When Hiram Shell was born in 1826, in Blacksburg, Montgomery, Virginia, United States, his father, Jacob Shell III, was 38 and his mother, Catharine Price, was 37. He married Rebecca Louemma Hodge on 6 December 1860, in Montgomery, Virginia, United States. They were the parents of at least 2 daughters. He lived in Montgomery, Virginia, United States in 1860 and Virginia, United States in 1870. He registered for military service in 1862. He died in 1898, in Blacksburg, Montgomery, Virginia, United States, at the age of 72, and was buried in New Mount Zion Lutheran Church Cemetery, Montgomery, Montgomery, Virginia, United States.