Alexander Graham Bell's Family and Descendants

Alexander Graham Bell, the inventor of the telephone, has a remarkable legacy that has continued through his descendants. Many of his family members have gone on to have successful careers in a wide range of fields, including aeronautical research, journalism, medicine, and the military. Mabel Gardiner Bell, who was married to Alexander Graham Bell, was one of the first deaf children in the United States to be taught to both lip-read and speak. She provided the funding for the Aerial Experimental Association, which was established to construct Canada’s first heavier-than-air vehicle. Melville Bell Grosvenor, another descendant, was the editor and president of the National Geographic Society and is remembered as a visionary leader who revitalized the organization. Alexander Graham Bell Fairchild was an American entomologist, who had a lifelong fascination with the tropics. Alexander Graham Bell Grosvenor was a decorated United States Navy pilot and carrier officer. Kendall Myers, another descendant, was a former U.S. State Department employee who was arrested and charged with espionage in 2009.

Mabel Gardiner Bell

Mabel Gardiner Hubbard was born on November 25, 1857, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. She was the daughter of Boston lawyer Gardiner Green Hubbard and Gertrude Mercer McCurdy. Mabel had a near-fatal bout of scarlet fever close to her fifth birthday which left her permanently and completely deaf. Despite her hearing loss, Mabel was a highly educated and intelligent woman, who learned to both talk and lip-read with great skill in multiple languages. She was one of the first deaf children in the nation to be taught to both lip-read and speak, which allowed her to integrate herself easily and almost completely within the hearing world.

Mabel became the wife of Alexander Graham Bell, inventor of the first practical telephone, on July 11, 1877. The couple had four children together, two daughters and two sons who both died shortly after birth. Mabel was a strong and self-assured woman and became the most significant influence in Bell’s life. She was the indirect source of her husband’s early commercial success after his creation of the telephone. Mabel secretly bought Bell’s train ticket to Philadelphia for the Centennial Exhibition in 1876, which made his newly invented telephone a featured headline worldwide and propelled him to international fame.

The Bell Telephone Company was organized by Mabel’s father Gardiner Greene Hubbard, and Alexander Bell owned shares. Prior to leaving for an extended honeymoon in Europe, Mabel signed a power of attorney giving control of her shares to her father, which made Gardiner Hubbard the de facto president and chairman of the Bell Telephone Company.

Mabel believed in aeronautical research and provided the inspiration and financing of about $20,000 CAD to establish the Aerial Experimental Association (AEA) for the purpose of constructing Canada’s first heavier-than-air vehicle, the Silver Dart. She was named a National Historic Person in 2018 for her contributions to aeronautical research and for founding social and educational institutions.

After Alexander’s death in 1922, Mabel slowly lost her sight and grew increasingly consigned to the care of her daughters. She died of pancreatic cancer at the home of her daughter Marian, in Chevy Chase, Maryland, less than a year after her husband. Both Mabel and Alexander are buried near their home on “The Point” at their estate of Beinn Bhreagh, overlooking Bras d’Or Lake.

Melville Bell Grosvenor

Melville Bell Grosvenor was an American editor and president of the National Geographic Society. He was born on November 26, 1901, in Washington, D.C., the son of Gilbert Hovey Grosvenor, the first editor of The National Geographic Magazine, and Elsie May Bell Grosvenor, the daughter of Alexander Graham Bell.

Grosvenor attended the U.S. Naval Academy and graduated with the Class of 1923. He was commissioned as an ensign in the United States Navy, but resigned from the Navy in 1924 to join the staff of the National Geographic Society as a picture editor. He took the first color aerial photograph of the Statue of Liberty and early aerial color photographs of Washington, D.C.

Grosvenor became the President of the Society and Editor of The National Geographic Magazine in 1957. During his tenure, he initiated major changes that increased the magazine’s membership from 2.1 million to 5.5 million. He added full-color photographs to the magazine, pushed the Society to create new products like television documentaries and books, and increased grants for research and exploration. He also oversaw the construction of the Society’s new headquarters in Washington, D.C., which was dedicated by President Lyndon B. Johnson in 1963.

Grosvenor was married twice, first to Helen North Rowland in 1924, and then to Anne Elizabeth Revis in 1950. He had four children with Helen and one son with Anne.

Grosvenor passed away on April 22, 1982, at his winter home in Miami. He is remembered as a visionary leader who revitalized the National Geographic Society and expanded its reach and impact in the world.

Mabel H. Grosvenor

Mabel Harlakenden Grosvenor was a Canadian-born American pediatrician and a granddaughter of Alexander Graham Bell, the scientist and telephone inventor. She was born on July 28, 1905, in Beinn Bhreagh, Nova Scotia and died on October 30, 2006, at the age of 101 in Baddeck, Nova Scotia.

Grosvenor was the daughter of Gilbert Hovey Grosvenor, the father of photojournalism and the first full-time editor of National Geographic Magazine, and Elsie May Bell, Alexander Graham Bell’s first child. She was named after her maternal grandmother, Mabel, who was the reason for the invention of the telephone by Alexander Graham Bell.

