My Genealogy Hound

GODFREY SELMSER. The mining business, which is one of the important industries of Waterloo, has a successful and able representative in the subject of this sketch, who is the principal member of the firm of G. Selmser & Co., and proprietor of the mills operated under that name. He began in this business in 1880, and has gradually increased his trade, until he now ranks among the leading men in his line in the county. The mills are operated by water and steam power and have a capacity of one hundred barrels in twenty-four hours, Boston being the principal market for the products.

A native of New York, our subject was born in Fulton County, October 23, 1818. The family is of German origin, and was originally represented in America by his grandfather, Henry, who came to the United States in boyhood. The father of our subject, Martin, was born in Montgomery County, N. Y., in 1770, and throughout his entire life engaged in agricultural pursuits. As the country was then new, he experienced all the hardships incident to life on the frontier, destitute of even those things which we consider necessities today. His wife, Susan, was born in Montgomery County in 1776, and was a daughter of John Moore, a native of Germany.

The boyhood years of our subject were uneventfully passed on his father’s farm, and his education was gained principally in the district schools and Johnstown Academy. On completing his studies he taught for two years in Montgomery and Seneca Counties, coming to the latter place in 1844. He is proud of the fact that before leaving Fulton County the last thing he did was to vote for Henry Clay for President. For seven years after coming here he engaged in farming. In the winter of 1852 he embarked in the dry-goods business in Waterloo, and has since carried on a large trade in that line. In 1880 he enlarged his interest by purchasing the mill which he has since operated. As a business man, he has always displayed keenness of judgment and promptness in action, and his enterprises have almost invariably proved successful.

Interested in everything that pertains to the welfare of the people, and especially in educational matters, Mr. Selmser served for thirty consecutive years in the capacity of Trustee of the public schools of Waterloo. His marriage, which took place in 1845, united him with Miss Christiana Kuney, who was born in Seneca County, being a daughter of Benjamin Kuney. They are the parents of two children, of whom the daughter, Emma L., is with her parents. The son, Benjamin F., who is in partnership with his father, married Miss Mary Hoster, daughter of Henry Hoster, who belongs to one of the prominent old families of this county. They have one daughter and two sons: Abigail, born in 1884; Edward Godfrey, in 1885; and Benjamin Franklin in 1887.

While Mr. Selmser has always been too engrossed by his many business duties to give special attention to politics, he is, nevertheless, well informed regarding the great questions of the day, and in his political sentiments favors the principles of the Republican party. With his wife, he holds membership in the Disciples Church of Waterloo, which was organized in 1853, and with the history of which his name is indissolubly associated. For some years he has served as Elder in the church, and in other ways has promoted the welfare of the congregation.