John Sellens & Mary Holman

1.  John⁸ Sellens  (John⁷, Robert⁶, John⁵, Robert⁴, John³ Sellen, Robert², William¹ Sellyn) was

born 1783 in Sussex, England. 

He married Mary Holman 14 October 1814 in East Hoathly, Sussex, England.  She was born 1793

in Sussex, England, and died 15 August 1844 in Clay, Onondaga County, New York, USA.

Notes for John Sellens:

East Sussex Record Office
Deeds of parts of the Barham House estate
Nicholas, Kilmeare and Speles in East Hoathly
FILE - Final concord, Michaelmas 1828 - ref.  AMS5922/16  - date: 1828
[from Scope and Content] John Sellens and wife Mary to Robert Colgate

More About John Sellens:

1821 Census: Ref. AMS 6093 2

1821 Census-1: East Hoathly, Sussex, England

1850 USA Census: Roll: M432_570; Page: 321; Image: 116.

1850 USA Census-1: Farmer

1850 USA Census-2: Clay, Onondaga County, New York, USA

1870 USA Census: Roll: M593_387; Page: 189; Image: 378

1870 USA Census - 1: With his son George and family

1870 USA Census - 2: No occupation

1870 USA Census - 3: Prairie, Delaware, Iowa, USA

Immigration: 22 June 1830, "Hebernia" to New York

More About Mary Holman:

Burial: Pine Plains (Euclid) Cemetery, Clay County, New York, USA

Immigration: 22 June 1830, "Hebernia" to New York

Marriage Notes for John Sellens and Mary Holman:

Marriage as Selling

More About John Sellens and Mary Holman:

Marriage: 14 October 1814, East Hoathly, Sussex, England

Children of John Sellens and Mary Holman are:

+      2                 i.    George⁹ Sellens, born 06 November 1815 in East Hoathly, Sussex, England; died 02

                                 April 1897 in Prairie, Delaware, Iowa, USA.

        3                ii.    Elizabeth Sellens, born 1818 in East Hoathly, Sussex, England.

                                 More About Elizabeth Sellens:

                                 Immigration: 22 June 1830, "Hebernia" to New York

        4               iii.    Diana Sellens, born 1819 in East Hoathly, Sussex, England.

                                 More About Diana Sellens:

                                 Immigration: 22 June 1830, "Hebernia" to New York

                         iv     Charles Sellens, born 1822 in East Hoathly, Sussex, England

                                 More About Charles Sellens:

                                 Immigration: 22 June 1830, "Hebernia" to New York

+      5                v.    Thomas Sellens, born 1825 in East Hoathly, Sussex, England; died 18 November 1897

                                 in Clay, Onondaga County, New York, USA.

        6               vi.    Mary Ann Sellens, born 1827 in East Hoathly, Sussex, England; died 31 December

                                 1850 in Clay, Onondaga County, New York, USA.

More About Mary Ann Sellens:

1850 USA Census: Roll: M432_570; Page: 321; Image: 11 

1850 USA Census-1: Clay, Onondaga County, New York, USA

Immigration: 22 June 1830, "Hebernia" to New York

Notes for Mary Ann Sellens:

HAUNTING PIECE OF HISTORY; GRAVESTONE PIQUES CURIOSITY OF FAMILY THAT

FOUND IT. I

Byline: DICK CASE POST-STANDARD COLUMNIST

There's a presence in the 160-year-old house in the

hamlet of Clay that Suzanne and Charles Bullard call

home. Her name is Mary Ann Sellens. She died in 1850.

"I'm fascinated. I'd like to know this girl," Suzanne says the other day

as she shows me around the Bullards' acre-square lot along Route 31.

What we see is an old marble gravestone, flat in the ground and framed

by bricks. The stone's a few yards west of the family's house, which was

built around 1840, according to Clay historian Carl "Bud" Lepinske. The

inscription on the monument is clear, despite its years: "Mary Ann,

daughter of John and Mary Sellens, Died Dec. 31, 1850, Aged 23 Years,

Emigrated from Parish of Ho..., Co. of Suffolk, England." Historians

say John Sellens built the Bullards' brick house. The year after Mary

Ann died, he sold the farm of 90 acres to her brother, Tom. Tom's

daughter, Mary Sellens, married Lambert Weller. I copied that

information from a caption under a picture of the Sellens place in the

1985 "Historic Town of Clay" calendar put out by the Clay Historical

Association. The picture shows the home framed by leafy vines and a

picket fence. Bud Lepinske tells me this was the Weller place for many

years. That's the Weller barn that the town and the historical

association moved from across Route 31 into Clay Historical Park. The

old photograph of the Sellens home belongs to Oliver Hughson of Clay,

who's a great-great-great-grandson of John Sellens. His wife, Verna,

says surviving family members don't know much more about Mary Ann

Sellens than what's on the monument. Knowing more about Mary Ann, who

likely died in her house on New Year's Eve 152 years ago, has become a

mysterious challenge for Suzanne Bullard. Suzanne and her husband moved

to Clay four years ago this spring, from East Syracuse. They bought the

place from Merle Melvin, whose family roots run deep in northern

Onondaga County. "I fell in love with the house the minute I saw it,"

