Newspapers provide a look at our ancestors’ lives that can be unique. Before Google Photos, Family Search Memories, and Ancestry trees, we clipped newspaper articles and saved them in scrapbooks. My grandmother, Florence (Creer) Kelsey, was a wonderful keeper of news articles relating to her family, and thanks to her, I have a nice collection of clippings about my great-grandmother Selina (Beddoes) Kelsey.
At the time of her death in 1962, Selina was one of the five surviving pioneers who crossed plains, mountains, and rivers to settle in Utah Territory. Because she emigrated as a 4-year-old and lived until 97, she was consistently named in the leading Salt Lake City, Utah, newspapers from 1954 to 1962.
Newspaper Clipping from the scrapbook of Florence (Creer) Kelsey. Selina (Beddoes) Kelsey is pictured on the far left.
Years ago, I carefully scanned the clippings and saved them to my digital file. Returning to my research on Selina, my grandmother’s scrapbook clippings gave me the clue that Selina was mentioned in the newspapers as a surviving pioneer. With many newspapers now digitized, I was able to find all the original sources of the clippings and even more that my grandmother didn’t have in her scrapbook.
In my Airtable timeline for Selina, I created an entry for each newspaper clipping with a source citation, link, details, and attachment. Sorting by date gave me an organized view of the various articles.
Selina’s Birth and Pioneer Journey
Selina was born on 31 December 1864 in Willenhall, West Midlands, England, to William Beddoes and Mariah Brockhouse. After her parents joined The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, they made the decision to emigrate to Utah Territory. Selina was only four at the time, and her grandparents were not keen on losing their granddaughter. I wrote the story of Selina’s family’s emigration in Mariah (Brockhouse) Beddoes (1842-1926), English Emigrant and Pioneer.
In that post, I shared the following:
Mariah and William, with young daughters Selina and Matilda, braved the Atlantic Ocean crossing crowded with over 400 other Latter-Day Saints on the ship “Colorado.” They sailed from Liverpool, England, and arrived in New York City on 4 July 1868. Traveling in steerage, they were very sick for the six-week voyage. From New York, they traveled by train to North Platte, Nebraska, then made the journey across the plains using an ox team. Selina’s younger sister Eliza wrote:1
Selina can well remember being put with her sister, Matilda, in the wagon with their few belongings. Her father walked most of the way. Her mother walked behind holding to the wagon to be near the children. Their teamster’s name was Robert Davis. Her memory is very keen to things that happened on this journey.
One of the scouts shot himself accidently while walking down the tongue of the wagon. One day and he died. Her father was scouting ahead, when he came upon a fresh camp loaded with provisions. The man was dead; the Indians had scalped him and taken his team leaving the wagon and provisions. The captain would not allow them to bother the things, because others may suspect that they had killed him for the food.
Surviving Pioneers in the News
Utah celebrates Pioneer on July 24th each year with a parade in Salt Lake City, fireworks, and other commemorations of the pioneers who first arrived in 1847 and continued to cross the plains by handcart or wagon until the transcontinental railroad was completed in 1869. During the 1950s and 1960s, only a handful of these pioneers survived, and Selina Beddoes Kelsey was one of them. Two newspapers, The Salt Lake Tribune and The Deseret News Salt Lake Telegram ran an article each year around July 24th describing the festivities and noting which pioneers still survived. The survivors were generally honored with a lunch at the Hotel Utah.
The first notice I located for Selina was in 1954 when at age 90, she was one of seventeen remaining pioneers.2
Seventeen men and women, snowy-haird and bent with years, were remembering the achivements of their youth Saturday, as tribute was paid to them at the annual Days of ’47 luncheon honoring Utah’s remaining pioneers.
Occasionally photos accompanied the articles, and in 1959, Selina was pictured with Minnie Petersen Brown, another surviving pioneer. 3
All of these are now in their 90s but were mere infants ranging from a few months to four years of age when they arrived in the valley. They remember little, if anything, of the pioneer journey from first hand. . . Two of the hardy nonagenarians, Mrs. Brown and Mrs. Kelsey are still taking note of the fast-changing world that has become so different since they entered the valley in wagons.
Selina’s Obituary
The final news articles naming Selina were obituaries that appeared in several newspapers. One stated the following.4
Springville – Mrs. Selena Beddoes Kelsey, 97, died Wednesday evening of natural causes in a Springville nursing home. Born Dec. 31, 1864, Willingham, Staffordshire, England to William and Riah Brockhouse Beddoes. Married William Kelsey, 1883, Springville. He died 1918. Came to United States at 3 years. Family, converts of Church of Jesus Christ of Latterday-Saints, settled first at Salem. Excellent seamstress, diligent reader. Known for gardening, worked with flowers till past 90.
It’s no wonder my grandmother saved as many articles as she could about her mother-in-law, Selina. The yearly luncheons and honors must have been anticipated eagerly by the family and Selina. Although Selina’s Memories page on FamilySearch contains many histories and photos, the news articles add an extra dimension to her life.
Sources
- “Life History of Selina Beddoes Kelsey by Eliza Beddoes Curtis (her sister), Memories, Selina Beddoes (1864-1962) G913-WL6, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/photos/artifacts/24262737 : accessed 16 April 2023), contributed by TERRY60, 28 March 2016
- “Special Tribute Accorded 17 Remaining Pioneers,” Selina B. Kelsey, Sunday, 25 July 1954, p. 20, The Salt Lake Tribune (Salt Lake City, Utah); digital image, Newspapers (https://www.newspapers.com/image/598934850/ : accessed 26 July 2023).
- “Pioneer Ranks Thinning; Seven Remaining in Utah,” Selina Kelsey, Monday, 20 July 1959, p. 17, The Deseret News Salt Lake Telegram (Salt Lake City, Utah); digital image, Newspapers (https://www.newspapers.com/image/595876522 : accessed 26 July 2023).
- “Selena B. Kelsey” Friday 13 July 1962, p. 29, The Salt Lake Tribune (Salt Lake City, Utah); digital image, Newspapers (https://www.newspapers.com/image/600707859/
: accessed 26 July 2023).”
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Thanks for the note!