Thomas Bell was born Kildare, Ireland in 1798. Around 1829, Thomas and his wife Sarah Bell (nee Alexander) (1803-1853) and their children emigrated to Sydney New South Wales, Australia in charge of convicts. Thomas and Sarah Bell were parents to Mary Isabella (1826-1866), Joshua Peter (1827-1881), John Alexander (1829-1901) and Marmaduke A. (d. 1900). In 1844 Thomas Bell took over a pastoral lease on a large tract of land, Gimba (Jimbour) Station, on the Darling Downs near Dalby. Jimbour Station was run by a manager, Henry Dennis, until 1847 when the Bell family took charge of the leasehold under the partnership of Bell and Sons. The partners in this firm were Thomas Bell and his sons, Joshua, John and Marmaduke. When Sarah Bell died on 12 June 1853, Thomas Bell decided to move to Queensland, leaving Jimbour in the hands of his sons. He died at Waterstown, near Ipswich, Queensland, in 1872.

Sarah Alexander was born in Kildare, Ireland in 1803. She married Thomas Bell and in 1832 Thomas and Sarah Bell and their children emigrated to Sydney New South Wales, Australia in charge of convicts. Thomas and Sarah Bell were parents to Mary Isabella (1826-1866), Joshua Peter (1827-1881), John Alexander (1829-1901) and Marmaduke A. (d. 1900). Sarah Bell died on 12 June 1853 at Parramatta, New South Wales.

Born on 19 January 1827 in Kildare, Ireland. Joshua Peter Bell was the second child and eldest son of Thomas Bell and his wife Sarah (nee Alexander). The family migrated to Australia in 1832. In 1844 Thomas Bell took over a pastoral lease on a large tract of land, Gimba (Jimbour) Station, on the Darling Downs near Dalby. Jimbour Station was run by a manager, Henry Dennis, until 1847 when the Bell family took charge of the leasehold under the partnership of Bell and Sons. The partners in this firm were Thomas Bell and his sons, Joshua, John and Marmaduke. Joshua Peter at 21 years of age, took control of Jimbour and it soon won fame as one of the best conducted stations on the Darling Downs. Joshua Peter Bell married Margaret Miller D'Orsey (often referred to as Lady Bell) on 19 February 1861 and they had six children: Joshua Thomas (Joey) (1863-1911), William Alexander (1865-1940), Colin Basil Peter (Collie) (1867-1934), Lulia Ubania Medosa (1868-1869), Oswald Marmaduke D'Orsey (Ossie) (1871-1942) and Maida Isabella Sarah (1872-1942). Sir Joshua Bell was a Member of the Queensland Legislative Assembly, 1862-1879 and a Member of the Queensland Legislative Council, 1879-1881 occupying many executive positions such as Treasure, Minister for Lands, Speaker, President of the Legislative Council and acting Governor of Queensland. He was a founder and original shareholder of the Queensland National Bank (established in 1872). From 1872 to 1875 he served as President of the Queensland Club. He died suddenly on 20 December 1881. Prior to his death, Bell merged his pastoral interests with Sir Thomas McIlwraith and J. C. Symth to form the Darling Downs and Western Queensland Land Company and this merger marked a decline in the Bell Family fortunes with the house and lands coming under control of the Queensland National Bank, which itself collapsed. After his death the family left for England to have the children educated there, returning to Queensland in 1889.

John Alexander was the second son of Thomas and Sarah Bell, born in Ireland and came to Australia as a child. He married Francis Georgina Armstrong (ca. 1841–1911) on 3 November 1864 in Sussex, England. He and Francis had three children: Frances Sarah Alexander, Georgina Emma Alexander (Nina) (1866-1944), and Marmaduke Alexander (Duke) (1867-1953?). John Alexander Bell was appointed to the Queensland Legislative Council on 26 September 1866 until he resigned in 1872. He spent most of the 1870s and 1880s in the UK. In 1895 he resided at Merrivale Station, Mitchell. He died on 30 August 1901 at Waterstown, Ipswich.

Margaret Miller Dorsey, daughter of William McTaggart Dorsey and Margaret Douglas, was born in 1841 at Clarecastle, County Clare, Ireland. Margaret Miller Dorsey (often referred to as Lady Bell) married Joshua Peter Bell on 19 February 1861 and they had six children: Joshua Thomas (Joey) (1863-1911), William Alexander (1865-1940), Colin Basil Peter (Collie) (1867-1934), Lulia Ubania Medosa (1868-1869), Oswald Marmaduke D'Orsey (Ossie) (1871-1942) and Maida Isabella Sarah (1872-1942). She died on 17 January 1914 at Jimbour.

William Alexander Dorsey Bell was born on 3 June 1865 at Ipswich, Queensland, the second child of Joshua Peter and Margaret Miller Bell. When the family moved to England to be educated in 1881, William studied law at Cambridge University and in 1888 was admitted to practice as a barrister in the High Court of Justice in London. Back in Queensland in 1889 he practiced as a barrister but was not always financially successful and had ongoing health problems. From 1904 until his death on 7 May 1940 he was mostly a patient at the Goodna Mental Aslyum.

Colin Basil Peter Bell, the third son of Sir Joshua Peter Bell and Lady Margaret Miller D'Orsey (nee Douglas), was born in 1867. He married Theodora Sybil Francis Needham (aka Sibyl Bell). They had five children: Sybil Margaret Grace (b. 1900), Colin Basil Peter (known as Peter) (1902-1976), Francis Neeham (known as Bing) (b. 1909), Joshephine Thora (b. 1912), and Lynette Alexander (b. 1916). Colin Bell (called 'Collie' in letters from his Mother), managed the property called Westland.

Oswald Marmaduke Dalby Bell, also known as Ossie, was born on 18 March 1871 at Ipswich, Queensland to Joshua Peter and Margaret Miller Bell.

Maida Isabella Sarah Bell was the youngest child of Joshua Peter and Margaret Miller Bell. As a young girl, Maida Bell was taken to England by Lady Bell for her education, returning when she was around 17 years of age. She died on 23 August 1942 at Dunwich, Queensland.

Eldest child of Joshua Peter and Margaret Miller Bell, Joshua Thomas Bell was born 13 March 1863 at Ipswich, Queensland. Educated at the Brisbane Grammar School, Joshua Thomas entered Trinity Hall, Cambridge, England in 1881. He returned to Queensland in 1889 and in 1893 he was elected Member for Dalby until his death in 1911. In 1903 he married Catherine Jane Jones (nee Ferguson, widow of Sydney Jones) (1867-1943). They had two children: Joshua Peter Ferguson (1907-1997) and Margot Margaret Maxwell (1908-1929) .