Charles Selleck Biography

Charles Wetmore Selleck & Nellie Mosier

Biography and Diary Summation

Submitted by Steve Trumbo at trumbo@comcast.net

Charles Selleck diaries 1886 & 1887

Photographs of Charles Selleck and wife Nellie Mosier Selleck

Early photograph of Cross O. Mosier | Charles Selleck Family circa 1900

Charles Wetmore Selleck, son of James and Kate Yakely Selleck was born in Clayton, Michigan on June 8, 1864. And homesteaded somewhere near Chadron, Nebraska, around 1885. He was an only child. We do not know anything of his early years -- nothing until 1883. This information either obtained by reading his diaries of 1883 - 1887.

Charles Selleck at the age of 18 lived with his mother and did the ranch work and also attended school. He hired different young men to work for him. He decided to try to run things by himself when he was 18 and still in school. Hank, his hired man, left in February and Charles said in his diary, that he was going to do the chores himself, as he did not like the way they were done under Hank's administration. The first day, he states, he did the chores up early and in good shape too. It seems every day he was late getting to school or have to be excused early, so a week later, he went to school, stayed until noon and got his books, "as he cannot do chores and go to school also". He mentioned studying Civil Government and Natural Philosophy.

Charles must have lived close to the town of Lyons or Ionia, as they drove in nearly every day, probably to get mail and a few groceries. They traveled by sleigh and cutter in the winter and buggy, carriage and wagon at other times.

Charles liked good horses and the ones he used the most were: Old Mary, Nell, and Perch (Percheron). By 1886 he also had Old Soldier, Tom, Billy, Tony, and Gin, Princess and her colt - Flora B., mules, Broncos, Nellie Bronk and the black bull. Perch had a colt, that Charles named Dick, but a little later he decided to change the name to, "Duke of Perche". Perch seemed to be his favorite. He had been offered several hundred dollars at different times, but would never sell her. At one time, he took Perch to the fair and one first premium. Eventually, he sold Old Mary, for 400 pitch pine poles.

Perch at one time, was very lame, so Charles went to town and got the Doctor to come out. The Doctor said Perches blood was out of order -- in other words she had blood poisoning and gave her medicine and liniment, to be used every other hour, and poultice on her leg. Old Mary had a lameness at one time and Doctor said it was Farey and gave her medicine and liniment also. A few days later, Charles said Old Mary was getting better, she can kick tolerable well now with her lame leg.

One day, Old Nell, jumped the fence and didn't calculate how high. She got the inside of her gamble joint. Charles sewed it up and bathed it with cold water. Another time when Old Nell got sick, Charles gave her soda water and put salt on her kidneys. He thought he had given her too much corn to eat.

Princess had the colic on the way home from Chadron and laid down six or seven times. Charles said it worked him up quite a bit, as he thought Princess might burn up her toes.

When Charles lived in Ionia, Michigan, with his mother, he helped her quite a lot, especially with the washings and special house cleaning -- like whitewashing all the walls. It seemed to me he worked real hard for a young fellow only 18 years old. He had quite a few chores to do besides milking cows, feeding livestock, putting in the crops, cultivating, harvesting and always having to cut and haul wood. In winter, he hauled four tons of ice to the ice house and paid 25 cents a ton for it.

Charles evidently milked enough cows, to provide cream to be churned, as they took quite a few pounds of butter into town each week or so and traded for groceries, receiving 20 cents a pound. They also sold eggs for 15 cents a dozen. In the fall, they sold apples for cider by the barrel. Charles and his mother also made vinegar and sold 52 gal. @ 12 ½ cents a gallon. They also had cherry trees and sold cherries for eight cents a quart.

Charles kept busy working at the farm, but also took time to go skating, when the ice was good and to go to parties in the neighborhood and in his own home. They usually danced until three o'clock or so in the a.m. and then drove home by sleigh or wagon -- getting home about 6 a.m.. At one particular time Charles had a "shindig" in his own home. He took up the carpet in the sitting room and did up the chores early. Guests started to come at 7:30 p.m.. There were nine couples and they started dancing at 9 p.m. and had refreshments at midnight. At 25 minutes to 4 a.m., all the guests have departed.

There were times when Charles and his friends played cards -- Pedro, Seven-up and Euchre.

Charles hired a young boy, Melvin Blossom for eight months at $13.50 per month. He helped with the chores, chopped wood, built fence, and all other jobs that needed to be done.

