# Isaac Bell Jr.

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**Isaac Bell Jr.** (November 6, 1846 – January 20, 1889) was an American businessman and diplomat.[1]

## Early life

Bell was born in New York City, the son of steamboat owner Isaac Bell (1814–1897) and Adelaide ([née](/source/N%C3%A9e) Mott) Bell (1828–1901).[2] Bell was the 13th Isaac Bell of his line, with his ancestor landing on the shores of the New Haven colony in 1640.[2] His two younger brothers were Louis Valentine Bell (1853–1925)[3] and Edward Bell (1860–1902), who married Helen A. Wilmerding (1856–1936), a daughter of Henry A. Wilmerding.[4] His sister was Mrs. James L. Barclay (d. 1893).[2]

His maternal grandfather, [Valentine Mott](/source/Valentine_Mott) (1785–1865), was a prominent American surgeon who had been court surgeon to [Louis Philippe of France](/source/Louis_Philippe_I).[2]

He attended [Harvard University](/source/Harvard_University) in 1866 and 1867 as a member of the class of 1870, but left without graduating.[5][6]

## Career

He was a successful cotton broker and investor. He was one of the key investors in the [Commercial Cable Company](/source/Commercial_Cable_Company) that broke the [Transatlantic cable](/source/Transatlantic_telegraph_cable) monopoly.[5]

In 1883, he built the [Isaac Bell House](/source/Isaac_Bell_House), one of the famous [Gilded Age](/source/Gilded_Age) summer "cottages" in [Newport, Rhode Island](/source/Newport,_Rhode_Island).[1] The house, designed by [McKim, Mead, and White](/source/McKim,_Mead,_and_White), is considered of the best remaining examples of [Shingle Style](/source/Shingle_Style) architecture.[7] In New York, he owned a unit in one of New York City's first [cooperative](/source/Housing_cooperative) [duplex](/source/Duplex_(building)) apartment buildings, the "Knickerbocker".[5]

He was active in [Rhode Island](/source/Rhode_Island) politics as a [Democrat](/source/Democratic_Party_(United_States)). President [Grover Cleveland](/source/Grover_Cleveland) appointed him the U.S. Minister to the Netherlands, and he served from 1885 to 1888.[8] He was also a [delegate](/source/Delegate_(American_politics)) to the 1888 [Democratic National Convention](/source/Democratic_National_Convention).[1]

## Personal life

In 1878, he married Jeanette Gordon Bennett (d. 1936),[9] daughter of [New York Herald](/source/New_York_Herald) founder [James Gordon Bennett Sr.](/source/James_Gordon_Bennett_Sr.) and sister of publisher [James Gordon Bennett Jr.](/source/James_Gordon_Bennett_Jr.) Together, they were the parents of three children, one boy and two girls:[1] Isaac Bell (b. 1879), who lived in [Shaftesbury](/source/Shaftesbury), England and was Master of Hounds for South and West Wiltshire,[9] Nora (née Bell) Ricardo,[10] and Henrietta "Rita" (née Bell) d'Aramon (b. 1882).[6][10]

In 1902, his daughter Rita became engaged to Count Raoul "Paul" d'Aramon (1876–1926), a twin son of Count Jacques d'Aramon and the Countess (an American who was born Mary Fischer who died in 1932).[11][12][13] The wedding was postponed briefly in July 1902 due to the death of the Marquise d'Aramon.[14] The couple eventually married in September 1902 at the [Saint-Honoré-d'Eylau Church](/source/List_of_religious_buildings_in_Paris) in Paris in what was described as a "Brilliant Social Function".[15] The wedding was attended by Gen. [Horace Porter](/source/Horace_Porter), Mrs. Leach, Mrs. Scott, Mrs. Moore, Mrs. Frank Koster, Kendal Shaw, and Mrs. Austin Lee, but not by the bride's uncle, [James Gordon Bennett Jr.](/source/James_Gordon_Bennett_Jr.), as there was a reported coolness between him and his sister.[15] After their marriage, the Count and Countess lived in Paris.[16]

In January 1889,[17] gravely ill from [typhoid fever](/source/Typhoid_fever) and [pyaemia](/source/Pyaemia), he was brought by steamboat from Newport, R.I., to [St. Luke's Hospital](/source/Mount_Sinai_Morningside) in New York City. He died there two weeks later. His funeral was held at [Trinity Church](/source/Trinity_Church,_New_York), and he was buried in [Green-Wood Cemetery](/source/Green-Wood_Cemetery) in Brooklyn, New York.[18][19] After his death, his family moved abroad and returned home occasionally to visit New York and Newport.[12]

## References

**Notes**

1. ["Isaac Bell, Jr."](https://www.nytimes.com/1889/01/21/archives/obituary-1-no-title.html). *[The New York Times](/source/The_New_York_Times)*. 21 January 1889. Retrieved 20 August 2017.

1. ["Isaac Bell Passes Away – The Well-Known Business Man, Philanthropist, and Public Spirited Citizen Is Dead – He Had a Notable Career – Was One of the Leading Cotton Merchants the First Commissioner of Charities and Correction, and Prominent in Other Ways"](https://www.nytimes.com/1897/10/01/archives/isaac-bell-passes-away-the-wellknown-business-man-philanthropist.html). *[The New York Times](/source/The_New_York_Times)*. 1 October 1897. Retrieved 20 August 2017.

