Encyclopedia of Connecticut biography, genealogical-memorial ...

and has been chairman of the Republican
Town Committee for a number of years
for eight or ten years he was a member
of the Board of Relief, and has been a
delegate to county and State conven-
tions.
Fraternally he is a member of Wooster
Lodge, Independent Order of Odd Fel-
lows, of which he is past grand, and has
also served as district deputy of the Grand
Lodge. Mr. Duryea is past chief patri-
arch of Wahackma Encampment, and is
a member of the Rebekas ; he is also a
member of Harmony Lodge, Free and Accepted
Masons.
Mr. Duryea married Alice E. Bulkley,
daughter of Augustus and Emily (Wil-
liams) Bulkley. They were the parents
of three children : i. Elsie, married Walter
Johnson, and died at the age of twentyone
years. 2. Blanche, wife of Dr. E. G.
Cunningham, of New Canaan, Connecticut,
and the mother of a daughter, Blanche
Weed. 3. G. Stanley, a student in the
University of Louisville, class of 1924, in
dentistry.
SELLECK, John Henry,
Agriculturist, Pablic 0£BciaI.
A prosperous farmer, who is at the
same time a justice of the peace is always
a figure of prominence in his community,
and all his friends and neighbors of Dar-
ien can testify that this is emphatically
the case with Mr. Selleck. In township
affairs Mr. Selleck has always been active,
having in former years filled other local
offices of trust and responsibility.
The race of the Sellecks is a very an-
cient one, as appears from records of 1086,
in which it is mentioned. The name is
Cornish-British, which is a dialect of the
Celtic, Belgic, or Cambrian, formerly
spoken throughout Cornwall. It means
;
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF BIOGRAPHY
"an open view," conspicuous. Family
records show that about the seventeenth
century John Selyocke "declined knighthood,"
and in the deed of Galdon Manor
Robert Selleck is spoken of as "a trustie
and well beloved friend." John Selioke,
father and son, were mayors of St. Albans
in 1684-1700. At that time "Selleck-onthe-Wye"
is mentioned as a beautiful vil-
lage.
Branches of the family of Selleck are
found in different portions of the United
States. David Selleck was one of the
early settlers of Massachusetts, and it appears
from old records that Jonathan and
John Sellicke were residents in the seven-
teenth and eighteenth centuries of Rye,
Westchester county. New York.
Benjamin Selleck, father of John Henry
Selleck, was born in Poundridge, New
York, and was a son of Major (not a mil-
itary title) and Nancy (Jump) Selleck.
Major Selleck was a native of Poundridge,
which is situated in Westchester
county, and was by trade a basket-maker.
Basket-making was in fact one of the
principal industries of the community, and
it was this trade which Benjamin Selleck
learned and which he followed all his
life. About 1854 he removed to Darien,
Connecticut, and engaged in the manu-
facture of baskets on his own account.
During the Civil War Mr. Selleck served
in the Union army as a member of Company
H, Seventeenth Regiment, Connec-
ticut Volunteer Infantry, being out three
years and all that time remaining with
his regiment. Mr. Selleck married Amelia
Curtis, and their children were: Betsey
J., married Holly H. Draper, of Darien
Lois, became the wife of George Bates,
367
of Darien ; Kate, married Louis St.
George ; Ida, mrried Benjamin F. Offen,
of New Canaan ; and John Henry, men-
tioned below. Mr. Selleck died in 1905.
;