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Daniel Bell
Black Smith Striker
circa 1804 -1877
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Introduction:
In 1848 Daniel Bell ( AKA Beall) a black freeman and former slave employed in the Anchor Shop of Washington Navy Yard played important
role in helping to organize one the greatest and most daring attempts to free enslaved African Americans during the whole antebellum era .
Daniel Bell was born circa 1804, in Prince Georges County, Maryland; his owner had rented him out to the Washington Navy Yard where he
worked as a laborer in the Anchor Smith's shop. Bell had worked for twenty years as a blacksmith striker wielding a heavy hammer to fashion
metal anchor chain, anchors and other nautical items. Daniel Bell married Mary (maiden name unrecorded) probably in a slave ceremony where
the young couple would have promised to love, honor and remain till death or distance drove them apart. The couple had six children who
became the property of Mary Bell's owners Robert and Susannah Armstead (also spelled Armistead). Robert Armstead was Master Ship
Caulker at the Washington Navy Yard. Working at the ship yard Daniel Bell came to know Robert Armstead better and was able to persuade
him on 14 September 1835 to manumit Mary and the couple's six children. Their manumission is an example of prospective freedom since
the document states that Mary Bell was to be set free at Robert Armstead's death while the children would be set free when they reached specified
ages as set forth in the manumission document; e.g. Andrew Bell then sixteen was to be set free at age forty while his sister Mary E. Bell then
age 8 was to be set free at age 30, etc. Mary Bell was apparently allowed her provisional freedom prior to Robert Armstead's death as to work
for wages. When Daniel Bell's owner heard of the couple's nominal good fortune he became angry and fearful that Daniel might now runway.
Moving quickly Daniel's owner sold him to a salve trader who came to the anchor shop while Bell was at work, and without warning he was
knocked down, manacled and carried to a slave pen on 7th Street.
After many trials and tribulations he was finally able to buy his freedom
from his owner in 1847 for $ 1,630.00.
Robert Armstead died in 1838 and on his death an inventory of his estate reflected his total assets as: $1, 299.25 but almost the entire
amount enumerated was the market value of Mary Bell and her six children. Robert Armstead's widow, Susannah, moved to contest the
Bell family manumission and in the District Court she stated that she and her own children secured their sole support from renting out the
Bell children for wages. After lengthy court proceedings Susannah Armstead finally prevailed and received a judgment in her favor, the
judgment set aside the manumission and gave her the legal authority to sell the Bell children. Daniel Bell perceiving Mrs Armstead would
try to sell his children was desperate to do something to prevent the breakup of his family. Although we do not know all the details Daniel Bell
sought help from agents of the underground railway to assist them in their flight north. Because these escape arrangements were made out of
necessity in secret it is uncertain exactly who the leaders of this venture were. Scholars who have closely studied the Pearl escape such as:
Josephine F. Pacheco author of The Pearl a Failed Slave Escape on the Potomac and Mary Ann Rick's author
of Escape on the Pearl, the Heroic Bid for Freedom on the Underground Road, believe that the plot to gather a large group of enslaved
African Americans on the Schooner Pearl and make a brake for freedom was the product of the cooperation of northern abolitionists
supplying financing who worked closely with members of the black community in the District of Columbia. Both Pacheco and Ricks believe
Daniel Bell was actively involved in the plot and both scholars acknowledge that Anthony Blow an enslaved worker also employed in the
Washington Navy Yard Anchor Shop was most likely knowledgeable of the plot. Many other members of the black community including some
employees at the Washington Navy Yard probably knew of the plan (Michael Shiner's Diary does not mention the Schooner Pearl given
the size and number of African Americans on the Yard we can safely surmise that Michael Shiner knew both Daniel Bell and Anthony Blow but
for obvious reasons did not record any mention of their acquaintance or the escape plan.)
The result was that the Mary Bell and the Bell children were to attempt a dangerous and clandestine passage on the Schooner Pearl.