Charles went to Sunday school and church occasionally when they lived near Ionia -- often attending different churches. He doesn't ever mentioned his mother going though. He was very conscientious about not working on Sunday, unless it was really necessary. He often read, wrote letters or they visited neighbors. Their dances were usually held on Friday nights or during the week, so they didn't dance on into Sunday. One time Charles mentioned they had danced a little into Sunday, but not long enough to her too much. In other times, he said he pretty near broke the Sabbath fixing the pump and tinkering around. Still another time, he said he had ought not to work on Sunday, but had so much to do.

Charles was very "time conscious "and recorded the exact time almost every day, when he went to work, or to town, when he arrived home and often what time it rained. One night, after coming home from a party, he "tumbled into bed at seven minutes till three. " So he probably checked his watch often.

Charles had quite a few relatives that lived in town or nearby. There are some, that lived further away and had to come by train. The train was very convenient and Charles and his mother often took it when that they had business in Chadron, otherwise it took five or six hours with the team and wagon. His Aunt Eliza and and Aunt Hattie quite often drove out together and I am assuming, they are Charles's mother's sisters as they resemble each other. Aunt Eliza and her husband are parents of Hattie and Kate and Ed Cadwell -- Charles cousins. They later moved to Montana and lived in Billings.

When Charles was 18, he drank coffee for the first time in seven or eight years. About four months later, when he wasn't feeling so good, he decided to quit it -- "I have sworn off drinking coffee today ". Charles had sick spells several times and had to go for medicine. One time, the Doctor, diagnosed his trouble as "nervous prostration ". There were days, he said "he feels considerable broke up "-- "have felt old today "-- "not very bunkious "-- "fearful tired "and one time he wrote "when eating supper, I had one of those fainting spells, it is a horrible feeling ". He and his mother drove to town to the doctor and he prescribed some medicine, costing 75 cents. Dr. Said it was his stomach that caused it. "I have had several this spring. I am so weak, I cannot work at all " and next day he said he felt, "weak as a cat " and did nothing all day. Several days later he felt, "a good deal stronger ".

On December 13, 1883, Charles got the "genuine mumps -- jaws are all swelled up and a considerable fever ". A week later he went outdoors for the first time and fixed some fence and did some chores. He worked each day, but on the 24th, he felt miserable and Mr. Warner, their neighbor, went to town and got Dr. Treymayne, to come out. He said Charles had caught cold from the mumps. He stayed in bed and couldn't set up at all for five days. Then he sat in the rocking chair or laid on the lounge. On December 31, he got up, got dressed and his mother went to town and bought him a pair of slippers.

Some prices of things Charles mentioned in 1883 were their taxes, $33.82. Haircut 25 cents; sharpening skates, 25 cents; some medicine, 10 cents; straw hat, 40 cents; corn, 50 cents a bushel; shoes for his mother, 50 cents; butchered pigs sold for 4 cents a pound.

After reading his diary it appears he came to Nebraska around 1885 and settled close to Whitney and Chadron,Nebraska, about 6 hr. drive with horse and buggy to Chadron, . He homesteaded here and his mother also had a preemption. For at least a year, he was without his mother, as she was still in Ionia Michigan, while he was setting up a homestead. He mentions a shack on her claim and once in a while, they would go up to it and stay all night, in order to hold down the claim. Charles also had a tree claim. I am assuming they used this to cut wood for their home and also for building fences etc..

Charles did a lot of breaking prairie, which would be plowing new ground. It's was hard ground and he had trouble with the plow not working good. He used the mules to pull the plow and said they needed wacking. One of his neighbors had a yoke of bulls, that they hitched to the plow. Bill managed to plow and Charles wacked the Bulls to keep them going.

Bill and Ed, friends and neighbors, had claims also and it seemed that they all worked and helped each other -- plowing, haying, harvesting etc.. He must not have brought his cows to Nebraska, as mentions buying cows from a neighbor, Mr. Davis. Ten cows @ $30 each and five two-year-olds @ $25. He also bought two sows, two bores, four-weeks old, for five dollars and one pump.

In January, Charles had spent a lot of time snaking out logs, cutting and hauling wood from Indian Creek Canyon. They hitched the mules to the sleighs and the horses on the wagon and took hay along for their feed. They had a shack there that they stayed in, as they would be working there for some time. The mill was close and they would take some of the logs, to have cut into lumber. They often sold this lumber for money and sometimes for groceries or other items. Of course he needed quite a lot for himself, as he built barns, sheds and fences.

