Levi Shell

SHELL, KENTNER, FARNUM, BAXTER, HILAND, PAGE, MACK, NEWELL, LEHMAN, BROWN, CLARK, BAHNE

Posted By: Volunteer Transcriber
Date: 3/6/2007 at 10:56:40

Biographies from the 1914 "Past and Present of O'Brien and Osceola Counties of Iowa"

LEVI SHELL.

A life of forty-two years in this county entitles one to the name of pioneer, and Levi Shell, who has lived here since 1871, is one of the distinguished pioneers of this county. Schooled in the humanitarian principles which characterize life on the frontier, he caught the spirit of that larger life that is not warped by the spirit of materialism, his life having been built on the broad and generous lines that one seldom meets nowadays. He is a generous, open-hearted man and many are the burdens which he has lifted and many are the tears which he has dried. Not only is he honored today because of the work he did for this county in pioneer times, but also for his distinguished service during the Civil War.

Levi Shell, the president of the Sibley Cement Company, was born in New York state, in St. Lawrence County, September 2, 1838, and is the son of David and Lovina (Kentner) Shell, who were of German extraction and commonly known as "Pennsylvania Dutch." Levi Shell comes of a family noted for its longevity, his grandmother having lived to the advanced age of one hundred and two.

David Shell and his family moved from New York to Wisconsin in 1849, coming by boat to Buffalo, New, York, and making the trip around Niagara Falls by the horse car which was then in use. They embarked on the lake at Lewiston again and continued by boat to Milwaukee, which at that time contained only twenty houses, most of which were mere shacks. From Milwaukee the family proceeded to Sauk county and settled on a piece of prairie land near Prairie due Sac. Here the family lived until the death of David Shell, in 1883, the mother dying in 1898. To David Shell and wife were born a large family of children: Conrad, who died in 1908; Mrs. Elizabeth Farnum, of Sank Prairie, Wisconsin: William, of Sauk Prairie; Levi; Mrs. Barbara Baxter: Daniel, of Worthington, Minnesota; David, of Portland, Oregon; Mrs. Mary Hiland, of Sac City, Iowa; Mrs. Laura Page, of Sauk Prairie, Wisconsin, and Maria Hiland, of Sac City, Iowa.

Levi Shell received a good common school education in the schools of Sauk County, Wisconsin, and left the school room to enlist in the service of his country when it was threatened with disunion. He enlisted August 13, 1862, in Company K, Twenty-third Regiment Wisconsin Infantry, and served until May 22, 1863, when he was wounded at Vicksburg, Mississippi. He was shot in the right jaw and shoulder and was so disabled that he was finally discharged on account of disability, in December, 1863. He participated in the battles of Fort Gibson, Arkansas Post, Grand Gulf, Champion's Hill, Black River Bridge and many others. He was with Sherman before Vicksburg, and fought in the skirmishes during the spring of 1862 around Vicksburg. The battle of Champion's Hill, in which he was engaged, is called by historians the bloodiest battle of the Civil War.

After receiving his final discharge from the service, Mr. Shell returned home and then went to Monroe county, Wisconsin, where he engaged in the lumber business with his brothers, Daniel and Conrad. For two years he drove a team. In 1865 he went to Salem, Wisconsin, and managed a lumber yard for two years. In the spring of 1871 he came to Sibley, Osceola County, Iowa, crossing the county by the aid of his compass. At that time there were no settlers, no roads, no trees, except along the water places, and not much encouragement for a prospective farmer. In making his trip across the county he met only one man, but this did not discourage him and on December 6, 1871, he finally selected the southeast quarter of section 36, in Viola Township, and immediately erected a house and began to improve the land. In the spring of 1872 he opened a lumber yard at Sibley and when the railroad reached there, on June 5th of that year, he put in a good stock of lumber, shipped from Minneapolis. However, times were hard, money was scarce and within two years he was six thousand dollars in debt. However, the firm in Minneapolis which backed him had every confidence in his ability to succeed, and carried him on their books until he was on his feet again. The "grasshopper days," in the latter part of the seventies, affected not only the farmers, but every other industry in this section of the state. During that period he sold much of his lumber for wood. In the midst of this discouraging period his wife died and everything began to have a very gloomy appearance. They thought the county was on the verge of starvation and had it not been for outside support many of the people would have actually starved to death. The new Methodist Church was turned into a relief depot and the food and medical assistance was generously extended to all those in distress. During the terrible conditions existing at that time, Mr. Shell kept his credit good and managed to pull through. In 1893 he sold outhis business on account of ill health, but two years later bought back a half interest in the business. He also owns a lumber yard at Little Rock, in Lyon County. In 1908 the Shell Lumber Company was incorporated with the following officers: President, W. D. Shuttleworth; vice-president, Levi Shell; secretary, treasurer and general manager, G. F. Sokol. The company has yards at Sibley, Little Rock and Allendorf and does an extensive business throughout this section of the state.

Mr. Shell was married in 1868 to Alice Mack, a native of Vermont, and upon her death, in 1874. he was left with two children, now Mrs. Maud Alice Newell, of Portland, Oregon, and Mrs. Mabel Kate Lehman, whose husband is now farming one of Mr. Shell's farms. In 1876 Mr. Shell was married to Lucy Brown, a sister of C. E. Brown, one of the earliest merchants of Sibley. She had been a school teacher previous to her marriage and was born in Patch Grove, Wisconsin. To this second marriage have been born two daughters, Mrs. Nellie Clark, of Marquette, Michigan, and Mrs. Vera Blanche Bahne, of Sibley, Iowa.

Mr. Shell has taken an important part in the life of Sibley in many ways. He has served one term as treasurer of Osceola County and twelve years as treasurer of the school board of Sibley. It is needless to say that in both of these official capacities he served with eminent satisfaction to everyone of the citizens of the county. His interests have always been identified with the Republican Party, yet he is not a partisan in the strict sense of the word. He and his family are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church and he has been a zealous worker in that denomination for the past forty years in Sibley. In fact, he has been a trustee of the Methodist Church of Sibley for more than forty years, serving in that capacity since the first church of that denomination was established in the city. He has also been a member of the board of stewards for the same length of time. Fraternally, he is a member of the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons and holds membership in the Royal Arch and the Knight Templar branches of Masonry. He is an enthusiastic member of the Grand Army of the Republic at Sibley and has been commander of the local post. Such is the life history of Levi Shell, a man who has been as prominently identified with the interests of Osceola County and its county seat as any other man in the county. Every enterprise which he thought would be of benefit to the community at large found in him a hearty supporter. For this reason he is one of the distinguished as well as the representative men of his county.

© 2005 Osceola County Iowa USGenWeb
Return to Osceola Co., USGenWeb