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Dictionary of Miramichi Biography

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BELL, GEORGE BAXTER (1818-1860)

BELL, GEORGE BAXTER, painter and decorator, steam ferry owner, and musician; b. Workington, England (bap. 26 Apr 1818), s/o John Bell and h/w Ann; m. 1840, Mary Smith, d/o John Smith and h/w Margaret Ann; d. Chatham, 16 Oct 1860.

George B. Bell arrived in Chatham in 1838 and worked for a number of years in the painting, glazing, and paperhanging business. Until 1840 he was a partner of John Bird, in Bird & Bell. After a year on his own he and Benjamin Miller formed the decorating firm of Miller & Bell, which lasted until January 1852.

Meanwhile, in 1848, a joint stock company introduced a steam ferry service between Chatham and Douglastown. During two seasons this proved unprofitable, and by the summer of 1850 the steamer was idle and listed for sale. In the fall of 1851 Bell bought it. He succeeded in having himself appointed as ferryman by the Court of Quarter Sessions and reinstituted the service in the spring of 1852. He conducted the ferry until 1854, but not realizing sufficient income from it, he sought permission to operate it as a combination ferry and tugboat. When the magistrates denied his request he discontinued it and introduced a towing service, using a steam-powered tugboat named the William M. Kelly.

The absence of steam ferry service on the river during the 1855 season provoked a public protest which prompted the Court of Sessions to authorize a modest subsidy. When tenders were called Bell filed a proposal and was again appointed ferryman. In 1856 he launched a new ferry, which was referred to simply as the Chatham Ferry Boat by the steamboat inspector. He was still conducting this ferry at the time of his death in 1860, and it was continued in the name of his widow until 1862, at least. Thomas Haviland, who was probably in command of the ferry, was later the owner and operator of the service.

Bell was a trustee of the Methodist church and a charter member, in 1848, of the Chatham Sons of Temperance. He made music with the Chatham Amateur Band and was bandmaster in 1858. Following his death, at age forty-two, his widow, Mary Smith, raised their seven children. After extracting herself from the steam ferry business she conducted a small store. In 1874 she sold her Chatham property and moved to her native city of Halifax, but she returned some years later to live in Newcastle with her daughter Annie, the wife of William C. Anslow. She died in St Lambert, Que., in 1897, at eighty-one years of age, while residing with another of her daughters. She was a convert to Methodism in 1830 and an ardent promoter of total abstinence.

Sources

[bap] LDS-IGI [m] Gleaner 16 Jun 1840 [d] Gleaner 20 Oct 1860 / Advocate 16 Jul 1890, 24 Feb 1897, 15 Nov 1933; Fraser (C); Gleaner 7 Jul 1840, 4 May 1841, 18 Jul 1848, 23 Dec 1851, 6 Jan 1852, 26 Apr 1852, 13 Jan 1855, 22 Mar 1862, 10 May 1862; JHA 1856 (re. steamboat inspections); World 13 Jun 1885


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