Suzanne explains. The Bullards like to garden. That first spring, they

started to clear their side yard for a plot. "That's when we uncovered

the stone," Suzanne says. "It was flat, sunken in and covered with

brush. Next to it, there was an 8-by 10-foot brick floor. We can't

figure out what that was for." Suzanne recalls the Bullards knew early

on the Sellenses had a family cemetery next to the house. The question

was, how many kin were buried? Were the remains still there? "One

neighbor told us that people remember a second stone in here, but we

haven't been able to find it," she says. The Bullards did visit Pine

Plains Cemetery, nearby on Henry Clay Boulevard. There they found a

Sellens-Weller family lot with a stone marked "Mary Ann." Is that Mary

Ann Sellens' final final resting place? Was she moved there by the

family after Pine Plans took its first burial in 1886, leaving her old

stone behind? No one's sure just now. "We don't know where John and

Mary Sellens were buried," Verna Hughson tells me. "They're not with

the other family in Pine Plains." Are they still next to the house on

Route 31? Or home in Great Britain? Neither Suzanne nor I could find

Sellenses listed among early Clay settlers in county and town histories

we checked. Nor are any Sellenses recorded in Clay in federal census

records for this era at the Onondaga Historical Association. However, my

faithful helper, Rebekah Ambrose at the OHA, did locate a Sellens family

in the town of Onondaga in the same time period. Samuel and Sophia

Sellens, like John and Mary, were born in England. She found a Mary

Ann, too, but she was but 14 years old in the 1855 census. Samuel and

Sophia were in Onondaga for the 1870 census. When they died, they were

buried at Walnut Grove Cemetery at Onondaga Hill. What's the

connection? "I want to find out more about Mary Ann and her family,"

Suzanne Bullard says as her daughter, Adriana, dances around the old

gravestone in bright red shoes, picking her mom a dandy nosegay of

bright dandelions. She'd love to hear from readers who may have some

clues.

(From an no line posting my Mark Milton)

        7              vii.    Edward Sellens, born 1828 in East Hoathly, Sussex, England. 

                                 He married Eliza wife of Edward Sellens; born 1835 in England.

More About Edward Sellens:

1850 USA Census: Roll: M432_570; Page: 321; Image: 116.

1850 USA Census-1: Farmer

1850 USA Census-2: Clay, Onondaga County, New York, USA

1860 USA Census: Roll: M653_829; Page: 682; Image: 470

1860 USA Census-1: Farm Labourer

1860 USA Census-2: Geddes, Onondaga County, New York, USA

Immigration: 22 June 1830, "Hebernia" to New York

More About Eliza wife of Edward Sellens:

1860 USA Census: Roll: M653_829; Page: 682; Image: 470

1860 USA Census-1: Geddes, Onondaga County, New York, USA

Generation No. 2

2.  George⁹ Sellens (John⁸, John⁷, Robert⁶, John⁵, Robert⁴, John³ Sellen, Robert², William¹

Sellyn) was born 06 November 1815 in East Hoathly, Sussex, England, and died 02 April 1897 in

Prairie, Delaware, Iowa, USA. 

He married Helen wife of George Sellens.  She was born 19 March 1819 in England, and died 15

March 1903 in Prairie, Delaware, Iowa, USA.

More About George Sellens:

1870 USA Census: Roll: M593_387; Page: 189; Image: 378

1870 USA Census - 1: Farmer

1870 USA Census - 2: Prairie, Delaware, Iowa, USA

1880 USA Census: Roll: T9_336; Page: 507.1000; Enumeration District: 162; Image: 0796

1880 USA Census-1: Farmer

1880 USA Census-2: Prairie, Delaware, Iowa, USA

1895 Iowa Census: Prairie, Delaware, Iowa, USA

 George and Helen

Burial: Sand Creek Cemetery, Masonville, Prairie Twp., Delaware County, Iowa, USA

Photo with thanks from Phyllis Petersen at www.findagrave.com

Immigration: 22 June 1830, "Hebernia" to New York

More About Helen wife of George Sellens:

1870 USA Census: Roll: M593_387; Page: 189; Image: 378

1870 USA Census - 1: Keeps House

1870 USA Census - 2: Prairie, Delaware, Iowa, USA

1880 USA Census: Roll: T9_336; Page: 507.1000; Enumeration District: 162; Image: 0796

1880 USA Census-1: Housekeeper

1880 USA Census-2: Prairie, Delaware, Iowa, USA

1895 Iowa Census: Prairie, Delaware, Iowa, USA

1900 USA Census: Roll: T623 428; Page: 3B; Enumeration District: 83.

1900 USA Census-1: Prairie, Delaware, Iowa, USA

Burial: Sand Creek Cemetery, Masonville, Prairie Twp., Delaware County, Iowa, USA

Immigration: 1839, USA

Children of George Sellens and Helen Sellens are:

        9                ii.    Helen E Sellens, born February 1846 in New York, USA; died 1910 in Prairie, Delaware, Iowa, USA.

