Nellie Bell
Nellie wrote her diary in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and included entries from 1893-1894, and 1895. She was 12-14 years old, lived with her family, and had a life full of school and friends. She would later own a gift shop and lived with her sister, Kate, until her death.
Introduction
To orient yourself to the time and place, please read about Minneapolis-St. Paul in the Introduction to Bessie Dunklee’s story. She and Nellie lived there at overlapping times- Bessie from 1862-1887 and Nellie from 1881-1942. At this time, Minneapolis was growing into a major city due partly to the railroad crossing the Mississippi River there, making it an important hub for jobs, people, and goods headed West. It must have been an exciting place to live.
Nellie was born to Fred Bell (1852-1927) and Helen “Nellie” (Plummer, 1848-1921) in May of 1881. She was followed shortly by her sister, Kate (1882-1960), in November of 1882. Fred was originally from a large family in Vermont, but moved to Minneapolis sometime before 1875. His older brother, Vernon (1837-1932), moved there in 1866 and, according to his obituary, became a “pioneer electrician and electrical contractor” in 1878 that was “credited with having done the first electrical work west of Chicago.” Fred joined Vernon as an electrician in Minneapolis and their half-brother, Wilbur (1858-1932), later joined them in 1888, although he worked as a traveling salesman and not an electrician. Vernon and his son, Charles (1868-1963), organized the Vernon Bell & Son Co., and I believe that Vernon, Fred, and Charles ran the business together.
Nellie’s mother, Helen “Nellie,” was born in Pennsylvania, but moved to Minnesota by the time she was 5 years old. At the time, Minnesota wasn’t yet a state and was called the Minnesota Territory. It would become a state in 1858. Helen’s father was a farmer and she was the only girl in her large sibling group of eight! Helen and Fred married on January 5th, 1876 in Minneapolis.
When we meet Nellie, she is 12 years old and attending school. The family lives at 2532 Nicollet St. in what seems like a middle class area of the city. Her neighbors are physicians, grocers, jewelers, and bank clerks. Nellie’s life is wrapped up in her family and the dramas, crushes, and excitement of any young teenager.
The Diary
Nellie’s diary is a little notebook from the clothing store, Browning, King & Co. that was located on the same street that she and her family lived on, at 800 Nicollet Avenue, in Minneapolis. It is in beautiful condition despite the fact that, not only is it at least 129 years old, but Nellie wrote in it over a few years of her life. The dates of her entries are difficult to keep track of because she jumped around in time quite a bit. The first few pages of the diary were used to write down a few addresses and then Nellie included dates from May and July of 1895. Then, there are a few blank pages, and we join Nellie again in March of 1893. Sometimes she makes a habit of writing in the diary consistently, including entries almost every day, and then she also sometimes skips entire months. All in all, we have from March, 1893 to July, 1894, and then just two entries from May and July of 1895. Also, Nellie wrote in pencil which hasn’t always held up well over the years, making her writing difficult to read at times.
I should also note that Nellie tends to refer to most of the people in her diary by either their first initial or their first and last initials, making it impossible to figure out who they were. This mostly applies to her friends from school. I usually love to track down all of the people discussed in a diary because, especially in the case of a teenager for whom friends are so important, it helps to paint the picture of their full lives. Here, unfortunately, I haven’t been able to do that often.
In her diary, Nellie writes about the goings-on in her life and the life of her family. Obviously, this is what most Diary Writers write about, but the topics that they focus on can inform us about their priorities and the aspects of life that they find most important or interesting. For Nellie, this is mainly the social dramas that go along with being a pre-teenaged girl: fights with friends that wound her deeply, recording who has a crush on whom, and the events happening with members of her family.
When we join Nellie in March 1893, she tells us that she and Jessie B, presumably a student in her class, won a prize for their Composition and this information was sent to the local paper. I wonder if she started the diary to record this event; perhaps she was proud of this accomplishment. Unfortunately, the paper didn’t print the story of their win. In the following days, she makes molasses candy at home, has a new suit made, finds a duck nest with eggs, and she and her sister, Kate, make dinner for their mother when she has a cold.
