Harriet Seller / Howard

Harriet was born in 1842, the ninth child of John and Mary Small, being the first of their children to be born on the Clarence River. It was on Woodford Island that she met and married Thomas Theophilus Seller, the son of Thomas and Elizabeth Seller of England, who had arrived in Sydney in 1833 aboard "Edward Lombe" when their son was about eight years of age. About 1866 Harriet and her husband went to Newton Boyd to manage the station property which Mr. Seller and John F. Small (Harriet's brother) had purchased from Mr. T.G.Hewitt. Going up there, Harriet rode 70 miles on horseback, carrying a six week old baby in her arms, over Barney's Hill, through Cundlebung. They had to sleep under a dray, owing to the river being in flood. They spent seven years at Newton Boyd then went to Broadwater on the Richmond River, where they lived for three years before returning to Clarence where Mr. Seller was host at the "Steam Ferry" hotel, South Grafton, which stood on the site now occupied by Walkers Hotel. They moved again to the two storey hotel which had been built opposite. This hotel was burnt down and was later rebuilt and is now known as "Tattersalls Hotel". Mr. Sellers later purchased the freehold of the "Crown Hotel" and resided there until his death in 1890. Harriet carried on the hotel business after her husband's death. Harriet and Thomas had seven children.

In 1895 she married Ernest (Jim) Howard, a draper, the son of Charles and Emily Howard (nee Chambers) and together they continued the hotel business until their retirement in 1814. Harriet and Jim Howard spent their retirement at their home at 10 Mary Street, Grafton.