Since it was winter, the snow was deep and they often got stuck in snowdrifts and even turned over. At one point, they tipped over twice. Old Nell fell down and they had to unhitch and roll her over the couple times to get her out. One time, when he was up in the Canyon, getting out lumber, someone stole a quarter of beef and axe from their shanty. Another time, Charles said, Gillispie's bitch of a Greyhound, got in their shanty and carried off 20 pounds of beef and ate everything on the table, tipped over dishes and raised the devil.

The Mosiers, Charles's future in-laws, lived real close here in Nebraska. Charles said, he "made a dicker with Mr. Mosier to give him 1000 feet of 12 foot boards for two tons of hay. Mr. Mosier is to draw it."

All of Charles's neighbors seemed to be very helpful as Charles borrows machinery and other items at various times. In March, while still logging in the Canyon, Charles said "it is a beautiful day. Seems as if I can not wait to get out of the Canyon -- there is so much work to be done down home".

One day early in February, Charles helped his mother paper a partition that had just been put up in the house. Then that evening, just after he got settled down to read, he heard a team drive up to the house. "A surprise party for sure. All the neighbors and quite a few from town. Bill Cooper fiddled and George Ayers played the organ". So it sounds like Charles brought their organ from Michigan to Nebraska.

In the spring, Charles and his helper, worked building a barn -- 28 ft. by 30 ft., before they started plowing and planting.

Charlie Pringle, who had a preemption filing on the southwest of 8, which was Charles's mother's claim, sold his to her for five dollars.

Charles helped his mother set out cherry, plum and pear trees. At one time he mentions Mrs. Mosier, bringing over some little cedar trees that they planted.

Charles planted lots of potatoes -- one acre, bought eight bushels at 75 cents from Mr. Antram's. He plowed and his mother dropped them in for him. He also planted a lot of corn and three acres of beans. There was also broom corn, sod corn, sweet corn, some corn they brought from Michigan, sorghum, turnips, squash and pumpkins. He planted black eyed peas on his mother is claim.

Over a period of time, they built corrals, digging post holes and setting posts -- putting three wires all around, a total of 1514 pounds of wire. They also brought the old barn down from his mother's claim to use for a shop and put on a dirt roof.

They dug a large cave north of the house, 12 feet by 4 feet and made double doors, so they could put all the vegetables and fruit in it.

On his birthday, June 8, 1887, Charles says "I am twenty-three years old today. The years are beginning to roll around terrible fast. Will be an old man before I know it."

July 23, 1887, Charles helped his mother clean house and then went to get George Ayers to play the organ that evening. At 7 p.m., he drove over and got Nellie Mosier and "they had a splendid time. It's was the largest party, I have ever had yet. " This is the first time he has mentioned taking Nellie to a party; sounds like a date dosn't it? He does go over to Mr. Mosier's quite often though. On August 14, he and Nellie went over to Cooper's -- danced, played cards and visited, arriving home at 4 a.m..

His uncle Charlie Selleck, who lived in Adrian County Michigan, quite a few miles from where Charles lived in Ionia, Michigan, came on the trained to visit. Also a cousin, Frank Knapp. They helped with some of the chores and visited around. They and Charles, went to the Badlands, looking for specimens and found a few. They went to Fort Robinson another day and watched the parade and drills. They also went to Crow Butte and took in the sites. Charles gave his uncle Charlie his elk horns. When Charles took his uncle Charlie to the trained to leave, his uncle gave him a gift of $20 and told him, he was going to buy him a saddle and bridle. He bought it in Chadron, on his way home and sent it on the train to Charles in Whitney. Charles said, "it was a dandy".

Charles took a trip by train in October 1887, to visit his Aunt Hattie, in Turner Junction, Illinois. He changed trains in Chicago and spent three hours at the Chicago exposition. While at Aunt Hattie's, he went to school with her, so I assume, she was a school teacher. She evidently was married to Jack Torrey. After staying a few days with Aunt Hattie, he went on to Kankakee, which is near Chicago, to visit his uncle Joe and Aunt Mandy, for several weeks. There didn't seem much for him to do, but walk up town several times a day and helped Aunt Mandy, by running errands and raking up the yard. Charles finally looks into dancing lessons and took three lessons at 75 cents a lesson, before leaving there.

