GEORGE WASHINGTON BELL, was born on October 22, 1838, at Richmond, VA and was a newspaper editor before the war. On November 1, 1861 he enlisted as a Private in the 64th Illinois Infantry. He later served as United States Consul in Sydney as well as New Zealand for several years before going to England. He then returned to Australia and lectured extensively, authoring several books. He was married twice, first to Hanna (last name unknown) in Illinois in 1857, and after her death on November 27, 1879, to Mary O'Sullivan on December 23, 1898. Bell passed away at his residence in North Sydney on July 7, 1907∼Born Virginia; Appointed lieutenant company B, 64th Illinois Volunteer Infantry, November, 1861; served in the western theater of war during the Civil War; discharged July 21, 1864; after the war toured the country as a lecturer; later served in the foreign service of the United States State Department; appointed as U.S. Consul in Sydney, Australia, 1893 - 1900; arrived in Sydney aboard the steamer WARRIMOO, from Vancouver, in October, 1893; sent to New Zealand for a short while before returning to Sydney; married twice, first to Hanna, who died in 1879; later married his live-in nurse, Mary O'Sullivan; died at Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. [From the original research of the late Roy Parker of Sydney, with contributions by Barry Crompton of Melbourne and Bob Simpson of Beechworth, Victoria, and published, in 2000, in the volume, CIVIL WAR VETERANS IN AUSTRALIA, edited by Roy's daughter, Mrs. Virginia Crocker.]∼PLEASE NOTE: Although there are two previous entries for George Washington Bell, this entry has been submitted because of the fact that additional research has now conclusively proven that George Washington Bell was not born in Virginia, but in Ohio; also, one of the two previous entries shows an error in date of death as being in 1838.

Bell himself claimed to have been born in Virginia, but census records show his birthplace as Ohio, or Illinois; as well, a census record for one of his grown up children, Eugene, shown in a 1900 census, clearly shows that this child's father, namely George, had been born in Ohio; in 1860 George was residing as a school teacher, aged 22, with wife Hannah, and first child, Eugene, aged 3, in the town of Greenville, Bureau County, Illinois; Bell was a resident of Princeton, a very short distance from Greenville, when he enlisted, and was mustered in, November 1, 1861, as a private in company B of the 64th Illinois Volunteer Infantry; he was promoted 2nd lieutenant on August 8, 1861, and then to 1st lieutenant on June 3, 1862; he resigned his commissionon July 21, 1864; Bell is shown, in the 1870 census, as a farmer residing at Bureau County, Illinois with his first wife, New York born Hannah, as well as his three children, Eugene, aged 13, William, aged 5, and Seymore, aged 3, all born in Illinois; it is indicated that he had also held the occupation of lawyer, and had also edited one or two newspapers; he arrived in New South Wales, as United States Consul, aboard the steamer Warrimoo, from Vancouver, in October of 1893, and was re-appointed to that office, after his first term had terminated; he authored several works, including The Little Giants of the East, or Our New Allies, and Mr. Oseba's Last Discovery, and was in high praise of the British empire; Bell was extremely popular with the Australians he came into contact with, and it was reported that he "continued tomake himself an immense favourite with the citizensand colonists [of Australia] generally, and no public function was regarded as complete without his presence"; he married, a second time, in Australia, about 1900; a newspaper report, dated in August, 1906, stated: "Colonel Bell, the distinguished-looking American war veteran and silver-tongued orator, who wrote a nice little book about New Zealand,lectured at Corowa, New South Wales, recently. Wellington remembers the white haired old lecturer very well, and Wellington received him without venom. Corowa Labourites, however, heckled and insulted the old man so badly that he fell to the platform in a dead faint, and was removed for medical treatment."; died at his residence at Edward Street, North Sydney, on Sunday, July 7, 1907; buried Gore Hill Cemetery, North Shore, Sydney, New South Wales.

