More About Edwin Selleck

EDWIN9 SELLECK (SAMUEL S.8, THOMAS7, SAMUEL6, JONATHAN5, NATHAN4, JONATHAN3, JONATHAN2, DAVID1)1,2,3,4 was born 08 January 1826 in New Canaan, CT5,6,7, and died 23 September 1875 in or near New Canaan, CT, buried in Selleck's Corner Cemetery8,9,10,11,12. He married JANE ANN AVERY13,14,15,16 26 October 1847 in New Canaan, Fairfield Co., CT17. She was born 14 October 1828 in New York18,19,20, and died 14 April 1921 in or near New Canaan, CT, buried in Selleck's Corner Cemetery21,22.

    Children of EDWIN9 SELLECK and JANE AVERY are:
  1. EMMA JANE10 SELLECK23,24,25,26, b. 23 March 1849, New Canaan, CT27,28; m. CHARLES S. HOYT29,30,31, 26 November 1874, New Canaan, Fairfield Co., CT, by Rev. W. L. Homes32,33,34,35; b. Abt. 1841, Pound Ridge, NY.
  2. SARAH CATHERINE SELLECK36,37,38, b. 25 January 1851, New Canaan, CT38; m. ORANGE SCOTT BROWN39, 13 November 1867, New Canaan, Fairfield Co., CT, by Rev. H. Schofield40,41,42,43; b. 31 March 1847, Pound Ridge, NY44; d. 07 July 1910, New Canaan, CT, buried in Lakeview Cemetery, New Canaan..
  3. HENRY STANTON SELLECK45,46,47,48, b. 28 September 1853, or near New Canaan, CT49,50,51; d. 21 June 1901, Norwalk, CT, buried in Union Cemetery (Rowayton)52,53; m. IDA CATHERINE ALBERTSON, 03 October 187653.
  4. CARRIE STEWART SELLECK54,55,56,56,57,58, b. 02 March 1858, or near New Canaan, CT59,60,61; d. 24 April 1896, New Canaan, CT62,63,64; m. ARTHUR CARHART BRITTON65,66,67, 16 June 1878, Poundridge Methodist Episcopal Church, Pound Ridge, NY68,69.
  5. HATTIE SELLECK70,71, b. 28 December 185972,73; d. 13 July 1865, or near New Canaan, CT, buried in Selleck's Corner Cemetery74,75.
  6. MARY JULIA SELLECK75,76,77, b. 16 September 1861, New Canaan, CT78,79; d. 16 November 1956, New Canaan, CT.; m. HOLLY BRUSH SLAUSON80,81, 09 November 1880, Pound Ridge, NY, Presbyterian church, by Rev. William Patterson82,83; b. 17 November 1860, New Canaan, CT84; d. 25 November 1947, New Canaan, CT84.
  7. CHARLES EDWIN SELLECK85,86,87,88, b. 19 April 1867, or near New Canaan, CT89,90,91,92; d. 09 October 1872, or near New Canaan, CT, buried in Selleck's Corner Cemetery

Line of descent from David Selleck to Edwin.


"When Edwin Selleck, (according to his daughter Mary Selleck Slauson), was six weeks old, his father and mother took him one Sunday, to High Ridge Church, three miles away; thereafter, to the end of his life, he attended church every Sunday. When he grew up and married Jane Avery, sister of the Canaan Ridge Hanford Avery--he began to feel a certain responsibility about the religious life at the [Sellecks] Corners where he had begun his married life. As the number of children in the settlement grew, Edwin decided to do something about providing Sunday school for them, He opened his house to them, arranged long benches supported by boxes, and had a 'houseful of Sunday school' every Sunday. But soon the house was inadequate, so this young family man of less than twenty-five years told his father he intended to donate some land on which he would immediately begin to build a church. He and Samuel selected the land.

"Edwin bought lumber in South Norwalk and began his self-dedicated task. His experience and abilities as stone mason and carpenter enabled him to make rapid progress, with the help of heighbors who contributed certain days each for assisting him; undoubtedly his father gave help and advice.

"The work was completed, the pews and pulpit arrived, and the Methodist Episcopal church of Sellecks Corners was opened by its founder, Edwin Selleck. He was made a 'licensed exhorte,' and conducted services. With the aid of a tuning fork he led the hymns; he was superintendent of the Sunday School, which met one evening each week.

"Soon, however, he allowed others to take over the Sunday school duties, and he was made the 'local preacher.' Later, when his daughter Sarah had taken a few music lessons, she played the church music on a little melodeon that her father had bought in Norwalk. Durnig Edwin's lifetime this was supplanted by and organ.