Grosvenor was described as intelligent, modest and optimistic. She graduated from Mount Holyoke College with a degree in liberal arts in 1927 and completed her medical degree in 1931 from the Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland. She worked as a pediatrician in Washington, D.C.’s Children’s Hospital for 35 years before retiring.

Grosvenor never married and had no children, but became an unofficial matriarch to about 60 nieces and nephews of several generations of Bell descendants at Beinn Bhreagh, Baddeck, Nova Scotia. She was regarded as an important part of the “leadership in the family” at both the Canadian estate and in the U.S. capitol and known as ‘Dr. Mabel’ to the Baddeck community.

Grosvenor was closely connected to her grandfather, Alexander Graham Bell, both by kinship and as his secretary. She spent considerable time with him at both the Beinn Bhreagh estate and in Washington, D.C., and was regarded as an authority on Bell. She was a young witness to some of the important events in Bell’s life such as the development of flight at Baddeck Bay in 1907 and his farewell visit to Europe in 1920.

Grosvenor was made the Honorary President of the Alexander Graham Bell Club, Canada’s oldest continuing women’s club, founded in 1891, until her death. The club grew out of a social organization started at Beinn Bhreagh by Mabel Bell, Alexander Graham Bell’s wife.

In her later years, Grosvenor suffered from congestive heart failure but decided to stay on at the Bell estate due to her close relationship with the people of the community. She died aged 101 of respiratory failure at the Bell estate near Baddeck, and a funeral service was held for her at Greenwood United Church in Baddeck. A memorial service was held for her shortly afterwards in Washington, D.C.

Gilbert Melville Grosvenor

Gilbert Melville Grosvenor was born on May 5, 1931 in Washington, D.C. He is the son of Melville Bell Grosvenor and the great-grandson of Alexander Graham Bell, the inventor of the telephone. Grosvenor received a B.A. in psychology from Yale College in 1954. During his college years, he volunteered in the Netherlands in efforts to recover from the North Sea flood of 1953 and co-wrote an article that was published in the National Geographic Magazine. This experience led him to join the staff of the magazine as a picture editor.

In 1970, Grosvenor became the editor of National Geographic Magazine and held the position until 1980. He then became the president of the National Geographic Society, and in 1987, he became the chairman of the board of trustees, a position he held until 2011. He retired as president in 1996, and since then, he has served as an honorary director of The Explorers Club.

Throughout his career, Grosvenor has been recognized for his contributions to the field of geography. In 1996, he received the gold medal from the Royal Canadian Geographical Society and the Scottish Geographical Medal from the Royal Scottish Geographical Society. He was also awarded the Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement presented by Awards Council member Sylvia Earle in 1996. In 2004, President George W. Bush awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian honor in the United States.

Grosvenor is now largely retired and lives in Virginia with his wife. He has written several articles, including “The Water Crisis” for the Huffington Post and “Bali of the Back Roads” for National Geographic Magazine. He remains an influential figure in the field of geography and continues to be remembered for his contributions to the National Geographic Society.

Edwin S. Grosvenor

Edwin S. Grosvenor is an American writer, photographer, and publisher. Born in Washington, D.C. in 1951, Grosvenor developed an early interest in photography, which led to his first photograph being published in National Geographic magazine at the age of 11. He went on to work as a freelance photographer for National Geographic, completing 23 assignments in various countries.

In 1979, Grosvenor launched the fine arts magazine Portfolio, which was a Finalist for a National Magazine Award in the General Excellence category in 1983. In 1992, he founded the literary magazine Current Books, which was widely regarded in the literary community and had copies for sale in 3,840 stores. In 1996, Grosvenor founded KnowledgeMax, an online bookseller and e-learning company, which was publicly traded until 2003.

In 2007, Grosvenor led a group of investors who purchased American Heritage magazine from Forbes and served as its President and Editor-in-Chief. Although the magazine suspended print publication in 2012, Grosvenor led a group of volunteers to relaunch a digital version of the magazine in 2017. He is the author of several books on his great-grandfather, Alexander Graham Bell, including the biography “Alexander Graham Bell: The Life and Times of the Man Who Invented the Telephone”.

Grosvenor received the President’s Award from Historic Deerfield in 2012 and is a member of the Organization of American Historians, the National Book Critics Circle, and the American Antiquarian Society.

Alexander Graham Bell Fairchild

Alexander Graham Bell Fairchild, also known as “Sandy” to his friends and family, was an American entomologist and a member of the well-known Fairchild family. He was born on August 17, 1906 in Washington, D.C and was one of two grandsons of the famous scientist and inventor, Alexander Graham Bell, for whom he was named. His father, David Fairchild, was a botanist and plant explorer.

Sandy’s love for insects began at a young age, as he used to collect butterflies in the fields and barns where he lived. At the age of 15, he was first introduced to the world of tropical forests by his father, who was helping with the establishment of the Barro Colorado Tropical Research Station in Panama. This experience ignited his lifelong fascination with the tropics and after finishing high school, he attended Harvard University, graduating in 1931.

