Rev. Duncan Hyder Selph's Home is Vandalized

         ©  Kathy Duncan, 2021

This tidbit appeared originally in the Danville Gazette of Danville, Kentucky in August of 1866.

Someone, probably, a woman vandalized the home of Rev. Duncan Hyder Selph while he was away. 

The culprit had cut the curtains of Rev. Selph's rockaway, broken his windows, and smashed his parlor furniture.

A rockaway was a light carriage similar to the one below. It was probably windowless; therefore, the curtains were needed to shade the occupants or to offer some protection from the rain. This was a carriage popular with families of the upper-middle class or higher in the 19th century

I suspect that the broken windows were the windows of the Selph residence and not the windows of the rockaway. That may be how the culprit gained entrance into the parlor where the furniture was smashed.

Unfortunately, I have not found a follow-up article for this event. There is no easy way to find out who the culprit was or why she was so angry at the Selphs. Was she a disgruntled teacher? A student who was upset about her grades? One of the Selph daughters? Someone with a more salacious connection? 

There is not a lot of information about this Selphs from this time period that would help shed light on this. At this time they were operating the Danville Female Academy in Danville, Kentucky, with Rev. D.H. Selph as president and his wife Lavinia E. Selph as one of the teachers. The Selph children were in attendance as students. In 1864, Lavinia Selph had purchased the buildings of the Danville Female Academy. On 1 September 1866, Rev. D.H. Selph had a large note coming due to C. C. Moore and his wife Mary Moore. From everything I've read, the Danville Female Academy had financial problems through the Civil War, yet the Selphs made several sizable purchases of property. The Danville Female Academy was purchased for nearly $10,000. The note due to the Moores was for about $35,000. Also, in 1866, Rev. D.H. Selph was trying to raise $25,000 to open a school for orphan girls and the daughters of poor Baptists ministers. 

None of this sheds any light on why the Selphs were the target of someone's ire.  

If you've made it this far, I've started a Facebook group for researchers working on the family of Peter Self his wife Elizabeth Vick as well as all allied family lines. Please join us at Peter Self/Selph and Elizabeth Vick Family Researchers.