Appalachian Figures A Bell County boy in a world of blue water Bell County is usually associated with coal seams, timber, and the tight bend of the Cumberland River under Pine Mountain. Yet one of the most influential American naval aviators of the twentieth century first opened his eyes in that narrow valley. John Madison Hoskins was born in Pineville on 22 October 1898, the youngest of six children of Thomas Jefferson and Lucy Renfro Hoskins.





