Biographical Sketch of James C. SELLERS (1893); Chester County, PA Contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by John Morris . *********************************************************************** USGENWEB ARCHIVES NOTICE: Printing this file within by non-commercial individuals and libraries is encouraged, as long as all notices and submitter information is included. Any other use, including copying files to other sites requires permission from the submitters PRIOR to uploading to any other sites. We encourage links to the state and county table of contents. http://www.usgwarchives.net/ *********************************************************************** Source: "Biographical and Portrait Cyclopedia of Chester County, Pennsyl- vania, comprising a historical sketch of the county," by Samuel T. Wiley and edited by Winfield Scott Garner, Gresham Publishing Company, Phila- delphia, PA, 1893, pp. 305-6. "JAMES C. SELLERS, a graduate of Yale college, and a prominent lawyer of Philadelphia and West Chester, who has been in active and successful prac- tice since the centennial year, is the only son of James and Emmeline B. (Smith) Sellers, and was born May 4, 1854, at South Orange, New Jersey. The Sellers are descended from old English Quaker stock, the family having been planted in America by Samuel Sellers, a weaver, who came over from Derbyshire, England, in one of the vessels that crossed the Atlantic with William Penn in 1682. He took up one hundred acres of land, and estab- lished himself in the weaving business, in Darby, then Chester, now Dela- ware county. From him the now numerous Sellers family of this State have descended. "The first in America to weave wire into sieves and screens was his grand- son, John Sellers (1728 to 1804), who became distinguished for his mechan- ical ingenuity, was a member of the American Philosophical society, and occupied several important official places, being a member of the Provin- cial assembly from 1767 to 1771, of the Constitutional Convention of 1789, and of the State senate in 1790. "James Sellers, paternal grandfather of the subject of this sketch, and a grandson of the John Sellers above mentioned, was a native of Delaware county, this State, but removed to the city of Philadelphia, where he en- gaged int he wire weaving business and became an inventor of considerable note. He was a member of the Society of Friends - as were all the Sellers - and married Elizabeth Cadwallader, of Bucks county, by whom he had a family of fourteen children. "One of these was James Sellers (father), who was born in Philadelphia in 1823. He received a liberal education, studied medicine in the university of Pennsylvania and at the college of physicians and surgeons in New York, and after graduation located at South Orange, New Jersey, where he died in 1854, when but thirty years of age. He was a man of strong anti-slavery proclivities, and a firm friend of the Negro race. He married Emmeline B. Smith, a daughter of Captain John Holly Smith, and by this marriage had an only son, James C. Captain Smith (maternal grandfather) was a native of Stamford, Connecticut, and served for a number of years as captain in the regular United States navy. His wife, Louisa Ireland, belonged to the old New York family of that name. "James C. Sellers received his early education in the West Chester academy, where he proved himself an apt pupil and an earnest student. After leaving this school he entered Yale college, from which he was graduated with honors in the class of 1874. He then began the study of law in the office of Henry Wharton, Philadelphia, was admitted to the bar in December, 1876, and has been actively engaged in the practice of his profession ever since, principally in the city of Philadelphia, though he also practices at the West Chester bar. As a lawyer he is distinguished for the thoroughness with which he works up his cases, and the ability he displays in handling them in court. "On April 25, 1878, Mr. Sellers was married to Elma A. Townsend, a daugh- ter of Hon. Washington Townsend, of the borough of West Chester. She died April 5, 1881, leaving one son, James C., Jr., and on June 18, 1889, Mr. Sellers wedded Eleanor C. Barber, daughter of William E. Barber, deceased, of West Chester, and by this second marriage has one child, a daughter named Marie. He resides in West Chester, having his law office in Phila- delphia. "Politically Mr. Sellers is an ardent republican, taking an active inter- est in the spread of those principles and the triumph of that policy which distinguishes the party of his choice. He is in frequent demand for the stump, has served as president of the Young Men's Republican club of West Chester, but has never been a candidate for public office. He has long been connected with the Episcopal church, and is serving as a member and secretary of the vestry of his church, being also superintendent of the Sunday school, and secretary and treasurer of the convocation of Chester. For a number of years he has been assistant secretary of the convention of the diocese of Pennsylvania, and a member of the Executive board of the Sunday school association of the diocese of Pennsylvania. He is also connected with the local council of the Brotherhood of St. Andrew, and a member of its executive committee, and is one of the trustees of the Advancement society of Pennsylvania. In every relation of life, Mr. Sellers has sustained a high character, and has won an enviable standing in his profession, and as a useful and influential citizen. He is an affable gentleman, of pleasing address, and very popular wherever known."