On the evening of 15 April 1848, seventy-six enslaved African Americans (38 men, 26 women and 13 children) and three white crewmen
attempted one of history's most audacious escapes. The Schooner Pearl was docked at the foot of 7th Street on the
Anacostia River within the present grounds of the Washington Navy Yard but then a comparatively isolated area of open fields sheltered by
steep earthen bank. After loading the fugitives, the Pearl got under way, slipped out of Washington, D.C., and sailed down the Potomac River.
The night was calm, and only the current propelled the ship downstream. After traveling about half a mile, the Pearl met the incoming tide and
anchored. Near dawn a breeze rose from the north, and the ship and her cargo once again proceeded toward freedom. At the mouth of the
river, the ship encountered strong northerly winds that prevented it from sailing up the Chesapeake Bay, and again it anchored.
About noon on next day, an armed pursuit party aboard the steamboat Salem left Washington in fast pursuit of the fugitives. Early in the
morning of 17th, as the passengers and crew on board the Pearl slept, engine noise and footsteps on the deck awakened
the expedition's leader, Daniel Drayton. As they had no weapons, Drayton advised the crew and passengers not to resist. The Pearl's crew and
fugitives were now placed on the Salem under close guard and were returned to Washington. They where then paraded down Seventh
Street not far from the Washington Navy Yard where Daniel Bell had worked while white mobs screamed "lynch them!" Eventually Mary Bell, the
Bell children and the other fugitives and the ships crew were all placed in the city prison and the crew held on $ 76,000 per individual and the
slave owners advised to reclaim their property. After the Pearl escapees were recaptured, most of the apprehended slaves were resold and
transported to the Deep South.
See : Bruin's Slave Jail
Fortunately for Daniel Bell (as a freeman) he was not aboard the Pearl and consequently was not incarcerated, although he was most likely
interrogated as was his workmate Anthony Blow. Susannah Armstead and other slave owners reclaimed their property and made arrangements
with slave traders to sell the fugitives. All the while Daniel Bell had to endure the horrible knowledge that his wife and children were now in jail
or in the hands of slave dealers. Daniel Bell sought to purchase his family with the help of abolitionists and other sympathetic individuals, but he
was only able to raise enough money to secure Mary and two of their younger children
(The U.S. Census for the
District Of Columbia records that Daniel Bell's household consisted of Daniel Bell 46 a laborer, his wife Mary Bell age 48, Thomas Bell age 5. )
Based on available records four of the Bell children were returned to bondage. Carolina and Eleanora Bell were finally freed in the 1862
District of Columbia Emancipation Act. Daniel Bell's son Daniel Bell junior was sold south to with other Pearl fugitives by the firm of Bruin
and Hill slave dealers and eventually came to New Orleans where he is recorded on the 1880 census.
The 1860 U.S. Census for the District of Columbia enumerates Daniel Bell age 58 and his wife Mary age 58 living in the 7th Ward
with real estate valued at $ 1,500 and personal property worth 100.00. Daniel Bell's last years were probably spent searching for his children
and the daily struggle to know there uncertain fate.
At the time of his death in 1877 Daniel Bell was able to leave a modest estate to his wife Mary and their surviving children and grandchildren.
Daniel Bell had taken a daring bid for freedom and his family had suffered greatly. His last will and testament is an eloquent and poignant
reminder of slavery's toll in human misery, scattered families and crushed hopes that lingered well beyond the Emancipation Proclamation.
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Bibliography
First a special note my thanks and admiration to Josephine F. Pacheco author of The Pearl a Failed Slave Escape on the Potomac
and Mary Ann Rick's author of Escape on the Pearl, the Heroic Bid for Freedom on the Underground Road for their superb histories.
Each of these fascinating accounts is excellently researched, well written narrative of one of the greatest attempts to free enslaved African
Americans. Both Josephine Pacheco and Mary Ann Ricks provide remarkable and insightful historical detail and each helped me greatly to
appreciate and understand Daniel Bell, and his heroic attempt to rescue his family and help them escape a life of slavery.
