John
Sellman came to the colonies as an indentured servant and died as a rich man.
He is an example of the Puritan work ethic from the Southern viewpoint. He
married his “boss’” daughter, a Huguenot, but ended buried in an Anglican
Church yard.
John
Sellman was born 1645 probably in Ludlow, Shropshire, England the son of
William Sellman and his wife Margaret Holford
Married
Elizabeth Brashears
John Sellman died 18 October 1707 in Anne Arundel Co.,
Maryland and was buried in St. Mary, Anne Arundel Co., Maryland
John’s parentage
has not been proved to a certainty nor has his place of birth. I don’t know
where the parent names come from nor do I know where the “rumor” that John was
born in Ludlow comes from. So that information must be taken with a grain of
salt. Some researches think his wife may have been Elizabeth Lawrence rather
then Elizbeth Brashears but to my way of thinking, (which may be a bit too
romantic) Elizabeth Brashears is the better fit. I love the thought of a rich
young girl falling in love with the family servant. After all this is about an
American family, where a poor servant boy grows up to own over 900 acres of
land.
John Sellman was also called “Jonathan Sellman” is believed
to have been the indentured servant of his future father-in-law, Benjamin or
Benois Brashears. He was a boy of 13 years. He moved to Calvert and then Anne
Arundel County with the Brashears family where he continued to serve as a
“custom servant” for about ten years. When he left the Brashears’ family he was
given clothing, some farm tools and corn seed. He also had two warrants for
fifty acres of land that he received from the Lord Proprietor. On 2 July 1675
John turned over one of his land warrants to Thomas Henge. In December of 1676,
John Sellman and George Westall bought 175 acres called Covells Folly in Anne
Arundel Country south of the South River and west of Flat Creek. By the time he
died in 1707, John Sellman was land rich with over 900 acres. The once poor
indentured servant now employed indentured servants.
On 18 July 1707
John Sellman recorded his will. It was proved 28 Feb 1707 and is now at the
Hall of Records in Annapolis, Maryland, book 12 page 205. John died the next year on 28 February,
probably at home.
My guess is that John had a Calvinist in his beliefs as were
the Brashear family. He was buried in the Anglican Church in St. Mary’s City,
which indicates that he probably practiced at the Anglican or Church of England
lean in religion with a Calvinist tinge. Or he may have practiced it because it
was the “safest” religion for a wealthy man to practice. Whatever his religious
leanings were, he was buried in an Anglican church and his bones still lie
there.
***SOURCES***
1. "One
Mississippi Family" by Ann Geoghegan annieg49@bellsouth.net
"Ancestry.com"
2. "The Selman page"
htp://www.talweb.com/redlimey/gene/selman.htm
3. http://www.tamu.edu/ccbn/dewitt/pattselman1.htm
"The Selman Family" by Walter L. McKeehan
4. John Warren, john.Warren@worldnet.att.net
6. [JSD] Internet, 2002, "Descendants of John Sellman"
My
Sellman Line:
John
Sellman b. 1574 in Shropshire Co., England m. Anne Fisher b. 1578
William
Sellman b. 1613 in England m. Margaret Holford b. 1617
John
or Jonathan Sellman m. Elizabeth
Brashears the daughter of Benjamin or
Benois Brashears and his wife Mary
Richford
William
Sellman m. Anne West
Charles
Sellman m. Elizabeth Gassaway
Margaret
Sellman m. Joshua Hobbs
