Tracking Elizabeth J. (Johnson) Selvy

      ©  Kathy Duncan, 2025

Since locating Nancy (Johnson) Brown's missing sister, Elizabeth Jane (Johnson) Selvy, I have been researching the Selvy family in earnest. I hope that they will eventually uncover other Johnson or Bryant relatives. So far, that has not happened. However, Elizabeth J. Selvy has provided me with several clues and a lot of questions.

Here is what I know about her so far - in chronological order.

Elizabeth Jane Johnson was born on 27 May 1836 in Illinois, probably Pike County. She was the daughter of Samuel Johnson and his wife, Esther A. Bryant. On the 1850 Pike County, Illinois census, Elizabeth was still living at home with her mother and step-father, Robert Lacy. She had at least three surviving Johnson siblings still living in the household: Peter, Nancy, and Richard M. Plus, one Lacy half-sibling, named Lenna or Senna Lacy. 

Elizabeth Johnson married George Washington Selvy in Peoria County, Illinois on 24 June 1851. That's about 100 miles from Pike County. Why was she so far from home? Did the Lacy family move there temporarily? Were there extended family members there? 

I have not been able to locate Elizabeth (Johnson) and George W. Selvy on the 1860 census. They should have at least three children living with them in 1860: George W. Selvy Jr., born 1853; Cade Selvy, born 1857; and Esther Ann Selvy, born c. 1857/8. While George Jr. was born in Illinois, Cade was supposedly born at Stevens Point, Portage County, Wisconsin. I have not been able to pick up any clues about the family in Wisconsin. It's worth noting that in 1860, Elizabeth's mother Esther, step-father Robert ,and their children were living in Pike County, Illinois. 

Along came the Civil War and George W. Selvy enlisted in Louisiana, Missouri (is that a place?) on 4 April 1862. He was wounded in the chest at the Battle of Moore's Mill in Missouri and died later in the hospital in Calloway, Missouri on 25 July 1862. Were they in Missouri by 1861? 

Elizabeth J. (Johnson) Selvy applied for a widow's pension on 21 January 1863 from Milton, Pike County, Illinois. That indicates to me that she had returned to her family support network. Her application names her four children with George W. Selvy: George Selvy, nine years old on 4 July 1862; Cade Selvy, seven years old on 5 January 1862; Hester Ann Selvy, five years old on 16 December 1862; and Sarah A. Selvy, born 19 March 1862. Other documents in the pension file reveal that Sarah's full name was Sarah Augusta Selvy. 

In 1866, Elizabeth J. Selvy filed for an increase in her pension. Her four children by George W. Selvy. Sr. and their locations are named in this document. Elizabeth was living in Chandlersville [sic], Cass County, Illinois, nearly 60 miles from Milton, Pike County, Illinois. Her eldest sons George W. and Kader Selvy were living at Florence, Pike County, Illinois. Her daughter Esther Selvy was living at Chandlersville, Cass County, Illinois (probably with Elizabeth). Her youngest daughter Sarah A. Selvy was living at Milton, Pike County, Illinois. This may be during the time period when Cade Selvy lived in the home of T. N. Hall. Elizabeth stated that she was still financially responsible for her children, that she was still their guardian, and that they had not been given up for adoption.  James J. Short and Nancy Short of Cass County, Illinois signed an affidavit vouching for her, so that's a clue that I need to investigate since I can not figure out why Elizabeth Selvy was living in Cass County at that point.

On 16 March 1868, Elizabeth Selvy filed for another increase in her pension. At this time, her residence was Roodhouse, Greene County, Illinois. Again, her four children were named. More importantly, her two Lacy half-sisters vouched for her: Amanda Lacy and Asena Lacy. This suggests to me that the Lacy family had moved from Pike County to Greene County, Illinois, before their move to Wilson County, Kansas. Both Amanda and Asena Lacy further stated that they were present at the births of the four Selvy children. I have my doubts about them being in Wisconsin when Cade Selvy was born.

