Charles H. Bell (politician)

Bell was born on November 18, 1823 in Chester, New Hampshire.

Charles was one of the ten children of Governor John Bell. He was also the nephew of Samuel Bell, first cousin of James Bell and the first cousin, once removed of Samuel Newell Bell.

Bell's career in the New Hampshire General Court was notable in that he held two unique offices. In 1860 Bell was the Speaker of the New Hampshire House of Representatives.[2] and President of the New Hampshire Senate[1] in 1864.

Bell was the author of an influential early history of Exeter, New Hampshire, as well as a number of other books.[3] His first wife was Sarah Almira Gilman, daughter of Nicholas Gilman; his second wife Helen A. (Williams) daughter of Reuel Williams of Portland, ME, and widow of John Taylor Gilman of Exeter. Both wives were descendants of Edward Gilman Sr., an early Exeter settler who had previously lived in Hingham, Massachusetts, and Ipswich, Massachusetts.

Frontispiece, History of the Town of Exeter, New Hampshire, Charles H. Bell, 1888

Bell was elected a member of the American Antiquarian Society in 1868.[4]

Bell died in 1893 in Exeter, New Hampshire, and is buried at the Exeter Cemetery in that town.

• Bell's Congressional biography
• Bell at New Hampshire's Division of Historic Resources
• Exeter in 1776, Charles Henry Bell, News-Letter Press, Exeter, N.H. 1876
• Phillips Exeter Academy in New Hampshire, Charles Henry Bell, William B. Morrill, Exeter, N.H., 1883
• A Memorial of Charles Henry Bell, Exeter, N.H., Jeremiah Smith, Mellen Chamberlain, Privately Printed, 1894