from The History of Hendricks County (Indianapolis: B.F. Bowen & Co., 1914)----pages 491-493
That the plenitude of satiety is seldom attained in the affairs of life is to be considered a most beneficial privation, for where ambition is satisfied and every ultimate end realized, if such be possible, apathy must follow. Effort would cease, accomplishment be prostrate and creative talent waste its energies in inactivity. The men who have pushed forward the wheels of progress have been those to whom satisfaction lies ever in the future, who have labored continuously, always finding in each transition stage an incentive for further effort. Mr. Bell is one whose well directed efforts have gained for him a position of desirable prominence in the agricultural circles of Hendricks County, and his energy and enterprise have been crowned by a gratifying degree of success.
Robert Bell is a native of this county, born on February 28, 1845, in what is now Lincoln Township, being the son of Moses and Jane (Harbison) Bell, both of whom were natives of Ireland, coming to the United States from County Down about 1832. They entered eighty acres of government land about one mile south of Brownsburg, and after a few years they purchased from a Mr. Dunn forty acres which joined their farm on the east. Later on they purchased another eighty-acre tract about two miles south of the land they first owned, where Moses Bell passed the remainder of his life. Moses Bell was the son of John Bell, who died in Ireland, and it is thought his mother's maiden name was Jane Troutman, but this is not known positively. Moses Bell was one of the leading citizens of his day and community and deserved much credit for the station to which he attained. He arrived in Hendricks County a stranger from another land, without means, and at the time of his death he occupied an enviable place in the regard of those who knew him and had amassed considerable of this world's goods. He ever conducted himself so as to win the confidence and esteem of those with whom he came in contact, and throughout his life in this section he was always glad to endorse any movement having for its ultimate aim the betterment of the moral or material good of the community. He was a stanch supporter of the Republican Party and took an active interest in the administration of that party's affairs. He filled one or two minor offices at different times, discharging his duties in a manner satisfactory to all.
Robert Bell was one of a family of five children, himself being the only one remaining out of the family. John died in infancy and Isabelle, Eliza J. and Mary A. died later in life. Robert Bell's mother died when he was but nine years of age, when the eldest sister assumed the duties of the homekeeper and acted in this role until her death. After that, the father made his home with the subject. Mr. Bell remained at home until the time of his marriage, on September 26, 1868, receiving under the careful guidance of his father instruction in the labor of husbandry. After marriage, he continued to live on the home farm until the father's death, when he purchased property in Brownsburg and has since divided his time between the home in town and the farm.
Mrs. Robert Bell was Miss Mary A. Barlow before her marriage, a daughter of Theophilus and Susan A. (Moberly) Barlow. The Barlow family were originally from Kentucky, but came to Indiana at a very early date in the state's history and settled in Hendricks County. They at one time owned a very large tract of land about three miles south of Brownsburg. Mrs. Bell was one of a family of nine or ten children and remained under her father's roof until the time of her marriage. To Mr. and Mrs. Bell have been born ten children, three of whom died in infancy. Clyde W. married Mary Cook and died February 7, 1905, leaving one child, a boy, Faye. A little daughter, Melvina, had preceded him into the life beyond. Lloyd S. went to Canada when a young man and there married a young lady who died when their child Robert was a year or two old. Lloyd and his son are living on a homestead in British Columbia. Grace J. and Ernest E. were twins; the latter never married and lives in Brownsburg. Grace J. met her death when her father's home was destroyed by a fire caused by exploding gasoline. She left a young son, Vance, who lives with his grandfather and is a promising boy, attending high school in Brownsburg. Charles H. married Ida Phillips, daughter of James and Melvina (Gray) Phillips. They reside in Brownsburg and have a family of three children, namely: Mabel Elizabeth, Horace and Thomas Grant. Nellie S. has been twice married. Her first husband was Thomas Anderson and when a widow she married Walter Roach. She was the mother of four children, one only by the first husband, and all have passed away except one son, Lawrence Roach. Myrtle Z., another daughter of Mr. Bell, died when twenty-one years of age, and Estella C. and Clara P. were the names of two little daughters who died in infancy.
Mr. Bell's religious affiliation is with the Presbyterian Church, of which he is an active and consistent member. He is a man of generous impulses and genial disposition, who readily makes friends and retains them. He has been a stalwart Republican ever since attaining his majority and for his party has served as road superintendent and road supervisor at different times. His conscientious discharge of the duties thus devolving upon him met the approval of all concerned. In addition to the general farming conducted by Mr. Bell, he has given particular attention to the breeding of shorthorn cattle, and has been the most active stock buyer and shipper in the township for the past twelve years. For seven years he was in the farm implement business in Brownsburg and prides himself on the fact that his sales for one season have never been equaled in that town. Among other implements, sold that season, he disposed of thirty-eight binders and twenty-eight mowers, an enviable record truly. In common with all men of affairs, Mr. Bell has met with reverses at different times, but he has not permitted himself to be permanently handicapped by them, but has with renewed effort set himself to repair the breach. At the time of the death of his daughter, Grace, his town house was destroyed, at a loss of eighteen hundred dollars, and the same spring the house on the farm was also destroyed by fire. These material losses were small indeed to him when compared with the great loss which cold not be replaced. Mr. Bell is a man of sterling qualities of character, patient and scrupulously honest in all the relations of life, hospitable and charitable, and he has gained the approval and high esteem of his fellow citizens because of his upright life. Because of his earnest character and business success he is eminently entitled to representation in a work of the character of the one at hand.