William Bell, Abt 1831-1869

Headstone GPS Coordinates: 

Birth: Abt. 1831, location unknown

Death: 17 Jan 1869, Seabeck, Kitsap County, Washington

Relatives in Seabeck Cemetery: None known.

American Revolutionary War Patriots: None known. 

While researching the earliest newspapers from the period when Washington was still a territory, the SCRP team uncovered several articles describing the circumstances surrounding the deaths of William Bell and a man known only by the surname Hamilton. According to these accounts, the two men had been indulging in strong drink before setting out in a canoe to cross Hood Canal to Walker’s timber camp. They never arrived.

A letter published in The Echo and dated February 5, 1869, recounts the incident:

“Seabeck, Jan. 26th, 1868.
It is with painful feelings I record the following: On the evening of the 17th inst., Wm. Bell and —-Hamilton were drowned. The particulars, as near as I can learn, are that about dusk on the day above mentioned, they left this place for Walker’s camp, on the opposite side of the Canal, and it is supposed that when within hearing distance of camp their canoe upset, separating them, as voices were heard at camp in different directions; but as the hallooing soon ceased, and those in the camp thinking it was Indians, no assistance was rendered, and thus they met their untimely death.”

Nine days later, William Bell’s body washed ashore nearly twenty miles away. It was recovered and returned to Seabeck, where he was buried and marked with an inscribed cedar slab.

William Bell’s grave marker is one of only two original cedar markers still known to exist from Seabeck Cemetery. Its inscription reads:

Sacred to the memory of William Bell,
Aged about 38 years,
Drowned, Jan 17, 1869.

To date, the team has been unable to locate additional records detailing William Bell’s life. There is no indication that he had family in Seabeck, suggesting he was likely one of the many hardworking bachelors in the area whose life ended prematurely due to a combination of liquor and poor judgment.

While little is known about William Bell himself, the story of his wooden marker is well documented. The marker remained in the cemetery until July 24, 1971, when it was reported stolen in the Kitsap Sun. Shortly thereafter, an anonymous caller contacted the Kitsap County Sheriff to report seeing the marker “near the old county road shed on Mitchell Road” in Port Orchard. Deputies recovered the marker and returned it to Seabeck.

On August 21, 1977, cemetery caretaker and historian Fred Just donated the cedar marker to the Kitsap History Museum, where it has since been protected from both theft and the elements.

Hamilton’s body was never recovered. Records from the Washington Mill Company for the years 1860–1870 list an employee named J. Hamilton earning $35 per month. Whether this individual was the same man who drowned alongside William Bell—and who may still rest at the bottom of Hood Canal—remains uncertain.