Pine Mountain Settlement School
Series 09: BIOGRAPHY – Community
John D. Shell Family

John D. Shell and Wife Mary Nolan “Aunt Sis” Shell on their front porch with Watch, their dog. Before 1917. [mccullough_II_47a_full-view]

JOHN D. SHELL Family

TAGS: Shell Family, Pine Mountain Valley community, PMSS Boarding School students, Shell’s Gap, Civil War, Community Fair Days, land donations, Creech Cottage, Shell Creek, Evelyn K. Wells, John D. Shell, Mary Ann (“Aunt Polly”) Shell, Mary Elizabeth (Nolan) (“Aunt Sis”) Shell, Shell Farm

John D. Shell Family
HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE PMSS COLLECTIONS, 1911-1949

Members of the Shell Family who lived in the community of Pine Mountain since very early years likely return to a common pioneer ancestor. However, considerable confusion has been caused by two “John” Shells who are sometimes not disambiguated. The first is “Old” John Shell whose cabin, now a National Heritage Landmark, sits not far from Pine Mountain Settlement School in Leslie County. The second is John Dixon Shell, whose family lived not far from the School. This Shell family is related to the Nolan and to the Day families in the area.

According to Cora Richardson, whose great-grandmother was Sara Jane (Shell) Nolan: “The Shell family owned lots of land on Pine Mountain, and Shell’s Gap is located on top of Pine Mountain west of PMSS on Little Shepherd Trail.” 

Several Shell family members attended Pine Mountain Settlement School in 1939 through 1949 which was during the boarding school years: Chester, Emily Mae, Napoleon, Tressie.

Go to http://johnshell.webstarts.com/about.html for a detailed family tree, beginning with Samuel Shell of Leslie County, Kentucky, born in 1782.

For additional assistance in locating histories of families in Eastern Kentucky see:

Harlan County, Kentucky Genealogy – FamilySearch Wiki

Cora Richardson also provided the following stone of John D. Shell (1848-1943) located in a cemetery near Pine Mountain Settlement School.

Gravestone for John D. Shell (1848-1943), Harlan County, KY. [153978521.jpg]

Cora Richardson, who photographed the tombstone seen above, is a great-great-grandchild of John Dixon Shell. She advises that “this John D. Shell is not to be confused with with Uncle John Shell who lived to be really old. He always went by John D.”

Born in 1847 (date is sometimes given as 1848 – see gravestone), John Dixon Shell was the son of Solomon Shell and Tabitha (Dixon) Shell. (Solomon was the son of Samuel Shell, c. 1782-1841, and Mary Ann Fry Shell.) Solomon and Tabitha had 10 known children, including John’s brother, Henry Dixon Shell, and sister, Mary Ann “Aunt Polly” Shell (1846-1917) who married William Day. Mary Ann and William were the parents of “Black” Sol Day (1880-1955), and several other children.

The photograph below of Mary Ann “Aunt Polly” (Shell) Day and the Jasper Days,” would date before 1917, the year of Aunt Polly’s death.

“Aunt Polly” (Mary Ann Shell) and the Jasper Days ( Jasper Day, Delphia Cress Day and two children). Photograph before 1917. FN [Vl_35_1144a.jpg]

Mary Elizabeth Nolan Shell known as “Aunt Sis” is shown in the following photograph shearing sheep with Mrs. Day (with hat and to right).

Mary Elizabeth Nolan “Aunt Sis” Shell (left) and Mrs. Day (in hat, right). [045_VI_FN_pg7a_055.jpg]

SHELL FAMILY HISTORIES

Margaret Motter recorded a story of the atrocities committed by Rebels and local people during the American Civil War. The story was told to Motter by an anonymous person who heard it from his grandfather Nolan and Billy Shell. MARGARET MOTTER WRITINGS “AROUND 1865…”

Emily Shell is listed under “Students” in the May Supplement to CONIFER – 1949.

William Creech wrote to Katherine Pettit on November 30, 1911, that Mr. Shell will help with building a school, probably by leasing land. CREECH LETTERS 1911. On August 5, 1912, Creech wrote that Mr. Shell will give land and timber to the School. CREECH LETTERS 1912.

Evelyn K. Wells wrote home in 1916 about visiting Uncle John Shell “whom we found splitting kindling. He was most entertaining, telling us all about the game one used to be able to catch, and conditions when the country was really wild.” She writes that later, while riding pass Uncle John Shell’s, “I saw a quaint procession passing, through the bottomland. Aunt Sis stalking along, behind her Uncle John with his beard and slouch hat, and after them a boy driving a sledge drawn by a team of oxen. They are getting in their corn because the sheep are eating it….” EVELYN K. WELLS 1916 Excerpts From Letters Home.

John Shell’s (This is Old John Shell) bear story is recorded in the March 1927 issue of Pine Mountain Settlement School Notes, page 1. Henry Shell is mentioned on page 2. NOTES – 1927.