1. ["Obituary -– Bell"](https://www.nytimes.com/1925/01/27/archives/obituary-2-no-title.html). *[The New York Times](/source/The_New_York_Times)*. 27 January 1925. Retrieved 23 August 2017.

1. ["Death of Edward Bell – The ex-Commissioner of Parks and Stock Broker Had Been Ill with Typhoid Fever"](https://www.nytimes.com/1902/07/08/archives/death-of-edward-bell-the-excommissioner-of-parks-and-stock-broker.html). *[The New York Times](/source/The_New_York_Times)*. 8 July 1902. Retrieved 23 August 2017.

1. Hall, Henry (1895). [*America's Successful Men of Affairs: The city of New York*](https://archive.org/details/ldpd_6221441_000). New York Tribune. p. [77](https://archive.org/details/ldpd_6221441_000/page/n86). Retrieved 20 August 2017.

1. Harvard College Class of 1868 (1908). [*Secretary's report: fortieth anniversary*](https://books.google.com/books?id=u_gkAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA178). E. O. Cockayne. Retrieved 20 August 2017.

1. ["Mr. Bell Leases His Villa"](https://www.nytimes.com/1886/11/05/archives/mr-bell-leases-his-villa.html). *[The New York Times](/source/The_New_York_Times)*. 5 November 1886. Retrieved 20 August 2017.

1. ["Political Vacancy Filled"](https://www.nytimes.com/1888/08/16/archives/political-vacancy-filled.html). *[The New York Times](/source/The_New_York_Times)*. 16 August 1888. Retrieved 20 August 2017.

1. ["Mrs. Isaac Bell – Daughter of Elder James Gordon Bennett Dies in London"](https://www.nytimes.com/1936/02/13/archives/mrs-isaac-bell-daughter-of-elder-james-gordon-bennett-dies-in.html). *[The New York Times](/source/The_New_York_Times)*. 13 February 1936. Retrieved 23 August 2017.

1. [*Supreme Court Appellate Division- First Department Case On Appeal*](https://books.google.com/books?id=xRxm5SDSQFcC&pg=RA5-PA69). The Hecla Press. p. 69. Retrieved 23 August 2017.

1. Depew, Chauncey M. (2013). [*Titled Americans, 1890: A list of American ladies who have married foreigners of rank*](https://books.google.com/books?id=hkrDCwAAQBAJ&pg=PT41). Bloomsbury Publishing. ISBN 9781783660056. Retrieved 23 August 2017.

1. ["The Week in Franco-American Society in Paris.; Miss Bell Betrothed to Count Raoul d'Aramon -- Americans Returning from London -- The President's Garden Party -- An Aristocratic Function -- American Girl Sculptor's Success."](https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1902/07/06/102440416.html). *[The New York Times](/source/The_New_York_Times)*. July 6, 1902. Retrieved 23 August 2017.

1. Selby, Walford Dakin (1901). [*The Genealogist*](https://books.google.com/books?id=G6FIAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA43). George Bell & Sons. Retrieved 23 August 2017.

1. ["Coming and Parting Guests of Paris – Miss Rita Belt's Wedding Postponed – Doings of Some American People"](https://www.nytimes.com/1902/07/20/archives/coming-and-parting-guests-of-paris-miss-rita-belts-wedding.html). *[The New York Times](/source/The_New_York_Times)*. 20 July 1902. Retrieved 23 August 2017.

1. ["The D'Aramon-Bell Wedding – Brilliant Social Function at the Church of St. Honors d'Eylau, Paris, Attended by Paris-American Society"](https://www.nytimes.com/1902/09/28/archives/the-daramonbell-wedding-brilliant-social-function-at-the-church-of.html). *[The New York Times](/source/The_New_York_Times)*. 28 September 1902. Retrieved 23 August 2017.

1. [*Social Register, New York*](https://books.google.com/books?id=z5NIAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA147). Social Register Association. 1912. Retrieved 23 August 2017.

1. ["Ex-Minister Bell Ill."](https://www.nytimes.com/1888/11/09/archives/exminister-bell-ill.html). *[The New York Times](/source/The_New_York_Times)*. 9 November 1888. Retrieved 20 August 2017.

1. ["Isaac Bell's Funeral – Many Prominent People Attend It in Trinity Church"](https://www.nytimes.com/1889/01/24/archives/isaac-bells-funeral-many-prominent-people-attend-it-in-trinity.html). *[The New York Times](/source/The_New_York_Times)*. 24 January 1889. Retrieved 20 August 2017.

1. Reports from the [New York Times](/source/New_York_Times) show that he died on Sunday, January 20, 1889. A number of other sources incorrectly report his date of death as January 29.

**Sources**

- "Isaac Bell's Illness: A Very Sick Man Leaves Newport for St. Luke's Hospital", *New York Times*, January 5, 1889, page 5
- "Arrival of Ex-Minister Bell", *New York Times*, January 6, 1889, page 3
- "Obituary: Isaac Bell Jr.", *New York Times*, January 21, 1889, page 2
- "Isaac Bell's Funeral: Many Prominent People Attend It At Trinity Church", *New York Times* January 24, 1889, page 8

## External links

- [xroads.virginia.edu](https://web.archive.org/web/20060905061721/http://xroads.virginia.edu/~MA01/Davis/newport/biographies/bell.html)

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Isaac Bell Jr.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isaac_Bell_Jr.) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isaac_Bell_Jr.?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.