Montgomery Bell: Tennessee Frontier Capitalist

“In this intriguing masterpiece, John Williams unlocks the untold, true story of the legendary Montgomery Bell. With words and thoroughly researched facts, Williams weaves a portrait of a great yet complex man, who was an industrial giant and a life-long philanthropist, supporting educational opportunities for youth. But the story of Montgomery Bell also reveals Bell’s personal history and conflict with slavery, the overriding controversy during those turbulent times.”

“The ironworks of Montgomery Bell produced the cannonballs used to defeat the British at the Battle of New Orleans in 1815. Much later in his life, Bell emancipated a large number of his enslaved ironworkers and helped them establish themselves on the African continent. In this biography of Bell, John Williams covers these hallmarks of Bell’s long life and a great deal more. This book is an important addition to the history of Tennessee.”

“The first full length biography of Montgomery Bell, John Williams’ book paints a portrait of Bell that is sympathetic, thoroughly researched, and even-handed, reflecting Williams’ background as a well-respected and versatile Nashville attorney. The focus is broad, making it a work that touches on a number of contextual topics. In addition to piecing together Bell’s life and legacy, it offers valuable windows into an array of things, including the early nineteenth century iron industry, the American Colonization Society, and Tennessee slave codes regarding manumission.”

“Through careful review and interpretation of what few records exist, John Williams has painted a surprisingly full portrait of frontier industrialist Montgomery Bell. Using public land records, newspaper ads and announcements, and research to explain 18th and 19th century manufacturing processes, Williams follows Bell from his birth in 1769 in Chester County, Pennsylvania to his time in the Lexington, Kentucky area at the end of the 18th century, and then on to the Middle Tennessee frontier where he became the region’s leading iron producer. Bell’s life provides a window through which one can view how ambition, teamed with a tenacious spirit, can bring dramatic change to an area in a very brief time.”