Peter Sellers

Other Events:

• Census: 1850, Clear Creek Township, Warren County, Ohio, United States; as Peter Sellers, farmer, in the household of George Sellers
• Census: 1860, Clear Creek Township, Warren County, Ohio, United States; as Peter Sellers, farm laborer, in the household of George Sellers

Notes:

Died at the home of his son Stanley Sellers in Lebanon, Ohio on Monday, June 28, 1896, in the sixty-second year of his age. He died from pneumonia. Born near Springboro, Oct 27, 1834Paternal grandparents came from Virginia. Parents - George and Anna Sellers. [Source: Note in the files at Brookville Historical Society, Brookville, Ohio]

Prof. Peter Sellers died at the home of his son Stanley Sellers in Lebanon Ohio, on Monday, June 28th, 1896, in the Sixty-second year of his age. He died from Pneumonia with which he had been attacked at Albion, Ills., more than two years before his death. After his return to his friends and relatives in Warren county there was at times such improvement in his health that hopes of his final recovery were entertained, but theses hopes proved elusive and from the spring of 1896 his decline was rapid.

Prof. Sellers was during the greater portion his life a practical teacher and though much of his work as an instructor was in other counties and states, yet he was so long connected with the schools of Warren county that it is fit in that this association should listen to a brief memorial of his life and work. In this county he was born and educated; and here he taught the common school, was principal of the graded school, was county school examiner, member of the teachers' association, and instructor in the county institute. Here he passed the last months of his life and here died and was buried.

Peter Sellers born near Springboro, October 27th, 1834. His paternal grand-parents came from Virginia and were among the earliest pioneers of Warren county. His parents were Gerge and Anna Sellers, who lived and died in the vicinity of Springboro. Without the advantages of a college training Peter received a good education. the community in which his parents lived was one of more than average intelligence; the public common schools he attended were often taught by good teachers and this Springboro Academy where he studied the higher branches, was a useful institution. In early manhood he attended the lectures of the Law School at Cincinnati where he received the degree of LL>B. Perhaps the best part of his intellectual outfit was the result of reading and study out of school. In early life he acquired a love of good literature, but he was through life careful and painstaking in his reading, rather than omniverous. When a boy a volume of Macaulay's essays fell into his hands and even then he was struck with the wide circle of the knowledge of that marvelous man, and he wondered how he had ever learned all he knew.

Peter Sellers commence the work of his life profession in early youth. Having obtained a certificate he taught his first school in District No. 10 of his native township of Clearcreek, beginning January 3rd, 1853. He was then eighteen years of age. With occasional interruptions by other avocations he continued in the profession of teaching until his last illness. He taught common schools in various districts of Warren county; and was successively principal of the graded schools of Springboro, Waynesville and Eaton. For a time he successfully conducted a private school in Kentucky, but he and his wife preferred to rear their children in their native state and they returned to Warren county.

In 1868 he was appointed a member of the board of County School Examiners of Warren county and he served in that capacity a number of years. Those who served with him in the board know better than those who were examined by him how diligent and conscientious he was in the discharge of the important duties of his office and how well he combined goodness and kindness in maintaining a high standard of qualification in the teachers profession.

In 1890 he was called to the presidency of the Albion Normal University at Albion, Ill. He was then fifty-six years of age; he had kept up his studies and was doubtless better prepared for the work of instructing advanced classes than ever before. He continued in the faithful and successful discharge of his duties at this institution until he was compelled to relinquish them by the illness from which he never recovered.

Prof. Sellers was not possessed of those showy talents which attract the admiration of the unthinking multitude. His acquirements were real. It is not too much to say of him no teacher of Warren county had about him less of false pretense, less of the disposition to show off. he did not pretend to be what he knew he was not, or to know what he knew he did not know. Those who came to know him best learned to esteem him best. He was an honest searcher after truth and a hard and persistent student. He willingly began new and difficult studies and mastered them by his unaided efforts. He could not long be content unless his mind was vigorously exercised. Even in the tedious months of his last sickness he would turn from the daily newspaper and the light conversation of friends to fined recreation in reading a Latin author or in solving a geometrical problem.

His personal character commanded respect and he will be remembered with affection and tenderness by those who were associated with him in educational work. Affable in manner, of quiet integrity, a true friend and a Christian, his daily life exemplified the possession of virtues which made him a symbol of honor in his profession and his life work entitles hie name in an honorable place in the history of education in our country. [Source: Obituary Records, Historical Museum Warren County, Lebanon, Ohio, Item 6 FHL#1637819, A Memorial Read Before the Warren County Teachers Association Sept. 26th, 1896, by Josiah Morrow.]

Peter married Sarah Gallaher on 15 Jan 1862 in Warren County, Ohio, United States. Sarah was born on 15 Nov 1838 in Ohio, United States; died on 19 Aug 1917 in Lebanon, Warren County, Ohio, United States; was buried on 21 Aug 1917 in Warren County, Ohio, United States. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Stanley married Mary Esther Keys on 26 Oct 1887 in Lebanon, Warren County, Ohio, United States. Mary was born on 6 Jan 1862 in Waynesville, Warren County, Ohio, United States; died on 13 Sep 1939 in Lebanon, Warren County, Ohio, United States; was buried on 14 Sep 1939 in Warren County, Ohio, United States. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]