Mr. Bell was born in Indiana county, Pennsylvania, April 22, 1832. He was reared principally in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, until reaching the age of seventeen years, when he left the home roof to begin life on his own account.

With an elder brother, Edmund, he came to Iowa, and spent the winter of 1849-50 in Allamakee County. Later, they visited Fillmore County, Minnesota, purchased land, and became pioneers of Newburg Township, in a community known as Belleville.

While returning from a visit in his old home in Pennsylvania, Mr. Harvey Bell married Miss A.A. Benton, a former schoolmate, at Davenport, Iowa, on July 14, 1857. The family lived many years in Belleville, then, in 1868, they removed to Houston County, Minnesota.

They left Minnesota in the spring of 1871 and located at Arcadia, in Carroll County, Iowa, where he was engaged in the grain and produce trade until coming to Manning.