Joseph Henry Selby

b. August 19, 1841 [FB]
d. February 8, 1913 at age 71

Martha Ann Pyles

b. March 7, 1855
d. February 9, 1943 at age 87

 

Children

Henry I. Selby, b/d. 1880

Hattie Idella Selby, b. Dec 16, 1881,
    d. May 3, 1969 at age 87

Joe, Matt, Hattie
Joe, Matt and Hattie

Click here for details of Cousin Hattie's life and the Cheltenham community.

Obituary: "Hattie I. Selby, 87, who taught for 23 years in Prince George's County schools died peacefully at her home in Cheltenham last Saturday. She was the daughter of the late Joseph A. and Martha A. Pyles Selby. 'Miss Hattie', as she was known to many, was an elementary school teacher in this County from 1903 to 1925. She taught in an era when grade school teachers themselves were only required to have eight grades of schooling and pass a written test by the Board of Education in order to teach. Her first teaching assignment was at Riverdale. She also taught at Greenbelt, Naylor and Croom, all one-room schools. Miss Hattie was known as a 'strict teacher' and she was not above administering a spanking when she thought it was called for. In 1925 she took over duties as secretary and general office worker at the then-called House of Reformation at Cheltenham, which was under the supervision of her uncle, the late John B. Pyles. She worked there until 1937 when she resigned to care for her ailing mother. Miss Hattie was noted for her remarkable memory and was often called upon to recall past events and persons in the Cheltenham area. She is survived by a host of relatives and friends. Services were held at 10:00 a.m. Tuesday in Ritchie Bros. Funeral Home. Interment was in Cheltenham Methodist Cemetery."

Brandywine1878

The Rebecca Wade property that Joseph H. Selby purchased is noted in the 1878 Hopkins map. Ann P. Selby Soper property is also marked, which is adjacent to Edwin Selby (not noted on map).

  • The 1863 Schedule 1 "LIST of all persons of CLASS I, subject to do military duty" included Joseph H. Selby, 22, a single white farmer born in Maryland and living in the Fourth District of Prince George's County. [Civil War Draft Registration Records, 1863-1865, Ancestry.com]
  • March 15, 1864: "Ordered by the Court that Richard B. Selby and J. Henry Selby be and they are hereby appointed administrators of Joseph H. Selby, late of Prince George's County deceased, and directed to file their bond in the penalty of four thousand dollars, with such security as shall be approved by the Register of this Court."[PG WB WAJ2.212]
  • On August 1, 1864 Joseph H. Selby purchased an exemption from the military draft for the sum of $300 through the Board of Enrollment of the Fifth District of the State of Maryland. [KR, copy in hand.]
  • In the 1870 Federal Census for Brandywine Post Office in the Nottingham District Jos. H. Selby (28) and brother E. J. Selby (26) were farming. (They each would have received about 55 acres of their deceased father's land.)
  • On July 15, 1873 Edwin J. and brother J. H. Selby, sold 9 acres near Shepards Spring (part of a tract called "Boons") to Charles E. Eversfield, trustee for Bowie S. Eversfield. The purchase price of $215.20 was paid, and the property was to be managed, by John T. Eversfield. [PG LR HB7.462]
  • In the 1880 Federal Census for Upper Marlboro, District 3, Joseph was listed as a 35-year-old clerk in a store, single, and living with Washington and Margaret Beall. Mr. W. Bell's store in Rosaryville became Wood's General Store near the current Holy Rosary Catholic Church on Rt. 301. The store was torn down about 1960.
  • Joe and Mattie SelbyOn December 1, 1880 Rebecca Wade sold 30 acres in Brandywine District to Joseph H. Selby for $700 [PG LR WAJ2.199]. Mrs. Wade owned the Wade Tract on the east side of Westwood Farm which was owned by the Pyles family. On the same date a mortage was recorded for $300 owed by Joseph H. Selby to Violetta S. A. Douglas, and to be repaid within three years with interest. The mortgage was secured by the property purchased from Rebecca Wade. [PG LR WAJ2.200]
  • As Hattie Selby later described it: "With the exception of nine acres sold off and now owned by the Charles Rawlings family the Wade tract is mine. [Joseph Selby] bought it from the Widow Wade and took [Martha Pyles] there as a bride. She would not consent to marry if he persisted in taking her to a house standing in a forty-acre tract that he had inherited from his parents. Although only a mile distant, to her it was too far from Ma's and Pa's. As true of most small homes of that time, it was of logs chinked with clay, three rooms on the first floor and one above. To this the happy couple moved and there spent a happy married life."
  • Joseph Selby (39) and Martha "Mattie" Pyles (25) were married February 1, 1881 at Cheltenham Church. [Westwood Methodist Episcopal Church where they now rest]
  • According to church records Joseph continued to be a communicant at his parents church and was confirmed November 24, 1888 at Church of the Atonement until sometime after 1909 when he is listed as lapsed/deceased. [MSA Special Collections M1202 p. 24, 37, 51,78, 126]
  • In the 1900 Federal Census for Brandywine District, Joseph H. Selby (58) was listed as a farmer and wife Mattie A. Selby (45) was keeping house. Only one of two children survived. Hattie (18) was at school. Joseph and Mattie had been married 19 years. Reuben F. Soper (30, cousin) was a boarder.
  • In the 1910 Federal Census Joseph (68) was still listed as a farmer with wife Mattie A. (55) and daughter Hattie I. (28) living at home in Brandywine District #11. Hattie was listed as a school teacher.
  • By the 1920 Federal Census for Brandywine District #11 Martha (64) was listed as a widowed farmer and head of household. Hattie (38) lived with her and worked as a public school teacher.
  • Selby gravestoneThe 1930 Federal Census shows that Hattie (48, single) lived with her widowed mother (75). Hattie was working as a secretary at the House of Reformation in Cheltenham. See the map at right for location of the House of Reformation just to the west of the Rebecca Wade property.
  • Joseph Henry and Martha are buried at Cheltenham United Methodist Church, formerly Westwood Methodist Episcopal Church, along with their infant son, Henry, and daughter, Hattie.