IMMIGRANT. He was present in Philadelphia County by 1734 and most likely came early to America perhaps before accurate records of arrivals were kept.

"The Journals and Papers of David Shultze". Shultze, as I recall, was a surveyor who travelled extensively in SE PA and kept a very detailed journal of his activities. He wrote in his journal about traveling one day to Philadelphia in 12 hours with John Shell. And he noted that on 14 Oct 1769, old Michael Shell died of a stroke. He was about 76 years old.

As with a lot of ancestors I have researched, I was able to gather a fair amount of information about Michael Schell rather quickly but the more I researched this family, the more contradictions I found and in the end I came to discard much of what I first thought might be true.

This is what I eventually learned that I now consider fact:

• Michael Schell was listed among the earliest residents of Philadelphia County who paid quit-rents before 1734. In his case it was on 150 acres in New Hanover Township. So he was a very early immigrant ancestor.

• I have a copy of the 1768 will of Michael Shell of Upper Hanover Twp (then) Philadelphia County in which he said that his first wife was Veronica, lately died, and his current wife was Magdalena. His eldest son was Jacob, resident of Virginia, middle son Michael and youngest son John. He had one daughter Mary, wife of Henry Sell. He made provision for Magdalena but stated that his children had no further obligation for her upon his death (my presumption is that Magdalena therefore was not the mother of any of his children).

• A contemporary journal kept by David Shultze, a surveyor active in the Philadelphia suburbs in the late 1750’s, tells us when Michael died (1769) and his age at the time (76 years) -- thus he was born in 1693.

So I think that somewhat corrects the version of things I learned early on from Wendy Schildwachter, an Internet source, who wrote: ”Michael born 1675 Palatinate, died 1770 Montgomery County married first Veronica in Germany who died in Montgomery County before 1767 and married second Magdalena Yoder. His oldest child was John born 20 Jan 1729 in the Palatinate and died 1777 at Gosenhoppen. John married Veronica Maurer in 1763, daughter of Jacob Maurer (whose father was Henrick) and Sophia Lisabeth. Veronica was born about 1734 and died in Bedford County, PA. John and Veronica had children including Susanna (who married 15 Apr 1788 Peter Hilbish). Veronica Schell later married Jacob Leidy.”

Clearly, her dates for Michael are a little off. She is also totally wrong about John being the oldest son, he was the youngest actually. And while I know Michael’s second wife was Magdalena, I have no idea whether to believe her name was Magdalena Yoder or where that idea came from. Wendy was also wrong about who Jacob Maurer’s father was. And, when she said that Veronica Schell later married Jacob Leidy, I believe she was referring to Veronica (Maurer) Schell and that is wrong too. Veronica (Maurer) Schell did not remarry after her husband died; her daughter, Veronica, married Jacob Leidy.

A book "The Ancestry of Ellen Schell Garber" traces the ancestry of John Schell (II) who migrated from Montgomery County to Bedford County, PA where, at the cost of £10,000, bought 1500 acres and laid out the village of Schellsburg. This book says John Schell (II) was the son of John Schell (I) who in turn was the son of Michael Schell. It says that Michael arrived Philadelphia in 1732 and soon thereafter settled near Goshenhoppen. It also says that Michael Sr. and Michael Jr. came to America on the ship Nancy in 1738 and explained that Michael had obviously come earlier then returned to Germany to get his family.

Let’s start with the supposed 1738 arrival on the ship Nancy. There was a Michael Sholl (or Schole) Sr. and Jr. on board that ship but the ages of both were given on the captain's list and do not have any correspondence at all with other facts known to be true about Michael Schell Sr. and Jr. I believe the Sholls were a different family entirely from the Schells. Nor do I believe the 1732 arrival, there was no record of it. I think he was here a few years before 1732. The rest of what this book says about the two John Schells is basically accurate.

And by far, the most complete version of things is the Internet tree of Thomas Stobie found on Ancestry.com which provides the ancestry of Michael Schell who died in 1769 in Montgomery County. Stobie says Michael was born in Germany and arrived via New York very early. His father was Johann Michael Schell who was born 22 Jan 1662. Johann Michael was the son of Michael Schell born 1640 and Ursula Schmid. Johann Michael married Magdalena Hoffman, born 2 Feb 1667. She was the daughter of Jodacai Hoffman born 1 Oct 1642 and Maria Friedmann born 13 Nov 1642. Jodacai was the son of David Hoffman and Maria Sander. David was the son of Simon Hoffman. Now that’s a great listing of Michael’s European ancestors.

My problem with the Thomas Stobie version of things is I can’t find much of any it that I can prove and I tend to just dismiss it as probably not much truth there, including the supposed arrival via New York City. I just don’t know where any of those “facts” came from and unfortunately Stobie doesn’t say. But who knows? I also know of nothing that contradicts any of it.

So it turns out that much of what can be easily learned about Michael Schell on the Internet is simply wrong or unprovable and by searching out real documents, fifth cousin Alicia Blackman and I have been able to debunk it.

Since Michael did have a son John, the John who died in Upper Hanover Twp in 1777, I believe that Michael was the father of John and that Veronica was John's mother. What I don't know at this point is when Michael came to America (before 1734 but when?). I cannot rule out that he came prior to the birth of John so even though all sources say that John was born in Germany, that is not proven.