More About Helen E Sellens:

1870 USA Census: Roll: M593_387; Page: 189; Image: 378

1870 USA Census - 1: At home

1870 USA Census - 2: Prairie, Delaware, Iowa, USA

1880 USA Census: Roll: T9_336; Page: 507.1000; Enumeration District: 162; Image: 0796

1880 USA Census-1: At home

1880 USA Census-2: Prairie, Delaware, Iowa, USA

1895 Iowa Census: Prairie, Delaware, Iowa, USA

1900 USA Census: Roll: T623 428; Page: 3B; Enumeration District: 83.

1900 USA Census-1: Servant

1900 USA Census-2: Prairie, Delaware, Iowa, USA

1910 USA Census: Roll: T624_400; Page: 7B; Enumeration District: 94; Image: 549

1910 USA Census-1: Own Income

1910 USA Census-2: Boarder - Delaware, Delaware County, Iowa

Photo with thanks from Phyllis Petersen at www.findagrave.com

Burial: Sand Creek Cemetery, Masonville, Prairie Twp., Delaware County, Iowa, USA

        10             iii.    Charles G Sellens, born April 1848 in New York, USA; died 1910 in Prairie, Delaware, Iowa, USA.

More About Charles G Sellens:

1880 USA Census: Roll: T9_336; Page: 507.1000; Enumeration District: 162; Image: 0796

1880 USA Census-1: Farmer

1880 USA Census-2: Prairie, Delaware, Iowa, USA

1895 Iowa Census: Prairie, Delaware, Iowa, USA

1900 USA Census: Roll: T623 428; Page: 3B; Enumeration District: 83.

1900 USA Census-1: Farmer

1900 USA Census-2: Prairie, Delaware, Iowa, USA

Burial: Sand Creek Cemetery, Masonville, Prairie Twp., Delaware County, Iowa, USA

+      11             iv.    George C Sellens, born April 1850 in New York, USA.

        12              v.    William H Sellens, born March 1852 in New York, USA.

More About William H Sellens:

1870 USA Census: Roll: M593_387; Page: 189; Image: 378

1870 USA Census - 1: At home

1870 USA Census - 2: Prairie, Delaware, Iowa, USA

1895 Iowa Census: Prairie, Delaware, Iowa, USA

1900 USA Census: Roll: T623 428; Page: 9A; Enumeration District: 78

1900 USA Census-1: Delaware, Delaware County, Iowa, USA

Generation No. 3

        11.  George C¹⁰ Sellens (George⁹, John⁸, John⁷, Robert⁶, John⁵, Robert⁴, John³ Sellen,

Robert², William¹ Sellyn) was born April 1850 in New York, USA. 

He married Laura wife of George C Sellens.  She was born December 1853 in Iowa, USA.

More About George C Sellens:

1870 USA Census: Roll: M593_387; Page: 189; Image: 378

1870 USA Census - 1: At home

1870 USA Census - 2: Prairie, Delaware, Iowa, USA

1880 USA Census: Roll: T9_336; Page: 507.1000; Enumeration District: 162; Image: 0796

1880 USA Census-1: Farmer

1880 USA Census-2: Prairie, Delaware, Iowa, USA

1895 Iowa Census: Prairie, Delaware, Iowa, USA

1900 USA Census: Roll: T623 428; Page: 6B; Enumeration District: 83

1900 USA Census-1: Day Laborer

1900 USA Census-2: Prairie, Delaware, Iowa, USA

More About Laura wife of George C Sellens:

1895 Iowa Census: Prairie, Delaware, Iowa, USA

1900 USA Census: Roll: T623 428; Page: 6B; Enumeration District: 83

1900 USA Census-1: Prairie, Delaware, Iowa, USA

Child of George Sellens and Laura Sellens is:

        15               i.    Florence M¹¹ Sellens, born June 1889 in Prairie, Delaware, Iowa, USA.

More About Florence M Sellens:

1900 USA Census: Roll: T623 428; Page: 6B; Enumeration District: 83

1900 USA Census-1: At School

1900 USA Census-2: Prairie, Delaware, Iowa, USA

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