Jacob Bell (shipbuilder)

Jacob Bell was born at the parish of Middlesex, in the town of Stamford, Connecticut on December 17, 1792. He was the son of John and Deborah Clock Bell. Bell married Phoebe Bell on May 10, 1821 and had five children.{{cite book|last=Hannan |first= Caryn |date=2008|title= Connecticut Biographical Dictionary|publisher= State History Publications |isbn= 9781878592590 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Pd_ETIlgTxgC&q=%22william+h+brown%22+shipyard}}{{cite web|url=https://www.ancestry.com|title=North America, Family Histories, 1500-2000|website= Ancestry.com|access-date=2021-03-07}} He was left motherless at the age of six years.

At the age of 17 years, about the year 1809, he was apprenticed to Messrs. Adam and Noah Brown, then among the most enterprising and successful shipbuilders in New York City. In early 1813, his employers sent him to the frontier, on the shores of Lake Erie, at that time a dense and almost unbroken wilderness. Bell was employed as a foreman in the construction of two vessels of war, the Lawrence and the Niagara. These ships were part of the American squadron on Lake Erie, with which Capt. Oliver Hazard Perry gained victory in the Battle of Lake Erie on September 10, 1813. At the close of his apprenticeship, in December 1813, Mr. Bell engaged to accompany the well-known Henry Eckford to Sackett's Harbor on Lake Ontario and aid him in building war vessels ordered by the Government. He witnessed the Battle of Lundy's Lane on July 25, 1814.

In 1820, Jacob Bell established himself, together with David Brown, as a successful shipbuilder in Blakely, Alabama. Bell and Brown returned to New York in 1829. The uncle of Mr. Bell's wife left an estate valued at $20,000, which Bell used to purchase the shipyard of his former employer at the foot of Stanton Street at Houston Street on the East River. There, he went into business with David Brown, as Brown & Bell.{{cite web|url=http://shipbuildinghistory.com/shipyards/19thcentury/brownbell.htm |title= Brown & Bell, New York NY|work= shipbuildinghistory.com |place= New York NY|date= January 23, 2013|access-date=2021-05-30}}

On March 14, 1824, fire destroyed their property, which was not insured, leaving them under heavy obligations. One of the creditors who came to their aid was Samuel Hicks, who commissioned the construction of several vessels.

After the fire, Bell organized an independent fire company near the shipyard, Live Oak No. 44, with Isaac Webb (foreman), John Demon, Edward Merritt, and Foster Rhodes.{{Cite web

| title = The Shipbuilders' Fire Cat

| work = The French Hatching Cat

| access-date = 2013-12-14

| url = http://frenchhatchingcat.com/category/the-shipbuilders-fire-cat/

| archive-date = 2013-10-19

| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20131019105928/http://frenchhatchingcat.com/category/the-shipbuilders-fire-cat/

| url-status = usurped

}} Shipbuilder Donald McKay apprenticed at Brown & Bell, starting in 1826.McCutchan, Philip Tall Ships, The Golden Age of Sail. London Book Club Associates. 1976. p. 37

Brown & Bell built the following vessels in the 1830-1850s:{{cite book |last=Knoblock |first=Glenn A. |date= 2014 |title=The American Clipper Ship, 1845-1920. A Comprehensive History, with a Listing of Builders and Their Ships|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=k3lkAgAAQBAJ|location=Jefferson, North Carolina |publisher=McFarland & Company, Inc. |page=342|isbn=9780786471126 |access-date=2021-01-03}}{{Cite book|title=Connecticut Biographical Dictionary|last=Hannan|first=Caryn|publisher=State History Publications|year=2008|isbn=9781878592590|pages=107}}