Once Charles went to the fair in Chadron, about six hours from home. He put up at the barn and the next morning, he entered Duke and the mares in the fair and took, "First premium". He says, "the fair is not a very grand affair, but does very well for this new country. The vegetable department is full and the nicest I ever saw".

Charles hired Bill to work for him for $14 per month. Then he went to Chadron, where they were building a courthouse and inquired about hauling stone. They were paying one dollar a load, so he decided to try it. He got up early and by 1:30 p.m., he had hauled two loads and concluded, it was too hard work for too little money. After dinner that day, he saw a man by the name of Ben Coleman, that wanted some beer hauled down to the sand hills on the B & M grade. He loaded up and Coleman was to pay him $16, grub him and his team, both ways. They started out at 8 a.m. -- four teams of them. That evening, they camped at Pepper Creek and had bread, sow belly and coffee to eat and then rolled up in their blankets to sleep. The next morning, they pulled out and made 16 or 18 miles before dinner, passed through Box Butte City in the afternoon, a place of about one-half dozen inhabitants. They stopped at the home of a young granger that evening and cooked their supper on his stove. The wind blew hard and filled his eyes with dust. He slept in the soft side of a haystack that night.

The next day he, they struck the B & M grade at 10 a.m. and followed it all day. Camp was made that night in the bank of a little lake, East of Hammon and Jones Railroad camp. It was cold and cloudy all day and rained a little during the night. They pulled downgrade all day. It was up hill and the sand was belly deep. Stopped at Clark Coleman's saloon that night. There was a terrible frost and Charles said he nearly froze. He got up at 4 a.m. and went inside the saloon. He caught cold. Arrived at their destination at 2:30 p.m.. There was quite a camp, as the head contractors of the road were there.

That day, they went through some pretty bad sand and had to double up once. The teams were tired that night. This is about 100 miles south of Chadron. "The old man ", paid him $17 and gave him grain and chuck to last him back. He started back the next morning and got to Hammond and Jones camp by evening -- making 30 miles. He cooked his sow belly and coffee and then went to bed in the wagon box. At sunrise to next day, he started out and got out of the sand hills by 10 a.m. and camped that night 40 miles from Chadron.

After resting a while, Charles pulled out about midnight and got to Running Water, by daylight and to Pepper Creek at 7 a.m.. He fed the teams and cooked his breakfast and started on, getting to Chadron at 2:30 p.m.. He put the teams in Old Olson's barn and at 5:30 p.m., he went to bed. He put in 12 hours of sleep and then left for home, arriving at 4 p.m.. I think Charles must have decided he'd stay home and do his own work now.

It was time, he went to plowing out his potatoes and he had 68 bushels to put in his cave. Also put in corn and 27 bushels of turnips.

Charles finished working on the barn, put in windows, made a manger and put 13 loads of dirt on for a roof.

When fall harvest had been completed, Charles went to town and bought 171 pounds of "Plaster of Paris " and one bushel of lime, for $3.55. He borrowed a trowel from a neighbor and then started to plaster out all the cracks in the outside of the house. He worked at this for several days, when he wasn't busy with other work.

Once in a while, Charles would go hunting with some of the help or Mr. Mosier. They never seemed to have too good of luck and returned with very little game. When Mr. Mosier was away on a hunting trip for a week or so, Charles would go over and hauled water nearly every day for Mrs. Mosier. One day a bull hooked one of Mr. Mosier's mares and Charles couldn't do anything for it, so he went to get to another neighbor, who came to check on it and concluded not to sew it up, but left it alone. Nellie came to Charles's house one evening to get him and his mother to come over, as Orton, her half-brother, had a spasm. They stayed until Orton was feeling better.

Charles had a toothache one night, so early the next morning, he saddled up the Bronx and rode to Chadron, arriving there at 8:15 a.m. and had his tooth yanked out for one dollar.

Charles helped his mother paper the front room and put down carpet. Also helped with churning and cutting mince meat -- getting ready for Christmas. Then, at the end of 1887, Charles writes, "well another year has come to an end. Have not had very bad luck nor so very good luck quote.

That is all that is known, thanks to his diaries.

Charles Selleck married Nellie Jane Mosier on March 10, 1889, in Chadron, Nebraska.