"All of this information about [Edwin] Selleck was given by [his daughter] Mrs. Holley B. Slauson, who was born at Sellecks Corners in 1861, and who is now [1946] the only survivor of a family of seven children born to Edwin and Jane Ann Selleck. Up to this point, her story of her father is filled with the extraordinary activity so characteristic of him. But suddenly, when she was only eleven, everything was changed: in a tragic accident in 1872 Edwin was badly injured by a falling tree. For the next three years he was increasingly helpless, and succumbed in 1875, when only forty-nine years old. What an extraordinary career of service he managed to pursue in those forty-nine years!"97

The Sellecks Corners Methodist church build in 1857 by Edwin Selleck. Photographed October 2000.

Endnotes
  1. FHC film #1533035, Norwalk Probate Records, Vol. 24.
  2. FHC film #1450630, New Canaan, Town Hall Vital Records, p. 36, son of Samuel and Nancy Selleck.
  3. Census film M432-38, Fairfield Co., CT, Darien, New Canaan, Norwalk, & Stamford, 1850, p. 333B.
  4. Census film M593-98, Fairfield Co., CT, New Canaan, Norwalk, 1870, p. 662B.
  5. FHC film #0003349, Charles M. Hall Cemetery Inscriptions, New Canaan , p. 120, gives Edwin Selleck's birth and death date. Also verified by Roger A. Pruitt with personal visitation October 1999.
  6. FHC film #1450630, New Canaan, Town Hall Vital Records, p. 36.
  7. Census film M432-38, Fairfield Co., CT, Darien, New Canaan, Norwalk, & Stamford, 1850, p. 333B.
  8. FHC film #1450629, New Canaan, CT, Index to Vital Statistics, p. 278, gives date of death.
  9. FHC film #0003349, Charles M. Hall Cemetery Inscriptions, New Canaan, p. 120.
  10. FHC film #1533034, Norwalk Probate Records Vol. 18, Will of Edwin Selleck names children and wife. His father, Samuel Selleck, named as executor. Will written 20 September 1875 and read 11 November 1875.
  11. FHC film #1450630, New Canaan, Town Hall Vital Records, p. 36.
  12. Photocopied pages from the Edwin Selleck Family Bible and on file at the New Canaan Historical Society.
  13. FHC film #1450629, New Canaan, CT, Index to Vital Statistics, p. 15, (Sarah's marriage to Orange Scott Brown listed parent's names and gave Jane Ann as the mother).
  14. FHC film #0003349, Charles M. Hall Cemetery Inscriptions, New Canaan, p. 120.
  15. Census film M432-38, Fairfield Co., CT, Darien, New Canaan, Norwalk, & Stamford, 1850, p. 333B.
  16. Census film M593-98, Fairfield Co., CT, New Canaan, Norwalk, 1870, p. 662B.
  17. Photocopied pages from the Edwin Selleck Family Bible and on file at the New Canaan Historical Society.
  18. FHC film #0003349, Charles M. Hall Cemetery Inscriptions, New Canaan, p. 120.
  19. Photocopied pages from the Edwin Selleck Family Bible and on file at the New Canaan Historical Society.
  20. Census film M432-38, Fairfield Co., CT, Darien, New Canaan, Norwalk, & Stamford, 1850, p. 333B.
  21. FHC film #0003349, Charles M. Hall Cemetery Inscriptions, New Canaan, p. 120, Selleck's Corner Cemetery with a large stone marker carrying names and dates of births and deaths of Edwin and Jane A. (Avery) Selleck and children Hattie and Charles E.
  22. Photocopied pages from the Edwin Selleck Family Bible and on file at the New Canaan Historical Society.
  23. FHC film #1533034, Norwalk Probate Records Vol. 18.
  24. Census film M432-38, Fairfield Co., CT, Darien, New Canaan, Norwalk, & Stamford, 1850, p. 333B.
  25. Census film M593-98, Fairfield Co., CT, New Canaan, Norwalk, 1870, p. 662B.
  26. Photocopied pages from the Edwin Selleck Family Bible and on file at the New Canaan Historical Society.
  27. Census film M432-38, Fairfield Co., CT, Darien, New Canaan, Norwalk, & Stamford, 1850, p. 333B.
  28. Photocopied pages from the Edwin Selleck Family Bible and on file at the New Canaan Historical Society.
  29. FHC film #1450629, New Canaan, CT, Index to Vital Statistics, p. 278.
