Dr. John Ward Sellers was born in 1827 Alabama.  His parents
names are not known for sure but thought to be Matthew Sellers and Sarah Jane 
Ward due to the naming patterns and verbal family history which indicates he 
lived neighbors to his brothers, Solomon, Edmond and Joel, while in Coryell
County, Texas.  They are all neighbors in the 1870 census.  John was
neighbors to Matthew's daughters, Rebecca Sellers Whatley and Elizabeth
Sellers Wilson, in the 1860 wise county census and again in the 1880 Burnet
County census.  John's parents came from North Carolina, with several other
families of Sellers, Wards, Wilsons and Godwins.
    On November 22, 1845, in Pike County, Alabama, John married Lynia Jane
Godwin born 1830 in North Carolina.  They were blessed with daughter,
Emmaline Bethania born 1850 (m. Levi Dean, Jacob L. Bruner) and son, Marvel
Whitney (became physician) born July 7, 1853, (m. Rebecca Jane Wilson)
before coming to Texas, in 1854.
    John and Lynia Jane settled down to raising cattle and children in the
Cactus Hill area of Wise County, by 1860.  They had Laura Francis (became
famous artist, philanthropist in Beaumont) born 1856 (m. Henry Davidson,
Jeff Morrow, Alfred Busha, William Kreiter) and Orrin Pierce (became
physician) born 1859 (m. Lula Wilson).  Unfortunately the War Between the
States interrupted their lives and John served with the Texas Frontier
Regiment of Mounted Rangers, Texas State Troops-CSA under Colonels Norris
and McCord from March 15, 1862, until March 1, 1864, when honorably
discharged.
    By 1870, the family had moved to Coryell County, where they lived on the
old Edmond place about 10 miles north of Gatesville.  Here they had Oliver
Lofton born December 24, 1861, (m. Idella Custer) and Bell Zora born August
28, 1866, (m. James A. Oldham).  John Ward was  a physician and a sheep
man.  Lynia Jane died sometime between June 1869 and June 1870 and is
buried near Gatesville.
    John remarried on October 20, 1870 in Coryell County, to Mrs. Nancy R.
(Clemons) Sirman, born 1848 Georgia.  They were living in Burnet County by
the 1880 census.  He made a trip out to Glorieta, New Mexico, in the winter
of 1888, to visit his son, Dr. Marvel Whitney Sellers.  After having
climbed a mountain, John became ill and never recovered.  He died and was
buried there, far from home, on January 1, 1889.  Nancy died in 1898 and is
buried in Bethel Cemetery, Katemcy, Mason County.

Submitted by great great granddaughter, Lynda Wyatt Green