The earliest known ancestor of the Schedel family of Cincinnati is that of Christophel Schedel. Born in Germany in 1814, the parents and siblings of Christophel remain unknown. In Germany, Christophel married Dorothea Volkmar with whom he had three sons, William, Henry, and Valentine. For many years, the family lived as farmers in the Rhineland of Germany. However, waning harvests and political unrest eventually led the family to upend and immigrant to the United States. 

In the early spring of 1873, the Schedel family traveled to the port city of Bremerhaven on Germany's northern coast. Their journey to Bremerhaven was likely similar to that of the Schallick family who traveled there only four years prior on their way to the United States. Arriving in Bremerhaven, the Schedel family likely was surprised by the large ships docked in the middle of the river and the general bustle of the port. The ship that the family would take to America was the S.S. Donau which had been constructed in 1868 by Norddeutscher Lloyd. Included in the ship's manifest were Christophel (58yo) and his wife Dorothea (56), their three sons, William (21), Henry (18), and Valentine (16) as well as another William Schedel (10). This child was the nephew of Christophel as confirmed in the 1880 census.

​The family arrived in the New York Harbor on 19 May 1873 following a two-week voyage. As was standard for all immigrants, they passed through immigration checks at Ellis Island before being admitted into the country. Once in New York City, the family took a train westward to Cincinnati, Ohio. It was typical for companies like Norddeutscher Lloyd to bundle the cost of a trans-Atlantic voyage and a one-way train ticket in the ticket price. This was often done to encourage immigrants to move west. For this reason, many German immigrants ended up in western cities such as Cincinnati, OH.

Arriving in Cincinnati, the Schedel family found an apartment near the corner of Race St. and 7th. Christophel found a job working in a tobacco factory as a cigar maker. Over the next twenty years, Christophel would continue working here doing various jobs related to the business. His sons would also start working here. In 1876, Christophel and all three of his sons were working at a tobacco factory located at 617 Race St.

By the early 1880s, Christophel and his wife had moved north towards the corner of Race St and Green St. in the Over-the-Rhine neighborhood which was compromised of predominately German-speaking families. They would continue living here until they died during the 1890s.

All three sons continued the family profession of cigar making. While William and Henry were working for a company, the youngest son, Valentine decided to try his hand at entrepreneurship. After having worked in the industry for many years, Valentine purchased a building at 1710 Vine St. just below McMicken Ave., and started making his own brand of cigars. During that time, he married Anna Juelg, and together they had three children, John, Ida, and William. The family lived, for many years, in a small, but comfortable apartment at 1623 Pleasant St. in Over-the-Rhine which was only a few blocks away from Valentine's cigar factory. The family continued living here until 1904.

In 1904, several Schedel passed away. Both of Valentine's brothers, William and Henry died that year and his wife Anna Schedel also passed away after contracting intestinal tuberculosis. In her passing, the three children were left only to the care of their father. For the next seven years, Valentine continued operating his cigar factory and even renamed a small alley near the factory to "Schedel Alley". Both the factory and the alley still exist today, although the factory was eventually converted into apartments.

Tragedy struck again for the Schedel family in 1911 as Valentine became increasingly ill. His illness had started in the late winter of 1910 and had caused him much trouble with walking and breathing. As an avid cigar smoker, Valentine was likely suffering from the effects of smoking on his lungs.  Soon he was unable to operate his cigar factory and he was forced to give it up. A year later, in April of 1911, it was clear that Valentine's health was not improving and he was not likely to survive much longer.  This knowledge weighed heavy on the minds of his children who were already financially burdened by the loss of the factory. On 15 April 1911, Valentine succumbed to his illness leaving behind his three children. The oldest, John was twenty-three years old and the youngest, William was only fifteen.

The children were in a precarious situation as they now had no family in Cincinnati besides a few Schedel cousins. Their surviving maternal aunts and uncles were not friendly to them and they would not provide any support for the children. In fact, at least one of those relatives was reported to have come to the Schedel's apartment and stolen several pieces of furniture after hearing of Valentine's death.

The death of their parents was challenging for the Schedel siblings, however, it did give them the opportunity to become close to one another.  For the next several years, the three siblings spent most of their time together and worked together to earn enough to survive. The oldest, John, continued in his father's profession as a cigar maker. The second oldest, Ida, worked as a seamstress and the youngest, William, found a position as a clerk for a railroad shipping company.

Interestingly, by about 1913, the Schedel siblings started appearing in photographs of the Schallick family. Since William Schedel eventually married Cecilia Schallick (in 1917), it is unclear whether William and Cecilia brought the families together after meeting each other or if they began courting after the families met each other. Interestingly, Cecilia's father, August Schallick, was orphaned as a child and it is probable that he felt empathetic to the plight of the Schedel siblings Perhaps it was August who played an early role in the connection between the two families. 

As the Schedel siblings grew older, they began starting families of their own. John Schedel soon married Lula Christopher and Ida Schedel married William Roth. While John and Lula stayed in Cincinnati, Ida, and William eventually moved to California where they had several children. William and Cecilia also stayed in Cincinnati and had four children, Ruth, Norma, Howard, and Jimmy.  Their second oldest, Norma, eventually would marry Dave Beischel of the Beischel family.