Week 6: Surprise

 Week 6: Surprise

Anyone doing research into the family history will eventually encounter at least one surprise and probably more than one.  I certainly have.  Sometimes the surprise is pleasant and sometimes it may reveal a black sheep in the family.

One of cousins who lives in the area of many of our ancestors frequently texts me with a name and wonders if it is an ancestor or distant cousin.  Over the years, I have been able to confirm that an acquaintance of hers or daughters is indeed a distant cousin, usually with the common ancestor being our 3rd Great-grandparents Benjamin Schell & Mary McGill.  Given that this couple had a large family and most of their children had large families and continued through the generations, there are a lot of distant cousins still living in the Simcoe County area of Ontario Canada.

My surprise came one Saturday night when my cousin forwarded me a link that her daughter had sent her.  The local newspaper has a column reprinting old stories and the one they had just published was about John Schell being accused of murder in Brentwood.

WHAT???  In 20 plus years of genealogy research, as well as hearing family stories (good and bad) from my mother, I had never heard or seen any indication of having a murderer in the family.  I checked the link for the story and names and locations certainly did link up.  My 2nd Great-grandfather, John Alexander Schell shot and killed his brother-in-law Thomas Ross.

The newspaper has been digitized on OurOntario.ca, so I went down the rabbit hole and searched for more articles.  I have frequently searched this site, but with the surname Schell being so common, I have not been able to check out every hit over the years.  This search did reveal more articles on the murder with conflicting details.

The original article "Murder at Brentwood" (The Examiner and County of Simcoe Advocate. Thursday, February 4, 1869. p. 2, column 3) stated that John Schell, farmer, had met Thomas Ross at a tavern in Brentwood.  An altercation between the two men took place over missing money.  Ross was suspected of having stolen the $85 from a hotel-keeper in Brentwood.  The article reported that Ross grabbed an axe and rushed at Schell who had a loaded gun and "blew out Ross's brains, scattering them over the bystanders and against the walls of the barroom".  The murderer walked out of the tavern and was arrested the following day.  He was arraigned before a coroner's jury.  After hearing details of Ross's death, the jury have a verdict of "guilty of manslaughter".

Further searching located an article on the trial "Trial of John Shell for the MURDER OF THOMAS ROSS (The Examiner and County of Simcoe Advocate - Thursday April 15 1869, p. 2, columns 3-5).  This article gave detailed information of the testimony, word for word, given during the trial.  The details are drastically different than what had been given in the original article.  This article confirmed that the victim, Thomas Ross, was the brother-in-law of the accused, John Schell.

The testimony of T.P. Kenton (the person who had funds stolen from him) revealed that Ross claimed that the money was hidden at the Shell house.  Ross, Kenton and another man Armstrong went to the Shells.  When John Shell was informed of the purpose of the visit, he was offended with being accused of being a thief and got into an altercation with Ross.  Ross shoved Shell against a barrel and table and Shell retaliated by shoving Ross against the door.  Ross then went outside.  Kenton was talking to Shell when they heard Mrs. Shell call out "Look out, John, here comes Ross with an axe to kill you!"  Shell went to another room and returned with a gun and headed outside.  Kenton heard a gunshot and then Shell returned inside at put the gun back in its rack.  Kenton went outside and saw Ross lying on the ground 8-12 feet from the front door with an axe a few feet away from the body but closer to the door.  According to Kenton, Shell was calm and when confronted about having shot Ross, his response was "Yes, he deserved it; I would shoot him just like a dog."  Kenton advised him to give himself up to a magistrate.  Shell agreed and Armstrong accompanied him to New Lowell after dropping Kenton off at his Brentwood home.

Other testimony was from other Shell family members, as well as Robert Ross, the brother of the victim as well as the wife of the accused.  Robert Ross had requested an autopsy which confirmed buckshot present in the brain.  Testimony from the others confirmed that Ross' body was left in place outside overnight and some claimed there was blood was present on the window but others denied seeing blood.

The jury deliberated for an hour before returning with the verdict: Guilty of Manslaughter.

Another newspaper article covering several court procedures (The Examiner and County of Simcoe Advocate. Thursday, April 22, 1869. p.2, column 4) revealed that John Shell was sentenced to 2 years in Penitentiary for manslaughter.

I have not been able to discover any further documentation as to when or where John Schell served his time.  I was born and raised in Kingston Ontario - the home of the famous Kingston Penitentiary.  I do not know if that was where John Schell served his time or if there were other institutions in use back in 1869.  

I am not sure if he served the full 24 months.  Sentencing took place April 21, 1869 but John appears with his wife & children in the household of his parents (Benjamin & Mary Schell) in the 1871 census.  That census was scheduled to take place on April 1st, but maybe it was done a few weeks late.  Or the enumerator was given John's name and information even though he had not yet returned home.  

Quite a shocking surprise.  Not only had my 2nd Great-Grandfather killed another man, but the man was his brother-in-law.  And the fatal shot happened after my 2nd Great-Grandmother shouted out a warning that her own brother was heading towards her husband with an axe in his hand!  Testimony revealed that members of the Shell family were in support of the accused by claiming self-defense but the brother of the victim claimed that his brother was not a violent man.  And people think discussions of politics or religion impact their family holiday dinners.

If my cousin's daughter had not seen the newspaper article of historical stories and questioned her mother about it, I may have never discovered this important piece of family history.  As previously mentioned, I have searched Barrie Ontario newspapers on OurOntario.ca but searching 'Schell' brings up every entry for the word 'shell', so it is impossible to checking thousands of hints.  Lesson learned I guess.

Genealogists always advise people to look for gaps in the timelines of individuals in their tree.  In the case of John Alexander Schell I never noticed a gap.  He was single and living with his parents and siblings in the 1861 census.  In the 1871 census, he was listed in the household of his parents, along with his wife and 4 children.  One son was born in 1869 and another in 1871.  Why would anyone think there was a two year gap when he was not with his family?  I admit I had wondered why John and Mary Jane were not listed consecutively in the census, but separated by their children.  I have always blamed the enumerator, but maybe John was not actually back in the household or there was contention between the couple.   However, they did have more children.

This surprise finally unveiled a Black Sheep in the family!


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