Robert Bell

Abt 1580 - 1657  (77 years)

• Name	Robert Bell  [1]
  Birth	Abt 1580	England   [2]
  Gender	Male
  Biography	1620  [1]
  	During the early 1620's Robert Bell of England became involved in determining the future of the Virginia colony and this, in time, led to the settlement of his descendants on the Eastern Shore of Virginia. Between 1614 and 1622 the population of Virginia grew rapidly as the colony attempted to increase tobacco production. The London Company gave colonists numerous titles to land and fostered settlements throughout Eastern Virginia. Many of the native Indians perceived the expanding colony as a threat to them and in 1622 a coordinated attack by the Powhatan Indians on rural settlements left more than 300 settlers dead. As many as four thousand colonists perished from various causes between 1618 and 1623 across Virginia and in retrospect, it was obvious that immigration and settlement had proceeded too rapidly and haphazardly in Virginia. The colony's high mortality and the company's seeming mismanagement led to the Crown revoking the charter of the bankrupt and discredited Virginia Company of London in 1624. During that year, Robert Bell was appointed by James I as one of fifty-two Commissioners to determine the form and structure of a new government for Virginia as a Royal Colony. The government structure devised by the Commission replaced the Virginia Company of London as the governing authority in the settlements. According to research by J. F. Bell, Robert never came to the new world, but his son Thomas Bell did arrive at Jamestown in 1635. Another son, Robert Bell Jr., is thought to have come to Virginia earlier than Thomas, but documentation of the relationship is weak. A Robert Bell Jr. is listed as holding 37 acres in Virginia in 1618 and as among the "Names of Adventures that Dislike Ye P'nt Proceedings of Buziness in Ye Virg. and S. Ilands Companyes" in 1623. He is also named in the "List of Persons Fit to be Governor and Deputy Governor of Virginia & Somer Islands Companies" in April 1624. Little more is known of him or any descendants he may have had. One of the early actions of the Royal Colony of Virginia was to establish eight shires. In 1634, Accomack was formed as one of the original shires. The population on the Eastern Shore at that time was 396, a marked increase over that of a decade earlier. Accomack accounted for eight percent of the total population in the colony.
  Record ID	121818
  Death	1657	England   [1]
  Origins
  Person ID	I121818	MilesFiles23
  Last Modified	6 Sep 2022

  
  

  Family	Alice Colston,   b. Abt 1585, England d. England
  Marriage	26 Oct 1602	Leyton, St Mary the Virgin, County Essex, England   [2, 3]
  	They were shown as Robart Bell and Alice Conldston.
  Children	+ 1. Thomas Bell, Sr.,   b. 1617, Gravesend, Hertfordshire, England d. Bef 10 Dec 1678, Northampton County, Virginia, USA (Age < 61 years) ╚═ Mary Neale  m. Abt 1650
  Family ID	F41105	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
  Last Modified	13 Mar 2023

  
  

• Sources

  [S3176] Margaret (Bell) Taylor - 15 July 1995, Taylor, Margaret (Bell) - Bells of the E.S. of VA, (Copy provided by Suzanne Scott Taylor to M.K. Miles, Nov 2021), p. 1-2 (narrative about Robert Bell ( -1657) written by James B. Bell), 3176. [S802] Ancestry.com, https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/3279040:61698, 802. [S1927] Brundick, Eleanor, 1927.