Snell/Schnell

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Comment by Dori Emerson Lloyd on October 13, 2013 at 9:22am

My husband descends from the Snell family of Pulaski County, Georgia.  Willett W. Snell was born in 1811, and I had not found much about him until I started searching probate records on familysearch.org.  (You can scroll to the bottom of the search page and click on "United States" and browse individual records--most are categorized).  I have since found that Willett's father's name was Daniel P. Snell, and he died leaving a wife (Ann Reeves Snell) and four children, three of whom were minors at the time of his death.  Elvey was apparently of age, since she is not mentioned in the guardian pages, yet she is mentioned in probate records dealing with expenses. Then there is Lincy, Willett, and Henry.

It is also clearly set forth through these records that Daniel had two brothers, David (m. Frances Reeves) and Jacob Snell, who lived with and apparently had children by Winny Reeves--they were not married, as Winny married Hardy Powers in 1818, and used the name "Winny Reeves". As to why he never married Winny, there is a clue in the records.  An Elizabeth Snell showed up (as far as I can figure in the 1830s) along with James Snell, claiming to be the lawful wife and son of Jacob...  I suppose bigamy held a higher cost in those days than adultery...

All three brothers died around the same time, 1816.  As to who their parents are, there is not definitive proof as of yet.  Many Trees have their father as Hans Adam Snell of Orangeburg by his second wife, Ann Margaret Barr.  There is a Jacob of the correct age that is an established son, but the others are not in most trees--we shall see. :-]