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Thomas
Cowan Bell was born near Dayton, Ohio,
and was 23 years old at the time of the
founding of Sigma Chi . His rooming place
at Oxford with his aunt, Mrs. Lizzie
Davis, became informally known as the
first chapter home of Sigma Chi.”
All of the members of Alpha chapter
either moved into the house or into the
immediate neighborhood and all ate at her
well - furnished table.
Bell is best remembered for his
exemplification of the qualities of
learning and friendship. He instilled an
atmosphere of friendship in the
Fraternity and had, according to
Runkle,“an expression on his face
that made one instinctively reach for his
hand. He was one of the kindly and
lovable sort, and came into the Sigma Chi
movement naturally. He was good hearted,
believed in securing the good things of
life and immediately dividing the same
with his companions. He was as full of
enthusiasmas a crusader. Naturally he was
a leader and teacher of men. He was
ambitious, but in no way disposed to push
his aspirations at the expense of his
fellows. He and Cooper, in thought and
sympathy and in the deep foundations of
their being were much the same sort of
men, though in outward expression of the
inward character they differed widely.
Graduating in 1857, he started on his
life work of teaching. At the beginning
of war in 1861, he enlisted in the Union
army, where he won a commission and
received high commendation at the Battle
of Murfreesboro. He rose to Lieutenant
Colonel, although he preferred to be
called Major Bell .
Following the war he returned to a career
in education. He served as superintendent
of schools in Nobles County, Minnesota,
county recorder of deeds and editor /
publisher of a local newspaper, as well
as principal and president of several
preparatory and collegiate institutions
in the western United States.
He entered the Chapter Eternal in 1919,
the day after at tending a Sigma Chi
initiation at Alpha Beta chapter,
University of California Berkeley. He is
buried in the Presidio in San Francisco,
where in 1933 the Fraternity dedicated
the final Founders’ memorial
monument to him .
Related links:
James Parks Caldwell
Isaac M. Jordan
Benjamin Piatt Runkle
Franklin Howard Scobey
Daniel William Cooper
William Lewis
Lockwood
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