In 1870, Elizabeth Selvy and her three eldest children were living at Exeter, Scott County, Illinois. Who else from the family might have been there?? Where was Sarah A. Selvy? She did not marry until the late 1870s. By 1870, Esther (Bryant), Robert Lacy, and their children were living in Wilson County, Kansas. Why didn't Elizabeth go with them? Her sister Nancy (Johnson) Brown was living in DeWitt County, Illinois. Meanwhile, younger brother Richard M. Johnson was living in Macon County, Illinois. Elder brother Peter Johnson has been persistently difficult to track. 

By 1880, Elizabeth Selvy was in Salt Spring Township, Randolph County, Missouri, with three of her children: Sarah A. Stansberry, Hester Jones, and Lee Selvy. Lee was not born until nearly 1870, so he was not a son of George W. Selvy's. Three of Elizabeth J. (Johnson) Selvy's children married in Randolph County, Missouri: 

Esther Ann Selvy married Henry C. Jones on 3 December 1876,

Cade Selvy married Mary Bailey on 25 December 1879, and

Sarah A. Selvy married Joshua Frank Stansberry on 22 April 1880.

By 1891, Cade Selvy was the Constable of Gallup, New Mexico. The other Selvy brothers seem to have moved to Gallup at about the same time. Both Lee Selvy and George Selvy are mentioned in the Gallup newspapers within the next few years. Elizabeth J. Selvy appears in The Gallup Gleaner as early as 1892:

By 1892, Cade Selvy was no longer living in Gallup, but his mother was. She was likely living with Lee or George Selvy.

The relationship between Elizabeth Selvy and Miss Jones was clarified in a clipping from The Gallup Gleaner in 1894:

By 1894, Cade Selvy was working for the A&P Railroad. Miss May Jones, who was the granddaughter of Elizabeth Selvy, was the daughter of Esther Ann (Selvy) Jones. By my estimate, May Jones was born in 1880 after the census was taken. The census day for 1880 was June 1, which means the census was to include everyone living in the household on June 1, 1880. May Jones was not in the household with her parents, but Esther Ann (Selvy) Jones would have been pregnant with her. The census taker arrived at the Frank Stansberry household, where Esther Ann and Henry C. Jones were living on 8 June 1880. It's impossible to know if Esther Ann was still living on the 8th. By the end of the year, Henry C. Jones had sold a piece of land that was witnessed on 25 October 1880.  At the bottom of the document, where Henry C. Jones would have released her dower, is the notary's statement that "Henry C. Jones (widower)" appeared in his office on 25 October 1877. The notary signed this document on 6 December 1880. It's a preprinted form for documents that would have been used in 187_. I wonder if the notary neglected to correct the date. All the other dates on the document are for 1880. The 1877 date on the document certainly muddies the water. Otherwise, this seems to indicate that Esther Ann died between June 1 and October 25, and very likely that she died in childbirth or shortly after. That would make granddaughter May Jones about fourteen years old when she and Elizabeth Selvy travelled to Albuquerque to visit Cade Selvy.

In 1895, Elizabeth J. Selvy was reunited with her sister, Nancy (Johnson) Brown, in Albuquerque.

In 1897, Cade Selvy packed up his mother and moved her to Santa Monica, California.

For the rest of his life, Cade Selvy either worked as a marshal or as a Special Officer for either the Santa Fe or the Atlantic and Pacific railroads. Like many railroaders, he moved frequently. Most of the men in his family also worked for railroads, which for many of them would be their deaths. 

Eventually, Elizabeth J. Selvy ended up in Richmond, California, where she died in 1902. At the time of her death, Cade Selvy was on a business trip to Albuquerque when he received word that his mother had died. 

Through Findagrave, I found her tombstone in plot 43 at the Mountain View Cemetery of Oakland, Alameda County, California. This burial in Oakland is baffling at this point. If she was living in Oakland and visiting at Point Richmond, it would make sense. None of the other family members seems to be living in Oakland in 1902. Was someone else in the family buried there at earlier date, so they took her there? Who? Cade and Lee Selvy's mother-in-law, Ellen (Briggs) Bailey, was buried in plot 43 at Mountain View Cemetery in 1907. Her funeral was held from Lee Selvy's home. Was Lee Selvy living in Oakland by 1902? In 1900, he was living in Arizona. Brother George Selvy was also in Arizona in 1900.