Background
Born in County of Oxford, near Woodstock, Canada West, son of Jacob Schell and Catherine Smith. He is Great Grandson of Johann Christian Schell, a Palatine German from German Flatts, New York who died fighting for the Americans in 1782 on his farm.
Career
The family moved to Canada after the American Revolution to take advantage of the land available in Ontario. Schell was educated at public schools and Woodstock College. An agriculturist, a lumberman and a produce exporter, he was elected to the Canadian House of Commons for the Ontario electoral district of Oxford South in the federal election of 1904.
A Liberal, he was re-elected in 1908 and was defeated in 1911 and 1917.