William Nathaniel Bell (March 6, 1817 – September 6, 1887[1]), originally from Edwardsville, Illinois[2] and later a resident of Portland, Oregon, was a member of the Denny Party, the first group of Euro-American settlers in what is now Seattle, Washington.

in 1852, Bell was a delegate at the Monticello Convention that produced a petition to US Congress to split the Oregon Territory, creating the Washington Territory, which would later become the state of Washington.

[3] His first wife, Sarah Ann Peter (daughter of Keziah Peter), died of tuberculosis in June 1856.

With her, he had five children: His second wife, Lucy Gamble, was the younger sister of Sarah Ann.

His family is remembered in the name Belltown, a neighborhood immediately north of Downtown where his land claim was located.