William Edward Selph, Jr. (1871 - 1941)

Will was born Sept. 14, 1871 on the Allen Seely farm, in Osceola, Tioga Co., PA; d. Apr. 20, 1941.

He was the 2nd of 3 children of Julia Campbell, b. 1845, in Nelson, d. 1873 in New Haven, Shiawasee Co., MI; and William Edward "Ed" Selph , Sr., b. 1843 in NY, d. 1875.

Will first married, on Jan. 19, 1892, Leuphena May Stokoe, b. May 18, 1870 in Seneca Twp., Ontario Co., NY; d. Sep. 26, 1898 in NYC; dau. of Caroline C. Granger and Wesley Philp Stokoe. On Nov. 15, 1902, he married Edith Peck Loder, b. Dec. 1, 1876 in Brooklyn, NY; d. 1968, dau. of Lydia Stoolhoff & Edward W. Loder.

Will and Edith were Methodists. Will sang "with the men", Edith was active in the Missionary Society.

Will spent his early years with aunt and uncle Mary Ann & Allen Seely. And with Aunt Jane and uncle George Tubbs. He attended college in Mansfield, PA, moved to NYC in 1892 and was a proud and very successful agent for The New England Mutual Life Insurance Company of Boston.

Most important to us, is Will's creation of the Campbell Cousins Correspondence Club. He was inspired to do it by correspondence he had with Cousin Herbert Clinch Hughey about the "clan" becoming scattered and people not knowing each other. Herb was planing to come to the 1923 Cousins Dinner, his first visit back to PA after most of a lifetime in MN, but died before the trip. Because of Will's inspiration, perspiration, and foresight, we have the heritage of the four CCC volumes.

Those of us in the later generations, altho we never knew him in person, owe Will a debt of gratitude that can never be repaid. I hope that writing these mini-biographies will help readers "decode" the identities of people referenced in the CCC letters, and placing the mini-bios, the letters, and our family tree on the web, is a step in that direction -- and one I think he would have appreciated.