Background
Bell was born on January 28, 1840 in Toronto, Upper Canada, and was educated in the common schools of his native country.
Bell was born on January 28, 1840 in Toronto, Upper Canada, and was educated in the common schools of his native country.
He was the sixth Governor of Nevada. Bell came to Nevada in 1858, to supervise the construction of a transcontinental telegraph line though the state from Utah to California. He worked on this project until 1860.
Later, Bell became a telegraph operator and was one of operators who telegraphed Nevada"s Constitution to Washington District of Columbia in 1864.
Bell served as warden of the Nevada State Prison from 1883 to 1887. In 1889, he was appointed the eighth Lieutenant Governor by Governor Stevenson.
He became Acting Governor when Governor Charles C. Stevenson signed a disability certificate on September 1, 1890, making him Nevada"s first foreign born Governor. During his tenure, he continued to carry out the policies of the Stevenson administration.
Bell did not seek a full term, serving until the inauguration of Roswell K. Colcord in 1891.
He then returned to his work in the telephone and telegraph field He continued to be politically active. He served as Warden of the Nevada State Prison from 1893 to 1895 and as justice of the peace from 1905 to 1909.
Bell died on February 13, 1927 in his daughter"s home in Oakland, California, at the age of 87.
He is interred at Masonic Memorial Gardens, Reno, Washoe County, Nevada United States of America.
He was a member of the Republican Party.