Stephen Selsor's original land was bought in Pleasant Township, and the first white settlers were Benjamin Lamb and Amos Cooper.
Stephen Andrew Selsor (1866-1943), was born in Sweet Home, Missouri and was six years old when he came to Iowa. His parents settled near Pleasanton, Iowa, later moving to Union County, Iowa, where they bought 40 acres and built a log cabin, five miles southwest of Hopeville.
When the family located the spot for the log cabin, they decided to build it around the flat rock which the felt would be a perfect place for the fireplace. The first night they spent in the cabin, a warm fire was built and the family soon retired to bed, with the only youngster they had at the time, sleeping between them. Sometime in the night, the family heard a frightening and familiar sound... rattlesnakes!! The father cautioned the mother to cover her head and that of the child, and not move until he returned with help. He made it to the door and soon returned with a lantern, a rifle and some neighbors. They killed 14 rattlesnakes which had come from under the flat rock when the fireplace warmed up.
Andrew Selsor, Stephen's father, died when Stephen was 12 years old. His mother, Amelia (Masock) Selsor, was left alone to raise her three children: (Stephen, Josephine and Marie). Stephen quit school to make the living for his mother and sisters, and continued to look after his mother until her death at the age of 84 years.
Stephen Andrew Selsor married March 10, 1897 to Birdie Gillette, (1881-1938), daughter of William and Martha (McCarty) Gillette, and to this union ten children were born: Mabel Swaim; Minnie (Mrs. Clyde) Siefkas; Elmer; Bessie (Mrs. Tom Siefkas); Viola Davis; Edward; Burton; Pauline Baker, living in California; Arlene Kirkwood, living in Colorado; and Paul. Burton, Edward and Paul still own farms from a part of their father's land.
Grandmother Selsor (Amelia Masock) came over from Austria, Hungary at the age of 18 years. She had a brother with a very brilliant mind and at one time all of the books in Ringgold County needed refurbishing and he was hired to re-write them. His name was Masock, but his first name is unknown. Born in 1809, he died in 1882.
Andrew Seisor was a Civil War Veteran, serving with the Medical Corps in Company A-43. He enrolled in the Infantry as a Volunteer on August 26, 1864, and his discharge took place June 26, 1865. Too old to be drafted, he joined others who enlisted late in life. He was listed as a farmer from Mercer County, Missouri. Bitten during the war by a 'cottonmouth snake' in the stomach, he never regained his health.
My father, Stephen Selsor and his family have lived in the Hopeville area continuously and on this land, with Hopeville being their hometown, and his father before him, for well over one hundred years.
********************************************************
Selsor Family Reunion
Paul & Helen Selsor, Clyde & Minnie Slefkas, Arlene Kirkwood, Burton & Alma
Selsor, Karen Selsor, Viola & Dean Galvin, Edward & Eva, Tom and Bessie
Slefkas, Leonard & Mary Slefkas, Larry & Carol Selsor, Alvin and Tommy
Return to Hopeville page
Last revised November 12, 2013