"Selbyville Namesake's Burial Site Discovered" 
By M. E. Vest
[source: unnamed & undated newspaper clipping--If anyone knows please notify me; I suspect it was the "Delmarva News" published at Selbyville DE]

 	For years local residents have believed that the grave of the man for 
whom the town of Selbyville is named was out west, But Selbyville residents 
Paul and Dorothy Pepper have discovered the grave in Maryland not far from 
Selbyville. Dates inscribed on the tombstones of Sampson Selby who was born 
Sept. 11, 1791 and died Feb. 14 1870, his wife Sarah, born July 3, 1802 and 
died April 7, 1861and his daughter-in-law Dolly, born June 21, 1827 and died 
Oct. 28, 1855, correspond with information Mrs. Pepper has received from 
Selby's great-grand-daughter, Clair Selby Burch of Ann Arbor, Michigan.

Mrs. Pepper and Mrs. Burch have been corresponding for almost 10 years, Mrs. 
Burch first wrote to the Peppers in 1962 seeking information about the Selby 
family. She is the daughter of Josiah Tull Selby, whose father was Sampson 
Selby's only son and eldest child.

 	ACCORDING TO MRS. Pepper, Sampson Selby lived just over the line in 
Maryland until he decided to move to Delaware to establish a store and mill. 
Sampson Selby and his wife Sarah lived in a small home on the former Levin 
Holloway property. Levin was the father of Ray and Frank Holloway.

 Sampson Selby had a small store, Mrs Pepper says, and when he wanted supplies 
for the store he drove his horse and wagon to Millsboro where he boarded a 
small boat to travel to Philadelphia where he bought muslin and calico and 
other goods by the bolt, molasses by the barrel and other supplies.

While in Philadelphia, the salesman asked him where he wanted the goods 
shipped, Mrs. Pepper says and Sampson Selby replied " Sandy Branch", since that 
was the only name for the town at that time. The salesman said he did not think 
that was a very good name so he asked Sampson his last name and when told it 
was Selby the salesman renamed Sandy Branch, Selbyville meaning village of 
Selby.

 	According to information from Mrs. Burch, Sampson Selby and his wife 
Sarah Brasure were parents of four children...Josiah and Dolly were the parents 
of 7 children...After Dolly's death, Josiah married Ann Hamilton Collins and 
they had one son, Josiah Tull Selby, who was also born in Delaware. When this 
son was five years old, the family of seven children left Delaware and went to 
Ohio and then on to Chillicothe, Missouri, according to Mrs. Burch. But one 
daughter, Mary Ann, is believed to have died before the family moved from 
Delaware.

ACCORDING TO MRS. Burch, Josiah tried farming but was unsuccesful so he went 
back to his old business as owner of a general store. His two oldest sons, 
Willard and Cassius, went on from Missouri to Texas where they continued to 
write to their father as long as they lived. 

John, Josiah and Kate stayed in Chillicothe until they were grown when John 
moved to Brighton City, Utah and Kate married David Toth and moved on to 
Colorado then to Portland, Oregon where she died several years ago. Mrs. Burch 
says that Kate and father, (the young Josiah) " were very close. She thought of 
him as a full brother."

 	ACCORDING TO INFORMATION from Mrs. Burch, Sampson Selby and his wife 
Sarah Brasure Selby were the parents of four children - Josiah Tull Selby, her 
grandfather, Jane Selby who later married William Laban Taylor of Bishopville, 
Margaret Selby who later married George Law, and Katherine (KATE) Selby who 
married Elisha E. Collins.

Jane Selby is an ancestor of Mrs. Pashur (Alberta) Watson of Selbyville and 
Kate is an ancestor of Mrs. William C. (Janet) Scott, also of Selbyville.

Sarah Brasure Selby was born in Delaware although Sampson was born in Maryland. 
Their first child, Josiah Tull Selby, was born in Maryland but the three 
daughters were all born in Delaware.

 	JOSIAH TULL SELBY, Mrs Burch's grandfather, married Dolly Ann Bishop, 
who is buried near Sampson and Sarah Selby. Josiah and Dolly were the parents 
of seven children - Sarah Margaret, Cassius, Willard S., John, Mary Ann, Mary 
Elizabeth and Katherine. Dolly died October 28, 1855. 

THE YOUNG JOSIAH went farther west to make his fortune as a cattleman and 
miner, Mrs. Burch says of her father. He lived in Colorado in Denver, Grand 
Junction and Riple. His parents, Josiah and Ann, followed him to Grand 
Junction, Colorado where both are buried. The elder Josiah died in 1898. 

After Josiah retired, he went to live in California and is buried in San Diego. 
He was 80 years old at the time of his death. 

" I had always been told that my father was born in Selbyville, Delaware which 
had been named for his grandfather," Mrs. Burch wrote to the Peppers. She also 
wrote that she understood that the family lived on a plantation and that her 
grandfather had been first person in Maryland to free slaves working on the 
Plantation. MRS. BURCH ALSO says that she had quilts that were supposed to have 
been made by slaves who worked on the plantations. MRS. Burch also wrote to the 
Peppers saying she had visited the Selbyville area many years ago but was 
unable to find the plantation. Nor did she know that Sampson Selby, his wife 
and daughter-in-law ere buried nearby. Now, more than 110 years after his 
death, Sampson Selby is still close to the home he loved so much and which 
bears his name.