The Quarterly of the Texas State Historical Association, Volume 3, July 1899 - April, 1900 Page: 49

Peter Hansborough Bell.

PETER HANSBOROUGH BELL.
C. LUTHER COYNER.
Governor Bell sprung from a noble race and fought bravely
under three different flags. He was with Sam Houston at San
Jacinto under the Lone Star; he was with Taylor and wielded his
sword under the Stars and Stripes at Monterey and Buena Vista
in Mexico in 1847; and last he was a Confederate and followed the
Stars and Bars. He was inspector-general of Texas in 1839, was
captain of the Texas Rangers of Southwest Texas in 1845, was
twice elected Governor of Texas, and twice represented the West-
ern District of Texas in the United States Congress.
Peter Hansborough Bell, the son of Capt. James Madison Bell
and Elizabeth Hansborough Bell, was born March 11, 1810, in Cul-
peper county, Virginia, and died at his home near Littleton, N. C.,
March 16, 1898, 88 years old.'
The Bell family is Scotch-Irish. In Scotland it has produced a
number of great men. It is not often that three sons of one father
become eminent, but this is true of two branches of the Bell family
in Scotland within the last one hundred years. Sir William Bell's
three sons, born in Edinburgh, were Sir Charles Bell (1778-1842),
a world known surgeon; George Joseph Bell (1770-1843), a lawyer,
jurist, and author; and John Bell (1763-1820), author and trav-
eller. And Patrick Bell, of the West Scotland branch of the fam-
ily, had five sons, Andrew the surgeon, John the judge, Robert the
minister, Thomas the soldier, and Henry the author, all of whom
became noted in Scotland, England, and America.
Governor Bell is descended direct from Lord James Bell, of Bel-
haven, who lost his life fighting in the service of the Scottish
crown. A less remote ancestor was Lieutenant James Bell, who
went to Ireland in 1690 with William III and for his bravery in
battle received a grant of land near Enniskillen. There some of
his descendants still live. Four of them, however, all cousins,
1Pennybacker's New History of Texas has his name "Hansboro P. Bell,"
and says that "Governor Bell died in 1892."