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Leonard Tobias Schnell* was born 06 Aug 1860 in Liverpool, Medina, Ohio, USA (within the limits of Valley City) to parents Christopher Levin Schnell, 51 and Catherine Rauch, 32.
Sometime before 1870 the family relocated to the northwest corner of Marks & Boston Roads in the small village of Beebetown (officially known as Columbia Township, Lorain, Ohio). Beebetown would become the Schnell family home for the next 80 years.
Born into poverty in North Olmsted, Ohio, George was the son of immigrant parents only two years removed from England. He learned the trade of a butcher after accepting a position at a butcher shop in Cleveland where he would work his entire life, starting at clerk and eventually becoming owner/operator. George raised two children in Cleveland with his wife Edna.
The daughter of a stage coach driver, Frankie was born along the Ohio-Pennsylvania border in the village of Petersburg. By the age of 8 her family relocated to North Ridgeville, in Lorain County where she spent the rest of her childhood. Here she met her husband and at 20 years old they married and moved to Cleveland. Together, they would have 7 children and eventually move out to rural Medina to take up farming; Here her husband died following a long illness at 59. Frankie would live a full life with her children and grandchildren and passed away in Medina at 81.
Born in Berea, Ohio, the son of a merchant tailor, George was the eldest of nine children. They were a fairly prominent family in the village as his father was very active in the community, eventually holding position of mayor during some of the town's most troubled times. George married in Lorain county at 25 and lived and worked in Cleveland as a machinist & laborer. He went through multiple periods of unemployment and eventually moved the family out to Medina where he became a farmer. After a few years in the area he became ill. The sickness never seemed to be diagnosed, but persisted for year before he finally succumbed at 58.
Emma was born in the area of Wahlern, Switzerland in what we assume is Schwarzenberg. Emma immigrated to America with her mother in 1883, 2 years after her father. The family settled in Wooster, Ohio where Emma grew up speaking both English and French. She married farmer and laborer Thomas Winkler in 1895 and the couple would raise 2 boys together. The family had little money and although they spent their entire lives around Wooster, they never put down permanent roots until around 1930. Emma and Tom were married for 49 years. Emma passed in 1955 following a heart attack.
Thomas E. Winkler, known as "Tom", was born on 19 Apr 1871 in Overton, Chester Township, Wayne, Ohio to parents John Wesley Winkler and Catharine Ann Warner.1 Thomas was raised in Overton. He was the oldest of 4 children, with his sister Effie being 2 years younger, brother William being almost 8 years younger and brother Charles being 18 years younger. The amount of schooling he received is not known but his education level is listed as being able to read and write.2
Marie and her twin sister Julie were born in 1858 daughters of a sailor in the seafaring town of Svelvik, Norway. Marie was 1 of 6 children and 1 step-brother in the house. She lost her mother at 9, her step-mother at 15 and cared for her siblings and father until he passed away in 1888. Marie married ship's captain Cornelius Christoffersen 3 months later. Together they had 6 children; 1 whom passed in infancy. Marie followed her sister from Norway to Cleveland, Ohio in 1907. Although they made a nice life here, tragedy followed. 1914 saw the death of both her son Oscar and Julie's husband. This was followed by son Rudd in 1926, her husband in 1927, and son Chris in 1929. She outlived all the men in her life but died herself at 74 in 1933. Julie followed 2 months later.
Cornelius was born in Svelvik, Norway in 1860, son of a sailor. He took to the sea like his father by the age of 15. He married the girl he grew up down the street from named Birthe Marie Andreasen. The couple was wed in 1888 and 2 months later Cornelius received his official captain's certification. He captained his own ship for years and even captain a ship to China, but gave it up in 1907 to move his wife and 5 children to America. They settled in Cleveland, Ohio near his wife's twin sister and changed the family last name from Christoffersen to Christopher. Here Cornelius became a sexton for a local church where he worked the rest of his life. He died in 1927 at the age of 67.
