Sources giving information about Selbyville's Beginnings 1. TOWN OF SELBYVILLE.Town of Selbyville Comprehensive Plan, September 2002, p5 History "The Town was founded in January 1778 by Benjamin Long, Arthur McCabe, John Murray, Reuben Stevens and Elijah Campbell. They purchased a 250-acre tract known as Sandy Branch which was located at the head of the Saint Martin's River. This site contained a gristmill and sawmill." !!!!!!WRONG!!!!!!!! See #3 "Sampson Selby was responsible for the name Selbyville. In 1842 he began to mark packages for delivery to his country store, Selby-Ville." NOTES: 1.1 Where is the evidence of the Jan. 1778 date? 1.2 The five men listed have been verified as living in the area known as "Sandy Branch" BUT all five were not alive at the same time. 1.3 Where is the document describing the 250 acre tract called "Sandy Branch"? 2. www.epodunk.com "Selbyville DE" "The community was named after Josiah Selby, postmaster." source: DELAWARE PLACE NAMES by L.W. Heck, et. al. Note: Post Office was established in 1848 per Thomas P. Doherty, DELAWARE GENEALOGICAL RESEARCH GUIDE, Delaware Genealogical Society, 2002, p9. 3. David James Long "The Early History..."[rest of title cut off] A. Newspaper clipping from University of Salisbury, Nabb Center, Bessie Holloway Collection perhaps [Newspaper name and date unidentified on the clipping but other clippings sent were from that collection.] This one is a reprint of an article earlier in The Milford Chronicle as dictated to his nephew by DJ Long when he was in his 80s.] section: 'History of Sandy Branch (Now Selbyville, DE) (by D.J. Long)' " The pioneers of Sandy Branch, Sussex County, Delaware, back someone hundred and fifty years ago were Benjamin Long, Arthur McCabe, John Murray, Reuben Stevens and" [error in reprint runs into an unrelated sentence] ... section 'The lumber business was started at Sandy branch in the year of 1800 by Zeno Long and Isaiah Long, his cousin. They built a dam across the branch to give them water power to operate their saw and grist mills.'... NOTES: 3A.1 See Notes #1 3A.2 1816 is the date verified in the BUNTING folder for the beginning of the Long mills 3.B. Newspaper clipping [Nabb accession #1988.01.035.01.14] "Pioneer Tell Tales of Selbyville... Late David J. Long story reprinted telling history of community from Selby to Selbyville: It was Sandy Branch until 1840." Editor's [George Spicer]Note: reprint of article written by D.J.Long in Berlin Times Aug 22, 1930. 152 YEARS AGO, SANDY BRANCH, SUSSEX COUNTY, DELAWARE, WAS SETTLED BY A GROUP OF PIONEERS, NAMELY BENJAMIN LONG, ARTHUR MCCABE, JOHN MURRAY RUBAN(REUBEN) STEVENS AND ELI CAMPBELL, AND PART OF THE LAND ON WHICH STAND THE PRESENT TOWN OF SELBYVILLE IS SILL OWNED BY THEIR DESCENDENTS TO THE FOUTH AND FIFTH GENERATION. ..... THE TOWN OF SELBYVILLE ITSELF, NOW STANDS ON THE LAND ONCE OWNED BY THE PIONEER ARTHUR MCCABE, SANDY BRANCH HAVING BEEN A TRACT OF LAND CONTAINING ABOUT 250 ACRES WHICH IS INCORPORATED IN THE PRESENT TOWN. THE LAND WAS DIVIDED AMONG MCCABE'S 3 SONS: W.S...AMOS...JOHN D. !!Half WRONG!! NOTES: 3.B.1 THIS NEWSPAPER ARTICLE BY ONE OLD MAN MAY BE THE ORIGIN OF 1778. 1930-152=1778 [!?!?!?!?!?] 3.B.2 Does NOT state the 5 men JOINTLY owned a tract. [correct] 3.B.3 States Selbyville is on land OWNED by Arthur McCabe. [correct as far as it goes but see below] 3.B.4 On this site we have proved that others such as JONATHAN BUNTING, JAMES MURRAY, DAVID MURRAY (JOHN WAS HIS SON), ETC. also owned land at Sandy Branch in the area that was later incorporated into the town of Selbyville. 3.B.5 Sons were NOT of Arthur McCabe but were of Garrison/GARRETSON Mccabe d 1857, Arthur's son. It is possible that Garretson added to his father's land holdings. 3.B.6 Did Arthur own a land tract called "Sandy Branch" and did his land holding total abt 250 acres? We know he owned "Mumford's Choice" and "Long Lott", some land with a sawmill and grist mill and other land next to Long Lott; Arthur sold Long Lott to his son Isaac (Isacc added a bit of vacant land to his holdings). 3.B.7 What was the total acreage of Selbyville when it was incorporated in 1901? 4. See 'Hancock on Selbyville' file 5. See 'Scharf on Selbyville' file [published in 1889 it refers to 2 cemeteries there 100 yrs. ago--also could be a source for 1778 but just a non-documented statement in a publication that is know for its errors; in fact other information about those cemeteries is wrong] 6. See 'DELAWARE: GUIDE on Selbyville' file 7. http://www.prugallo.com/documents/Sussex_County_Profile.pdf Sussex County Profile,2008,p39 section 'Selbyville' "Selbyville was founded in 1778 and incorporated in 1902. It originally was a 250-acre �Sandy Beach� at the head of the St. Martins River that contained a gristmill and a sawmill." .... [obvious errors]