Jacob Schell Sr. (abt. 1718 - abt. 1802)

Born about 6 Mar 1718 in Germany [uncertain]

Husband of Catherine (Unknown) Shell — married before 1745 in Philadelphia County, PA

Descendants

Died about 1802 at about age 83 in Montgomery, Virginia, United States

Problems/Questions Profile manager: Roger Shell [send private message]

Biography

The Rev. Ulysses S. A. Heavener concluded in his 1929 book that the Philip Jacob Scholl (with brother Peter) who arrived in Philadelphia in 1738 was the same Jacob Shull/Shell who settled the New River in VA, but more recent evidence suggests they were not the same man. Moreover, Annette Burgert identifies Johan Peter Scholl(b. 1712) as the man who arrived on the Samuel in 1739, settled in Bucks County, PA, and recorded a will there in Lower Milford Twp in 1772. His brother was probably the aforementioned Philip Jacob Scholl/Schell. Neither was a son of Michael Schell.

Pending a DNA match with Jacob's brother's descendants, circumstantial evidence suggests he was the eldest son of Michael Schell, Sr., German immigrant of Upper Hanover township, Montgomery County, PA who came to the colony about 1730. Jacob's birth date is annotated in Michael's family bible, and coincides with his age at death from other sources. He probably married Catherine ? in Goshenhoppen about 1744/5. She was probably from a family that were neighbors to the Shells there. A baptism record for 'Jacob Shel' at Goshenhoppen(1745) coincides with the birth of his eldest child Gertrude. Also, the last PA land record that included Jacob and his wife 'K/Catherine' was in 1751--about the time they probably left for the Valley of Virginia.

The internet is rife with assigning a Catherine Clasmeier as Jacob Shell's wife, based on the mention of both their names in her father's Berk County, PA will of 1799. The question is which Jacob Shell/Schell was Miss Clasmeier married to? At the time of the will there were apparently two in the area: Jacob Shell, son of Michael Shell, Jr.; and a cousin also named Jacob, son of John Shell/Schell. The former married a Catherine ? based on baptism records of their children at the New Goshenhoppen Reformed Church. This may have been Catherine Clasmeier as Jacob Shell is listed with other heads of household with the 'Glasmyer' surname in the 1790 Berks census. The latter Jacob was apparently married to an Anna Maria Wohnsittler and lived in Montgomery County, PA. Complicating the question further is that after Anna Maria died, this Jacob married again a woman also named Catharine. They are both buried at the Trinity Great Swamp Church in Lehigh County, PA.

Jacob Shell, eldest son of Michael Shell, Sr., had moved to VA when Michael's will was written in 1768 and was more likely of the same generation as Catherine Clasmeier's father. He had married a different Catherine whose family had also settled in NE Phildelphia county, but may have also migrated with Jacob to Virginia. To summarize, we may have had three different Jacob Shells who were related to each other and married to Catherines at the same time.

The only descendant account of Jacob's past comes from a testimony by one of his grandsons in the 'Shell Sketch of 1871'. John Henry Shell(1793-1885) said Jacob came from 'Canicogee' (PA). This wasn't so much a definite place, but a river drainage in southern PA on the Great Wilderness trail from Philadelphia to the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia. Jacob likely made his way up the Valley in the early 1750s. Its unknown why John Henry did not include more of Jacob's life and pedigree before then, but it could be because of a bias on his branch of the family(Jacob, Jr.) that by then (some 120 years later) was entrenched in Montgomery County, VA. There is some evidence other families(Bingaman?) from or near Goshenhoppen migrated to Virginia about the same time as Jacob, or had sent word back to him of the prospects. Jacob, Jr. gave one of his sons the middle name Bingaman which may suggest that was Jr.'s mother Catherine's maiden name.

Jacob, Sr. homesteaded on the lower horseshoe bend of the New River near Blacksburg, VA about 1753. The Shawnee drove him back to the Shenandoah Valley(near Peaked Mountain) for several years before he was able to return permanently in the early 1770s. There was a colony of German settlers at 'Massanutten', so he may have stopped there on his way to the Horseshoe the first time. His homesite at the New RIver now sits below the Radford Arsenal, a restricted military industrial complex.

Manuscripts show Jacob provided succor to the governor, and fought with his eldest son Jacob, Jr. in Dunmore's War of 1774.

