Argentina - How to Trace Family Members?

[kdunn]

Two of my grandmother's brothers - James and William Bell - moved to Argentina about the time the rest of the family moved to Canada and USA (c. 18951885). I have correspondence between an agent of one of the brothers (James, I think), shortly before his death (early 1950s), and another branch of the family, asking if one of their nephews would be able to move to Buenos Aires and inherit his estate (the other brother had already died). No family member was able to qualify, and the estate was appropriated by the government.

One of their nephews had been able to visit them several times, as he worked in the maritime trades. He didn't speak Spanish, however, and was unable to determine whether either of the brothers was married (it would have scandalized the family if they had married native women, so they had incentive to conceal the fact).  He noted that there were several children with names similar to 'Bell.' The agent mentioned above was named 'Bellucci' and described "Mr. James" as "like a grandfather to me."

How would one find information about these two and their lives in Argentina?

[walkerpete]

Hi kdunn

You could make a start by searching on http://www.argbrit.org/ which I have found very helpful for people before about 1900. There is a box on the first page where you type in the family name. There are certainly Bells to be found there!

There are also records  on FamilySearch in the South American  section.

With my own searches I have found that most European immigrants appeared to marry other immigrants from Europe. Large numbers of English, Scots, Welsh, Irish, Italians etc went to Argentina.

Pete

[kdunn]

That site has a lot of information. I guess I expected these great-uncles to stand out among the Spanish names, but it was a time of settling into new lands in the southern hemisphere as well as the northern. Now I wonder whether any of the other Bells were related to us.

Thank you! You've given me more opportunity to explore.

[Kiko]

Hi,

If they went to Argentina around 1885, they should appear in the 1895 census, which is available online: https://www.familysearch.org/search/collection/show#uri=http://hr-search-api:8080/searchapi/search/collection/1410078

Names usually appear in their Spanish version in most Argentine records. William is not difficult, because it usually appears as Guillermo.

But I've seen many different translations for James: Jaime, Santiago, even Diego...

When were your 2 brothers born? In the 1895 census there is a Gulliermo Bell born in England 1873, and a Diego Bell born in England in 1865. They are both single at the time, and are not living together.

Cheers,
Kiko

[kdunn]

Thank you; I'll have a look at the link.

James Bell was born 21 Sep 1864; William Bell 16 Mar 1868; both in Dudley, Worcestershire, England. My grandmother was the youngest in the family, and ended up with the family Bible, so I'm sure of those dates.

Based on the letters, I estimate that William died c. 1951, and James c. 1953. I doubt James would have been seeking heirs in Canada if he had any in Argentina, but I don't know whether William left his estate to James, or if he had other heirs.