While living in Nebraska, three daughters, were born to Charles and Nellie Selleck. Katie was born Feb. 1890; Lottie on Aug. 1, 1891 and Grace on Feb. 21, 1893. After moving to Montana, Tom was born Dec. 19, 1895 and Bessie, Nov. 21, 1898. Then later on John was born Aug. 3, 1907 and Carl on Nov. 25th, 1909.

Some of the Mosier family moved to Montana and settled on the Rosebud. Charles came to check out the location, as he had asthma and the doctor said he should move to a higher climate. So in 1894 the family moved to Montana. They came in a covered wagon and Charles's mother came with them. She lived with the family until her death in 1911. On the way, Charles's mother cooked for 17 people using a cast-iron oven. The trip took quite awhile.

The following is copied from a write up, John Selleck, posted in the Billings Gem and Mineral Club newsletter in 1982:

The Selleck family, which included Charles and Nellie Selleck and daughters Katie, Lottie and Grace and Kate Yakely Selleck, moved to Montana in 1894. The government had been changing the Crow Indian Reservation, both in size and location. Many of the Indians were bitter toward the white man. When the wagon train Charles was with past through the Hardin, Mt. area (Hardin didn't exist at the time), they had some trouble with the Indians. The Indians followed the train, trying to steal livestock, especially horses. In one attempt, the Indians stampeded a herd of their ponies through the wagon train, hoping the wagon trains horses would join in the stampede. They didn't. When the wagon train left the Reservation, they were required to go out of their way through Pryor and pay a trespass fee.

Another incident took place on the Reservation, but wasn't Indian related. At the time, there was a US Cavalry Fort and ferry crossing near where Hardin, Mt. is today. The Calvary was transporting the wagon train across the Bighorn River. While ferrying a load of cattle the ferry split in half, dumping the cattle into the river. This mishap necessitated a layover for the wagon train, while the cattle were rounded up and the ferry was repaired to finish the job. During this layover, the Army treated the wagon train members, as special guests. They seined fresh fish from the river and did all they could to make the layover as pleasant as possible.

Charles stopped at Morris, (later renamed Roscoe), in1894 and set up housekeeping. In 1895, he filed a homestead claimed on the place on which they were living. This homestead, was about two miles north of Morris, on East Rosebud River. After all the trouble they went through getting their horses across the Reservation, they found out these Nebraska horses couldn't survive the winter here.

At this time all travel was done by horse. It was a full day's one way trip to Red lodge or Columbus, Mt. The wagon trails were very rough and crooked. These trails followed the fence lines, while twisting around between the large granite boulders. They would literally shake no wagons apart, which would keep the blacksmiths very busy. John Selleck remembers a visiting country commissioner saying, "your road is crooked enough to break a snakes back."

Travel was slow and hard, so trips weren't wasted. When ever a trip was made to town, a wagon load of farm produce was taken in and a load of consumer goods was brought back.

Charles operated a clean, well thought of, shorthorn dairy. Each week they would hauled 200 pounds of butter to the minors co-op in Red Lodge. They would return the following day with salt, flour, posts, coal, or some other essential items. They would get a very early start when going toward a town. They would arrive just in time, to unload their products and get to what ever store they wished to shop at before it closed. It would then remain open until they had loaded, which was often well after dark. Once they had finished loading, they would layover at a local hotel. Because of this frequent use by locals, the hotels were kept clean and nice. Each small town had one -- such as the Commercial Hotel in Columbus and the Jay Hotel in Absarokee.

Around 1915, people in the area began getting motorized vehicles. With the appearance of these vehicles, roads began to develop. These early roads like the wagon trails were crooked, rough, and of dirt base. In 1920 Charles purchased a Ford truck. This revolutionized the farming operation. They could now deliver, an unbelievable, two 50 bushel loads of grain to Columbus in just one ten hour day!

At this time construction was in progress on Mystic Lake dam and power plant. There were many large trucks traveling on the road, hauling materials for this project. These truckers were real road hogs, often running local drivers off the road.

Mail service at the time was very slow. The mailman would travel from Red Lodge to Roscoe in one day, spend the night here and then return to Red Lodge the following day. Mail was delivered to the Selleck's every third day. In addition to the slowness of the mail, the Morris mail, often got mixed up with the Norris mail.

The Selleck family, homesteaded at Morris, which is now called Roscoe. The Mosiers and Scotts, also homesteaded nearby. The Mosiers lived right on the Rosebud River, one mile north of Roscoe, next to the Selleck Homestead. The Mosier homestead is now owned by the George family and has been for many years.