With few job opportunities available during the Great Depression, Sandy began working toward a Ph.D. in biology at Harvard. He chose to specialize in Tabanidae, a family of insects known as “horse flies”, as they have the potential to carry diseases and could lead to job opportunities in the tropics. He wrote his thesis on the Tabanidae of Panama, where he first fell in love with the tropics.

After a year in Northwest Brazil, studying mosquitos with the Rockefeller Foundation, Sandy landed his dream job in Panama at the Gorgas Memorial Laboratory (now known as the Instituto Conmemorativo Gorgas de Estudios de la Salud). He moved to Panama with his wife, Elva Russell Whitman, and worked there for 32 years, researching biting insects and ticks deemed threatening to the Americans living in the Panama Canal Zone. He eventually became the Assistant and then the Acting Director of the research facility in tropical medicine.

Sandy published over 130 scientific papers and books on his research in taxonomy and epidemiology and was recognized for his work by the Universidad de Panamá, which named their new Invertebrate Museum in his honor in 1978. After retiring, he and his wife moved to Gainesville, Florida, where he continued to publish papers and advise graduate students and fellow scientists around the world. He was named Entomologist of the Year by the American Entomological Society and over 33 species of insects have been named after him by other entomologists.

Sandy continued working until a week before his death on February 10, 1994, at the age of 87. He will always be remembered as a dedicated and passionate entomologist, who made significant contributions to the field of tropical medicine and entomology.

Alexander Graham Bell Grosvenor

Alexander Graham Bell Grosvenor was a decorated United States Navy pilot and carrier officer. He was born in Washington, DC on December 7, 1927 to Helen Rowland and Melville Bell Grosvenor, and was a great-grandson of the inventor Alexander Graham Bell. He was also the brother of Gilbert M. Grosvenor, former Chairman of the National Geographic Society.

Grosvenor enrolled in the United States Naval Academy in 1945 and during his time there, he was an avid yachtsman and credited with promoting the resurgence of sailing at the academy. He served as a midshipman skipper of the yacht ROYONO in the 1950 Bermuda Race and earned a letter on the varsity dinghy team. Grosvenor went on to serve in the Korean War and the Vietnam War, where he was a pilot in Fighter Squadron 21 (VF-21) Freelancers. He also served as operations officer of the USS Kitty Hawk (CV-63) and was director of testing for some of the Navy’s newest aircraft.

In March 1975, Grosvenor was appointed commander of the Annapolis Naval Station and commodore of the Naval Academy Sailing Squadron, where he helped to turn around the sailing program and put midshipmen back on blue water. He was frequently helped in his sailing duties by his wife, Marcia Bramen Grosvenor, who authored a manual on cooking while sailing at sea.

Grosvenor received several awards during his career, including a Distinguished Flying Cross, a Bronze Star, and the Navy Commendation Medal with Combat “V.” He died on April 7, 1978 from a brain tumor and was interred at the United States Naval Academy Cemetery. In his honor, the A.G.B. Grosvenor Trophy is awarded annually to the volunteer member of the Naval Academy Sailing Squadron who has made exemplary contributions to the mission and programs of the sailing squadron.

Kendall Myers

Editors note: I am very impressed with the accomplishments of Bell’s family and his descendants. It’s clear they knew how to raise their children properly, but I suppose not every family can leave such a tremendous legacy without at least one bad apple among the bunch. Kendall Myers is one such character.

Mr. Myers was a former U.S. State Department employee who, along with his wife Gwendolyn, was arrested and charged with espionage in 2009. The couple was accused of acting as illegal agents of the Cuban government and providing classified information to that government for nearly 30 years. The arrest was the result of a three-year joint investigation by the FBI and the Department of State Diplomatic Security Service.

Myers was born in Washington, D.C. on April 15, 1937 and was the grandson of Gilbert Hovey Grosvenor and great-grandson of Alexander Graham Bell. He was related to William Howard Taft through his father and was educated at Mercersburg Academy and Brown University. He earned his PhD from Johns Hopkins University and worked as a Contract Instructor at the Foreign Service Institute from 1977. He also served as a part-time faculty member at Johns Hopkins’ Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies for 20 years. From 2000 until his retirement in 2007, he worked as a European analyst in the State Department’s Bureau of Intelligence and Research (INR).

In 2006, Myers caused controversy when he described the “special relationship” between the United States and the United Kingdom as “one-sided” and a “myth.” The US State Department distanced itself from his comments, stating that he was speaking as an academic and not as a representative of the State Department.

The couple pleaded guilty in 2009 and was sentenced in 2010. Kendall Myers was sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole, while Gwendolyn was sentenced to a total of 81 months in prison. Kendall Myers is currently incarcerated at the ADX Florence supermax facility in Colorado.

The arrest of the Myers couple sparked reactions from both the United States and Cuba. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton ordered a damage assessment to investigate the extent of damage done to U.S. security. Fidel Castro, former leader of Cuba, praised the couple’s actions and stated that they deserved all the honors in the world if they had helped protect the Cuban people from the U.S. administration’s terrorist plans.

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