William Bell was a businessman and militia officer from Perth

Perth, Ontario

Perth is a town in the eastern portion of Southern Ontario, Canada . It is located on the Tay River, 83 km southwest of Ottawa, and is the seat of Lanark County.-History:...

, Upper Canada

Upper Canada

The Province of Upper Canada was a political division in British Canada established in 1791 by the British Empire to govern the central third of the lands in British North America and to accommodate Loyalist refugees from the United States of America after the American Revolution...

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William Bell had a twin brother, John and was the son of William Bell

William Bell (1780-1857)

William Bell was a Presbyterian minister, born in Scotland and an immigrant to Upper Canada.Bell and his family settled in Perth, Upper Canada in 1817. He was a significant figure in promoting and expanding...

, a Presbyterian missionary, who had arrived in Perth from Scotland in 1817.

William and his brother both apprenticed in the mercantile trade before forming a partnership and opening a store at Perth in 1828. Their aggressive merchandising style caused ill feelings amongst their competition. The most notable reaction was from William Morris

William Morris (Canadian businessman)

William Morris was a businessman and political figure in Upper Canada.He was born in Paisley, Scotland in 1786, the son of a Scottish manufacturer. His family came to Upper Canada in 1801, where his father set up an import-export business. The business failed and his father retired to a farm near...

with whom William had been apprenticed. The bad feeling ultimately divided Perth’s Presbyterian congregation where their father was the minister.