Biography of Robert H. Selway



This biography appears in
"History of Montana" by Joaquin Miller, 1894

Robert H. Selway, of Dillon, came to Montana in 1864 and is one of the representative farmers of the Beaver Head Valley, his farm being located at the mouth of Blacktail Creek, one half mile north of the city of Dillon.He was born in England in 1847, and crossed the ocean in the Great Eastern with his father and family in 1849. Theylanded in New York and went to Kenosha Wisconsin where they settled on a farm on Lake Michigan which the father purchased.

In 1864 he returned to England on a visit and died there in the sixty-fourth year of his age. His widow then came to Montana with her son, the subject of this sketch.James Selway, one of their sons, had come to Montana in 1863 and Robert H. and his brother Thomas followed in 1864. They came with oxen, with all summer in making the journey. On the Platte River one of their company was killed by Indians.

Mr. Selway came direct to Beaver Head Valley and located on the land which he now owns. When he arrived there were only three or four settlers in the whole valley and the Bannack and Spoke Indians were numerous. He homesteaded and pre-empted land, and now has 640 acres on which he has good buildings and valuable improvements. In 1879 on Christmas day, Mr. Selway was married to Julia A. Block, a native of Illinois, a daughter of Charles Block, she having come to Montana in 1878. They have three sons and two daughters: Maud M., Charles E., Robert R., Mable and Warren F.