Blair County PA Archives Biographies.....Bell, Martin ???? - ????
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Judy Banja http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00004.html#0000757 January 10, 2025, 9:45 am

Source: Biographical and Portrait Cyclopedia of Blair Co, PA: Philadelphia, 1892.
Author: Samuel T. Wiley

MARTIN BELL,
one of the prominent citizens and leading business men and ironmasters of the
Juniata valley, was born in Blair county, and was a son of Edward and Mary
(Martin) Bell.  His paternal grandfather, John Bell, was one of the pioneer
settlers of Blair county, who faced all the privations of frontier life, and
risked the dangers of captivity and death at the hands of the merciless
Indian to establish homes for themselves in the beautiful Juniata valley. 
His son, Edward Bell (father), was born March 17, 1769, and died April 14,
1852.  He was a large landholder, founded Bellwood, and became one of the
early ironmasters of central Pennsylvania.  He married Mary A. Martin,
daughter of Rev. James Martin, of Scotch-Irish descent, and reared a family
of nine children, seven sons and two daughters.  One of their sons was the
late Rev. A.K. Bell, D.D.
      Martin Bell was reared in his native county, received a good practical
education, and at an early age engaged in the iron manufacturing business, in
which he became prominent.
      He married and reared a family of children, of whom one daughter,
Margaret, is the wife of Judge John Dean, whose sketch appears in this volume.
      Martin Bell was of an inventive turn of mind, and not wishing to have
his furnaces in blast on Sundays, he rebuilt the stack and so arranged
matters that the fires could be banked each Saturday night with ease and
safety, and work again resumed on the following Monday morning. In 1836 he
utilized the gas which had hitherto escaped unused from the tunnel head, and
in consequence Elizabeth furnace was the first in the country to use the
escaping gas for the production of steam.  These improvements were patented
in 1840, and Martin Bell became entitled to a royalty from all ironmasters
using gas, but being of a generous nature he never pressed his claims, and
probably die not realize more than three thousand dollars in all for his
valuable invention.  He became wealth though, and the furnace is now owned by
his heirs.

Additional Comments:
Originally submitted 2001. Transcribed by Bonnie Millican, Akron, Ohio.

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