Walter Bell was born around 1802 in Tennessee. He married a woman named Elizabeth, and they had at least four children: Cornelius, born on June 30, 1832; John, born around 1834; Thomas, born around 1837; and William, born around 1840. They lived in Robertson County, Tennessee, and Bell worked as a farmer. By 1850, he owned $1,250 of real estate. A decade later, he owned $3,300 of real estate and $17,500 of personal property, and he enslaved at least eleven people. He died in 1876.