Harmon BELL

 

Harmon BELL, senior member of the law firm of BELL, BELL and SMITH in Oakland, and one of the leaders in the Alameda County bar, is a native son and has been in law practice in the Middle West and in California for over forty years.  His father was one of the distinguished pioneer ministers of the Gospel in California, and altogether the associations of the family name in California are entitles to more than ordinary notice.

 

His father was Rev. Dr. Samuel B. BELL, a native of Orange County, New York, and son of a veteran of the War of 1812.  Samuel B. BELL married Sophia WALWORTH, who was born at Cleveland, Ohio.  Both were descended from Revolutionary ancestors, one of her forefathers having been an officer in the storming of Fort Ticonderoga.

 

Samuel B. BELL was ordained an Evangelist of the Presbyterian denomination at Onondaga, New York, in 1852, and in November of the same year was sent by the American Home Missionary Society to the Pacific Coast.  He came around the Horn in the clipper ship Trade Wind, and on his arrival commenced his work on the ground on which the City of Oakland now stands, building the First Presbyterian Church there.  He served as its pastor for many years, but his influence as a religious leader extended all over the San Francisco Bay district.  He had unusual qualifications for a pioneer and leader, not only in religious but educational affairs, possessing great breadth of view and intellectual vision.  He procured the charter for the College of California, now the University of California, being one of the founders of that institution.  He also represented his district in the California State Senate and the House of Representatives for three years, during which time he was connected with important legislation, particularly aiding in the passing of the homestead law and introducing the bill creating the board of regents for the university.  He was one of the original republicans when the party was formed, and attended the first republican convention in California.

 

The first chapter of his California activities covered just a decade.  Soon after the Civil war broke out he went back East overland, and at New York in 1862 tendered his services to General HOOKER, but was not permitted to go to the front.  Instead, he was appointed pastor of the Fiftieth Street Presbyterian Church in New York.  He also became widely known as a lecturer and orator, served as a member of two General Assemblies of the Presbyterian Church of the United States, and was active in church councils.  From New York City he went to Lyons in Wayne County, New York, and then to Hillsdale, Michigan.  Accepting a chair in Washington College in Alameda County, he returned to California, subsequently resigning his work as a professor to become pastor of the First Congregational Church of Mansfield, Ohio.  Subsequently he lived in Kansas City, Missouri, and on his second return to California made his home at Santa Barbara, where he lived retired until his death in 1897.

 

Mr. Harmon BELL, the Oakland attorney, was born in Oakland, March 23, 1855.  He was seven years of age when the family returned East, and acquired his early education in Lyons Academy at Lyons, New York in Hillsdale College at Hillsdale, Michigan, attended college in Alameda County while his father was professor there, and when twenty-two years of age, entered the law offices of DIRLAM and LEHMAN at Mansfield, Ohio. He completed his studies in the office of Judge Turner A. GILL at Kansas City, Missouri, being admitted to the Missouri bar May 1, 1878.  Mr. BELL for twenty years was engaged in a successful law practice at Kansas City, and during that period of his life was elected a member of the Missouri State Legislature, serving from 1881 to 1882.

 

Since 1898 Mr. BELL has practiced as a member of the San Francisco bar.  He specializes in corporation law, and has handled much notable litigation.  In 1904 he became chief counsel for the San Francisco, Oakland and San Jose Railroad Company, and for the Oakland Traction Company, since which he has had his offices in Oakland.

 

Mr. BELL married in 1880 Miss Catherine WILSON, a daughter of A.C.J. and Margaret WILSON, who were pioneers of Santa Barbara, California.  Of the four children born to their marriage, two, Walworth and Marjorie died in infancy.  The son, Traylor W. BELL, who is a graduate of the University of California, is now associated with his father in the law firm of BELL, BELL and SMITH, the junior partner being Stanley SMITH.  Traylor W. BELL married Miss Helen CHASE of Oakland, daughter of Quincy A. CHASE and they have a son, Harmon Chase BELL.  The second son of Mr.  BELL is Joseph Samuel BELL, now in the dramatic profession.  During the World war he was a second lieutenant, stationed in Kentucky.

 

During the World war Harmon BELL was food administrator of Oakland, and served as one of the dollar a year men with the Government. He is affiliated with Oakland Commandery of the Knights Templars, is a thirty-second degree Scottish Rite Mason, a member of Aahmes Temple of the Mystic Shrine at Oakland, is former president of the Oakland Chamber of Commerce, is former trustee of the Presbyterian Church, and belongs to the Sequoia Club, Claremont Country Club, Oakland Lodge of Elks.  Athenian Nile Club, and Oakland Parlor of the Native Sons of the Golden West.