Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography/Schell, Augustus

SCHELL, Augustus, politician, b. in Rhinebeck, N. Y., 1 Aug., 1812; d. in New York city, 27 March, 1884. He was graduated at Union in 1830, studied at Litchfield law-school, was admitted to the bar, and soon gained a lucrative practice in New York city. He was made chairman of the Tammany hall general committee in 1852, and was at the head of the Democratic state committee in 1853-'6. During the administration of President Buchanan he was collect or of the port of New York. He was chairman of the National committee of the wing of the Democratic party that supported John C. Breckinridge for the presidency in 1860, and in 1872 held the same office during the Greeley canvass. In 1867 he was an active member of the convention to revise the state constitution. After the trial of William M. Tweed and his associates Mr. Schell labored for the purification and rehabilitation of the Tammany society, and in 1878 was its unsuccessful candidate for mayor. He was a director in many railroad and financial corporations, and was active in the management of philanthropic institutions. Several of Mr. Schell's brothers have been well-known business men of New York city.