Charles James Bell was born in Walden, Vermont, on March 10, 1845, the fifth child of James Dean Bell and Carolyn Warner Bell. He served in Co. B, Fifteenth Vermont Volunteers, and Company C, First Vermont Cavalry during the Civil War. Bell held many offices in town and state, including school director, selectman, Secretary of the Board of Agriculture, and Secretary of the Cattle Commissioners. Bell ran a "progressive farm," described by The Vermonter (1901) as "one of Vermont's model farms, widely known and advertised by the excellence of its maple sugar and dairy products." Bell served as a State Representative (1882-1884) and a State Senator (1894-1896). He was active in the Grange at the local, state and national levels. Bell was governor of Vermont from 1904-1906. He is remembered for his refusal to pardon Mary Rogers, who was convicted of killing her husband and was the last woman put to death by the state in Vermont (1905). On October 4, 1870, Charles Bell married Mary Louise Perry of Cabot. They had two daughters, Adine Merritt Bell (1874-1956) and Jennifer Bell (1876-1938). Neither daughter married. Mr. Bell died on September 25, 1909, on a train in Grand Central Station, New York City; Mrs. Bell died on May 14, 1918.
From the description of C. J. Bell family diaries, 1878-1932. (Vermont Historical Society). WorldCat record id: 729247817
