A Cyclopaedia of Female Biography/Martin, Mrs. Bell
MARTIN, MRS. BELL,
Was daughter of Mr. Martin, a rich commoner. She inherited a very large landed property, several estates of which were in Ireland.
Miss Martin married her cousin, whose name was Bell; he took her family name by act of parliament. Mrs. Bell Martin was an authoress of some repute. She wrote "Julia Howard," a novel of considerable merit, and also several works in the French language.
But she was more eminent for her virtues than her genius. During the troublous times of the famine in Ireland, Mrs. Bell Martin attempted, in the spirit of true humanity, to prevent the poor people on her estates from suffering the horrible privations endured by the labourers in general. Her tenants amounted to as many as twenty thousand, and her lands to over two hundred thousand acres. She caused important improvements to be made, in order to give work and wages to the people, till her own means became straitened. Then, obliged to retrench her expenditures, she left her own country to travel in America and learn the manner of living in a republic where all are said to be in comfort. She was taken ill on the voyage, and died ten days after reaching New York, near the close of 1850