Possible Clues:
Those of you who have Celle CD #1, please take a look at the photograph in the Photo album section of that CD, of the sons of Daniel and Rachel Detwiler Sell – page 9 in that album. Could this (above) photo be of one of those sons? We also have a separate photo of one of those sons, James A. Sell, 1845-1948, in that photo album. AND another copy of that James A. Sell photo is on Celle CD #2, in the Section on the Anabaptists, page 8, in the article on the “Church of the Brethren”.
The above photo does not look like it is James A. Sell, but could it be one of his brothers? If so, which one?
Three of the sons of Daniel and Rachel Detwiler Sell were Brethren ministers. The eldest, Daniel Sell (Jr.), 1843-1927, was “called to the ministry in 1867”, one year after he led a colony of forty people to Clinton County, Missouri, where he helped organize the Plattsburg congregation, which he served for “more than forty years”. But he was in Missouri. Could he have visited a York County, PA photographer?
Second is James Arnold Sell, 1845-1948. “He was presiding elder of several congregations and served frequently as Pennsylvania District moderator… He preached until shortly before his death at the age of 102 years.”
Certainly he would more likely have visited a photographer in York County, PA. But we have pictures of him, as noted above, and they do not look that much like the above photo.
Third is Brice Sell, 1847-1922. “He too was a minister of the Brethren Church in Blair County. But most of his ministry was in the shadow of his brother James A. Sell, so little is written of him.” But perhaps he visited a photographer at York?
Daniel Sell (Sr.), 1810-1900, was a son of Abraham and Barbara Palmer Sell > Jacob > Abraham > Hendrick Sellen of Germantown.
Second possibility:
There is another Rev. Daniel Sell, 1819-1888, who lived and preached in the Cumberland – Adams _ York County area of Pennsylvania. On the 1880 census, this Daniel Sell and family are listed in East Berlin, Adams County, PA; and his occupation is that of “Lutheran Minister”. His Daniel Sell died in York County, PA in 1888 and is buried in the Dillsburg Cemetery. Since he was living and preaching in York County, could he be the subject of the above photograph? Or is 1888 too early for this type of photo to have been made?
Does anyone have a photo of a similar vintage with a date on it? Does anyone have a photo by a York, PA photographer named Pentz? ANY clues welcome!!
Choppin.Carolyn@usa.net
