from the Southern
Baptist Seminary in Louisville in 1936, he preached in Letcher County for three
years before coming to Knott County in 1940.

In addition to boosting the Hindman Baptist Church as the pastor, he started
many local missions in the county. The five churches that grew out of the Bell
missions were: Montgomery Baptist, Mousie Baptist, Topmost (Dark Hollow)
Baptist, Caney Baptist, and Smithsboro Baptist.  He conducted weekly chapel
services at Alice Lloyd college for 25 years and taught there for 10 years.
Reverend Bell organized the dry forces in a successful election that disallowed
the legal sale of alcoholic beverages in the county. He received a Doctor of
Ministry degree from the Lexington Theological University at age 69.

Submitted by Corbett Mullins
March 2003