CHAPTER 3 Sellers

Sometime around 1733, THOMAS SELLER was born.

On 28th November 1757, Thomas was married at Hunmanby to RUTH (Johnson) and they settled in Hunmanby.

They had seven children, all born in Hunmanby:-

	Ann	baptised on the 12th October 1759.	married at Hunmanby 5.6.1779 to Thomas (Pashby)

	Elizabeth	baptised on the 27th May 1762.	married at Hunmanby 18.9.1786 to John (Champlin)

	THOMAS	baptised on the 3rd December 1763.

	John	baptised on the 15th November 1766.

	Mathew	baptised on the 13th January 1769.

	Edward	baptised on the 8th October 1770.	didn’t survive long and was buried at Hunmanby 9.12.1772.

	Hannah	baptised on the 23rd June 1778.

Thomas senior died in 1810, aged 77 yrs old, and was buried at Hunmanby on the 4th July of that year.

THOMAS (born 1763):

(Thomas may have previously been married at Hunmanby 16.8.1785 to Mary (Marshall) – one of Thomas’ grandchildren was given the christian name Marshall).

On the 29th September 1789 Thomas was married at Hunmanby to MARY (Dodson), and they also settled in Hunmanby, where Thomas was a Cattle Dealer in North Street.

Thomas & Mary had six children, all born at Hunmanby:-

	Ruth	baptised on the 12th July 1790.	married at Hunmanby 9.5.1813 to William (Smith)

	JOHN	baptised on the 25th November 1793.

	Mary	baptised on the 25th October 1795.

	Thomas	baptised on the 12th August 1798.

	William	baptised on the 25th December 1800.

	Dodson	baptised on the 2nd October 1803.

	Johnson	baptised on the 25th September 1807.

JOHN (born 1793):

On the 11th January 1815 John was married at Rudston to ANN (Foster), (daughter of James and Mary Foster), who was born at Rudston 25.8.1796. John was a farm labourer at Reighton, where their first child was born:-

	Sarah	baptised on the 26th September 1813 at Bridlington.

	Johnson	baptised on the 29th October 1815 at Bridlington.

	Jane	baptised on the 20th July 1817 at Bridlington.

	WILLIAM	baptised on the 1st July 1821.

	Mary	baptised on the 9th July 1823 at Bridlington.

The family subsequently settled at Speeton where John worked as a farm labourer.

John & Ann more children, all born at Speeton:-

	Ruth	baptised on the 15th July 1826 at Bridlington.

	Ann	baptised on the 22nd March 1829 at Bridlington. Married Henry Creaser (born c1830)

	Hannah	baptised on the 26th August 1832 at Bridlington.

	Martha	baptised on the 26th August 1832 at Bridlington.

	Frances	baptised on the 7th February 1836 at Bridlington.

	Jane Dinah	born 17th March 1838. Died 20th October 1920 at Bridlington. Between October and December 1863 she married Enoch Artley.

WILLIAM (born 1821):

Sometime between October and December 1845, William married Catherine Jemmison, born at North Burton c.Feb 1822.

In 1851 (census), they were living with William’s parents and their four children all born at Speeton:-

	Thomas	born c1844

	George	born between Jan - Mar 1846.

	Hannah	born c1848

	JOHN	born between Jan - Mar 1850.

By 1861 (census), John Snr had his own farm of 15 acres - Woodbine Farm, Speeton.

William was also a farm labourer. By 1861 William & Catherine'sfamily had increased by four, all born at Speeton:-

	Dodson	born between Apr - Jun 1852 (baptised 4th July 1852).

	Jane	born c1855

	James	born between Jan - Mar 1856.

