Joshua Fry Bell

Joshua Fry Bell (November 26, 1811 – August 17, 1870) was a Kentucky political figure.

Bell was born in Danville, Kentucky, where he attended public schools and then Centre College, from which he was graduated in 1828. He then studied law in Lexington, Kentucky, travelling Europe for several years before returning and being admitted to the bar.

Bell was elected as a Whig to the 29th Congress in November, 1844. He did not seek reelection and served a single term in the House, March 4, 1845 – March 3, 1847. He served as Kentucky Secretary of State in 1849, and was sent by Kentucky as a commissioner to the Peace Conference held in Washington, D.C. in 1861 in an unsuccessful last-ditch effort to stave off what became the American Civil War.

Bell served in the Kentucky House of Representatives from 1862 to 1867. Union Democrats attempted to nominate him for Governor of Kentucky in 1863, but he declined their nomination. Bell died in 1870 in Danville. Bell County, Kentucky is named in his honor.

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