In a report on the 1944 COMMUNITY FAIR DAY, Alice Cobb described an exhibit of vintage household items, which included “the bed that Uncle John Shell (based on date, most likely John Dixon Shell made for Aunt Sal (Creech) when [she and William Creech] were married, maybe eighty years ago.” Also published on pages 1-3, NOTES – 1944.

Creech Cottage was built by Charles Creech and Ruth (Smith) Creech on land once owned by John Shell. It sits some distance from the main campus along Shell Creek, near the current beaver ponds. According to a DEAR FRIEND letter of November 14, 1914, “We are still borrowing from Uncle John Shell the little grey cottage where we first lived. With two tents for satellites, it makes another home center…” in the beginning days of PMSS.

Mae Shell was among those who graduated from Pine Mountain Settlement School in May 1941. 1941 GRADUATING CLASS.

Evelyn K. Wells, in a narrative on religious life at PMSS, wrote “In 1924 the double wedding of Allene Nolan to Dillard Metcalf and Hazel Nolan to Pearl Shell took place in the Chapel. Mr. Fields of Big Laurel married them, and the Laurel House girls were the ‘waiters.’” WELLS RECORD 18 RELIGIOUS LIFE 1913-1928…”

Evelyn Wells’ 1919 letter home mentions Pearl Shell, who drove his grandparents, Aunt Louize and Uncle John Fiddler Nolan, in a wagon harnessed to mules, to the polls to vote. EVELYN K. WELLS 1919 Excerpts From Letters Home.

Evelyn K. Wells, longtime PMSS secretary, wrote home in 1915 about celebrating Christmas: “…we took the little Christmas trees to Aunt Sis Shell [Mary Elizabeth Nolan Shell] and Aunt Polly Day [Mary Ann Shell Day]. We cut the trees along the way and trimmed them by the roadside, and then bore them to the houses…” EVELYN K. WELLS 1915 Excerpts From Letters Home

In 1918, Evelyn Wells wrote to her family, “The other day I called on Aunt Sis Shell [Mary Elizabeth Nolan Shell]. She took me into the bedroom to see her wool, the fleeces of 50 sheep, black, Southdown and white, piled high on three feather beds, we have picked out some fleeces — mine, a lovely Southdown, gray-brown, to be woven into a linsey skirt for next winter.” EVELYN K. WELLS 1918 Excerpts From Letters Home.

Percy MacKaye’s book, Tall Tales of the Kentucky Mountains, includes a story “told in the mountain vernacular by Solomon Shell, a legendary figure.” See chapter ‘King Solomon’s Power Pump,’ p. 57 (full-text not available online). MacKaye, a poet and dramatist, visited PMSS in the summer of 1921. Tall Tales of the Kentucky Mountains is also known as “A Mountain Munchhausen.” It was first published in the Century magazine VII, p. 9-185) (July-November, 1924) PERCY MACKAYE was in residence at Pine Mountain Settlement where he collected stories and developed and ear for the vernacular speech of the families in the Pine Mountain Valley. Due to copyright restrictions the full text of this book is not available online.

SHELL FARM FIELD PLAN, 1948, displays a map, hand-drawn by William Hayes, PMSS farmer, 1939-1953, depicting the layout of the PMSS farm that included leased Shell farm property.

Members of the Shell Family are mentioned in the article “John Shell: Latest Study of Oldest Man…,” such as John Schell [sic] and William C. Shell (his eldest son), Allen H. Shell (William’s only child), Polly Huff (John D. Shell’s daughters ?), Stewart Shell (son of Allen and grandson of William Shell). Old John Shell had approximately 11 children. LOCAL HISTORY SCRAPBOOK: JOHN SHELL.

Shell Family: IN PINE MOUNTAIN VALLEY COMMUNITY, 1916-1942

Shell Family: PMSS WORKERS

NONE FOUND  Pearl Shell was possibly a part-time worker at the School.

Shell Family: PMSS BOARDING STUDENTS, 1921-1949

Shell Family: PMSS COMMUNITY SCHOOL STUDENTS

NONE FOUND (See Nolan and Day families)

See Also:

ALICE COBB STORIES John Shell in Notes 1927

JOHN D. SHELL Community Biography
JOHN SHELL (Old John Shell) Community Biography

FARM: Shell Farm Plan, 1948

METCALF FAMILY

NOLAN FAMILY
CALVIN NOLAN Biography [Calvin’s sister Mary Elizabeth Nolan (Aunt Sis) married John D. Shell.]
ELHANNON MURPHY NOLAN Biography [Spouse: Sarah Jane (Shell) Nolan]

DAY FAMILY
SOL DAY Biography [Sol Day’s mother was Mary Ann (“Aunt Polly”) (Shell) Day.]
JASPER and DELPHIA DAY Staff Biographies [Jasper was Sol Day’s brother.]
BLACK SOL DAY
RED SOL DAY  (See DAY FAMILY)

Return to GUIDE TO FAMILIES IN THE PINE MOUNTAIN VALLEY COMMUNITY

Return to BIOGRAPHY – A-Z