Series 31 - William Bell letters

6pp

Kerby A. Miller created his transcripts of the William Bell letters from a microfilm held by Library and Archives Canada. The original manuscripts are with the Lennox and Addington Historical Society, Napanee, Ontario [catalogue number A2019.060].

Kerby A. Miller's abstracts of letters found in the papers of William Bell, featuring two transcribed excerpts from letters written by Bell's nephews Jacob and Richard in Montreal and New Brunswick, respectively, to Bell in Thurlow (now part of Belleville, Ontario).
Per Miller: ‘William Bell was born in 1760, in Ireland. He joined the British Army, and fought in the War of the Revolution with the 31st Regiment of Foot in the v. of Lake Champlain. At the end of the war, he came to Canada, and on the invitation of John Ferguson, settled in Thurlow. For a short time, he taught school on the Mohawk reservation. Later he formed a partnership with Ferguson, opened a general store in Thurlow, and also was Justice of the Peace and Coroner. He died c.1833. Most of his papers deal with the militia, 1798-1829. He served under Ferguson, and in 1825 superseded him as the colonel in command of the 1st Regiment of Hastings Militia.’