CHARES [Charles?] E. BELL dates his birth in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on the 11th of August, 1843. At the age of eleven years, he went with his parents to Rock Island, Illinois, where he was reared to mercantile pursuits. In August, 1861, he enlisted in Company D, of the Twelfth Illinois Volunteer Infantry, and served until mustered out at Springfield, Illinois, in June, 1865. Returning to Rock Island, he was engaged in the grain business with his father for two years, then railroading until 1872, when he again returned to Rock Island and was engaged in various pursuits until coming to his present farm in Minden township in August, 1879. Mr. Bell was married to Sophia Bickel, of Scott county, Iowa, in 1871. They have one daughter, named Ida.

History of the Upper Mississippi Valley (1881) p. 362 [Minden]