Mason County, West Virginia Biography of ROBERT PIERRE BELL This biography was submitted by Valerie Crook, E-mail address: The submitter does not have a connection to the subject of this sketch. This file may be freely copied by individuals and non-profit organizations for their private use. All other rights reserved. Any other use, including publication, storage in a retrieval system, or transmission by electronic, mechanical, or other means requires the written approval of the file's author. This file is part of the WVGenWeb Archives. If you arrived here inside a frame or from a link from somewhere else, our front door is at http://www.usgwarchives.net/wv/wvfiles.htm The History of West Virginia, Old and New Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc., Chicago and New York, Volume III, pg. 444-445 Mason ROBERT PIERRE BELL, of Point Pleasant, Mason County, is a representative figure in newspaper circles in West Vir- ginia, where his precedence is based on his being editor, secretary-treasurer and general manager of the .Register Publishing Company of Point Pleasant, which issues both daily and weekly editions, and by his being also editor and agent, as well as publisher, of the Methodist Advocate- Herald, the official organ of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, in the Western Virginia Conference. The Point Pleasant Register was established in the year 1861 by George W. Tippett, who continued as its editor and publisher until he retired and was succeeded by his son Frank B., the latter having continued the publication of the weekly paper until 1909, when the plant and busi- ness passed to the control of the Register Publishing Com- pany, which is incorporated under the laws of the state, L. C. Sommerville being president of the company and Rob- ert P. Bell is secretary, treasurer and general manager. The weekly edition, with a circulation of 2,400, extends its influence over a wide radius of territory and is serving the second and third generations of citizens in its field. The daily Register has been published since 1916. and is main- tained at a high standard, both as a news and advertising vehicle. The printing plant, representing a valuation of $65,000, is one of the best of its kind in the state, the equip- ment including three linotype machines, one Duplex and one Optimus power presses, printing direct from paper rolls, and all other facilities of a modern newspaper and job- printing establishment. This plant also issues the Methodist Advocate-Herald, which was founded by the late Dr. T. S. Wade of Parkersburg, and which later was published by John A. Grose. In 1919 the publication passed to the own- ership and control of the Methodist Publishing Company, and Mr. Bell has since been editor and agent for this weekly periodical, which has wide circulation throughout the state and which is the official organ of the Western Virginia Con- ference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, this con- ference including West Virginia and portions of Virginia and Kentucky, to which states the circulation is extended. The Advocate-Herald is a sixteen-page weekly, issued on book paper of excellent grade, and is now in its twenty- sixth volume. George W. Tippett, founder of the Point Pleasant Reg- ister, was a practical newspaper man of wide experience, and was a pioneer in journalistic enterprise in West Vir- ginia, the Register having been established in the opening year of the Civil war and having from the beginning to the present been an effective advocate of the principles of the democratic party. Mr. Bell is also engaged in farming and stock raising in Mason County, and until recently was secretary of tlie Mason County Farm Bureau, of wliich he was one of the original organizers. Robert P. Bell was born at Grantsville, Calhoun County, West Virginia, June 18, 1883, and is a son of William E. and Rachel R. (Ferrell) Bell, both natives of Calhoun County, the respective families having been founded in what is now West Virginia in the period of the Revolu- tionary war. Samuel Bell, grandfather of the subject of this review, was a gallant soldier of the Confederacy in the Civil war, and sacrificed his life in the cause, his death having occurred at Alton, Illinois, where he was being held as a prisoner of war. Robert P. Bell passed the period of his childhood and early youth on his father's farm, and his initial incursion into the realm of the "art preservative of all arts" was made when he became an apprentice in the printing office of the old Grantsville Signal, of which C. H. Craddock was then editor and publisher. Later he advanced his education by taking an English course in Vanderbilt University, at Nashville, Tennessee, and in the meanwhile he proved his powers as a successful teacher in the public schools of his native state. In 1912 he became secretary of the Point Pleasant Nursery & Fruit Company, and in 1913 he became associated with the Point Pleasant Register, of which he has been editor and general manager since 1914, besides being secretary and treasurer of the Register Publishing Company. He is a past grand of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, in the Grand Lodge of which he has taken degrees also. His brother S. P. is a past grand master of the West Virginia Grand Lodge of this fraternity and a representative member of the bar of Spencer, Roane County, of which city he is serving as mayor in 1922. He was a delegate to the Sovereign Grand Lodge of the order at Baltimore, Maryland, and the family affilia- tion with the order has been one of prominence and influ- ence for a long period of years. Mr. Bell has also taken his initial step in the Masonic fraternity of Point Pleas- ant. He is also a member of the local Kiwanis Club. Mr. Bell has also served as mayor of the City of Point Pleasant. In 1914 he was the democratic nominee for clerk of the County Court of Mason County, being defeated by less than 100 votes, the county being considered repub- lican by from 1,000 to 2,000. June 1, 1909, recorded the marriage of Robert P. Bell and Miss Catherine L. Steinbach, who was born and reared in Mason County and who is a daughter of William C. and Sophia (Muench) Steinbach, the former of whom was a lad of thirteen years when he came to the United States from his native province of Saxony, Germany, his wife being a native of the United States, but her parents having been born in Germany. Mr. and Mrs. Steinbach still maintain their home at Point Pleasant. Mr. and Mrs. Bell have four children: William Edgar, Robert Emerson, Esther Lee and Richard Steinbach.