Jacob's family was accused of being Tories during the Revolution, but were finally acquitted. Zealous local leaders apparently expected more from them toward the cause. The Shells may have felt some loyalty toward the crown as gratitude for their opportunity. They were mostly wary of Indian attacks in the frontier, so fighting the Redcoats was probably not a priority for them. Records show Jacob's three sons were in the Fincastle/Montgomery militia, and possibly fought against the British and Tory factions in North Carolina.

Jacob apparently bought and sold land in the New River valley on speculation. Numerous transactions were recorded of land he acquired then reassigned to others for profit. He also granted some of his estate to heirs.

Of his three sons:

Jacob, Jr.'s family stayed on the homestead and in the area for a few generations.

John Shell settled across the river in present day Pulaski County. After he died, his widow and all his children moved to Miami county OH about 1811.

Christian Shell lived north in Giles county before moving his family to Knox county, TN about 1800.

The variations in recorded surnames are tricky. In PA the Schells were in some records also 'Shell.' In VA Jacob was Shull early on, then later Shell, but hardly any of the family were recorded as Schell. Later generations added the 'c' to the surname, apparently to re-identify with their German heritage.

Name

Name: Jacob /Shell/^[1]

Birth

Birth:

Date: ABT 1719

Place: Pennsylvania^[2] (The Profile Manager disputes this source)

Death

Death:

Date: ABT 1803

Place: Montgomery Co., VA^[3](The Profile Manager disputes this source)

Will

Will:

Date: 17 FEB 1795

Place: Montgomery, Virginia

1802 DEATH: VA, Montgomery Co., Will Bk 1, 1786-1809, FHL Film

1. 32599, p.149-150:

In the name of God Amen I Jacob Shaul Senr. of the County of Montgomery being weak body but of perfect mind & memory caullen [sic] to mind the Mortality of my Body Do make this my last Will and testament...& recommend my Soul to the almighty God that Gave it and my body to the earth to be buried in a christian [sic] like and in a decent manner at the Discretion of my friends and as touching such worldly Estate wherewith it hath pleased God to bless me with in their life I will bequeath and Dispose of the same in the manner and form falling [sic] that is to say I will Direct that all my just debts of every kind and whatever be paid in manner herein Directed first I give and bequeath unto my loving wife Catherine Shaul all my household and kitchen furniture and the Nale [sic] cattle claimed by me on the plantation together with one third of the land of the land [sic] of the plantation whereon I live her third no to Exceed the third of the plantation that formerly Give to my Son Jacob Shaul. I then will devise and bequeath unto my son Jacob Shaul Junior his heirs and assigns forever all the track of land whereon I live on the South Side of new River containing two hundred acres more or less and a sewd adjoining on the South side made by John Preston and also all the farming utensils on the said place the Wagon and Gears together with two horses a bay and a sorrel on his paying or causing to be paid in property to his six Sisters the sum of ten pounds each within three years after my Decease I then will devise and bequeath unto my son John Shaul all the property of Every Kind whatsoever which I have before Give him and now in his possession and to his heirs or assigns forever on his paying or causing to be paid to his brother Christian Shaul fifty pounds in property within three years after my Decease. I them I Give bequeath and devise unto my son Christian Shaull and his and assigns forever all the track of land whereon he formerly lived on a branch of Stroubles Creek containing eighty acres and known by the name of Gesesys place together with a survey made by John Preston adjoining thereon to and also fifty pounds to be paid to him by his brother John Shaull and also all the property I have before Give him and now in his possession Item: I give and Devise unto my Daughters Catherine and Elizabeth Shaull all the Stock and property of every kind claimed by them before which they have on the place and also a black mare five years old unto Elizabeth Shaull and also Catherine Shaull to be maintained of the plantation whereon I live as long as she doth live. And then I give and Devise unto my Daughter Gertrude Williams, Fanny Wall, Molly Heaven Peggy Sallust, Barbara Heaven, Nancy Tabor, the sum of ten pounds each to be paid in property within three years after my Decease to be paid unto them by my son Jacob Shaull. James and John Shall my son, my Executers to this my last will and testament and I do hereby Revoke annul and make void all other former wills by me made or Executed Declaring this to be my only last will and testament. Signed and Acknowledged by me this seventeenth day of February on thousand seven hundred and ninety five. Signed Sealed and Acknowledged and Likewise Declared by me Jacob Shaull to be my last will and Testament before Witness;

[signed] Jacob Shaull Recorded September of 1802

Event

Event:

Type: Anecdote

Source: ^[4]

Note

Note: #N109

Sources

1. ↑ Source: #S120
2. ↑ Source: #S120
3. ↑ Source: #S120
4. ↑ Source: #S31 Page: 72

