Thomas S. Bell

Thomas Sloan Bell Sr. (October 22, 1800 – June 6, 1861) was an American judge, politician, and lawyer. A member of the Democratic Party from West Chester, Bell served as a justice of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania from 1846 to 1851 and as a Pennsylvania State Senator from 1838 to 1839 and 1858 to 1860. He was the father of Union Army Colonel Thomas S. Bell Jr.

Early life and career Bell was born in Philadelphia on October 22, 1800, to Jane (née Sloan) and William Bell. He read law under James Madison Porter and gained admittance to the Philadelphia bar in 1821. In May of that year, he moved to West Chester where he began to practice law. He was deputy attorney general of Chester County from 1823 to 1828 and served as a member of the board of visitors of the United States Military Academy in 1829, where he chaired a committee that reported on the state of the academy. In 1838, he served as a delegate representing Chester and Montgomery counties at the Pennsylvania Constitutional Convention.

Political and judicial career Bell won election as a Democrat to the Pennsylvania Senate and served from 1838 to 1839. His seat was contested in the Buckshot War, and he was compelled to step down in favor of his Whig opponent, Nathaniel Brooke, in early 1839.

From 1858 to 1860, Bell served as a state senator representing the 2nd Senate District (Chester and Delaware counties). Two of their sons became soldiers. Thomas Hemphill Bell was a career U.S. Army officer and West Point graduate who served in Alaska. Thomas S. Bell Jr. was a Union Army colonel who was killed in action at the Battle of Antietam in 1862.