1854 Howard Johnston, East Hampton, Mass Letter to Abraham Bell
Sending money to Ireland---
Abraham Bell played a very
important role in the immigration of Irish to America prior to the Civil
War. Abraham was a very successful merchant and ship builder,
particularly clipper ships, which in their time were the fastest sailing
ships afloat. Abraham Bell and Co. was a firm of Quaker shipping and
commission merchants in New York City. It had trading contacts in
Belfast and Dublin, Ireland, and Liverpool and London, England, as well
as in the United States. Although the firm imported and exported a
variety of commodities, cotton appears to have been its mainstay. During
the potato famine of the 1840s, Bell transported thousands of
immigrants from Ireland. In 1844, the company name changed to Abraham
Bell and Son. Abraham was friends with Horace Greeley, the editor of the
New York Herald newspaper. Greeley was famous for coining the phrases
"On To Richmond"(at start of Civil War) and "Go West Young Man". Abraham
was a board member of several New York fire insurance companies and was
one of New York City's most prominent and wealthy citizens. He had a
huge estate in the burrow of Flushing. The family home is long gone, but
Bell Blvd is a major highway in Flushing and was named for Abraham.
Initially, Abraham Bell was in partnership with Robert H. Bowne and
Jacob Harvey. The earliest listing of Bell as a merchant occurs in the
New York City directory of 1804-1805; in 1835 the company location moved
to 117 Fulton, which was also Bell's home. In 1824, Abraham Bell
purchased a farm in Bayside, New York, which was managed by one of his
Bell nephews.