Selby, Coombs and Bettinger Family Photographs

Finding aid created by History San Jose Research Library staff using RecordEXPRESS

History San Jose Research Library

1661 Senter Road

San Jose, California 95112

(408) 287-2290

research@historysanjose.org

http://www.historysanjose.org/

2024

Descriptive Summary

Title: Selby, Coombs and Bettinger Family Photographs

Dates: 1860-1935

Collection Number: 1988-239

Creator/Collector:

Extent: .5 linear feet (71 photographs)

Online items available

Repository: History San Jose Research Library

San Jose, California 95112

Abstract: Collection of 71 family photographs related to the William E. & Lizzie Selby Coombs families, and their daughter Bessie Laverne Coombs and her husband Ellsworth S. Bettinger.

Language of Material: English

Access

Collection is open to the public for research by appointment. Records are also viewable in History San Jose's online catalog.

Publication Rights

Contact History San Jose Research Library for information on publication and reproduction.

Preferred Citation

[Identification of item]. Selby, Coombs and Bettinger Family Photographs. Collection Number: 1988-239. History San Jose Research Library

Acquisition Information

The collection was donated to the San Jose Historical Museum in 1988.

Biography/Administrative History

Lizzie Coombs (1864-1939), nee Selby, one of the central figures in the collection, was the daughter of early Santa Clara County pioneer and orchardist John S. Selby (b. 1834), who settled outside of San Jose in late 1853. With his wife, Sarah Brelsford, he had five children: Mary (married William E. Trimble), Emma (married Edwin Abel), William H. (married Alice Meads), Lizzie L., and G. Wray (married Carrie Woolsey). Lizzie married William Edward Coombs, son of William L. Coombs and Emma E. Griswold. Lizzie and Edward had two children, Bessie Laverne and Leroy Selby. Bessie married Ellsworth S. Bettinger.

Scope and Content of Collection

Collection of 71 family photographs related to the William E. and Lizzie Selby Coombs families, and their daughter Bessie Laverne Coombs and her husband Ellsworth S. Bettinger. The majority of the photographs are portraits, all of them identified, many of them cabinet photographs, with several cartes de visite and tintypes.