SOURCES:
Civil War Veterans in Australia, compiled by Virginia Crocker, and published in 2000 - containing the original research of the late Roy Parker of Sydney, Barry Crompton of Melbourne, Bob Simpson of Beechworth, Victoria, and Len Traynor, of Sydney;
1860 United States Census;
1870 United States census;
New York Times dated Wednesday, November 25, 1900, page 14;
New Zealand Free Lance dated 25 August, 1906, page 3;
Sydney Morning Herald dated Monday, July 8, 1907, page 7;
Toowoomba Chronicle dated Wednesday, July 10, 1907, page 8.∼George Washington Bell was born in Richmond, Virginia on October 22 1838, but there is no evidence to show he lived in Virginia beyond his first few years of life. His formative years were spent in rural Illinois but Bell presented "a genial Southern courtliness of manner" inherited from "a Virginian ancestry". He spent most of his adult life in the northern states. At the age of 23, when the Civil War began the call went out for volunteers. George Bell's father, Major William H. Bell, having resigned from the U.S. Army at the outbreak of the American Civil War, on May 28, 1861, was a Major of Ordnance commanding troops at the St. Louis Army Arsenal. St. Louis, being divided between Union and southern sympathies, it placed great stress on governmental agencies and soldiers alike, and all individual loyalties were questioned.
As such, George decided to enlist for military service joining the 64th Illinois Volunteer Infantry, known as "Yates Sharpshooters" and was assigned to Company B under the name George E. Bell; creating an error in his middle initial. He remained with that same company throughout his enlistment. The Yates Sharpshooters was a volunteer unit organized at Camp Butler, Illinois, as a Battalion of 4 Companies in December 1861 with two more Companies mustered in on December 31, 1861. On October 12, 1861, Washington Arsenal was notified, by the direction of President Lincoln, to send to Illinois 500 Harpers Ferry rifles, Model 1855. Most of the 500 rifles provided to Illinois were issued to the 64th Illinois Infantry; the Yates' Sharpshooters.
Bell was discharged on July 21, 1864, but while in the 64th Illinois Bell had been promoted; so that when he left the military he supposedly did so with the rank of Colonel.
After the war, Bell married his first wife Hanna, 22 years of age who died in 1879, and had three children; Eugene, Seymore and Blanch.

Upon his retirement from Consul service, Bell returned to the United States and then to England, later returning to Sydney. George Bell returned to the United States in 1896 and 1899, visiting Washington State on both trips. With the 1896 trip undertaken "to attend to private affairs", Bell left immediately for South Bend upon his arrival at San Francisco, staying for only the briefest of visits.

In Australia, George Bell acknowledged his first marriage, which had ended with his wife's death in 1879. However, it was not known in Australia that he had remarried in 1880. That wife, who may have been with him in South Bend, did not accompany Bell to Australia. In Australia, Bell was described publicly as a widower. It is possible Bell may have gotten a divorce, but all evidence found to date suggests the second marriage may have still been in effect when he remarried, on December 23, 1898 at the age of sixty years, to his second wife Mary O'Sullivan; who happened to be his live in nurse, and was only twenty years old at the time. He lived with Mary in Sydney until his death on July 7, 1907. His American wife Mary, of Iowa, outlived her husband. A resident of Iowa, Mary Bell was widely known as the widow of George Bell, former Minister to Australia.

Bell died in Sydney on Edward Street in North Sydney on July 7, 1907 at age 69. George W. Bell was buried in the Gore Hill Cemetery, grave 16, in the Church of England section E. Upon his death, Mary being his lawful wife was granted a veteran widows pension. The general unawareness of his given names, George William, was such that when he died in 1907, his obituary writer named him as George Washington Bell. The name perhaps reflects as well the degree to which Bell had come to personify America for Australians and he has been known by that name ever since.
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Additional Information from Gore Hill Cemetery Graves Index
Bell. George W. - Age 69, buried 09/07/1907. Other notes: 59 Edward Street North Sydney. (Occupation - Ex American Consul)