Untitled
Surnames: Bositte, Blodget, , Keith, Huston, Raymond, Harvey, Martin, Miles, McDowie, Caloms, Brown, Tracy
From Commemorative Biographical Record of the Counties of Rock, Green, Grant, Iowa and Lafayette Wisconsin, publ. 1901 - page 65-66
REV. WALLACE L. SELLECK, a machinist and inventor, for some years a resident of Platteville, Grant county, possesses more than an ordinary reputation for his ingenious ideas and skillful application of accepted theories to mechanical appliances.
Mr. SELLECK was born in Canada Feb. 22, 1837, a son of George J. and Zoa (BOSITTE) SELLECK. His father was born in the United States, and was the son of Charles SELLECK, an Englishman by birth, who was engaged as a builder of ships of war during the war of 1812. He received his pay from the English government in land at Kingston, Canada, and the Grant is still in dispute between the heirs of Charles SELLECK and the English government. Charles SELLECK disposed of it to the citizens of Kingston on a ninety-years lease. George J. SELLECK was a millwright by trade, and put up a number of sawmills and gristmills in Wisconsin during the latter part of his life, living at Millville. He died in 1894. He had large tracts of land near Prairie du Chien, Wis., and in Nebraska, and was known as one of the successful business men of the day. His wife passed away March 3, 1895. They left a family of six sons and four daughters: Charles, born in Canada, in 1831, studied medicine, and settled in Blue Hill, Nebraska, where he died in 1886, leaving one son, William, who lives in that State. Maria was born in Canada in February, 1833, and married Erastus BLODGET, of Vermont, a manager for mines on Lake Superior; they settled in Dane county, Wis., where the wife died, leaving four children. Albina, born in Canada in 1835, is the wife of Louis KEITH, of Bladen, Neb. Wallace L., our subject, is next in the family. Wellington W., born in Milwaukee in September, 1839, is now a farmer near St. Paul, Minn.; he has a family of three daughters, Zoa, Grace and Othe. Washington was born in Wisconsin in 1841, and served with his brother Wellington in the 4th Wisconsin Cavalry during the Civil war, under Gen Sigel, taking part in some stirring scenes and experiences; Washington returned from the war, and pre-empted land in Nebraska, where he lived for nine years, but not being pleased with that country he came back to Wisconsin and bought a farm near Millville, where he still resides; he married Miss Jane HUSTON, and has a family of five children, of whom are named Charles, Henry, Lydia, and Effie. [a fifth name not mentioned] George, born Sept. 27, 1843, was a soldier during the Civil war, enlisting from Iowa; after the war he married Miss Elizabeth RAYMOND, and now lives on a farm at Beetown, Grant county. Albert, born in October, 1846, at Milwaukee, was for a number of years an engineer on a steamboat plying on the Mississippi river, and is now manager of a creamery near Elk Grove; he is married, and has five children, George, John, Joseph, Nellie, and one whose name is not given. Sophia, born in Milwaukee in 1851, married Lewis HARVEY, who moved to the Nebraska frontier, where he was killed by the Indians, leaving his wife with one son, George, whom she educated in Lincoln, Neb.; when a young man he went to the gold fields of Alaska, and returned with a rich reward for the perils he had undergone, bringing home on his first trip over thirty thousand dollars in gold; in 1896, the young miner and his mother returned to Alaska, where they are at the present writing. Alice E., born in Grant county in 1856, married Henry MARTIN, of Blue Hill, Neb.; they now reside in Iowa.
Wallace L. SELLECK obtained his education in the public schools of Wisconsin, and for one year was a student in the public schools at Platteville. When a young man he served an apprenticeship as a machinist in the shops at Dubuque. His first work after finishing his time was in a steam sawmill. He was a lumberman on the Wisconsin river for ten years. On Jan. 30, 1858, the young lumberman and Miss Sarah A. MILES, daughter of Jesse and Mahala MILES, were married. The young couple went to the lumber mills on the Wisconsin river, and spent some years in that romantic country. In 1869 he sold out his lumber interests and moved to Milwaukee where he erected a shop for the manufacture of the turbine water-wheel. He sold this after two years at a very decided profit, and moved to Millville, Wis., where he was engaged in a sawmill some twenty years, being largely occupied with the manufacture and sale of walnut lumber during this time. He has given several years to invention, and has perfected among other things a door hinge which is in general use; he also has inventions in the line of compressed air and steam saving power.
Mrs. SELLECK died in Millville, Feb. 10, 1881, leaving him six children: (1) Zoa, born at Millville, in 1861, married Lucien McDOWIE, and they are now living at Peoria, Ill., where he is one of the prosperous blacksmiths of that city. They have four children, R. L., James, Nina B., and Ralph. (2) Clara, born in Grant county in 1863, married Charles CALOMS, and they reside on his farm in Grant county. They have three children, of whom we have record of two, Myrtie and Charles. (3) George H., born in Millville in 1866, married Miss Annie BROWN, and they have one son, Ray. He was a merchant at Millville for some time. Some years later he opened a store at Dodgeville, and then moved to Galena, where he sold out his business. He settled on his farm near Millville, and is now a successful farmer. (4) Lillian, born in New Lisbon, Wis., in 1870, married Samuel TRACY, of the town of Harrison, where they live on a farm; they have one son, Raymond. (5) Miss Josephine born in Grant county in 1874, was educated in the public school and is still in the home of her father, where she has had charge since the death of her mother. (6) May, born in Grant county in 1879, is now the wife of Orville BARRETT, and has one child. They reside at Arthur, Wis., where they own and manage a farm.
Mr. SELLECK is a Republican, and was justice of the peace several years at Millville. He is a member of the Christian Universal Church, a believer in divine healing, and has always been a Bible student. He is a strong believer in the power of God to answer prayer.
This biography generously submitted by Carol Holmbeck