The Sellers family of

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

and

Delaware County, Pennsylvania Delaware County, colloquially referred to as Delco, is a County (United States), county in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. With a population of 576,830 as of the 2020 census, it is the List of counties in Pennsylvan ...

, are a family of scientists and engineers. More members of the Sellers family and the closely related Peale family have belonged to the

American Philosophical Society The American Philosophical Society (APS), founded in 1743 in Philadelphia, is a scholarly organization that promotes knowledge in the sciences and humanities through research, professional meetings, publications, library resources, and communit ...

than any other family in the history of the United States, and the same is true of the

Academy of Natural Sciences The Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University, formerly the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, is the oldest natural science research institution and museum in the Americas. It was founded in 1812, by many of the leading natura ...

, the

Franklin Institute The Franklin Institute is a science museum and the center of science education and research in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It is named after the American scientist and statesman Benjamin Franklin. It houses the Benjamin Franklin National Memori ...

, and the

Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA) is a museum and private art school in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Notable members

Among the best-known members of the Sellers family are: John Sellers (1728–1804) observer of the transit of Venus;

William Sellers William Sellers (September 19, 1824 – January 24, 1905) was a mechanical engineer, manufacturer, businessman, noted abolitionist, and inventor who filed more than 90 patents, most notably the design for the United States standard screw thread ...

(1824–1905) designer of the standard screw thread; George Eschol Sellers (1808–1899) designer of the Panama Railway, Coleman Sellers (1827–1907) inventor of the cinema and developer of hydroelectric technology; Horace Wells Sellers (1857–1933) restorer of Independence Hall; and Peter Hoadley Sellers (1930–2014) deviser of the mathematical algorithms used to decode DNA. The landscape painter Anna Sellers (1824–1905), the historian

Charles Coleman Sellers Charles Coleman Sellers (March 16, 1903 – January 31, 1980) was an American historian, biographer, and librarian who won the Bancroft Prize in 1970 for his biography of American painter Charles Willson Peale. Sellers was a long-time librarian a ...

(1903–1980) the philosopher Mortimer Newlin Stead Sellers (born 1959), and the actor

Rosabell Laurenti Sellers Rosabell Laurenti Sellers (born March 27, 1996) is an American-Italian actress. She is known for her role as the titular character in the children's series, ''Mia and Me'', and also as Tyene Sand in '' Game of Thrones''. Early life Sellers wa ...

(born 1996) while well known in their fields, were not engineers. Samuel Sellers (1655–1732), progenitor of the Sellers family in North America, came to Pennsylvania from

Belper Belper is a town and civil parish in the local government district of Amber Valley in Derbyshire, England, located about north of Derby on the River Derwent. As well as Belper itself, the parish also includes the village of Milford and the ha ...

in Derbyshire in 1682 and was among the Quaker founders of Darby, in what was then Chester County, Pennsylvania. His family had settled in Millbourne. The area was used as farming and a homestead for the family. Sellers brought with him the most advanced technology for making and working with wire, and built

Sellers Hall Sellers Hall, completed in 1684, is one of the oldest buildings in Pennsylvania and is the ancestral home of the Sellers Family of Scientists, Sellers family of scientists and engineers. Samuel Sellers (1655-1732) arrived in Philadelphia in 1682 ...

(1684), for the next three centuries a center for technological innovation in North America. His son, Samuel Sellers, Jr. (1690–1773) continued to develop American wire-working and invented machines for the twisting of

worsted Worsted ( or ) is a high-quality type of wool yarn, the fabric made from this yarn, and a yarn weight category. The name derives from Worstead, a village in the English county of Norfolk. That village, together with North Walsham and Aylsham, for ...

yarn. Like their descendants, both Samuels were members of the

Society of Friends Quakers are people who belong to a historically Protestant Christian set of denominations known formally as the Religious Society of Friends. Members of these movements ("theFriends") are generally united by a belief in each human's abili ...

, whose tolerant policies and commitment to reason encouraged scientific and mechanical pursuits. John Sellers (1728–1804) was among the original members of the

and a member with

David Rittenhouse David Rittenhouse (April 8, 1732 – June 26, 1796) was an American astronomer, inventor, clockmaker, mathematician, surveyor, scientific instrument craftsman, and public official. Rittenhouse was a member of the American Philosophical Society ...

of the committee that observed the transit of Venus in 1769. He surveyed the boundary of Delaware County when it separated from Chester County and was a member of the convention that drafted the

Pennsylvania Constitution The Constitution of Pennsylvania is the supreme law within the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. All acts of the General Assembly, the governor, and each governmental agency are subordinate to it. Since 1776, Pennsylvania's Constitution has undergone ...

of 1790. Soon afterwards he was elected to represent Delaware County in Pennsylvania's first Senate. He was a strong supporter of the American Revolution and signed much of the Continental currency. John Sellers son Nathan Sellers (1751–1830) was also active in the Revolution, but he was called back from the campaign by Act of Congress because his expertise in wire-working was essential to the manufacture of paper and cartridges, which had been embargoed by the British. All paper-making in North America depended on his skills, which led to numerous innovations. Nathan Sellers initiated his family's involvement in the anti-slavery movement, which would continue in concert with the Garrett, Pennock and other closely related Pennsylvania families, until the practice of slavery was abolished, not only in Pennsylvania, but throughout the United States.

(1824–1905) founded Sellers and Company, the leading machine tool company of the nineteenth century. As president of the Franklin Institute, he proposed a standard screw thread ("the Sellers screw thread") that has since been adopted throughout the world. He pioneered principles of scientific management and efficiency in cooperation with his chief engineer,

Frederick Winslow Taylor Frederick Winslow Taylor (March 20, 1856 – March 21, 1915) was an American mechanical engineer. He was widely known for his methods to improve industrial efficiency. He was one of the first management consultants. In 1909, Taylor summed up hi ...

(1856–1915). Dr. Coleman Sellers (1827–1907) was also a pioneer in mechanical engineering and a founder and president of the

American Society of Mechanical Engineers The American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) is an American professional association that, in its own words, "promotes the art, science, and practice of multidisciplinary engineering and allied sciences around the globe" via "continuing ...

. He founded the Engineering Department at the University of Pennsylvania and was first president of the Philadelphia Museum of Art and the University of the Arts. He was president and professor of mechanics at the Franklin Institute and at the Stephens Institute of Technology. Among his many patents were the

Kinematoscope The Kinematoscope (a.k.a. Motoscope) was patented in 1861 (United States Patent 31357), a protean development in the history of cinema. The invention aimed to present the illusion of motion. The patent was filed by Coleman Sellers of Philadelphia ...

, a protean development in the history of film. As president of the Cataract Construction Company at

Niagara Falls Niagara Falls () is a group of three waterfalls at the southern end of Niagara Gorge, spanning the border between the province of Ontario in Canada and the state of New York in the United States. The largest of the three is Horseshoe Falls, ...

, he was decisive in the development of hydroelectric power and the adaption of the alternating current rather than direct current in North America. The history of the Sellers family of scientists and engineers is extensively documented by the Peale/Sellers Collection of the

References

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Notable members

References

Further reading