[3] As a child,[clarification needed] Schell began his career with Littlefield & Shaw, an Irish linen importer in New York City.

[4] He later entered the banking world with the Manhattan Savings Institution, serving as a trustee, treasurer and, beginning in 1876, president for over thirty years.

In 1889,[clarification needed] he served one term as the 30th president of the Saint Nicholas Society of the City of New York from 1882 to 1883, succeeding Edward Floyd DeLancey.

Together, they were the parents of: Schell died December 24, 1893, at his residence, 53 Clinton Place[clarification needed] in New York City.

[3][10] After a funeral at the Church of the Ascension (which was attended by Cornelius Vanderbilt II, Chauncey Depew, Robert Stuyvesant, Charles A. Schermerhorn, among others), he was buried at Woodlawn Cemetery in the Bronx.