It seems that Nellie’s family is religious. She comments on reading her Bible and she attends Sunday School weekly. She also wrote on April 1st, 1893, “I try to do as God wants me to but it is hard sometimes.” This reminds me of a passage in Sophronia’s diary from February 23rd, 1866, “Lilie and I talked about religion. O if I was only prepared to die.” Both girls express their struggles to comply with their religious expectations. It always hurts my heart when young girls express sadness or guilt over religion.
After that, Nellie’s life continues as usual- music lessons, curling her hair for school, and playing games with friends. She talks about LOTS of friends- Ethel, Harry, Forrest, Elma, Norbert, Charley, E.E, H.A., N.C., C.B., E.W., H.C., etc., etc. By Valentine’s Day, the big story is who is getting a card from whom (again, just like Sophronia). Also, her family members spend time together- she, Kate, and their father visit family, her Aunts and Uncles visit their home, and in June, her Uncle Wilbur is visited by a female friend, Miss Palmer, prompting Nellie to wonder if she might have a new Aunt soon.
While Nellie has many friends and family in her life, it’s the relationship and quarrels with her friend “N” that take up a lot of her thoughts in the diary. She worries that N doesn’t “care for her” anymore after a fight they have and there is angst about other friendships becoming more important to her. I can remember being that age and how important friendships between girls felt, how heavy and consequential. Sure, girls had crushes on boys, and Nellie comments on that as well, but crushes felt light and fun, something to giggle about at the lunch table. Relationships with girlfriends, however, felt much more important and emotional. Nellie mentions that N is mad at her, that they made up from a fight, or that she wishes that N would visit her 13 times in this short diary. It all seems to start on June 10th, 1893, when Nellie writes, “I think N is mad at me.” Then, on June 15th, she describes a dream that she had about N:
I haven’t seen N since Tuesday. I wish N would come down. It to hot to go up there. I laying in the hammock. It is real cool here. I had the funnyest dream last night. I dream that I had a party and Mama wouldn’t let me ware anything but the sateen skirt and waist*. When I went there I didn’t see anybody out so I went in a church that was next door until K came then we both went to it. The people were all there but then couldn’t find N anywhere. I dream the party was from 8 to ten at night and I didn’t get there until half past eight because I went in the church then I woke up.
Perhaps I’m reading too much into it, but I think it is interesting that she dreams that she couldn’t find N at a party during a reallife fight they are having. In the next entry from the 19th, Nellie describes another event having to do with N:
Went to S.S. picnic. Played with N a little and then she went off and acted as if she didn’t care for me. Had a real nice time. Went to loadland* with Hatie. Hattie J. fell down a bank and fractured her nose. H.P. and C.W. went with us. We siate* then race. It was fun. Uncle W. and Miss P went too. Would have a lovely if it hadn’t been for N. I couldn’t help seeing she doesn’t care for me. Hope met her down at the boat launching and told her I was hunting all over for her and she said, “I don’t care, let her hunt.”
It’s these events that might be easy to dismiss, especially as adulthood makes us feel distant from our pre-teen selves, but I recall these relationships and dramas feeling very important and acute as a young girl. I’m sure that this event was painful for Nellie to experience. Over the next few days, Nellie writes a note to N asking her to come over, but she doesn’t. N eventually tells a friend that she will come visit Nellie’s house, but again she doesn’t. This causes Nellie to feel more desperate. On June 23rd, she wrote:
N didn’t come as she said she would. I saw her at church in the evening but she seem mad at me. She would hardly stop to speak to me but went right off with H.J. I don’t see what I done that she should treat me so, she the girl I care more for than any other. I don’t believe she likes me at all but I am not mad at her and wish she would come down.
By July 1st, Nellie’s desperation for N continues to spiral downwards. She includes an entry about N, but at some point later goes back to scratch out the words. She does this a few times in the diary; she writes something like a name or event and then goes back later to scribble over it. I always find it interesting when Diary Writers attempt to conceal information in their diaries. By their very nature, diaries are meant to be private. In the case of Bessie, she invented and sometimes wrote in a code when she was writing about her fears she was pregnant in an attempt, I think, to hide this news from her husband should he read her diary. In Nellie’s case, I don’t get any indication that she fears someone else might read her diary; I wonder if the information she scribbles out is just too upsetting for her to revisit herself.
