Squire John Bell and Jane Potter

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Husband Squire John Bell ^{1 2 3 4}

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           Born: 28 Jan 1770 - Virginia 3
     Christened: 
           Died: 18 May 1855 - near Hamilton, Jefferson Co, PA 3
         Buried: 

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         Father: Robert Bell (1736-1826) 3 4 5 6
         Mother: Jane Minor (      -1791) 7

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       Marriage: 

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   Other Spouse: Elizabeth Welsh (      -      ) 3 8 9 - Westmoreland Co, PA

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Wife Jane Potter ¹⁰

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           Born: 
     Christened: 
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Children

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1 F Rachel Bell ^{10 11}

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           Born: 
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         Spouse: Samuel Weaver (      -      ) 10 11

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General Notes: Husband - Squire John Bell

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He was born in Virginia, and was but an infant when his father moved to Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, and soon after to the Sewickley settlement in Westmoreland County, where he grew up. One of the interesting experiences of his young manhood was his part in the overthrow of the Whiskey Insurrection, and throughout his life he remembered perfectly incidents connected with the march of the forces through the region for its suppression. He was married there and about 1800 moved to the vicinity of what is now the borough of Indiana, Pennsylvania. He was the first constable elected in Indiana County after its formation, in 1806, but in 1809 he moved farther into the wilderness, in May of that year settling on a farm near Perrysville, now Hamilton, in Jefferson County, about one mile north of Big Mahoning creek, where he passed the remainder of his life, dying there in his eighty-sixth year. This was the first settlement made north of that creek in Jefferson county. The country for miles around was a wilderness without human habitation, his only neighbors until 1812 being nine miles distant, and the only road in that part of the county four miles away. John Bell was "a true specimen of the pioneer who with ax and rifle subdued the forests and opened the way for civilization, and combined the manly virtues and striking traits which distinguished that class of men, now almost extinct," their strongly marked peculiarities being known more by tradition than observation to later generations. "As may be inferred, the silence of the forest was as often broken by the crack of Squire Bell's rifle as by the stroke of his ax. In those days clearing land and hunting game were employments which claimed an equal share of the pioneer's attractions. Indeed, for a long time after he settled there, the rifle was almost his only means of subsistence, for the heavy and thickly grown timber of that region was not easily cleared off. And thus in the simple but rugged employments of the forest passed many of his years. Of his hunting exploits no better description can be given than to state that during his residence in Jefferson county he killed two panthers, ninety-three wolves, three hundred and six bears and over eight hundred deer.
In 1818 Governor Findlay appointed him justice of the peace, an office which he held for twenty-five years.
"We have said that John Bell was a representative of the early American character as developed in pioneer life; but he was more a type of its virtues than of its faults. Brave and enterprising, he avoided neither exposure nor fatigue and cheerfully underwent labors from which most men would shrink, and, familiar with the dangers of forest, he knew no fear. But his most striking characteristics were love for truth and sterling honesty displayed alike in his own business and in his intercourse with others. The common fault of professing what we do not feel he did not possess. He called no man friend whom he did not respect; his sturdy independence of character disdained to conceal any opinions he might have of others, either from themselves or from the world. But for those who possessed his friendship, no personal inconvenience or sacrifice was too great. For twenty-five years or more his hospitable home was the resting place of the Indiana bar in their periodical pilgrimage to Brookville, and so long at least as its members live his simple, manly virtues will be appreciated and his memory kindly cherished." He died May 19, 1855, in his eighty-sixth year. (Quotations from an article published in the Punxsutawney News as being of interest in connection with the meeting of the Bells at the residence of John H. Brown, near Marchand, Indiana county, in 1893.)
The proverbial thriftiness of the Bells in providing for their wants in the face of difficulties, and their hard-working disposition, is dwelt upon by a member of the family in an article prepared for one of the reunions. "The Bells are noted for the providence of the men and the skill and economy of the woman in 'laying up' an abundance of the good things of life." Speaking of the brothers Squire Samuel and Squire John, he says: "Their homely larders were always well stocked with a plentiful supply of game, fish, etc., including deer, bear, wild turkey, wild pork, wild honey, nuts and berries. Nowhere I have ever been have I seen any people more industrious in providing for winter than the people of western Pennsylvania, * * and I am sure none more than the Bells. * * * The Bells were Whigs and Democrats, and very 'sot' in their religious and political views, but I am inclined to judge that there were more Democrats and Presbyterians than anything else. * * * Yet, whether Presbyterians, Methodists, Baptists or what denomination, they were generally true to their convictions and consistent in their lives." [HIC 1913, 868]

He was born in Northumberland County, Pennsylvania. He was a great hunter, being very fond of the sport, and in an early day in his locality he killed many bears, wolves, and deer. [CBRCP-CCJC, 1212]

1 —, Commemorative Biographical Record of Central Pennsylvania, Including the Counties of Centre, Clearfield, Jefferson and Clarion. (Chicago: J. H. Beers & Co., 1898), Pg 1212, 1260, 1374.

2 —, History of Indiana County, Pennsylvania (Newark, OH: J. A. Caldwell, 1880), Pg 445, 466, 528.

3 J. T. Stewart, Indiana County, Pennsylvania - Her People Past and Present (Chicago, IL: J. H. Beers & Co., 1913), Pg 868.

4 —, Jefferson County, Pennsylvania, Her Pioneers and People, Vol. II (Chicago, IL: J. H. Beers & Company, 1917), Pg 595.

5 —, History of Indiana County, Pennsylvania (Newark, OH: J. A. Caldwell, 1880), Pg 445, 528.

6 —, Commemorative Biographical Record of Central Pennsylvania, Including the Counties of Centre, Clearfield, Jefferson and Clarion. (Chicago: J. H. Beers & Co., 1898), Pg 1260, 1351.

7 —, History of Indiana County, Pennsylvania (Newark, OH: J. A. Caldwell, 1880), Pg 528.

8 —, History of Indiana County, Pennsylvania (Newark, OH: J. A. Caldwell, 1880), Pg 466, 528.

9 —, Commemorative Biographical Record of Central Pennsylvania, Including the Counties of Centre, Clearfield, Jefferson and Clarion. (Chicago: J. H. Beers & Co., 1898), Pg 1260.

10 J. T. Stewart, Indiana County, Pennsylvania - Her People Past and Present (Chicago, IL: J. H. Beers & Co., 1913), Pg 869.

11 O. S. Marshall, The Marshall Family (Kittanning, PA: Steam Press of Reichert Bros., 1884), Pg 140.