Blair County PA Archives Biographies.....Bell, Edward December 12, 1830 - ????
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Judy Banja http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00004.html#0000757 December 19, 2024, 2:01 pm

Source: Biographical and Portrait Cyclopedia of Blair Co, PA: Philadelphia, 1892.
Author: Samuel T. Wiley

EDWARD BELL,
a worthy descendant of the old and honored Bell family of Blair county, is a
son of David and Margaret (McKnight) Bell, and was born at Bell's Mills (now
Bellwood), Antis township, Blair county, Pennsylvania, December 12, 1830. 
The Bell family is one of the oldest families in Blair county and the Juniata
valley, and was founded by John Bell, who was born in Scotland in 1733.  He
was enticed on board a ship when but a mere youth and brought to America. 
After being resident of various places he came to Sinking valley.  He had
various encounters with Indians, and frequently had to fly with his family to
Lowery's fort for safety during the revolutionary war.  He died at Bell's
Mills March 15, 1815, at the age of eighty-two years.  His wife, Elizabeth
Bell, died July 13, 1813, when in the sixty-eighth year of her age, and was
the first person whose remains were interred in the Logan valley cemetery. 
Their son, Edward Bell (grandfather), was born on March 17, 1769, and about
1800 removed to the site of Bell's Mills, which was named in honor of him. 
He erected a grist mill, a distillery, and a saw mill, and in 1860 was the
owner of three thousand six hundred and seventy-four acres of land.  In the
last named year he and his sons built Mary Ann forge, and two years later
Elizabeth furnace.  He retired from active life in 1842, and died April 14,
1852, at eighty-three years of age. He was a millwright by trade and a
democrat in polities, and served for many years as a justice of the peace. 
He purchased and ground, between 1800 and 1830, large quantities of wheat,
which he shipped to Baltimore.  He built the first mill in Antis township,
and in 1822 erected the first brick house at Bellwood and in the northwestern
part of Blair county, from brick which he made on his own farm.  At sixteen
years of age he performed a term of military service in the Indian wars in
Canoe valley.  He was one of the most active, influential, and prominent men
of Blair county in his day, and married Mary A. Martin, by whom he had nine
children, seven sons and two daughters:  James N., John, Samuel, David,
Martin, Addie K., Franklin B., Mary Ann, and Elizabeth.  His son, David Bell
(father), was born at Bellwood, June 28, 1805, and died there on March 28,
1841, at the early age of thirty-six years.  He followed farming, cleared a
large farm of two hundred and thirty-six acres, and was a partner with his
father in the latter's iron enterprises.  He married Margaret McKnight, who
died July 8, 1889, aged eighty years.  They had five children, three sons and
two daughters:  Edward; John P., who married Agnes Greenland; Richard M.,
killed in Butler's advance on Richmond, May 14, 1864, when in the
twenty-fourth year of his age; and Mary A. and Henrietta, who are both dead.
   Edward Bell was reared on the farm, received his education in a common
school in an old log house in Antis township and the schools of Huntingdon
and Lewisburg, and in 1850 came to the farm where he has resided ever
since.  He has a fine farm of one hundred and thirty acres of choice and
fertile land.
   In 1865 Mr. Bell was united in marriage with Annie Graham, daughter of
James and Mary Graham, of Juniata county.  To Mr. And Mrs. Bell have been
born eight children:  Margaret, wife of W. H. Bentley, of Bellwood; J. Graham
(dead); Eliza, Mary, and Edward, jr., who are attending Lewisburg college;
Richard, Addie K., and Allan C.
   Edward Bell is a republican in polities, has always been active in the
support of his party, and has served for several terms as a member of the
school board of his township.  He is a member and deacon of Logan valley
Baptist church, has always been recognized as an intelligent and courteous
gentleman and an honorable and honest business man.

Additional Comments:
Originally submitted 2001. Transcribed by Eileen.

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