Schell, Mrs. Louisa Dumont

Mrs. Louisa Dumont Schell, born near Oxford, Ontario, on August 15, 1839, was the daughter of Samuel Dumont and Mary Sherman Van Evry, a cousin of General Sherman. Raised in an environment of culture, she married blacksmith Hiram Schell in 1858 and emigrated to California in 1862 via a New York steamer that was briefly captured by the Alabama. The couple lived in Santa Clara County before moving to Nevada, where Hiram worked in the Norcross and Empire mines while residing on Gold Hill. After seven years in Nevada, they returned to California and settled in Salinas, where Hiram established a successful horseshoeing shop, managed a livery stable for the stage company, and later expanded his business interest to Monterey. Seeking a change in climate, Mrs. Schell visited Fresno County where her brother William Dumont had settled, leading her to buy a twenty-acre tract in July 1880 with her daughter Ethel Lena.

Hiram established a successful horseshoeing business in Fresno before his passing in Los Angeles in May 1907. Throughout her life, Mrs. Schell became the mother of eight children, including Thaddeus Seymour, Edwin Herbert, Hiram Lewis, Ethel Lena, and four who passed away. Following her husband death, she managed her expanding property with the assistance of her daughter and son-in-law, Charles Lee O’Brien, who previously spent twelve years as superintendent of the Wallace vineyard. The family vineyard became highly productive, yielding fifty tons of raisins from twenty-six acres of muscat grapes in 1917 as members of the California Associated Raisin Company. Affiliated with the Methodist Episcopal Church of Fresno, her family line continued through grandchildren Warden Lee and Wilma Mary, leaving a lasting impress on the development of the region.