James Rodman Sellars/Sellers (1827-1911)

SELLARS, SELLERS, UTTERBACK, LIVINGSTON

Posted By: Dorian Myhre (email)
Date: 11/13/2012 at 20:25:00

From Nevada Representative February 14, 1911

OBITUARY

DEATH OF JAS. SELLERS.

Word comes from Eugene, Oregon, of the death there on February 3 of James Sellers at the home of his son C. H. at the age of 83 years, 5 months and 2 days. To the most of the present residents of this county the report will suggest little other than the demise of some relative of the members of the Sellers family still living in the county; but to the survivors among the real early settlers of the county the report will be suggestive of the very earliest settlement of the county. For the deceased was one of the very earliest of the settlers, being the first of his family to come here and doubtless in some measure at least the occasion of the others' coming. He settled about where the town of Maxwell now stands and is probably to be regarded as the first inhabitant of that burg. This settlement was in 1852, and when late in that year the Utterbacks--who have ususally been regarded as about as far back as anyone--first came to the county it is related that they their first night in the county at the home of Mr. Sellers, whose wife was a sister of Mrs. Utterback. Others who followed were his brother William of Colo, and his sister became the late Mrs. George Livingston of this city. But though relatives who followed became permanent residents, Mr. Sellers himself appears to have been cut out for a pioneer. He remained in Story county until near the close of the civil war and then migrated to California, and in 1869 he removed again, this time to Oregon, where he spent the remainder of his life. When it is recalled that it was not until the year following Mr. Sellers' settlement here that the county was organized, and that there are yet surviving in and out of the county a few of the men and women who were here in that time, the impression comes somewhat forcefully of what comparatively new country this really is. To Mr. Sellers and the others like him this county owes a lot. The pity is that he could not have stayed here and witnessed the real excellence of the work. He leaves a family of grown children, now all in the far west.