Charles James Bell (April 12, 1858 – October 2, 1929) was an Irish-born Canadian and American businessman, first cousin of

Alexander Graham Bell Alexander Graham Bell (, born Alexander Bell; March 3, 1847 – August 2, 1922) was a Scottish-born inventor, scientist and engineer who is credited with patenting the first practical telephone. He also co-founded the American Telephone and Te ...

, son-in-law of

Gardiner Greene Hubbard Gardiner Greene Hubbard (August 25, 1822 – December 11, 1897) was an American lawyer, financier, and community leader. He was a founder and first president of the National Geographic Society; a founder and the first president of the Bell Telep ...

, nephew of

Alexander Melville Bell Alexander Melville Bell (1 March 18197 August 1905) was a teacher and researcher of physiological phonetics and was the author of numerous works on orthoepy and elocution. Additionally he was also the creator of Visible Speech which was use ...

. He was a co-founder of the National Geographic Society.

Early life

Bell was born on April 12, 1858, in

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...

, Ireland, to Professor

David Charles Bell Professor David Charles Bell (4 May 1817 – 28 October 1902), was a Scottish-born scholar, author and professor of elocution. He was an elder brother to Alexander Melville Bell and uncle to Alexander Graham Bell. Professor of Elocution Bell w ...

(1817–1903) and Ellen Adine Highland. Among his family was brother Chichester Bell.Ancestry.com Historical Person Overview: Charles James Bell
Retrieved May 2017 Bell attended Wesley College before emigrating to Canada in 1875.

Career

Upon reaching Canada, he was employed by the Imperial Bank of Canada until 1879. From 1880 to 1882, he was general manager of the National Telephone Company of England before moving to

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

, to be secretary of the new

Bell Telephone Company The Bell Telephone Company, a common law joint stock company, was organized in Boston, Massachusetts, on July 9, 1877, by Alexander Graham Bell's father-in-law Gardiner Greene Hubbard, who also helped organize a sister company – the New Englan ...

, founded by his cousin, and organize the private banking firm of Bell & Co. Bell traveled to Paris to set up branches of the company in Europe. In 1889 when the

American Security and Trust Company The American Security and Trust Company Building is a Neoclassical bank office in Washington, D.C., designed by the architectural firm of York and Sawyer. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1973. Design The neoclassical ...

of Washington was organized, Bell became vice president. Four years later, he became president (for thirty-five years) and in 1928 became chairman of the board of directors. He was also president of the

Norfolk & Washington Steamboat Company The Norfolk & Washington Steamboat Company was a steamboat company that transported passengers and freight between Washington, DC and Norfolk, Virginia on the Potomac River. History The company was organized in the Spring of 1889''A Palace Boat ...

, and was an incorporator of the

American Red Cross The American Red Cross (ARC), also known as the American National Red Cross, is a non-profit humanitarian organization that provides emergency assistance, disaster relief, and disaster preparedness education in the United States. It is the desi ...

, a trustee of the George Washington Memorial Association and of the American University, chairman of the Finance committee of the Public Library, and a member of the board of the Washington Sanitary Housing Company and of the Chapter of

Washington Cathedral The Cathedral Church of Saint Peter and Saint Paul in the City and Diocese of Washington, commonly known as Washington National Cathedral, is an American cathedral of the Episcopal Church (United States), Episcopal Church. The cathedral is loc ...

. He also served as chairman of the Potomac Electric Power Company and the Washington Railway and Electric Company, president of the Enquirer Building Company of Cincinnati, a director of the

Terminal Refrigerating and Warehouse Company The Museum of the Bible is a museum in Washington D.C., owned by Museum of the Bible, Inc., a non-profit organization established in 2010 by the Green family. The museum documents the narrative, history, and impact of the Bible. It opened on No ...

, Washington Market Company, Security Storage Company, Real Estate Title Insurance Company, Columbia Title Assurance Company, and Columbia Sand and Gravel Company, the Chesapeake and Potomac Telephone Company of New York and the three allied telephone companies and the Braddock Electric Light Company.

National Geographic Society

In 1888 Bell co-founded the

National Geographic Society The National Geographic Society (NGS), headquartered in Washington, D.C., United States, is one of the largest non-profit scientific and educational organizations in the world. Founded in 1888, its interests include geography, archaeology, and ...

, and was its first treasurer. He bought the property for the headquarters of the society, where it still is.

Personal life

In 1881, Bell married Roberta Hubbard, daughter of Gardiner Greene Hubbard. Together, they were the parents of: * Helen Aidene Bell (b. 1882) * Grace Hubbard Bell (1884–1979), who married

Granville Roland Fortescue Granville Roland Fortescue (October 12, 1875 – April 21, 1952) was an American soldier, a Rough Rider serving with his cousin, Colonel Theodore Roosevelt in Cuba, a presidential aide in the first Roosevelt administration and later, a journalist ...

, a first cousin of

Theodore Roosevelt Theodore Roosevelt Jr. ( ; October 27, 1858 – January 6, 1919), often referred to as Teddy or by his initials, T. R., was an American politician, statesman, soldier, conservationist, naturalist, historian, and writer who served as the 26t ...

.Arlington National Cemetery
Granville Roland Fortescue
/ref> "Society at Home and Abroad: The Fortescue-Bell Wedding in Washington,"
''New York Times''. May 29, 1910. After the death of Roberta during childbirth in 1885, Bell remarried to her sister Grace Hubbard in 1887. By his second wife, he was the father of: * Gardiner Hubbard Bell (1890–1892) * Charles James Bell (1891–1892) * Robert Wolcott Bell (1893–1977) He died at St. Luke's Hospital in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

on October 2, 1929. His widow died in July 1948.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bell, Charles J. 1858 births 1929 deaths National Geographic Society founders Irish emigrants Immigrants to Canada Immigrants to the United States Businesspeople from Washington, D.C. 19th-century American businesspeople People educated at Wesley College, Dublin