James and Lydia Titus Selfe

The Ohio Marriages database at Family Search Labs provides us with the date of marriage of James Selfe and Lydia Titus as December 24, 1898, in Erie County, Ohio. James Selfe was the son of James and Elizabeth Selfe. The death certificate of James Selfe indicates that he was born in London, England in 1863. He died in Akron, Ohio on February 23, 1938.

We read in the book HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY, OHIO, edited by Lewis Cass Aldrich, that Lydia Titus was the daughter of Jared Titus and Elizabeth Hamilton. The biographical sketch about Jared Titus states that Jared was "a member of one of the old representative families of Kelley's Island." Lydia Titus Selfe passed away on August 4, 1919, as a result of lung cancer. Lydia Selfe was a resident of Kelleys Island, but she died in Sandusky, Ohio.

James and Lydia Selfe are buried in the Kelleys Island Cemetery. Their tombstone was created by Conrad Keim. The following article about the Selfe tombstone appeared in the August 4, 1920 issue of the Sandusky Star Journal. It describes the Easter lilies that were carved onto the stone as "the wonderful effects of a chisel in a trained hand." Conrad Keim signed his work in block letters that read C. Keim. You can see his name on the upper right portion of the base of the Selfe monument. (Click on the image for a close up view.)























The marker next to the tombstone of James and Lydia Selfe was placed there by the Womens Benefit Association of the MacCabees, #320, according to the inscriptions of the Kelleys Island Cemetery which are available at U.S. GenWeb Archives.