  30. Jay Harris, Marriage, Baptisms and Deaths Extracted from the Records of the Methodist-Episcopal Church, Pound Ridge, NY, p. 13.
  31. Photocopied pages from the Edwin Selleck Family Bible and on file at the New Canaan Historical Society.
  32. FHC film #1450629, New Canaan, CT, Index to Vital Statistics, pp. 138 & 278, gives 26 Nov. 1874 by Rev. W. L. Holmes.
  33. Jay Harris, Marriage, Baptisms and Deaths Extracted from the Records of the Methodist-Episcopal Church, Pound Ridge, NY, p. 13, gives 18 Nov. 1874 by Rev. W. L. Holmes with witnesses: W. L. Holmes, Mr. and Mrs. Selleck & others.
  34. FHC film #1450630, New Canaan, Town Hall Vital Records, p. 23, give date of marriage as 26 Nov. 1874 with Rev. W. L. Holmes officiating.
  35. Photocopied pages from the Edwin Selleck Family Bible and on file at the New Canaan Historical Society.
  36. FHC film #1533034, Norwalk Probate Records Vol. 18, Will of Edwin Selleck names children and wife..
  37. Jay Harris, Marriage, Baptisms and Deaths Extracted from the Records of the Methodist-Episcopal Church, Pound Ridge, NY, under Baptisms.
  38. Photocopied pages from the Edwin Selleck Family Bible and on file at the New Canaan Historical Society.
  39. Jay Harris, Marriage, Baptisms and Deaths Extracted from the Records of the Methodist-Episcopal Church, Pound Ridge, NY, p. 8.
  40. FHC film #1450630, New Canaan, Town Hall Vital Records, p. 15, by Rev. H. Schofield. Sarah was only 16, and her parents gave their consent to the marriage.
  41. Jay Harris, Marriage, Baptisms and Deaths Extracted from the Records of the Methodist-Episcopal Church, Pound Ridge, NY, p. 8, marriage in New Canaan at the residence of the bride's father, Edwin Selleck, with witnesses, H. Scofield, James Brown, Edwin Selleck.
  42. FHC film #1450629, New Canaan, CT, Index to Vital Statistics, pp. 279, 41.
  43. Photocopied pages from the Edwin Selleck Family Bible and on file at the New Canaan Historical Society.
  44. FHC film #0003349, Charles M. Hall Cemetery Inscriptions, New Canaan, p. 24.
  45. FHC film #1533034, Norwalk Probate Records Vol. 18, Will of Edwin Selleck names children and wife..
  46. FHC film #1533035, Norwalk Probate Records, Vol. 24.
  47. Census film M593-98, Fairfield Co., CT, New Canaan, Norwalk, 1870, p. 662B.
  48. Photocopied pages from the Edwin Selleck Family Bible and on file at the New Canaan Historical Society.
  49. FHC film #1450629, New Canaan, CT, Index to Vital Statistics, p. 279.
  50. FHC film #0003355, Headstone Inscriptions, Town of Norwalk, CT, p. 325, birth date on headstone is Sep. 28, 1852.
  51. Photocopied pages from the Edwin Selleck Family Bible and on file at the New Canaan Historical Society.
  52. FHC film #0003355, Headstone Inscriptions, Town of Norwalk, CT, p. 325.
  53. Photocopied pages from the Edwin Selleck Family Bible and on file at the New Canaan Historical Society.
  54. FHC film #1533034, Norwalk Probate Records Vol. 18, Will of Edwin Selleck names children and wife., Will of Edwin Selleck names children and wife.
  55. Census film M593-98, Fairfield Co., CT, New Canaan, Norwalk, 1870, p. 662B.
  56. Photocopied pages from the Edwin Selleck Family Bible and on file at the New Canaan Historical Society.
  57. New Canaan Historical Society, Selleck card file.
  58. FHC film #1450629, New Canaan, CT, Index to Vital Statistics, p. 36.
  59. FHC film #1450629, New Canaan, CT, Index to Vital Statistics, p. 179.
  60. Photocopied pages from the Edwin Selleck Family Bible and on file at the New Canaan Historical Society.
  61. FHC film #1450630, New Canaan, Town Hall Vital Records, p. 97, age at death 38-1-22.
  62. FHC film #1450629, New Canaan, CT, Index to Vital Statistics, p. 36.
  63. Photocopied pages from the Edwin Selleck Family Bible and on file at the New Canaan Historical Society, gives 26 April 1896, but seems to have been written with the same pen at the time that Henry S. Selleck's death was recorded in 1901.
