Samuel Bell was born on February 9, 1770, in Londonderry, New Hampshire, to John and Mary Ann Bell. Until he was eighteen, Bell worked on his father's farm, and was educated at common schools during winter seasons. Wishing to undertake higher education, Bell began studying Latin in April 1788, and later enrolled at the New Ipswich Academy. From October 1790 to April 1791, he was a teacher in Londonderry, and in the May following entered the sophomore class at Dartmouth College. Graduating in 1793, Bell proceeded to study law and was admitted to the Hillsboroughbar in September 1796, after which he worked as a lawyer in Francestown, New Hampshire.
Career
Early career
Bell first entered politics when he became a member of the New Hampshire House of Representatives in 1804; he was re-elected in the two following years, during both he was the Speaker of the House. In 1806, he became the President of The Bank of Hillsborough, but by the end of his tenure in that position in 1810, it was the only New Hampshire bank to fail between 1792 and 1840. Bell was offered to become the New Hampshire Attorney General in 1807, but declined because he felt the salary was too small. He was a member of the New Hampshire Senate from 1807 to 1809, and was the President of that body during those two years, and from 1809 to 1811 was in the Executive Council of New Hampshire. Bell was appointed to be the trustee of Dartmouth College from 1808 to 1811. However, in 1809, due to a severe lung problem which showed the signs of tuberculosis, he was advised by his doctors to take an extended vacation away from the practice of law and to travel, which he did according to The American Quarterly Review; also according to this source, Bell spent parts of several following years traveling to relatively distant areas, primarily on horseback, which gradually recovered his health. However, the Biographical Director of the Library of Congress says that Bell continued practicing law between 1810 and 1812, moving to Amherst in 1810 and to Chester at those respective times.
In 1816, Bell was elevated to the New Hampshire Supreme Court as an associate justice, but resigned in 1819 to become Governor of New Hampshire on June 3, 1819, as a Democratic-Republican In the election for the governorship that year, Bell had secured 13,751 of 24,265 votes. He would be re-elected in 1820, 1821, and 1822; in 1822, he gained 22,934 out of 23,980 votes cast, which was the largest share of votes cast for a governor candidate of New Hampshire since John Taylor Gilman's victory in 1795. In all re-election campaigns, Bell faced token opposition. Whilst governor, crime within the state was reduced, and New Hampshire's industry was promoted and developed. In June 1822, Bell declined to run again for governor, and he left the governorship on June 4, 1823.
On March 4, 1823, Bell was elected to the United States Senate as an Adams-Clay Republican; by the end of his service in the Senate on March 3, 1835, he would be affiliated with the Adams Party, the Anti-Jacksonian Party, and in 1834 the Whig Party. He was re-elected in 1829, and during the 23rd United States Congress, Bell was the chairman of the Committee on Claims. After he left the Senate, Bell retired from public life, and retreated to a farm in Chester that he had purchased in 1813. He spent his later years cultivating his farm, and died on December 23, 1850 in Chester, and was interned in the Village Cemetery.
Personal life
In November 1797, Bell married Mehitable Bowen Dana, and together they would have six children; four sons: Samuel, John, James and Luther; two daughters: Mary-Anne, and another who died in infancy. In August 1810, Dana died, and in July 1828, Bell married Lucy G. Smith, with whom he would have four sons. In 1820, he was awarded a Doctor of Laws from Bowdoin College. John, his brother, served as Governor of New Hampshire from 1828 to 1829, and Bell was also the uncle of Charles Henry Bell, who was the governor from 1881 to 1883. Bell died in Chester, New Hampshire at the age of 80. He is buried in Chester Village Cemetery, Rockingham, New Hampshire.
