John Bell

CAPTAIN JOHN NELSON BELL.

In a review of the records of leading men, nothing that which has drawn to them the attention and respect of their fellows, it is not difficult to determine the salient characteristics of Captain John Nelson Bell, for certain facts and elements in his life stand prominently forth. These include a three years and three months’ service in defense of the Union in the Civil war, a creditable business record and twenty-three years’ service as grand recorder of the Grand Commandery of Knights Templar of Ohio. Now having reached the Psalmist’s allotted span of three score years and ten, he is still active as a representative of the craft and by reason of the sterling qualities of his life he enjoys those things which Shakespeare has termed the accompaniments of age, “honor, love and troops of friends.”

A native son of Dayton, he was born December 18, 1838, and is descended from old American families, the ancestry on the material side being traced back to the Mayflower, while ancestors in the paternal line established homes on the shores of Maryland at an early period in the colonization of that state. His grandparents were residents of Greene county, Ohio, in the opening years of the nineteenth century, his paternal grandfather, John Bell, having been drowned in the Little Miami river in 1810. Ilis parents became residents of Dayton as early as 1830.

Spending his boyhood days in the home of his parents, John S. and Zipporah (Cock) Bell, Captain Bell attended the public schools of Dayton until he had completed a course at the Central high school and then, making his way westward, he engaged in teaching for a time on the prairies of Minnesota. Later he was for several years a local reporter on the Hawkeye at Burlington, Iowa, and during that period watched with interest the progress of events in the south, nothing the discontent and the threats of secession engendered by the growing opposition to the practice of slavery, and resolved that if a blow were struck to overthrow the Union he would strike one in its defense, and thus it was when Fort Sumter was fired upon and the call was made for troops to serve for three months, he immediately joined the army. On the expiration of his first term he returned to Burlington and raised a company of volunteers, being commissioned, in 1862, captain of Company E, Twenty-fifth Iowa Volunteer Infantry, with which he served until the close of the war, his own valor and courage inspiringhis men to deeds of bravery. He did active duty in the campaigns under Generals Grant and Sherman in the south and southwest and later participated in the siege of Vicksburg, in the storming of Lookout Mountain and Missionary Ridge, the campaign of Atlanta, the march through Georgia and the Carolinas, and then when the war was brought to a successful termination he marched with the victorious army through the streets of the capital city and before the reviewing stand on which stood the president and others high in authority, welcoming back the returning troops. While at the front Captain Bell was appointed assistant adjutant general and assistant inspector general on the staffs of General James S. Williamson and General George A. Stone, in Sherman’s Fifteenth Corps, and received the commendation of his commanders in general orders for his faithful discharge of duty.

For some years after the war Captain Bell was actively engaged in merchandising in Iowa and following his return to Dayton acted as bookkeeper until 1885, when he became secretary of the Ohio Fire Insurance Company, which connection he maintained until about ten years ago.

Captain Bell has also been very active in Masonry and is most widely known in this connection, being one of the leading representatives of the craft in the state. Lie was made a Master Mason in Des Moines Lodge, No. 1, A. F. & A. M., at Burlington, Iowa, October 18, 1868; was exalted in Iowa Royal Arch Chapter, No. 1, R. A. M., October 2, 1869; and created a Knight Templar in St. Omer Commandery, No. 15, K. T., February 22, 1871. He is affiliated with the various York Rite bodies in Dayton since 1872 and has received the various degrees of the Scottish Rite from the fourth to the thirty-second degree in the Valley of Dayton and in the Ohio Consistory at Cincinnati. In 1888 he was crowned a sovereign grand inspector general, thirty-third degree, and was made an honorary member of the Supreme Council, N. M. J., of the United States at Boston, September 18, 1888. He has been honored with many offices in the different branches of Masonry and, as stated, is serving for the twenty-third year as grand recorder of the Grand Commandery of Knights Templar, to which office he was first elected in October, 1886. He is also a member of the military order of the Loyal Legion and the Old Guard Post, G. A. R.

During the interval between his first and second enlistment for service in the Union army, Captain Bell was married, the wedding being celebrated in Burlington, Iowa, November 3, 1861, the lady of his choice being Miss Annie Acres, a daughter of Stephen F. Acres, of Gibraltar. As the years passed their family numbered six children: Charles W., William A., George IT., Walter H., Mary

V. and Nelson.

The family are members of the Episcopal church and in politics Captain Bell has always been a stalwart republican, standing loyally by the party which was the defense of the Union in the dark days of the Civil war. Loyalty has ever been one of his strong characteristics and a review of his life work manifests the fact that his allegiance has been given to those things which work for honorable manhood and for progressive citizenship.

As printed in History of the city of Dayton and Montgomery County, Ohio (1909). See the original pages. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.