Title: The Bell Family in Nelson

Author: Robert Boyd

In: Nelson Historical Society Journal, Volume 06, Issue 01, 1996

Publication details: Nelson Historical Society (Inc.), 1996, Nelson

Part of: Nelson Historical Society Journal

License: Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 New Zealand

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West Indies and Scotland:

William Gordon Bell was then 62 years old. His wife, Alziere, was 70. The daughter of a French naval surgeon and a West Indian mother, she had married Scottish owner of the Bellevue Estate, Carriacou, West Indies. After his death Alziere married William G Bell who was the estate manager. A daughter, Margaret, was born in 1811. The prospect of the abolition of slavery and market competition depressing the sugar price was making the economics of the estate doubtful, and the family returned to Scotland. Here more children were born, Mary 1815, James 1817, Elizabeth 1818 and William Gordon, the Younger in 1820. The family lived and farmed near the village of New Abbey not far from Dumfries in the southwest of Scotland.