Montgomery Bell: Taking Root In Tennessee
From the Advocate: 12/16/00

By DALE GRAHAM Part 4 in a series
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.

As we told you last week, Montgomery Bell arrived in Tennessee in the early 1800’s and wasted no time making his mark. Although his is often given the title of “Tennessee’s First Ironmaster”, that title rightfully belongs to James Robertson, from whom Bell purchased Cumberland Furnace in 1804 for $16,000. It was just one small step in the life of this man. According to Huddleston: “In 1814 Bell bought the ‘Old Jones Creek Furnace; and soon afterwards purchased ‘Old Duck Creek Ore lands for $14,000.In 1823 he ‘bought the Mother Ore Bank and built Bellview Furnace’, Here are his Dickson County land grants: May 16, 1826 – a tract of 640 acres, ‘starting at Beaver dam fork at Turnbull Creek’. July 24, 1826 – 50 acres, ‘on the head drain of Yellow creek, opposite the head of Jones Creek’. June 25, 1826 – 50 acres ‘on a hollow that makes into Piney woods’. October 20, 1828 – 600 acres ‘on both sides of main Turnbull Creek’. January 20, 1837 – 55.5 acres, also on Jones Creek, and 600acres, the same day ‘on the waters of Turnbull Creek beginning at a poplar’”.

How on earth did he accomplish so much? As stated last week, he was said to own many, many slaves, about 300 according to the research by Michael Holt. According to Huddleston he also employed freemen and the slaves of others, “with owners receiving around $150 - $200 yearly for their hire. It’s been said that Bell employed ‘hundreds’ of outside workers”. In fact, according to Huddleston and Dickson County Tax records Bell owned approximately 200 slaves by 1806. He had only been in the state a short time. All these hands were necessary to accomplish so much, and free labor was the key to so much profit. Even in his early Tennessee years, Bell owned “14forges and furnaces”, and they were going at full tilt.

Bell’s products were just what a new land needed; hoes, rakes, skillets, “they went southward to the flat lands where cotton was king”, Huddleston recorded. “He had something for everybody, from hillside cabin farmer to the plantation colonel of lush river bottoms.” And the reward was money, paper money, which Bell turned right back into his building empire. He didn’t live lavishly early on, so the money went back into more land, more furnaces, more slaves, each a step in the dream. A dream that he must have carried with him since childhood, when he saw his wealthy family and lifestyle inPennsylvania destroyed by the Revolutionary War.

The ravages of war though, can make for a prosperous business. Huddleston: “During the War of 1812, the Federal Government spent considerable sums in Tennessee, and a sizeable portion of it went to Montgomery Bell”. On top of the everyday items that were so much in demand in the young country, Bell supplied the Federal Government with gun powder, whiskey, and cannon balls, including those used in the Battle of New Orleans according to Huddleston. His supplies were superior, and his reputation was growing.

But did the mystery man have a personal life, a love, did he start a family? Although information is difficult to find, and facts are more hidden than hearsay, we will try to explain who the children are that are buried under the other monument at the family cemetery, and where they came from, in next week’s Advocate.