"Portrait & Biographical Record of the Willamette Valley Oregon."  Chapman 
Publishing Company, 1903. p. 191.
 
REV. JOHN W. SELLWOOD

     This well known and widely loved pioneer minister of Oregon was born near
Mendon, Ill., July 22, 1839, and was the son of Rev. James R. W. Sellwood, an
Englishman by birth and for years an Episcopal rector, holding pastorates in
Mendon, Ill., and Grahamville, S. C., thence coming to Oregon as early as 1856
and becoming the first rector of St. Paul's Church in Salem. During the last
years of his life, owing to failing eyesight, he was forced to relinquish
ministerial work, and thereupon retired to a farm near Milwaukee, later settling
in Portland, where he died. Few opportunities came to the boyhood of John W.
Sellwood other than those obtained by his own determination and industry. The
eldest of five children, he early proved himself the mainstay of his parents and
their comfort and assistant. Nor was this merely the case in matters material,
but especially so in spiritual affairs. From an early age his mind turned to
thoughts of God, and he cherished an ambition to follow in his father's steps as
a missionary and minister of the Gospel. When he was yet young his father
removed to Grahamville, S. C., and in 1856, with a brother, John, decided to
respond to the urgent appeal of the then bishop of Oregon, Thomas F. Scott, who
needed missionaries to labor in this then frontier field. The two started
together and en route were the victims of a bloody riot at Panama, from which
they barely escaped with their lives. The children, too, were with them and
endured all the horrors of those hours of danger. When the groans of the wounded
and the dying were to be heard on all sides, the eldest son, John W., solemnly
consecrated himself to the work of the ministry, and the decision then made was
never regretted. On the other hand, in the midst of hardships, toil, privations
and vicissitudes, he yet called it his greatest glory that he might preach the
glorious Gospel of the Christ.
     In due time the family arrived in Oregon, but the uncle had been so
seriously wounded in the massacre that for months he was unable to enter upon
his work, but on regaining his health he took charge of Trinity Church,
Portland. Rev. James R. W. Sellwood meanwhile went to Salem, where he became
rector of St. Paul's Church. His son, John W., pursuant upon his resolve to
enter the ministry, gave himself to preparation for the work, and in 1862 was
ordained deacon in St. Paul's Church, Oregon City, three years later being
advanced to the priesthood in St. Stephen's Chapel, Portland. At the same time
(July, 1865) he was united in marriage with Belle J., daughter of Rev. James L.
and Frances (Brown) Daly, natives respectively of Dublin and county Sligo,
Ireland, and of Scotch extraction. For the purpose of engaging in educational
work James L. Daly went to Australia, and for some time remained in Sydney. On
account of ill health he carne to California, but, not finding the social
environment desirable, went to Honolulu, where he opened a school. Ill health
again forced him to relinquish his work and in 1853 he came to Portland under
Bishop Scott, taking up missionary work, in which he proved an efficient and
consecrated laborer. His life was prolonged to the age of almost eighty years,
when he died in Portland in 1895, five years after the death of his wife. Of
their ten children four are living. Mrs. Sellwood was born in Australia and
received her education in Punahou College, Honolulu. Born of her marriage is one
son, John J., who is a graduate physician of the University of Oregon Medical
College and now practicing in the village of Sellwood, founded by his great
uncle.
     Immediately after his marriage Mr. Sellwood became rector of St. Paul's
Church in Oregon City, in addition to which he extended his work to Butteville,
Salem, Mount Pleasant schoolhouse, Clackamas Station and Canemah, a little town
one mile from Oregon City. As a result of his work a large Sunday school was
built in Oregon City and a chapel erected in Canemah at a cost of $800. For two
years he was superintendent of schools of Clackamas county, and during that time
visited even the most remote schools and sought to elevate the standard of
education here. It has been said that no missionary seemed to throw greater
enthusiasm into his work than did he and certainly none enjoyed the work to a
greater degree. His ministry was a source of constant joy to him. He was never
happier than when preaching to his parishioners and trying to aid them in their
spiritual. life. No toil was too great that would promote the cause of Christ
and the church in the particular field which he had chosen as his scene of
labor. His love for Christ led him to love every created being. None was too
lowly to be excluded from his sympathy, and none too high to be aloof from his
affection. Each one of his congregation had a special place in his heart. His
work was so full of delight to him that other occupations seemed uninteresting
in comparison. Many hardships and privations he had to face and more than once.
Sorrow was his companion, yet never, through all of his life, did he lose faith
in his Creator and never did he lose faith in the ultimate success of the work
in which he engaged. The humble successes that came to him were received with a
grateful heart.
     Though stanch in his allegiance to the Protestant Episcopal Church, Mr.
Sellwood was not a bigoted churchman. On the other hand, he possessed a broad
and catholic spirit and saw the good in all, ever praying for the reunion of a
divided Christendom. As a preacher he was earnest and forcible, never led aside
into sensational subjects, but clinging closely to "Christ and Him crucified." A
text was chosen only after careful and prayerful deliberation, and the subject
matter of the sermon was presented after much prayer. When before his people he
lost himself so wholly in his subject that no trace of self-consciousness could
be discerned. Indeed, he forgot himself in the message he was to deliver.
     After fifteen years of labor in Oregon City Mr. Sellwood accepted the
pastorate of St. David's Church in East Portland, where the last ten years of
his busy life were passed. From a small congregation, St. David's has grown into
a large and well organized parish, and this happy result is largely due to his
efforts in those days of small beginnings. While he was pastor of that flock, on
Christmas eve of 1899, after a day of severe illness, he insisted upon speaking
to the children at their Christmas exercises, saying, when his family protested,
"I feel I must look into their dear, bright faces once more."  The next day he
again went to the church, hoping to administer the holy communion to his loved
congregation, but he was taken with a chill and was carried from the church,
never more to enter it in life. Weeks of pain and illness were met with his
accustomed cheery and bright patience, and finally, March 12, 1890, with the
parting words upon his lips, "All is peace," he entered into the unknown. A
large concourse of those who loved him attended the funeral services, where
Bishop Morris, in the memorial sermon, paid a deserved tribute to his years of
patient and self-sacrificing toil. The organizations with which he had been
connected passed resolutions of respect. The bishop and clergy of the diocese of
Oregon adopted resolutions hearing testimony to his goodness of heart and
gentleness of spirit. Other organizations who took similar action were St.
David's Vestry, Women's Guild of St. David's parish, Daughters of St. David's,
Young Men's Guild of St. David's Church, St. Paul's parish in Oregon City and
the convention of the diocese. Since his death his wife, who had been his
constant and successful co-laborer in the ministry, has devoted herself largely
to missionary work in the Protestant Episcopal Church in Oregon, and is now
registrar of the diocese of Oregon, and is also the diocesan secretary of the
Women's Auxiliary.
 
 
Transcriber's additional notes
This biography is repeated in the following book:
 
"Portrait and Biographical Record of Portland and Vicinity, Oregon"
Authors: "a compilation of this work....by a number of writers"
Chapman Publishing Co; Chicago; 1903; Page 191

     
*******************

Submitted to the Oregon Bios. Project in February 2008 by Diana Smith.
Submitter has no additional information about the person(s) or family mentioned
above.