Lucia Chase Bell

Lucia Chase Bell was an American author born in 1848 and died in 1938. Public-domain and library records confirm a small but varied body of work under her name, including True Blue: A Story of the Great North-west (1878) and the later Obil, Keeper of Camels (1910). She is also credited on All the World Over: Interesting Stories of Travel, Thrilling Adventure and Home Life, a collaborative volume.

Her writing seems to span more than one mode. True Blue points to an early interest in frontier adventure and younger readers, while Obil, Keeper of Camels shows a more devotional, parable-like approach. Even from these few surviving titles, she comes across as a writer drawn to setting, movement, and stories with a clear emotional or moral center.

Some library and reading-site sources also identify her as the second wife of Thomas Cowan Bell, one of the founders of Sigma Chi. Reliable biographical details beyond that are limited, so much of her life remains faintly outlined today. What has lasted is the work itself: a compact but distinctive shelf of late-19th- and early-20th-century writing.