PoliticalGraveyard.com
The Political Graveyard: A Database of American History
Robertson-Gervais-Bell family of Charleston, South Carolina

Note: This is just one of 1,325 family groupings listed on The Political Graveyard web site. These families each have three or more politician members, all linked together by blood, marriage or adoption.

These groupings — even the names of the groupings, and the areas of main activity — are the result of a computer algorithm working with the data I have, not the choices of any historian or genealogist.

  John Lewis Gervais (1742-1798) — of Charleston, Charleston District (now Charleston County), S.C. Born in Hanover, Germany of French parents, December 27, 1742. Merchant; planter; served in the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War; member of South Carolina state senate from Ninety-Six District, 1779-86; Delegate to Continental Congress from South Carolina, 1782-83; member of South Carolina state house of representatives from St. Philip & St. Michael, 1785, 1788. French Huguenot ancestry. Died in Charleston, Charleston County, S.C., August 18, 1798 (age 55 years, 234 days). Interment at St. Philip's Churchyard, Charleston, S.C.
  Relatives: Second great-grandfather of Stephen Robinson Bell.
  Political family: Robertson-Gervais-Bell family of Charleston, South Carolina.
  See also congressional biography — Govtrack.us page — Find-A-Grave memorial
  John Brownlee Robertson (1809-1892) — also known as John B. Robertson — of New Haven, New Haven County, Conn. Born in Charleston, Charleston County, S.C., September 14, 1809. Whig. Physician; carpet manufacturer; member of Connecticut state house of representatives from New Haven, 1840; secretary of state of Connecticut, 1847-49; postmaster at New Haven, Conn., 1849-53; mayor of New Haven, Conn., 1881-82. Episcopalian. Scotch-Irish and French Huguenot ancestry. Died in New Haven, New Haven County, Conn., July 14, 1892 (age 82 years, 304 days). Interment at Grove Street Cemetery, New Haven, Conn.
  Relatives: Son of Samuel Robertson and Ann (Thomas) Robertson; married 1830 to Mary W. Denison; married 1838 to Mabel Maria Heaton; first cousin twice removed of Stephen Robinson Bell.
  Political family: Robertson-Gervais-Bell family of Charleston, South Carolina.
  See also Wikipedia article — Find-A-Grave memorial
  Stephen Robinson Bell (1860-1897) — also known as Stephen R. Bell — of Charleston, Charleston County, S.C. Born in Charleston, Charleston County, S.C., June 13, 1860. Cotton exporter; Honorary Vice-Consul for Russia in Charleston, S.C., 1892-97. Scotch-Irish and French Huguenot ancestry. Died in Aiken County, S.C., February 8, 1897 (age 36 years, 240 days). Interment at Magnolia Cemetery, Charleston, S.C.
  Relatives: Son of William Bell, Jr. and Susan (Robinson) Bell; married to Elizabeth Tavel; second great-grandson of John Lewis Gervais; first cousin twice removed of John Brownlee Robertson.
  Political family: Robertson-Gervais-Bell family of Charleston, South Carolina.
  See also Find-A-Grave memorial

"Enjoy the hospitable entertainment of a political graveyard."
Henry L. Clinton, Apollo Hall, New York City, February 3, 1872
The Political Graveyard

The Political Graveyard is a web site about U.S. political history and cemeteries. Founded in 1996, it is the Internet's most comprehensive free source for American political biography, listing 338,260 politicians, living and dead.
 
  The coverage of this site includes (1) the President, Vice President, members of Congress, elected state and territorial officeholders in all fifty states, the District of Columbia, and U.S. territories; and the chief elected official, typically the mayor, of qualifying municipalities; (2) candidates at election, including primaries, for any of the above; (3) all federal judges and all state appellate judges; (4) certain federal officials, including the federal cabinet, diplomatic chiefs of mission, consuls, U.S. district attorneys, collectors of customs and internal revenue, members of major federal commissions; and political appointee (pre-1969) postmasters of qualifying communities; (5) state and national political party officials, including delegates, alternate delegates, and other participants in national party nominating conventions; (6) Americans who served as "honorary" consuls for other nations before 1950. Note: municipalities or communities "qualify", for Political Graveyard purposes, if they have at least half a million person-years of history, inclusive of predecessor, successor, and merged entities.  
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Site information: The Political Graveyard is created and maintained by Lawrence Kestenbaum, who is solely responsible for its structure and content. — The mailing address is The Political Graveyard, P.O. Box 2563, Ann Arbor MI 48106. — This site is hosted by HDLmi.com. — The Political Graveyard opened on July 1, 1996; the last full revision was done on February 17, 2025.