• https://www.myheritage.com/research/collection-1/myheritage-family-trees?itemId=280618701-1-814&action=showRecord (The Profile Manager disputes this source)
• Birth Record from notes in father Michael Schell's Luther edition bible[Special Collection of the Mennonite Hitorical Library, Goshen Indiana]

• Baptism record : (1745) 'Aug 25, Daughter, parents Jacob Schel and wife. Witness, Ann Gertrant Griesemer.'[Church records of the New Goshenhoppen Reformed Congregation, Upper Hanover township, Montgomery County, PA. Translated and edited by William J. Hinke, from the Pennsylvania-german Society Annual Report. 1917]

• Jacob Shell and 'Katherine his wife' sell land to (father) Michael Shell, 18 May 1751. [Philadelphia County Deed Book, H14, p. 507-510] Jacob apparently left for the Valley of Virginia after this date.

• Michael Shell's will, written in 1768 and executed 19 Feb 1770 [On file at Philadelphia County Clerk] Mentions his 'Eldest son Jacob Shell now an Inhabitant of Virginia'.

• 'Sketch of the Shell Family', by John Henry Shell, as told to John William Shell, 1871.[Historical Society of Pennsylvania, also Virginia Tech Library--Special Collections]

• 'The German New river settlement: Virginia', 1929, by Rev. S. A. Heavener.

• 'Early Adventurers on the Western Waters, Virginia', Vols. 1-5, by Mary Kegley, 1980.

• Pay lists for Dunsmore's War on microfiche at the Library of Virginia, Richmond.

• Numerous court and deed records including Jacob Shell/Shull in Augusta and Montgomery County, VA. Jacob wrote his will in 1795 but it was not executed until September, 1802 in .[on file, Clerk of the Court, Montgomery county]'

• 18th Century Emigrants from German-Speaking Lands to North America, Vol. II: The Western Palatinate, by Annette Kunselman Burgert, 1985.

https://www.myheritage.com/research/collection-1/myheritage-family-trees?itemId=280618701-1-814&action=showRecord

Birth: Mar 8 1718 Baden-Württemberg, Germany(no source for location)(The Profile Manager disputes the birth location) Marriage Catherine CLASMEIR 1742 Somerset, Pennsylvania, USA(no source)(The Profile Manager disputes this source) Civil: Apr 11 1743 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA(no source)(The Profile Manager disputes this source) Civil: May 17 1767 Rockbridge, Virginia, USA(no source)(The Profile Manager disputes this source) Residence: Maryland, USA 1794(no source)(The Profile Manager disputes this source) Death: Sep 1802 Montgomery, Virginia, USA

• Source: S120 Author: Betty Gray, Compiler: Betty Gray Title: Gray.FTW
• Source: S31 Author: Rev. Ulysses S. A. Heavener Title: German New River Settlement: Virginia Publication: Name: Genealogical Publishing Co.;

Notes

Jacob Shell was born in Pennsylvania at "Canico Gee" as it is written in an old Shell manuscript. ( The Profile Manager disputes this claim based on substantive evidence to the contrary--see biography above) This is the phonetic spelling of Conocoheague Creek which was in central Pennsylvania and empties into the Potomac near Williamsport. It lies north of Hagerstown and was a fur trading center where traders gathered. Jacob Shell came from Pennsylvania to Shenandoah County, Virginia. He then came to Montgomery County (then Augusta Co.), but because of Indian hostility, went back to Shenandoah County and returned 14 years later. After this return, he found the Indians still hostile and went back to Shenandoah for another 2 years. He collected forces enough to aid him in driving the Indians away from the area he wished to settle with his family. This was some years before the Revolutionary War. The place where Jacob Shell settled was also the location of a fort for the protection of the early settlers of this county. The first settlers of Montgomery County were the Bingamans, Shells (originally Shulls), Prices, Walls, and Harlesses. These settled in the northwest part of Montgomery County as now located beginning at Peppers Ferry and extending beyond Price's Fork. Jacob Shell was an original member of St. Peter's Evangelical Lutheran Church. A monument stands at the site which reads: "Site of St. Peter's Evangelical Lutheran Church, 1750-1885, St. Peter's was the first church west of the Alleghanies and the third Lutheran Church in Virginia. Its original members were pioneers who, having suffered religious persecutions, had come from the Palatinate in Germany to Philedelphia, Pennsylvania Sept. 5, 1738, thence to and around the Horse Shoe Bottoms on New River. This monument erected in 1946 is in memory of these sturdy god-fearing pioneers. (Lists original members)"