On Thursday June 20th, 2002, having flown to DC two days before, we headed North from our motel near Rockville, Maryland in our son Adam's car. As we drove up Highway 97 from the DC suburb of Sandy Spring to Westminster we witnessed the change from city suburb to the lush green of the rolling hills and farmlands of rural Maryland. As we passed thru Westminster, Mt. Pleasant, Union Mills and came to the village of Silver Run, we could easily appreciate why our early Sell ancestors had settled here, and why so many chose to remain for several generations.
St. Mary's Church Cemetery, Silver Run, Maryland
At Silver Run, just a few miles south of the Pennsylvania State Line, we paused briefly to visit the St. Mary's Church and Cemetery. We were immediately impressed with the maintenance of the place, and even more pleased and surprised to find two rows of the oldest tombstones nicely arranged in front of the obviously newer cemetery.
This method of relocating and preserving the older stones, which in most cemeteries are so often allowed to decay and even disappear, was a welcome surprise. It also made reading them, and finding a few of the Sell families and their relatives MUCH easier and faster something we really appreciated in the humid June heat!
We quickly located the stones of Jacob Sell, 1803-1876, and his wife Mary, 1807-1868, in the second row, facing the road. It was too hot for us to spend much time walking under the sun, so we did not take time to locate many others, although we know that Jacob's parents, Peter (1772-1852) and Louisa (Luvisa, 1774-1858) Sell are also buried in this cemetery. Both families lived near Silver Run all of their mortal lives, and are mentioned frequently in the St. Mary's Church records, and at the nearby Baust's Reformed Church near Taneytown.
As we returned to our well air-conditioned car, we wished the stones could have been more than cold reminders of lives once lived here. We wished we could have learned more about their lives, their families and ancestors.
What was Jacob's wife's maiden surname?
What was his mother's maiden surname?
Were Henry and Anna Margretha Sell his grandparents?
Was this the Henry whose will, dated 1797, is filed in Frederick County, Maryland?
Was Anna Margretha the mother of all of his children, or a second wife?
When and where was this Henry Sell born?
We have guessed that he was born about 1722 in Germantown or Cresheim, Philadelphia Co., PA; a son of Henrich Sellen and his third (??) wife, Margaret. What was Margaret's maiden surname? Are Henry and Anna Margretha Sell also buried at or near Silver Run, Maryland? Oh what tales the stones might tell, if only they could speak!! With our modern day technology, is it too much to dream that someday tombstones will come equipped with push-button recorded messages telling us the life story and ancestry of the person whose lives they comeriate. What a boon that would be for OUR descendants!!
Littlestown
As we continued our trip up Highway 97, across the Pennsylvania-Maryland line, and into the town of Littlestown, we could see that it would have been easily possible for these Silver Run Sell families to have visited often with their Littlestown Sell cousins, attending baptisms and weddings at the Littlestown churches; and perhaps birthdays and other family gatherings at their homes and farms. Surely they all knew each other well. Too bad none of them recorded the stories they shared or friendships they enjoyed. We decided to skip the visits to cemeteries and churches we might have made here, as Dick Sell, Ken Sell, and the Littlestown Reunion clan have well covered this area for years now. Instead we did something thoroughly modern and stopped at McDonalds for some icy cold refreshments!
Gettysburg
Another nine miles up Highway 97 we entered the town of Gettysburg, and almost immediately were overcome with the commercialism of the "tourist trap". The most modern building noticeable in Littlestown had been McDonalds! But Gettysburg by contrast was filled with small shops decorated to entice the tourist in, roads being widened and paved, and lots of advertising for everything from shirts and souvenirs to food and lodging! We bypassed all of this, however, and went to the National Historical Park. We drove part of the "auto tour", but were disappointed to find the Pennsylvania Memorial under reconstruction and completely un-viewable. Fortunately we had been there years ago and found and photographed my great grand father's name, "John Cell" on this memorial. We did however take time to visit and photograph and Lydia Leister farmhouse and gardens the place General Meade had used as his headquarters on July 3rd, 1863. Lydia, 1809-1893, was the widow of James Leister, and a daughter of Hannah Sell, 1777-1845, and Dr. John Study, 1770-1853. Hannah was the oldest child of Adam and Barbara Feeser Sell, son of Abraham Sell of Littlestown. (see page 183 in Ken Sell's book, "The Sell Families of Adams and York Counties, Pennsylvania and Carroll County, Maryland, 1685-1995.") Too many tourists, few available parking spaces, and the heat of the June day, soon encouraged us back into our air-conditioned car and on to quieter places.
Catoctin and beyond
We drove south on US route 15, thru Fairplay, back into Maryland and Emmitsburg, Thurmont, and Catoctin. The Catoctin Mountain Park, home of the secluded and completely unmarked "Camp David", provided some breathtaking mountain scenery. We could easily see why so many of our presidents have so enjoyed this secluded retreat, away from the bustle of busy Washington DC, yet only a few minutes by helicopter from the White House. The mountains are green and lush, and the valleys dense with forest. Somewhere here in the heart of Frederick County, Maryland also probably lies the secret to the ancestry, marriage and early life of my elusive 4th great grandfather, Thomas Sell/Gsell/Cell. We believe that sometime shortly after the end of the Revolutionary War, our Thomas Sell moved from Berks County to York County, perhaps seeking land, perhaps following relatives, perhaps along the Monocacy River into Maryland. The 1850 Census tells us that at least two of his sons, David, about 1791, and John Cell, born 1 March 1793, were born in Maryland. But by 1795 when son Jacob was born, Thomas and family had apparently moved again, perhaps back up the Appalachian Trail of the Antietam Creek, into Franklin County, PA.
Their records in Franklin County, PA are abundant from 1800 on, and we have traced most of their descendants to the present day. But after nearly forty years of research, our Thomas Sell/Gsell/Cell still has no parents, no siblings, no wife, and no tombstone, that we can prove! The earliest record of him which we can be sure is for OUR Thomas is the 1799 Tax list in Hamilton Township, Franklin County, where he is listed as "Thomas Sell, (with) 4 cows". Where in Maryland did he live? When? For how long? Are there ANY tax or land records for him there? As we drove through that Maryland countryside we wished some omen would pop up and say, "Here I was! Look for my records here!!" But no such luck, and so the mystery of our elusive Thomas Sell/Gsell/Cell continues. As we filled up our gas tank at Frederick, we again thought, "He might have been here"! But as we continued our journey back to Rockville, and another anticipated evening with our youngest son, Adam, the past was replaced by chores and delights of the present, and the anticipation of more days of travel and searching's.
Should any of you have better luck finding answers to these or any other questions relevant to our Sell/Gsell/Cell ancestry, please share them with us here at:
Choppin.Carolyn@usa.net
