Bell's career in the New Hampshire General Court was notable in that he held two unique offices.

Bell was the author of an influential early history of Exeter, New Hampshire, as well as a number of other books.

Both wives were descendants of Edward Gilman Sr., an early Exeter settler who had previously lived in Hingham, Massachusetts, and Ipswich, Massachusetts.

Bell was elected a member of the American Antiquarian Society in 1868.

[4] Charles Bell died on November 11, 1893 (one week shy of his 70th birthday) in Exeter, New Hampshire, and is buried at the Exeter Cemetery in that town.