Deadly Mayhem~Mathew M. Sellers, Stabbed in Heart

Mathew M. Sellers and his wife, Mary M. Parsons can be found in the 1850 Anson County, North Carolina Population Census.

1850 CENSUS: Chesterfield, Chesterfield, South Carolina; Roll: M432_851;  Image: 290, Page: 176A (Stamped); Line 37, Dwelling 1171, Family 1191; Mathew SELLARS, male, age 26, born in SC; Mary SELLARS, female, age 25, born in SC; Frances SELLARS, female, age 4 , born in SC; William A. SELLARS, male, age 1 , born in SC and Clement Dabbs, Male, Labourer, born in SC.  

In September 1850, Mathew and his wife Mary engaged in a Land transaction in which they were selling two hundred and two acres of land which his wife, Mary had inherited as her distributive share of her father’s, Abington Parsons, estate.

Everything seem to be going well with the family. The selling of Mary’s distributed share of her father’s estate seems to indicate that Mathew and Mary had planed to join other Sellers and Parsons families migrating to Tennessee.  

In December 1856, tragedy struck the family. Mathew was killed by Daniel Johnson. Its still unclear exactly what happen and why Mathew M. Sellers was killed.

Cheraw, S.C., Dec. 23—On last Tuesday Daniel Johnson, a resident of Anson county, N.C., committed a homicide upon Mathew M. Sellers, of this District, by stabbing him to the heart with a knife.
Sellers survived but a few hours, Johnson has made his escape thus far, but a reward has been offered by the friends of Sellers, for his apprehension. This deed was perpetrated in Chesterfield District, and will be a matter for the investigation of the Court if Johnson is arrested. –Herald The Tri-Weekly Commercial (Wilmington, North Carolina), 27 December 1856, Saturday, page 2] (Source: Julie Hampton).

HOMICIDE.—Mathew M. Sellers, who we mentioned as having been stabbed at Odom’s sale, died in about three hours after receiving the wound. The knife entered the breast between the third and fourth ribs, and penetrated the aorta. The Coroner, J. C. Chapman, Esq. held an inquest over the body the next day who reported that the said Mathew M. Sellers came to his death from a wound inflicted by a knife in the hands of Daniel Johnson. Johnson fled, and has not as yet been taken. A reward has been offered for his apprehension.—Cheraw Gazette
[The Western Democrat, Charlotte, NC, December 30, 1856, Image/page 3, Column 3.]

STOP THE MURDERERS
$100 Reward!!
DANIEL JOHNSON, and WASHINGTON JOHNSTON, having murdered Mathew M. Sellers, and fled from justice. I will give a reward of One Hundred Dollars, For his apprehension and delivery to the Sheriff of Chesterfield District, or confinement in any jail so that he may be brought to justice.
The said Daniel Johnston is about 22 years of age, 5 feet 8 or 10 inched high, pale complexion, light hair, and is a little round shouldered. The two first fingers on his left hand are cut off.
                                                                                     G. ADAMS
Chesterfield C. H., S. C. Dec. 17, 1856
[Cheraw Gazette., May 13, 1857, Image 4, Column 1]

Sadly, it is not known what happen to Mary M. (Parsons) Sellers, her daughter, Frances, b. abt 1846 and son, William A. Sellers, b. abt 1849.

Mary M. (Parson) Sellers is my 2nd Great Grant Aunt.

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1. 1850 U. S. Census, Chesterfield, Chesterfield County, South Carolina, population schedule, Chesterfield, Chesterfield, South Carolina, Page: 176A (Stamped); Line 37, Dwelling 1171, Family 1191, Household of Mathew SELLARS; digital images, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : viewed 3 June 2017); citing National Archives Microfilm M432 Roll 851.

2. Anson County, North Carolina, Deed Book 13: pages 471-472, MATHEW SELLERS TO SARAH RICKETTS; 29 September 1850, Register of Deeds, Wadesboro, Anson County, North Carolina.

3. "HOMICIDE," The Tri-Weekly Commercial (Wilmington, North Carolina), 20 December 1856, page 2. Chronicling America.

4. "BLOODY AFFRAY.," The Tri-Weekly Commercial (Wilmington, North Carolina), 20 December 1856, page 2. Chronicling America

5. "HOMICIDE.," News Article, The North Carolina Argus, Wadesborough, North Carolina, 3 January 1857, Image 2, column 4. homicide upon Mathew M. Sellers.

8. "STOP THE MURDERERS-$100 Reward!!," The Cheraw Gazette, Cheraw, SC, 13 May 1857, Image/Page 4, Column 1. Found at Chronicling America.

7. James C. Pigg, Cheraw/Chesterfield District Wills, 1750-1865 &: Abstracts from the Court of Common Pleas 1823-1869 (Tega Cay, South Carolina: self-Published, 1995), page 115.