Elizabeth Kidney was born in April 1748. She was the daughter of Roeloff and Engeltie Burger Kidney. She grew up in a large family in Albany's first ward where her father practiced the cooper's trade and provided varied services at and for the fort.

By 1775, she had become the wife of jailer Stephen Bell. Over the next five years, two of her sons were baptized at the Albany Dutch church. In 1815, she was a widow when she joined the Second Reformed church in Albany.

The censuses of 1790 and 1800 showed Stephen Bell's household as residing in Watervliet. In 1800, husband and wife were alone in their home located just north of the "city line"- probably along North Market Street.

In 1801 and 1802, she was called "Widow Bell" and received support from the Dutch church and the city government.

Elizabeth Kidney Bell died in February 1828 at the age of eighty. Her funeral proceeded from the house of John Mendon at 91 North Market.

Sources: The life of Elizabeth Kidney Bell is CAP biography number 5982. This sketch is derived chiefly from family and community-based resources.