Master Caulker Robert Armistead's name is listed on the Washington Navy Yard April 1829 Employee Listing
Washington Navy Yard 1829 Employees
Manumission of Mary Bell & Children District of Columbia Manumission and Emancipation Record 1821 -1862
District of Columbia Archives Vol. 2, pages 404-405 dated 14 September 1835
also See Dorothy Provine District of Colombia Free Negro Registers 1821 -1861
Volume 2 page 279 Registration Number 1312 Heritage Books Inc Bowie MD 1996.
Blessingame, John W. Slave Testimony Two Centuries of Letters, Speeches and Interviews
Louisiana State University Press Baton Rouge 1977
Bordewich, Furgus M. Bound for Canaan The Underground Railroad and the War for the soul of America
Amistad Publishers, New York 2006.
Drayton, Daniel Four Years and four Months A Prisoner for Charity Sake in the Washington Jail Including a Narrative of the Voyage
and Capture of the Schooner Peal
American and Foreign anti- Slavery Society, New York 1853.
Daniel Drayton, Captain of the Schooner Pearl wrote this important narrative of the voyage capture of the fugitives and his long imprisonment in
the Washington Jail which is available on line :
On-Line version
Green, Constance Mc Laughlin. Washington Village and Capital.
Vol.1: 1800-1878. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1962-63.
Green, Constance Mc Laughlin. The Secret City: A History of Race Relations in the Nation's Capital. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1967.
Pacheco, Josephine F. The Pearl a Failed Slave Escape on the Potomac.
Chapel Hill, University of North Carolina Press, 2006.
Ricks, Mary Ann. Escape on the Pearl, the Heroic Bid for Freedom on the Underground Road.
New York, Harper Collins, 2007
Daniel Bell junior and may of the other Pearl fugitives were sold to Joseph Bruin of the firm Bruin and Hill ran a highly lucrative slave dealing
operation from a federal style building located at 1707 Duke St., in Alexandria, Virginia.
http://www.nps.gov/nr/travel/underground/va1.htm
The Building is currently used as business offices, and is not open to the public. Duke Street also houses the building used by most notorious
of slave dealers Armfeild and Nichloson as a slave jail see for photo of this important building.
Reward Notices for Runaway Apprentices and Runaway Slaves
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Transcription
This transcription was made from a copy of the holographic manuscript of the Last Will and Testament of Daniel Bell, 1877 Box 63,
filed in the District of Columbia Orphan's Court (Probate Court). The spelling, capitalization, punctuation e.g. dash instead of periods and
use of ampersands are those of the original document. The last page (signature page) of Daniel Bell's will is missing. My thanks once again to
Mr. Ali Rahmann Archivist, District of Columbia Archives, for generously providing a copy of the Daniel Bell's last will and testament for this
transcription
John G. Sharp
November 11, 2008
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In the name of God, Amen - I Daniel Bell of the City of Washington in the District of Columbia being of sound and disposing mind, memory
and understanding, but weak and failing in body and health and having in view the certainty of death and the uncertainty of the time thereof,
and being desirous to arrange, settle and dispose of my worldly affairs, estate and property, do make publish and declare this is my last will
and testament, hereby revoking and annulling all other and former wills and testaments by one heretofore made, and first commending my
soul to God and my to my friends and relations for decent burial, I do give, devise and bequeath as follows, that is to say:
After the payment, out of my personal estate, of my just debts, funeral expenses and the expenses of the settlement of my estate I do give
bequeath to my well beloved and devoted wife Mary Bell, in the event she shall survive me, all my estate and property real personal and mixed
of which I may die sized or possessed, where so ever the same may lie or be situated; to be used, controlled, managed and enjoyed by her for
and during her natural life -
Secondly: I desire and direct that, in the event my said wife Mary Bell does not survive m. or if she does that at her decease and the termination
of the life estate therein hereby created in her favor, all my real estate as also all such of my personal property, personal or mixed as may in either
case remain and be existing undisposed of shall be sold by the executors of this my last will and testament upon what may in his judgment be the
most advantageous terms as to price, time and manner of payment so as to have said property produce in the shortest period of time the largest
