Ida Marion Selts was born in 1848 in Rideway, New York. She moved west and trained in millinery and dressmaking in Illinois. In 1866 after she’d moved to St. Paul, Minnesota and married Ben Selts. The next year they moved to Clay County to farm in Goshen Township, which is located in the northeast corner of the county. (According to ancestor records, Ben, 11 years older, was Ida’s uncle, thus her last name remained unchanged.) The pair had three children, Henry, George, and Edith, who died at the age of 2.
After three years, the family moved to Clay Center and in 1874 they started a hotel, the Selts House for three years. In 1880 and Ben became City Marshal and Street Commissioner; later he started traveling to California, Colorado, and Minnesota as an auctioneer. The same year they purchased a building where Ida began the Selts Millinery and Jewelry Store.
By 1887 Henry took over the jewelry portion of the store, which was growing steadily. Prior to this, he studied watch repair for three years. After 20 years, they moved to a larger location. The jewelry store was renamed to HW Selts & Co Jewelry Store.
The same year, he married Luella Murphy, whose half-brother was married to a niece of Alonzo Dexter. Luella died the following year at 20 years old. He later married again, this time to Sarah Ann “Sadie Price,” one of Ida’s employees, in 1911.
Ida was good friends with Josephine Streeter, whose daughters continued to visit even after their mother died.
After 17 years in business and 31 years of marriage, Ida petitioned for divorce from Ben in 1890, citing abandonment; she requested ownership of her assets, which was uncommon for women at the time. However, it was granted because she was able to provide ample paperwork that Ben had provided financial support.
Despite the divorce, Ben – who was then known as Uncle Ben to the public – returned to Clay Center for his final years where he listed himself as “widowed” on the 1900 census report. He lived above the Musselman Bakery before dying of stomach and liver cancer in 1903.
Ida is credited with choosing the location for the federal building (Post Office) in 1909. It included three lots at the northeast corner of the Courthouse Square. The lot(s) were purchased for $5,000 (more than $178,000 today) and planned a building that was 138 by 140 feet, facing south and west. The building was approved by Congress for a price of $65,000. (Over $2.3 million in 2026)
Selts placed an ad for the removal of two homes and a barn on the site in 1909.
Ida died in 1911 in Colorado while visiting her sister; her funeral was held at the Little Episcopal Church in Clay Center, where she had been a member. The “beautiful ritualistic services” had the building “packed to its utmost.”
A decade later, her younger son, George, was arrested for “burglary 2nd” and booked in San Quentin, then known for being overcrowded and hosting inhumane conditions. He died in California. The remaining Seltses, including Sadie, are buried in a family plot in Greenwood Cemetery.
Research by Susan Hammond
