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Daniel Bell | all galleries >> Galleries >> A tribute to my father, Evan Wilkes Bell > Abraham Bell, merchant and ship builder (1778-1856). Evan Bell's great great Grandfather
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Abraham Bell, merchant and ship builder (1778-1856). Evan Bell's great great Grandfather

Abraham played a very important role in the immigration of Irish to America prior to the Civil War. Abraham was a very successful merchant and ship builder, particularly clipper ships, which in their time were the fastest sailing ships afloat. Abraham Bell and Co. was a firm of Quaker shipping and commission merchants in New York City. It had trading contacts in Belfast and Dublin, Ireland, and Liverpool and London, England, as well as in the United States. Although the firm imported and exported a variety of commodities, cotton appears to have been its mainstay. During the potato famine of the 1840s, Bell transported thousands of immigrants from Ireland. In 1844, the company name changed to Abraham Bell and Son. Abraham was friends with Horace Greeley, the editor of the New York Herald newspaper. Greeley was famous for coining the phrases "On To Richmond"(at start of Civil War) and "Go West Young Man". Abraham was a board member of several New York fire insurance companies and was one of New York City's most prominent and wealthy citizens. He had a huge estate in the burrow of Flushing. The family home is long gone, but Bell Blvd is a major highway in Flushing and was named for Abraham. Initially, Abraham Bell was in partnership with Robert H. Bowne and Jacob Harvey. The earliest listing of Bell as a merchant occurs in the New York City directory of 1804-1805; in 1835 the company location moved to 117 Fulton, which was also Bell's home. In 1824, Abraham Bell purchased a farm in Bayside, New York, which was managed by one of his Bell nephews. Later Bells also resided in Yonkers, New York.

Abraham Bell was married to Mary Christy (d.1832); both were born in Ireland. Their children were Rebecca Harvey (married Saunders Coates in Yonkers in 1845), James Christy (married Harriet Thomas), Thomas Christy, Mary, Ann, and William (married Ann Thomas). Thomas Christy Bell lived ca.1816-1864; he died in Yonkers. In 1840, Thomas married Eliza Hough Jackson (1813-1901). Eliza Jackson Bell made quilts, comforters, and pin cushions for family and friends. In 1890, she presented one of her comforters to Mrs. Benjamin Harrison while they were both visiting Cape May, New Jersey. Thomas and Eliza had several children, including a son named Abraham (1841-1914). In 1870, Abraham II married Melissa Rebecca Chambers (d.1927).


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