Sellers Hall (Built 1684); Upper Darby, Delaware County, PA Contributed to the PAGenWeb Archives by Robert E. Seeley Seeley1022@aol.com Copyright 2004. All Rights Reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/pa/pafiles.htm ********************************************************* Sellers Hall Image #1 http://www.usgwarchives.net/pa/delaware/famhist/sellershall1.jpg From Lori Clark and Robert Seeley . Picture from Sellers Library [Hoodland], Tom Smith. This picture was taken in about 1906 of Sellers Hall built in 1684. The home is on the property of St. Alice Church. A committee has formed to save Sellers Hall and funds are being collected. This must be one of the oldest homes in America. Sellers Hall Original Tract consist of 100 acres was granted in 1690 but rented before the land from William Penn. George and Samuel Sellers brothers arrival in 1682 but George died in first year. Lived in Cave On property Oldest section of Sellers Hall was built 1684 Samuel Sellers 1655 -1732 was America's first wire weaver. Samuel married Ann Gibbons in 1684 first marriage recorded in Darby Meeting House In 1691 purchased 75 more acres and by the forth generation in 1853 a total of 233 acres Samuel 2nd 1690 - 1773 was community activist, a supervisor in 1725, 1730, & 1752. He was a constable in 1748 and overseer of poor, John 1725 - 1804 was the first of the great Sellers inventors/mechanical engineers. Inventions included water power system to run the mills, wire screening for sieves and wire cards used in the textile mills. He added a tilt mill, grist mill and saw mill to the Sellers business. John was a charter member of the Franklin Institute and American Philosophical Society. He was a surveyor, an engineer, and a Revolutionary War Patriot, a cause that had him disowned by the Friends. He surveyed and mapped the Delaware River coast for George Washington and plotted the county line dividing Chester and Delaware Counties. He served in both the Pennsylvania colonial and state Assemblies and the Constitutional Convention of 1790. Nathan, son of John, 1751 - 1830 in 1775 made wire fans for Anthony Wayne and John Penn to clean wheat. He was famous for his inventions for drawing wire and wire weaving. In 1776 was the recorder for the Superior Executive Council of Pennsylvania. Served in Rev. War an ensign in Colonel Paschal's battalion. While serving a special act of Congress recalled him to make wire molds needed to make paper and print money. In 1776 Nathan and George Gray Jr. signed and numbered over 20,000 notes of the Continental Currency of the United Colonies. Congress commissioned Nathan to design paper water marks to prevent counterfeiting. In 1798 built the first cotton mill in Cardington with his brother David. In 1817 he built Millbank Home in Upper Darby. Nathan brother David built Springton Homestead in 1839 a 156 acre farm where Margate and Maderia Roads intersect. The Sellers also owned Brookfield Homestead located on the grounds of Beverly Hills School. Coleman, son of Nathan, developed and built fire engines at 16th and Market Streets. Coleman married the daughter of Charles Willson Peale, the famous painter. In 1821 was on the board that built Eastern Penitentiary. In 1828 built a foundry and carding machinery factory named Cardington Iron Works and Sellers Locomotive Works in Cardington and built homes for the workers. One of the first locomotives was built " America". Coleman also donated land for the first Union School and financed the New Jerusalem Church. Coleman, son of Coleman, 1827 - 1907 obtain a patent for a motion picture machine. He was a mechanical engineer and instructor at the Franklin Institute School. In 1860 Coleman made several Sterographical photo sequences the view he call a " Kinematoscope" George , another son of Coleman, 1808 - 1899, also an engineer and inventor. Invented a hill climber machine used to construct the Panama Canal. He also invented surveying equipment. In 1830 George, Samuel Jr., Nathan, and John Sellers were charter members of the Abolitionist Society. My Garrett family and Sellers family worked together on the UGRR. The Sellers family made major contributions not just locally but nationally for our country. I feel it is extremely important to save Sellers Hall and preserve the history of the Sellers family. Sellers Hall comments from Dr. Okur at Temple, my dear friend and expert on UGRR The Garretts, Sellers and Pennocks worked together (secretly though) on UGRR although we do not know how, in which ways, and to what extent. But these families whose children intermarried helped strengthen the cause of abolition over time. They were also influential in helping the Pennsylvania Hall built, in the center of Philadelphia, through their generous donations. The majestic building, which was the first of its kind, in terms of its planned service, was burned down by an angry mob three days after its opening. Comment From my friend Tom Smith archivist at Sellers Library. Tom Smith's opinion: Simply, Sellers Hall stands as the closest kin, he knows, to the Cloister buildings in Ephrata. Clearly, the superstructure of Sellers Hall is 1600's building. Amazing! It was a place of safety for many passengers on the UGRR. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sellers Hall Image #2 http://www.usgwarchives.net/pa/delaware/famhist/sellershall2.jpg Image taken November 2004 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sellers Hall Image #3 http://www.usgwarchives.net/pa/delaware/famhist/sellershall3.jpg Historical Sign Sellers Hall ------/----- First permanent home in Upper Darby, built about 1684 by Samuel Sellers, who occupied it with his bride, Anna Gibbons. Their Son, Samuel Sellers, Jr., was the first of many family members active in mechanical and scientific pursuits. Birthplace of John Sellers, a founder of the American Philosophical Society. In 1769 he served on a select committee that observed the planet Venus in its passage across the sun. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sellers Hall Image #4 http://www.usgwarchives.net/pa/delaware/famhist/sellershall4.jpg A deep hole on the outside wall of Sellers Hall with entry to cellar covered by slab. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sellers Hall image #5 http://www.usgwarchives.net/pa/delaware/famhist/sellershall5.jpg Cellar Wall of Sellers Hall