Richard was a truly unique and memorable character.
Richard was hired by the Commercial Hotel (in 2010, known as the Blyth Inn) to drive their horse-drawn bus to transport their hotel guests to and from the Grand Trunk Railway station. He was also hired by the Canadian Express Company to handle incoming and outgoing freight items. He was known as a "drayman".
Sellars is, without a doubt, the most quoted Blyth character of all time. We can read reports of what other people talked about or what they wrote about, but we seldom come across verbatim quotations of the words that came from people's lips. How Richard said things was just as memorable as what he said.
The London Advertiser was a paper that operated for just a few years in the 1880s. A substantial article about Blyth's Richard Sellars appeared in their edition of December 8, 1882. I will quote the complete article below:
"Blyth Babblings"
The Blyth Poet
The thriving village of Blyth boasts among its fifteen hundred inhabitants of a real live poet, Mr. Richard Sellars, town carter. He has now over fifty hymns, yielding an average of six verses each, which he intends ere long to publish in pamphlet form. The hymn book opens with the following verse:
Lord, visit this habitation.
Now to this house bring salvation.
Thous knowest it is just what they need,
For these poor souls did Jesus bleed.
His description of the Phillipian jailer is considered by some a fine effort:
When Paul and Silas went to preach
The word of God at Phillipi
So that they their hearts might reach.
The power was given from on high.
"'What must I do,'' the jailer cried,
Who kept the jail and held the key.
''My guilt is such I cannot hide,
Can Jesus save a wretch like me? "
Mr. Sellars is happy as the day is long. Everywhere he goes in an out among commercial men, wheat buyers, reeves, councilmen, he has a complete and sometimes a whole verse ready for every case. He rarely greets an old acquaintance in prose, as he has any amount of poetry at his command. A few evenings ago, seeing a London gentleman coming off the train, he sang out:
"Good day, Mr. Case;
You've got back to this place."
One day he forbade a pugilistic encounter on the platform by remarking:
There's no use wanting to fight, sir,
For Pat Kelly is king of Blyth, sir.
Wishing to purchase some chicken feed for his poultry on the road from the station, he hailed one of the wheat buyers:
Hello! Mr. McMillan,
How much wheat for a shillin' ?
An old friend at the station, departing for the North-west, he addressed with tears in his eyes as follows:
You're going to Manitoba
That cold but happy land,
For the hardships of Canada
You can no longer stand.
One day an old lady stepped on a piece of orange peel outside Southcott's tailoring shop, and rested suddenly on the sidewalk, which gave the poet an opportunity to getting out the following:
There was an old lady of Blyth,
Who slipped and fell on her side.
"This vile orange peel
My fate will yet seal"
Said this heavy old lady of Blyth.
from the London Advertiser December 8, 1882
from the Repository of Blyth History - Janis & Brock Vodden
Another account of Richard Sellars fame
In 1900, a former Blythite, J.S. McKinnon, wrote about his childhood memories of Blyth. He included the following references to Richard Sellars:
At one time the transportation of passengers and freight between the village and the station was the vested right of Richard Sellars, and for years, Sellars, as he was familiarly called, was one of the best known citizens and characters in the community.
As well as being Bussman and Drayman, he was known as "The Blyth Poet". Four times each day the most familiar sound on Queen Street was Richard Sellars calling out "All aboard for the train going north - Wingham, Lucknow, Kincardine" or "All aboard for the train going south - Clinton, Exeter, and London". Richard could make a rhyme about anything at any time or place, and as a passenger would be stepping into his bus, he would say something like the following:
"It will cost you a dime
And the train is on time."
When a train would be coming from Londesborough and it would whistle at the boundary [Blyth Road in 2010], and the passengers would be getting ready to take the train - Sellars would say
"The train is coming 'round the bend
To take you to your journey's end."
Taken from Blyth: A Village Portrait, Susan Street editor, pp 57-58
About Richard's Life
Richard Sellars was born in Yorkshire, England May 17, 1855 to Richard and Maria Sellars. The family emigrated to the United States in 1860, but his parents both died of a fever shortly after their arrival, leaving Richard as a five year old orphan. He was taken in by an uncle who was living in Cedar Rapids, Pennsylvania.
On the very day that Abraham Lincoln was elected president of the United States, November 6, 1860, Richard and his uncle entered Canada from Detroit, Michigan and travelled directly to Exeter, Ontario. Richard grew to manhood in this new home. As a young man, he moved to Blyth and took up his career as drayman and bus driver. We believe that he was employed by the hotelier, William Hawkshaw, who owned the Commercial Hotel around this time. Hawkshaw had lived in Exeter. We assume that he and Richard knew each other prior to Richard's move to Blyth.
On May 4, 1876 Richard married Christiana (Christine) Coulter, 18, also of Blyth. She was daughter of William and Mary Jane Coulter who had retired to Blyth from Morris Township. The young couple were married in Mitchell in the Bible Christian manse by William Hopper. (Marriage registration #008909). We have no explanation as to why they went to Mitchell for this occasion.
Richard is registered in the Blyth assessment rolls as owning three lots in the McCaughey Survey (Plan 170) Block D, lots 7, 8, and 9. These lots are located at the south west corner of Dinsley Street and Morris Street. Lots 7 and 8 face onto Dinsley and lot 9 faces onto Morris Street.
Richard wrote a few lines about a John Carter for the Huron Expositor of Seaforth on February 14, 1879 saying "He bade good bye to his friends and his debts a few months ago, and went to live with Uncle Sam". Not poetic, but well put.
In the 1901 census, the Sellars household was made up of Richard, 51years and his wife, Christine, 40, and four sons Wesley, David, Russell, and Whitfield. As well, Christine's mother, Mary Jane Coulter was living with them.
Richard died at his home August 27, 1911, only 56 years of age. The probable cause was given in the death registry as apoplexy (stroke). The death was registered by his son, Whitfield.
The following obituary was found in the Blyth News section of The Huron Expositor for September 1, 1911:
One of the old residents of this town passed away on Sunday, in the person of Richard Sellars, the well-known drayman and poet. He has been at that business ever since the Grand Trunk Railway came through here. He will be greatly missed by all. The funeral took place on Tuesday afternoon and was largely attended. He leaves a widow and five sons. The boys have all scattered, but three of them were at the funeral, Albert, and Russell from the States, and Whitfield and wife from Toronto, They have the sympathy of the whole community in their sad bereavement. It will be hard to get another man who will be so obliging and careful to fill his place.
In a later blog article, I will share with you a complete poem of 50 verses which Richard wrote about the Donnelly affair - a contemporary piece of great interest!
Special Request
If you happen to have any poetry by Richard, or if you have a photograph of him, or any related memorabilia we would love to add a copy or the real thing to our collection. You can respond to this blog.
Other Blyth Characters
A few years ago, some of us old timers were reminiscing about the odd, colourful,and memorable characters we knew when we were younger. I raised the question of why we don't have any such people around the village any more. Doug Whitmore responded with another question: "Brock, have you looked in a mirror lately?"
Brock Vodden
August 28, 2010
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