The Lowe Family Tree

Leonard T. Schnell

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.

Catherine Rauch

Born in southern Germany to what was by all accounts a fairly prominent farming family (father was said to be town mayor), Catherine was raised in the town of Vöhringen until the age of 5. At that time, the family sailed to America aboard the ship Charlotte and landed in New York on 22 July 1833. They immigrated to Liverpool Township in Medina, Ohio where Catherine married Levi Schnell at 24. The couple lived in Beebetown on the edge of Liverpool their entire lives and raised 5 children. She died a widow at her daughter's home in Berea, Ohio at the age of 74.

Christopher Levin Schnell

Our Schnell immigrant ancestor was born in Germany. Our only account of Levi's early life comes from his immigration manifest that says he was from Hanover, Germany. His childhood and origins beyond that are a mystery. Even his actual birth name is up for debate as he has been written under many different variations of Christoph Levin Schnell. He originally married in Cuyahoga County, Ohio to Mary Richardson at the age of 30, less than a year after arriving in America. They lived in Liverpool Township, Ohio where he worked as a carpenter and farmer and had 4 children together before Mary died. Levi remarried Catherine Rauch at 46 and moved to Beebetown where they had 5 more children together. Levi died in Beebetown at the age of 74.