Montgomery Bell:
Born January 3rd, 1769,
Dies April 1st, 1855
By DALE GRAHAM
Conclusion
The Advocate would like to sincerely thank the Tennessee State Library and Archives, and former Nashville Banner writer Ed Huddleston for his remarkable work in the 1955 series on Montgomery Bell. We especially thank Michael Holt, Nashville resident, genealogist and historian who has so willingly helped us find this information, as well as shared his own voluminous research. Holt’s book, “The Iron Men of Tennessee: The Slaves of Montgomery Bell”, should be out this year. We will keep you posted.
Montgomery Bell, in spite of what must have been great wealth, lived in many ways like a pauper. His diet was simple, his dress was plain, and although he owned more than one magnificent home, he died in a small but much favored home, called Valley Forge. From the archives: “The home at Valley Forge was evidently smaller and had been permitted to fall into disrepair even before the ironmaster died, although it is said he insisted in going back there to die. One account has it that the house was so open, snow fell in on his deathbed.”
As we have already documented, Bell freed at least 88 of his slaves before his death, and may have had plans to free many more. He also left $20,000 in his will, “to be used in the establishment of an academy to bear his name, wherein 25 worthy boys were to be educated free of cost, 10 from Davidson and 5 each from 3 surrounding counties.” Due to some very clever financial handling, the money grew and the bequest became reality. From Huddleston: “By 1867, Bell’s bequest had grown to $50,000, drawing $3000 interest annually. Montgomery Bell, 12 years in his grave, was having his resolute way. MBA [Montgomery Bell Academy in Nashville] began.”
That bequest, and the subsequent growth and expansion of the boy’s school in Nashville, as well as the state park named for Bell is Dickson County, have done the most to keep his name alive. Huddleston poignantly describes the quiet death of this man, and the lack of information about his life: “The money grew. War clouds were gathering. Montgomery Bell slept on in a lonely grave at the Narrows of the Harpeth. Legends were springing up about him., but the historians passed him by, only about 36 directly spoken words from his mouth appear to have come down to us.”
His daughter Eveline is an equal mystery. Surviving family members either don’t know about her or aren’t talking. We don’t even know what Eveline’s mother’s name was. “Miss Moss” is as close as I have been able to come. His slaves, the ones who fulfilled his visions and built his dreams, will for the most part forever remain, nameless, faceless laborers.
But the most interesting, and possibly the only repairable part of this story is that there are artifacts, possibly hundreds of them, scattered throughout our county and others. They aren’t being collected in a museum, they aren’t being protected,they aren’t being preserved. Many of you have some of these artifacts. Maybe you picked them up when you were a kid, or had them passed down to you by family members. Perhaps they are on a shelf, or in a closet, or under the bed.They may end up in a yard sale some day, or an estate sale, and perhaps someone will recall where they came from, and what they were used for. Perhaps not.
In fact, there is a world of interesting artifacts out there, not just from the Montgomery Bell works, but also Mound Bottom, the Civil War. Our area is rich in history, and the touchable remains of that history may be getting lost forever.
Although there is no museum now in Cheatham County, the archives in Ashland City are being cared for by the Cheatham County Historical Association. They are willing to keep these artifacts for us, and return them to South Cheatham if we ever have a place to care for them ourselves. The location at present is the basement of the Ashland City Library on Vine Street. The county is moving along with plans for a new 10,000 sq. ft. library, to be completed sometime in 2002. The location will be on 49E., near the new Health Department, about 1/2 mile before WalMart. You can contact Thelma Heflin, member of the Board of Directors for the Cheatham County Historical Association, at 792-3623, or at 792-4106, if you have a piece of our history, and you would like to see it preserved.