  64. FHC film #1450630, New Canaan, Town Hall Vital Records, p. 98.
  65. Jay Harris, Marriage, Baptisms and Deaths Extracted from the Records of the Methodist-Episcopal Church, Pound Ridge, NY, p. 15.
  66. New Canaan Historical Society, Selleck card file.
  67. FHC film #1450629, New Canaan, CT, Index to Vital Statistics, p. 36.
  68. Jay Harris, Marriage, Baptisms and Deaths Extracted from the Records of the Methodist-Episcopal Church, Pound Ridge, NY, p. 15, witnesses: Sylvester Smith, M. A. Smith, Henrietta Smith.
  69. Photocopied pages from the Edwin Selleck Family Bible and on file at the New Canaan Historical Society.
  70. FHC film #0003349, Charles M. Hall Cemetery Inscriptions, New Canaan, p. 120.
  71. Photocopied pages from the Edwin Selleck Family Bible and on file at the New Canaan Historical Society.
  72. FHC film #0003349, Charles M. Hall Cemetery Inscriptions, New Canaan, p. 120.
  73. Photocopied pages from the Edwin Selleck Family Bible and on file at the New Canaan Historical Society.
  74. FHC film #0003349, Charles M. Hall Cemetery Inscriptions, New Canaan, p. 120, Selleck's Corner Cemetery with a large stone marker carrying names and dates of births and deaths of Edwin and Jane A. (Avery) Selleck and children Hattie and Charles E.
  75. Photocopied pages from the Edwin Selleck Family Bible and on file at the New Canaan Historical Society.
  76. FHC film #1533034, Norwalk Probate Records Vol. 18, Will of Edwin Selleck names children and wife..
  77. Census film M593-98, Fairfield Co., CT, New Canaan, Norwalk, 1870, p. 662B.
  78. FHC film #1450629, New Canaan, CT, Index to Vital Statistics, p. 279.
  79. Photocopied pages from the Edwin Selleck Family Bible and on file at the New Canaan Historical Society.
  80. Pound Ridge Presbyterian Church Westchester, NY, Marriages Performed by the Rev. Wm Patterson 1837-1886.
  81. New Canaan Historical Society, Selleck file written by Mary Jane (Slauson) Keeler.
  82. FHC film #0017860, Aaron Fancher Marriage Records, Westchester Co., NY, 1837-1871, p. 396.
  83. Photocopied pages from the Edwin Selleck Family Bible and on file at the New Canaan Historical Society.
  84. George Clark Slawson, The Slason-Slauson-Slawson-Slosson Family, (1946), p. 305.
  85. Jay Harris, Marriage, Baptisms and Deaths Extracted from the Records of the Methodist-Episcopal Church, Pound Ridge, NY, under Baptisms.
  86. FHC film #0003349, Charles M. Hall Cemetery Inscriptions, New Canaan, p. 120.
  87. Census film M593-98, Fairfield Co., CT, New Canaan, Norwalk, 1870, p. 662B.
  88. Photocopied pages from the Edwin Selleck Family Bible and on file at the New Canaan Historical Society.
  89. Undertaker's Records, R. L. Hall & Brother, New Canaan, CT, names parents, Edwin and Jane A. Selleck, d. 9 Oct. 1872 at New Canaan, age 5 y, 5 m, 15 d which makes his birth 24 Apr. 1867.
  90. FHC film #1450630, New Canaan, Town Hall Vital Records, p. 30, d. 9 Oct. 1872 aged 5y, 5m, 15d. This gives birth 24 Apr. 1867.
  91. FHC film #0003349, Charles M. Hall Cemetery Inscriptions, New Canaan, p. 120.
  92. Photocopied pages from the Edwin Selleck Family Bible and on file at the New Canaan Historical Society.
  93. FHC film #1450629, New Canaan, CT, Index to Vital Statistics, p. 278.
  94. FHC film #0003349, Charles M. Hall Cemetery Inscriptions, New Canaan, p. 120, Selleck's Corner Cemetery with a large stone marker carrying names and dates of births and deaths of Edwin and Jane A. (Avery) Selleck and children Hattie and Charles E.
  95. FHC film #1450630, New Canaan, Town Hall Vital Records, Item 3, Deaths, p. 30, death by membranous croup.
  96. Photocopied pages from the Edwin Selleck Family Bible and on file at the New Canaan Historical Society.
  97. "Mrs. William C. Esty's Story of School District No. 7," The New Canaan Historical Society Annual, (June 1946), 12-28.

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