James Polk Shell (abt. 1844 - abt. 1915)

Born about 1844 in Miami County, OH

Ancestors

Husband of Nancy Anne (Hayworth) Schell — married about 1870 in Indiana

Descendants

Died about 23 Jan 1915 at about age 71 in Cass County, IN

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

Biography

James was named after the 11th President, possibly just as he was elected in 1844. James enlisted on 16 Nov 1861 at age '18' in 'C' company of the Ohio 71st Infantry when he was actually about 17. He was wounded at a battle near Pittsburg, TN on April 6/7,1862 and listed afterwards as missing, then 'returned sick'. He was discharged from a Union hospital in Columbus, OH on May 15, 1962, but then went AWOL only to be captured by a bounty hunter named Jesse Schilling. Schilling was issued a habeus corpus order by the Miami County, OH court and on Dec. 20, 1862 James was released to his mother Ann Shell on the grounds he enlisted underage and without his parent's consent. After the war, James moved with his father moved to Indiana near where Isaac's oldest daughter Mary Miller lived. James received his inheritance from the probate of his father's estate at Cass County, IN in October 1865. By the 1870 census he was living apparently as a farm hand in the h/h of a Jacob Ward, et. al. in adjacent Pulaski County, IN. He and his wife Nancy wed a couple months later. Nancy had been married before to a Benson and had a daughter Miranda by him who was blind. James took Miranda into his household and Nancy and he had four other children. In 1881 James applied for a civil war pension, but was apparently denied as a valid applicant. James apparently did not remarry when Nancy died in 1899, and lived out his days near Winamac, IN.

Sources

Civil war rosters/muster records of OH 71st OVI

• Miami County, OH court records
• 1870 Indian Creek/Pulaski/IN
• 1880 Harrison/Pulaski/IN
• 1900 Monroe/Pulaski/IN