Jeremiah Bell was baptised, married and buried by the Church of England but his wife was a Wesleyan Methodist. His children were all baptised as non-conformists, perhaps a compromise between the two branches of the family. Oddly enough, his Uncle Jeremiah – after whom he was probably named – had some of his children baptised at the Moravian chapel in Baildon.
The Bell family in Baildon were all in the textile trade and Jeremiah was a weaver – which would mean a handloom weaver at this time and place. His father and uncles were recorded as owning their own homes and were liable to pay land tax, so they were quite successful in their trade. No doubt the huge Bradford mills would soon make it unprofitable.
Both Jeremiah and his wife died young: he never saw his last child, Jeremiah, who was born two months after his death in 1833.
Father of Thompson Bell and son of William and Mary Bell
Born Jere Bell on 22 February 1798 in Baildon, Yorkshire
Married Mary Robinson on 14 October 1822
Died 3 February 1833