Melvin E. Schell was born in Lexington, Michigan, to David Schell and his first wife, Margaret Harris. David and Margaret were both Canadian. Apparently Melvin was their only surviving child; David then married Lucy Patrick Westbrook, also of Ontario, and they had four sons and a daughter.
Melvin was a sailor on the Great Lakes. He married the Captain's sister, Eliza Augusta Johnston of Fremont, Michigan. Their first child, William Edward, was born in Michigan, then the family moved to Louisiana. Four more children were born there: Earl Buford Sr., Frances Ella, Austin Johnston, and Herbert Melvin.
Clockwise from top right:
William Edward Schell, about 14 1/2;
Frances Schell, age 5;
Herbert Melvin Schell, about 1 year old;
Austin Johnston Schell, age 3;
and Earl Buford Schell, 9 1/2.
Photo was taken about 1897.
Melvin owned a grocery store in Elton, Louisiana, along with several other properties. His first wife Augusta died in 1900 and Melvin married a widow, Mary Ella Jesse Cavert, who had three children by a previous marriage.
Melvin died in Port Arthur, Texas in 1924. He had scribbled out his will on a grocery receipt from his store.
Melvin and Augusta's second son Earl Buford Schell was a machinist and a preacher in the Assembly of God Church. He served in the U.S. army in the First World War in France and Luxembourg. He worked for Ernest Edward Norris at his sawmill in Forest Hill and married the boss' daughter,Thelma Miriam Norris. They settled in Elton and had five children.
PHOTOS:
- Melvin E. Schell
- Mary "Ella" Schell, Melvin's 2nd wife
- Melvin and Augusta's five children
- Pvt. Earl B. Schell, Sr., 129th Infantry
- Earl "Buford" on his wedding day
- Thelma "Joy" Norris Schell and firstborn
- Joy and Buford
- Brother Schell in front of his church with his children, neighbor kids and unknown lady, ca. mid-1930's
- Buford and Joy on their anniversary