possible amount of money, and I give and bequeath of the proceeds that shall be realized from such sale an equal one fifth part thereof to my
daughter Caroline; an equal one fifth part to my son Daniel; and equal one fifth part to my daughter Mary Allen; an equal one fifth part to my
grandchildren the sons and daughters of my deceased daughter Harriet share and share alike and the remaining equal one fifth part to my
granddaughter Caroline Bell the daughter of my now deceased daughter Norah to his, her and their several use and benefit absolute and
forever-
But in the event either of my said daughters Caroline and Mary Allen or my said son Daniel shall not be living when the time for making
such sale shall arrive but shall have left child or children of such deceased son or daughter the equal one fifth part of the said proceeds that would by
virtue hereof go his, her or their father or mother were such father or mother alive to receive the same, share and share alike, if their be more then
one such child, his, her or their use and benefit absolutes and forever-
And I desire and direct, that at the time the proceeds of the sale of my said property shall be ready for distribution any one of my
grandchildren entitled to a proportional share thereof under the provisions of this will, whether it shall be the said granddaughter Caroline Bell
or the children of my deceased daughter Harriet or the surviving child or children of my said daughters Caroline and Mary Allen or of my only
said son Daniel, shall be a minor or unmarried that the portion of such proceeds to which such child or children will be entitled under the
provisions of this will shall be invested under the direction of the Probate Court of the District of Columbia for his or her sole and exclusive
use and benefit until he or she arrive at the age of maturity or shall marry whereupon the same shall be immediately paid over and delivered
to him or her as the case may be.
But whereas I have not for three years last past had or received any knowledge or information in regards to the whereabouts or life or
death of my hereinbefore married daughter Mary Allen the bequest herein made for her or to her surviving children is made upon the condition
precedent that she or her surviving children present herself or themselves to receive the same within two years next after my death, if my said
wife shall survive me or within two years after the death of my said wife if she shall survive me-
And I do make, constitute and appoint my friend Peter Bacon of the said City of Washington to be my executor of this my last will
and testament hereby requesting that he not be required to give bond -
[Here the manuscript breaks off as the last page is missing]
DISTRICT of COLUMBIA } SUPREME COURT OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
}to wit HOLDING A SPECIAL TERM
County of Washington }
July 31st 1877
This day appeared John N. Oliver
one of the subscribing witnesses to the foregoing last will and testament of
Daniel Bell late of Washington County aforesaid deceased and made oath on the Holy
Evangels of Almighty God, that he did see the Testator therein named, sign and seal this
will; that he published, pronounced and declared the same to be his last will and
testament; that at the time of so doing he was to the best of his apprehension, of sound
and disposing mind, memory, and understanding , and capable of executing a valid deed
or contract, and that his name as witness tot he aforesaid will, was signed in the presence
and at the request of the Testator and in the presence of Luther H. Pike and R.E.
Hamilton, the other subscribing witnesses.
TEST: M.E. Eastin
Register of Wills
DISTRICT of COLUMBIA } SUPREME COURT OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
}to wit HOLDING A SPECIAL TERM
County of Washington }
August 1st 1877
This day appeared Luther H. Pike
one of the subscribing witnesses to the foregoing last will and testament of
Daniel Bell late of Washington County aforesaid deceased and made oath on the Holy
Evangels of Almighty God, that he did see the Testator therein named, sign and seal this
will; that he published, pronounced and declared the same to be his last will and
testament; that at the time of so doing he was to the best of his apprehension, of sound
and disposing mind, memory, and understanding , and capable of executing a valid deed
or contract, and that his name as witness tot he aforesaid will, was signed in the presence
and at the request of the Testator and in the presence of John N. Oliver and R.E.
Hamilton, the other subscribing witnesses.
TEST: M.E. Eastin
Register of Wills
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