Sunday, October 25, 2020

Rev. Duncan Hyder Selph Sr. From the Harding/Dabbs Collection

©  Kathy Duncan, 2020

For the Selph family, this photograph is the crown jewel of the Harding/Dabb collection. It appears to be a duplicate of a photograph of Rev. Duncan Hyder Selph Sr. that was made when he was younger.


 





































The back of the photograph is from Wybrant's Photographic Studio, 418 West Market St., in Louisville, KY. It bears the notation that Wybrant's was a Medal Award winner at the Southern Exposition in 1883, so the image is from 1883 or later. Frank Wybrant's photography studio was located at 418 West Market Street from 1886 to 1889. The hand that wrote on the back of the card is sure, and although D.H. Selph was deceased by 1874, I don't doubt that the identification is correct. It reads "Rev. Duncan Hyder Selph Baptist Minister & President of Union University Murfreesboro, Tenn." It further identifies his wife as "(Lily) Lavinia Bemburg Selph." Lily was a Burton and to my knowledge, Bemberg was not her middle name, which is identified in other documents as Emily. However, her mother was Lavinia Bembury (Murfree) Burton. This leads me to believe that Lily did not write this. It was likely inscribed by one of her children.

This picture of Duncan Hyder-Selph shows a resemblance to a photograph that was made at a later date with his wife, Lavinia:


 


3 comments:

  1. Wasn't Lavinia's name Lavinia Emily Bembury not Bemburg or Bemberg as you noted in photo? What a great find!!! Thanks for all your work.

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    Replies
    1. Hi, Marcella! I will have to take another look at the back of the photograph. The handwriting runs through the printing on the back and is hard to read. Thinking about it now, my gs look a lot like ys, so I think it could be the other way around for other people. That must be why her name is frequently recorded as Bemburg. You are right, though, her middle name was supposed to be Bembury.

      I need to get back to posting the photographs and information from this collection of material. There is one more picture of Iley.

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    2. I always had her documented name as Lavinia "Lily" Emily (Burton) Selph and her mother as Lavinia Bembury (Murfree) Burton. I have never seen documentation that Lily might have had a double middle name: Emily Bembury, but maybe she did.

      I am figuring out through this new collection that the family had nicknames for each other and that in her old age Lily was called "Big Mama."

      A family Bible would sure come in handy!

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