	William	born between Apr - Jun 1858

By 1871 (census), John Snr had died and Ann was living with William and Catherine at Speeton Farm. William (Snr) had taken over the family farm and he and Catherine had two more children, both born at Speeton:-

	Charles	born c1862

	Benjamin	born c1863 (baptised 20th December 1863). Between Jan - Mar 1888 he married Martha Ann Lee (born c1865) They had a daughter Mabel born between Jan - Mar 1889 at Gristhorpe. Martha died between Oct - Dec 1889. Between Oct - Dec 1891 Benjamin married Alice Hannah Atkinson (born c1869) and they had a daughter Gertrude born between Jan - Mar 1893.

This completed their family of ten children. At this time an ‘s’ had been added to the name becoming ‘Sellers’.

By 1881 (census), William had increased his holding to 45 acres at Woodbine Farm and was living there with William (Jnr) and Catherine. Also working on the family farm were sons Benjamin and JOHN

JOHN (born c1850):

Between Jul - Sep 1876 JOHN had married Emma Sergeant (born at Barrow on Humber, Lincolnshire. c.1856), they had four children, all born at Speeton:-

	Harry	born between Jul - Sep 1877.

	Anne	born between Jul - Sep 1878. (married at Speeton Church 10.2.1904 when she was 25 to John Henry Plewes born c1875).

	William	born between Jul - Sep 1879.

	ADA	born between Jan - Mar 1881.

By 1891, William and Catherine had retired and were still living in Speeton. (William died between April and June 1900). At this time Benjamin was a widower and was working as a signalman on the railway at Speeton.

John and Emma were still working the family farm and they had increased their family by six, all born at Speeton:-

	Alice	born c1883

	Kate	born c1885

	George	born c1886

	Charles	born c1888

	John	born c1890

	Thomas	born c1891

By 1901, John & Emma were still at Woodbine Farm, with Alice, Charles and Thomas, plus their eleventh child:-

	Herbert	born c1892 at Speeton.

John & Emma’s son William (born 1879), was living at No.9 Speeton Village with his wife Rachel, (born at Rudston c.1878), and their daughter, Elsie born at Speeton c.1900. William’s grandmother, Catherine, was also living with them at this time until her death between Jan - Mar 1906.

William worked with his father on the family farm, part-timing elsewhere, and probably didn’t take the farm on when his father died. William kept a diary from 1910 to 1929 (when the diary, which gives a fascinating insight into their lives, ended somewhat abruptly). In this diary William often refers to his work with the LSA (The Life Saving Apparatus volunteers, which later became the Coastguard Auxiliary Service, renamed in 1968) and he must have completed at least 20 years of service with them as he was awarded the Rocket Apparatus Volunteer Long Service Medal, which was instituted by the Board of Trade in 1911 to recognise 20 years service in the Rocket Life Saving Apparatus Volunteers. (William appears on page 314 of the medal roll).

LSAmedal1 LSAmedal2

To read William's diary as an e-book please click on the link below labelled 'open publication'

John was probably a tenant at Woodbine Farm because in the diary we read that a Mr Appleby bought the farm in 1923, although John seems to have remained as tenant. John had already bought Cliff Cottage for £180 in 1918 and maybe he was unable to afford to buy the farm. William moved into the cottage in the same year.

ADA SELLERS (born c1881):

The church register at Hunmanby Church gives ADA SELLERS of Speeton as the parent of WILLIAM COWTON who was baptised there on the 5th August 1900. William’s birthday is believed to be the 19th July 1900.

On the 1st September 1906, ADA married MARK COWTON, (baptised at Hunmanby 3rd September 1879).

Ada and Mark had three more children:-

	Charles Ernest	born c1904

	Hilda Kathleen	born c1908

	Irene Doris	born c1913

Ada died at Hunmanby in march 1926, when she was just 45 years of age. She was buried in Hunmanby cemetery, 26th March 1926.

Mark died in 1957 and was buried at Hunmanby 19th July 1957.

It is currently not known what became of the rest of John and Emma’s large family.

William and Rachel’s daughter Elsie apparently didn’t marry, but she had two illegitimate children, Dennis c1929, and Sarah c1934.

There are no Sellers living in Speeton now.

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