HISTORICAL NOTE 

These papers cover three generations of an extremely distinguished New Hampshire family.  Its representatives only came to Andover with Charles Upham Bell, 1843-1921, judge of the Essex County Probate Court.  The papers were given to the Society y his daughter, Mary White Bell, in bits between 1954 and 1957. 

The first Bell in American, John, came to Londonderry NH from Ulster around 1700.  His son John, 1730-1825 and wife Mary Ann Gilmore had twelve children, of whom Samuel, 1770-1851, was the most distinguished.  A lawyer; a Dartmouth graduate; 1819 to 1823 governor of New Hampshire; 1823 to 1835 U.S. Senator.  He was Judge of the New Hampshire Superior Court and served in both houses of the New Hampshire legislature.  He had ten children by two wives:  Mehitable Bowen Dana and Lucy G. Smith.  The children who have letters in this collection are Samuel Dana, Mary Ann, James, Luther, George, John and Louis.

James Bell, 1804-1857, the third child is best represented in this collection.  Like his father a distinguished lawyer, he ended as United States Senator.  He graduated from Bowdoin College in 1822.  He lived in Exeter and Gilford.  He served in the state legislature for many years.  Elected U.S. Senator in 1855, he died in office in 1857. 

He married in 1831, Judith Almira Upham, 1811-1895, of an equally distinguished family.  They had five children:  Mary Anne 1832-1886, who married Nathaniel Gilman White, President of the Boston and Maine Railroad; Eliza Upham, b. 1834; Lucy, b. 1838; James Dana, b. 1840 and Charles Upham, 1843-1921.  Charles resided in Andover after about 1890. 

The Upham family were the descendants of Reverend Timothy, 1748-1799, minister of Deerfield NH, and his wife Hannah Gookin.  They had six children, including Nathaniel, b. 1774 and Timothy, b. 1782, Collector of the Port of Portsmouth, NH.  The Honorable Nathaniel married in 1798, Judith Cogswell of Gilmanton, NH.  He had a distinguished career in the New Hampshire and U.S. legislatures. 

They had eleven children.  Thomas Cogswell, 1799-1873, was professor at Bowdoin College.  Nathaniel Gookin, 1801-1869, was Justice of the New Hampshire Superior Court.  Mary married first Hon. David Barker, d. 1834, a politician and then Ebenezer Coe of Bangor, Maine.  Alfred, 1804-1878, was a physician in New York City.  Timothy, 1807-1848, was also a physician.  Joseph Badger, 1808-1889, was a merchant in Portsmouth, NH.  Judith Almira, as we have seen, married James Bell and had five children.  Hannah Elizabeth died as an infant.  Ruth Cogswell, 1815-1869, married Dr. John Berry of Somersworth.  Francis William, b. 1817, was a lawyer in New York City.  Albert Gookin, 1819-1847, was also a physician. 

The information on the families comes from “The Record of My Ancestry” probably compiled by Charles Upham Bell and other genealogical material in the collection and from Upham Genealogy: The Descendants of John Upham, by F. K. Upham (Albany, 1892,) and The Bench and Bar of New Hampshire by Charles H. Bell (Boston, 1894.)

“The Record of My Ancestry” was formerly cataloged as Ms 54;, the Bell Family Genealogical Scrapbook was formerly cataloged as 929.2 Be 2; Louis Bell’s autograph book had number 091 Be. 

Processed by Mary F. Morgan, March 1983.