In this entry about N, Nellie is grappling with the idea of getting “along without her” should their friendship not recover from this fight, and later scratches out 5 whole lines of writing:
I went to Sunday school and saw N. I think she must be (scratched out) she acts so quear. I am so sorry if she is for I (5 lines scratched out) hard to get along without her.
Then, miraculously, on July 8th, Nellie writes, “N is not mad at all.” Just like that, everything is alright again! Goodness, I’m not sorry to be through with this time in life! In the last two entries from July 15th and 25th, Nellie includes N when she describes having fun with friends at Sunday School and friends coming over to her home for a visit.
While Nellie spends a lot of time and energy thinking and worrying about her relationship with N, the relationship with her sister, Kate, is no less important. In the diary, Nellie only mentions Kate 5 times and does so almost in passing, but the events she describes exemplify the closeness they have even then. For example, when their mother is sick, Kate and Nellie make her dinner; Nellie is given 3 “cigarette pictures,” and she gives one to Kate; and the sisters visit family with their parents. On June 12, 1893, Nellie wrote, “Mama and Kate came home tonight. K and I layed in the hammock until ten oclock at night.” This image seems so sweet to me- two sisters laying under the stars in a hammock together, excited that they are staying up late together. Nellie is only a year and a half older than Kate and this relationship will continue to be important to Nellie for the rest of her life.
After
After the diary ends, Nellie continues to live with her parents and attend school. In 1900, when Nellie is 19 years old, she, Helen, Fred, and Kate, along with two boarders, are still in the house on Nicollet Ave. and Nellie is still attending school.
One thing I always do when researching a Diary Writer is to look up their name in newspaper archives, and over the next few years Nellie came up in a few. Each article had to do with a social event she attended- a surprise party for her mother, a “midwinter picnic,” a wedding, and a gathering of friends. All except the last took place after the diary was written, but I have included them all here. I didn’t find any facts of real significance in any of these newspaper clippings, except that they help to round out the story of Nellie’s life and give us a glimpse into what it was like to live in Minneapolis as a young woman at the time. I also liked to see that Nellie’s sister, Kate, other members of Nellie’s family, and other girls that we knew were her friends were often mentioned having fun together in newsworthy ways!
Star Tribune, Minneapolis, Minnesota, 21 Jun 1891, Page 10
The Minneapolis Journal, Minneapolis, Minnesota, 27 Feb 1908, Page 8
The Minneapolis Journal, Minneapolis, Minnesota, 06 Jan 1909, Page 8
Star Tribune, Minneapolis, Minnesota, 10 Jan 1909, Page 19
Star Tribune, Minneapolis, Minnesota, 09 Jul 1911, Page 16
In 1910, Nellie’s family are still living together on Nicollet Ave., but she is listed as a Saleslady at an art store and Kate is a Saleslady at a bookstore. Just 3 years later, Nellie moved out of her parents’ home and into Groveland Park, where she is still listed as a Clerk in the Minneapolis directory. It could be the same shop from 1910 because directories from many following years call the shop a “Gift & Art Shop,” and give the name- The Gift Loft. In the 1920 census, Nellie is listed as the owner of the shop, so it seems that she has bought the shop that she was previously a clerk at! I find this fascinating as it must have been unlikely for a woman at the time to be a small business owner.
Between 1920 and 1930, Nellie and Kate loose both of their parents. On October 22nd, 1921, Nellie’s mother died and on April 16th, 1927, her father died. Fred’s obituary described him as a “pioneer northwest electrical contractor.”
By 1930, Nellie and Kate are living together and working in Nellie’s shop. Kate had lived with her parents until sometime after 1920, but I imagine that, after they died, she moved in with Nellie. Nellie and Kate worked in Nellie’s shop until the day Nellie died- April 8th, 1942. She was 60 years old. Neither Nellie nor Kate ever married. In the 1950 census, Kate is listed as owning a business that does “card publishing.” Could it be that Nellie left the shop to Kate and that she was running it on her own? This seems to be the case because in the 1952 Minneapolis directory, she is still living at Groveland Park and managing The Gift Loft. Kate died on February 21st, 1960 at the age of 77. She, Nellie, and Fred are all buried in Minneapolis’ Lakewood Cemetery together.