Montgomery Bell - Character

Character

Bell was noted for sharp business practices; it was said of him that he would never pay a debt unless sued for it. He was also reputed to frequent prostitutes and to force his attentions upon female slaves. Earlier in his life he was also quick to whip male slaves for the slightest offense and was noted for the ferocity with which he would pursue those who ran away; later in his life he came to regard slavery as a great moral wrong and at the time of his death was in the process of freeing his slaves and arranging passage for many of them to Liberia. He seemingly had a particularly warm relationship with one slave, James Worley, whom he had acquired while in Lexington and who apparently had great ability as an engineer and who came to be regarded by Bell as more of a colleague and associate than a servant. Bell even named one of his iron works "Worley Furnace" in his honor, a very unusual honor for an African-American in the early 19th century. When, during a business trip to New Orleans, Bell was asked what he would take in trade for Worley, Bell reportedly replied, "I would not take all of New Orleans for him!"

Bell was always somewhat distant toward other people. Upon his arrival in the area, he had been one of the persons involved in the organization of the first Dickson County government, but Bell seemingly had little real interest in, or talent for, politics. He never married, and apparently never had any truly close friends other than, conceivably, the aforementioned Worley. As he aged, he became more secretive, even reclusive. He also lived a miserly existence, to the extent that, according to a witness, at the time of his death at the Narrows property snow was blowing onto his deathbed through a broken window that he had never arranged to have had repaired, despite his having, according to an inventory of his estate completed two years after his death, a net worth in cash and receivables alone in excess of $72,000. Bell was buried near the Narrows property in a cemetery in what was then still Dickson County; with the establishment of Cheatham County in the year following his death the place of his death and burial were included in the new county, not the one that he had for so long called home.