Daniel Schell, Riverside, was born near Toronto, Province of Ontario, Canada, in 1815, a son of Henry and Mary (Moyer) Schell, both natives of New York, although of German descent. Grandfather John Christian Schell, a prominent citizen of Herkimer County in the colonial days and during the Revolutionary war, was a soldier in the war of the Revolution and lost his life in battle. He built a block-house in Herkimer County as a refuge from the Indians: during the war it was attacked by Tories and Indians, and his two children, the father of the subject of this sketch and his twin brother Mark, were captured and carried off to Canada. It was not till long after the close of the war that they were returned to the widowed mother. In 1797 Daniel Schell’s father and mother moved to Canada, and there spent the remainder of their days. Mr. Schell was reared as a farmer, at the same time receiving a fair education in the public schools. Before reaching his majority he learned the carpenter’s trade, and established himself in life as a carpenter and builder, also engaging in farming, which vocations he followed for over twenty years, and then engaged in mercantile pursuits.
In 1880 he decided to seek a home in a less rigorous climate than Canada, and with that in view came to the Pacific coast, settling in Riverside. Upon his arrival he established his residence on a twenty acre tract, on the corner of Adams and California avenues, since which time he has been actively engaged in horticultural pursuits, devoting his attention to oranges and deciduous fruits. He packs and markets his products himself, and with his well-trained business principles secures good results and profits. Despite the three score and ten years that have passed over his head Mr. Schell is still a bale, hearty man, of bright mental faculties, with a mind richly stored with reminiscences of an active and well-spent life. He still gives his horticultural pursuits his personal attention and achieved a decided success in that calling. He attends not only to his own land, but to adjoining tracts that belong to absent members of his family.
Mr. Schell was married in 1838 to Miss Eliza Mercer, a native of Canada. The children from this marriage are: Samuel M., a physician, residing in Hamilton, Ohio; Francis H., also a physician, resident of Cincinnati, Ohio; Charles H., resident of Carton City, Colorado; Mary A., wife of Dr. Joseph Jarvis of Riverside; Hattie, now Mrs. W. B. Chafe, residents of Australia; Emma A., wife of W. J. Waddingham, of Ontario; Eliza M., a member of her father’s house-hold; the third child, Martha, married Dr. L. F. Crawford; both are now deceased; they left one child, Clara, who is a member of Mr. Schell’s household. The sixth child, Ellen, died in 1879, at the age of twenty-six years.