{{columns-list|colwidth=22em|

• Gratitude (pilot boat) (1824){{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/77882628/john-mckeon/ |title=The Missing Pilot Boats.|work=New York Daily Herald |place=New York, New York|date=1 Oct 1839|page=6|access-date=2021-10-25}}
• James Avery (pilot boat) (1837){{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/466523176/?terms=%22pilot%20boat%20James%20Avery%22&match=1New |title=Launch Of The Pilot Boat James Avery|work=York Daily Herald|place= New York, New York|date=9 Sep 1837|page=2|access-date=2021-01-25}}
• Jacob Bell (pilot boat) (1840){{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/466525096/?terms=%22Jacob%20Bell%22&match=1|title=A New Pilot Boat Schooner.|work=New York Daily Herald|place=New York, New York|date=22 Jan 1840|page=2|via=Newspapers.com|url-access=limited|access-date=14 Jan 2021}}
• USS Jacob Bell (1842)
• USS Reefer (1846)
• Oriental (1849) Clipper
• White Squall (1850) Clipper
• Baltic of the Collins Line
• Lion
• Trade Wind (1851) Clipper
• Eagle (1851) for the Spanish government
• Ino (1851)
• John Stuart (1851)
• Messenger (1852) Clipper
• Antelope (1852)
• Flying Cloud (1853)
• Wide Awake (1853)
• Liverpool
• Congress
• Regent (steamship)
• Pacific
• Henry Clay

}}

In 1848, Mr. Brown retired and Mr. Bell continued the business as "Jacob Bell," with the same enterprise and spirit. Before the dissolution of the firm they were the builders of more than 150 vessels, and fifty more were built afterwards by Mr. Bell. Brown & Bell built the first ocean steamers launched at the Port of New York.

Standing at the very head of his profession and enjoying the unbounded confidence of the mercantile community, as well as the amplest means for the execution of his plans, Mr. Bell made rapid strides in the paths of fortune and of fame.

Loss of health sent him to Sharon Springs, New York, where he died July 21, 1852. His grave is in the family cemetery in Darien, Connecticut.

Bell's son, Aaron C. Bell, continued operations until the shipyard closed in 1855.{{Cite web

| last = Colton

| first = Tim

| title = Brown & Bell

| format = Shipbuilding History

| access-date = 2013-12-14

| url = http://shipbuildinghistory.com/history/shipyards/719thcentury/brownbell.htm

| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20131209233238/http://shipbuildinghistory.com/history/shipyards/719thcentury/brownbell.htm

| archive-date = 2013-12-09

| url-status = dead

}}

The USS Jacob Bell (1842), launched by his son, was named for him.{{Cite book

| publisher = Conway Maritime Press

| isbn = 9780851772806

| last = Chapelle

| first = Howard Irving

| title = Search for speed under sail 1700-1855.

| location = London

| date = 1967

}}

{{Reflist}}

• {{Cite web

| last = Colton

| first = Tim

| title = List of ships built at Brown & Bell

| format = Shipbuilding History

| access-date = 2013-12-14

| url = http://shipbuildinghistory.com/history/shipyards/719thcentury/brownbell.htm

| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20131209233238/http://shipbuildinghistory.com/history/shipyards/719thcentury/brownbell.htm

| archive-date = 2013-12-09

| url-status = dead

}}

• {{Source-attribution|{{Cite book

| publisher = Press of W.F. Sametz & Co.

| isbn = 9781418187385

| last1 = Morrison

| first1 = John H.

| last2= Portnoy

| first2=Lawrence

| title = History of New York Ship Yards

| location = New York

| access-date = 2013-12-15

| date = 1909

| url = https://archive.org/details/historyofnewyork00morrrich

}}}}

• {{Source-attribution|{{Cite book

| publisher = The Mattatuck Press

| last = Wright

| first = Ella Frances (Reed)

| title = Reed-Read lineage. Captain John Reed of Providence, R. I., and Norwalk, Conn. and his descendants through his sons, John and Thomas, 1660-1909

| location = Waterbury, CT

| access-date = 2013-12-14

| date = 1909

| url = https://archive.org/details/reedreadlineagec00wrig

}}}}

{{List of Shipbuilders and Designers}}

{{List of Northeastern U. S. Pilot Boats|state=collapsed}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bell, Jacob}}

Category:1792 births

Category:1852 deaths

Category:American shipbuilders

Category:American businesspeople in shipping

Category:People from Stamford, Connecticut

Category:Businesspeople from New York City

Category:19th-century American businesspeople