Nellie Selleck's father Cross Mosier and some of the older sisters husbands worked on the railroad on their way out to Montana before ranching. Cross Mosier, died from a fall from a haystack in Roscoe, August 30, 1906.

The Selleck children all attended school at the Morris school, (this later was called the Roscoe school). Charles gave a corner of his land for the schoolhouse. After John was old enough to attend school, he cleared rocks off the part to make a ball field. The ground was very rocky. One of the Selleck girls, tells how she used to pick rocks on their land and years later you could still see the piles of rocks still standing. Mrs. Morris renamed the little town of Morris to, "Roscoe", after her horse. The town is still there today and is still named Roscoe.

When Katie, the oldest Selleck daughter, was in high schoolin Red Lodge, John was born Aug. 1907 and Carl two yrs. later. So it was like a second family.

Katie Selleck, went to Dylan Montana to teachers college, after she graduated from high school and then taught school around the Red Lodge area until she married Ted Peterson in 1917.

Lottie Selleck married Hosea Parker in 1911.

Grace Selleck, my grandmother, was soon married to Ora Trumbo, who was Hosea's cousin.

Tom went to college in Bozeman, the same time Ted did and he eventually married Georgia Paddock.

Bessie Selleck, attended high school in Columbus, Montana and then married Fenno Deckert.

Charles and Nellie Selleck moved to Billings, to farm in 1924, when John and Carl were teenagers. They lived on a ranch near the Rim Rocks, at the end of Poly Drive and had to haul water from town, to their cistern and for the family use. They ran a produce farm for a couple of years -- three acres of potatoes, half acre of cucumbers, 5000 cabbages, lots of onions and sweet potatoes. They leased another 10 acres down from Zimmerman Trail and put that into cabbage and onions and the upper part in beans. It kept the boys busy hauling all summer and Charles sold about $2000 worth of vegetables, which was real good for those times.

On the ranch where they lived, there were lots of morning glory weeds and it was hard to get rid of them. John hauled 80 truck loads of fertilizer from the Rehberg Dairy and the next year there were even more morning glory weeds. He couldn't kill them, so that fall, he paid the county $120 to spray them, which did get rid of them.

When they lived on the ranch, which is now 20th Street, in Billings Montana, Charles raised spring wheat. It produced 70 bushels per acre. Since it was so good, Charles decided to enter it in the fair. He hand cleaned and sorted a bushel of it with a saucer. He received first prize -- a ribbon and $60. They owned their own threshing machine, so after the crop was threshed, they shifted to Minneapolis.

In 1930, John Selleck owned an International Titan tractor with the clutch on the end of the crankshaft and hooked up to the pump. The belt flew off and caught John's pant leg and pulled him under, beating his face and back and badly breaking his hip. Nellie Selleck got him out of it and called their neighbor Fred Parrish, who put him in the trunk and took him to the hospital. John was unconscious for three days. Dr. Movious, put his leg in place with 60 pound weights on it for two weeks. After taking x-rays, it showed the bone was not in place. Dr. Movious, turned the case over to Dr. Allard, who was a specialist in bone work. He told John, he would notch the bone, put it in place and put on a cast. After the surgery, he waited ten days and had x-rays, that showed it was still out of place. So it was back to surgery again and it took five men, all pulling on his leg to get the bone back in place. Dr. Allard then made a plate of cow bone and screwed it onto the bone with five screws and put on another full-length cast. This worked and John, after almost 60 years, still had the cow bone and screws in his hip and felt very fortunate, he didn't lose his leg. At that time a hospital room was five dollars a day and about the same for the nurse. Each of the two operations were $150. John was in the hospital for 55 days and weighed only 90 pounds when he got out.

Carl Selleck, the youngest Selleck boy, at the age of 20 years old, went to Kansas, to school and to train for airplane welding. He came home at Christmas and caught a cold. It turned into pneumonia and in those days there wasn't much that could be done. He died in the hospital Feb. 26, 1930.

Nellie Selleck, wife of Charles Selleck, started doing oil painting after they quit working so hard and things has slowed down for her on the ranch -- probably in her 60s. She did some real nice pictures, painting some from small photos.

Charles and Nellie Selleck were both the most kind, loving, people. So, it isn't surprising , they raised such a nice family. I am so grateful to be one of their great grandchildren.

Home