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The donor and the bell she presented to Moore Memorial both had interesting histories. The donor was the former Adelicia Hayes, beautiful daughter of Oliver Bliss Hayes, who owned vast acreage to the west of the city. Streets are named for both father and daughter. They were members of the First Presbyterian Church. She first married Isaac Franklin, older than she was and very wealthy. He was a slave trader but reformed, reportedly through her persuasion. He owned five plantations in Louisiana and they divided their time between those and Nashville. After his death she married Joseph. A.S. Acklen, a lawyer. They built Belmont, the handsome home, which is the centerpiece of Belmont College. After his death she married Dr. William Cheatham, a physician. She had been charmed by the tones of the plantation bells in Louisiana and presented one of the to First Presbyterian Church in 1867. It still strikes the hour in the bell tower of Downtown Presbyterian Church, successor to First Presbyterian church when it moved. When Moore Memorial was built, Mrs. Cheatham brought another bell from Louisiana and gave it to the church. Mrs. Hollins and Mrs. Weakly wrote, “Owing to the purity of the metal, it had great carrying qualities and was considered one of the sweetest bells in Nashville.” Elder O’Bryan and his family, who moved to Ridgetop in 1898, helped build a non-denominational church for the village, calling it Highland Chapel. He wrote Moore Memorial asking them to give the bell to the chapel because it was not being used by the church. The elders delayed a long time but finally replied in 1906, that they could not donate the bell but would allow Highland Chapel to have it on loan indefinitely...where it is still in use! After several years the bell became cracked. Mr. O’Bryan and the others,  including several Moore Memorial members, who were summer residents of Ridgetop, raised money to have the bell repaired. It was sent to Buckeye Bell Factory in Cincinnati, where it was made. An article in one of the Nashville newspapers reported on October 7, 1911: “After more than fifty years of service, the bell was remelted and cast anew. The original casting date of 1858 was preserved and later one of 1911 added. The bell, which in the beginning had been used as a summons to work, hangs here in the pretty little chapel, a summons of peace.”

Coleman A. Harwell-- “The Centennial History of Westminster Presbyterian Church originally known as Moore Memorial Presbyterian Church.”