This North Carolina town is named after a man who lied about everything

William Selvey’s Century-Long Identity Mystery in Sylva

In 1879, a young man who called himself William D. Sylva showed up in Webster, North Carolina.

He was tight-lipped about his past, yet a whole town soon bore his name. For over a century, locals told tales of this “wayfaring Dane” who got mail in a strange tongue.

Then, modern research blew the story wide open. His real name? William D. Selvey from Georgia, not Denmark.

He had moved to Texas, lived a full life, and died in 1927.

The truth behind Sylva’s namesake waits to be found in the town’s historic courthouse, where pieces of this century-old puzzle still sit.

A Stranger Arrives on a Cold January Night

William D. Sylva showed up in Webster, North Carolina on January 6, 1879, with winter winds blowing through the small mountain town.

The young man in his twenties came without explaining his past. Judge Riley Cannon and General E.R. Hampton felt sorry for the wanderer and gave him shelter from the cold.

The traveler kept quiet, introducing himself only as “William D. Sylva” and avoiding questions about where he came from.

Despite his secrets, the local men welcomed him and gave him a place to stay.

Local Families Compete for the Mysterious Handyman

Sylva lived with Judge Cannon for several weeks after finding shelter in Webster.

His hard work caught Captain Bill Enloe’s eye, who tried to hire him for his store, tannery, and lumber mill.

Judge Cannon refused to let the young man go, wanting to keep the good worker close. General Hampton soon moved to Scott’s Creek where he owned a sawmill.

Hampton liked the hardworking stranger and asked Sylva to work for him at the new location. The young man agreed and moved with Hampton’s family.

The General’s Daughter Names a Town

General Hampton needed to set up a post office around 1880 as his Scott’s Creek community grew. When he needed to pick a name, Hampton asked his young daughter Mae for ideas.

The girl liked the quiet handyman who lived with their family. She pointed to William and said they should call it “Sylva.”

The worker asked them to pick something else, but Hampton liked his daughter’s suggestion. The name stuck, and a town got its name.

Mail Arrives with Clues About the Mystery Man

The Sylva post office opened on August 6, 1880, with Mrs. Lula A.Cannon as postmaster. One of the first letters came for William D.Sylva, sent from Webster.

The letter came from Fort Gibson in Cherokee Nation territory.

When Sylva opened it, he said most of it was written in “Danish” and left it on Hampton’s table for others to see.

Sheriff Henry Brendle tried to ask about his past, but Sylva brushed him off, saying he had “learned to say my little piece long before I met him.”

The Man Behind the Name Disappears

William Sylva worked in Jackson County for several years before leaving without telling anyone his plans.

He never shared details about his past, leaving only his name behind. The small settlement grew around Hampton’s sawmill and the post office with the stranger’s name.

The town of Sylva became official in March 1889, with Dr.J.H. Wolf as its first mayor. The community grew while the man who gave it his name faded from local memory.

Texas Postmark Solves Part of the Puzzle

A letter came to the Sylva post office in 1924 from Cleburne, Texas. The writer called himself William D.Sylva, the same man the town was named after 45 years earlier.

He wrote about coming to Webster and working for Hampton and Cannon. The letter gave the first firsthand story of how the town got its name.

Oddly, he signed as “William D.Sylva” though he lived in Texas with a different spelling.

Family Members Visit Their Father’s Namesake Town

Will Lena Selvey Wheeler, one of William’s daughters, contacted Sam Monteith in Sylva in 1951. She confirmed William Demetrius Sylva was her father and that he died in 1927.

Wheeler traveled to Sylva in 1956 and talked with local newspaper editor J. D. McRorie about her father.

She told McRorie her family spelled their name “S-e-l-v-a,” which didn’t match other records found later.

Another daughter, Maude Selvey, also kept in touch with Sylva folks and shared family photos with them.

Records Reveal a Different Spelling

George Frizzell, Western Carolina University Special Collections Director, looked into the mixed-up stories about William.

He searched census records for William D.Sylva but found William D. Selvey instead.

Texas census records, death notices, and his tombstone all listed him as “William D. Selvey” of Cleburne in Johnson County. Frizzell learned Selvey’s family came from Georgia, not Denmark as local stories claimed.

Someone who knew him said he spoke Spanish well, hinting that “Danish” in his letter might have been misread from “Spanish” in his handwriting.

The Danish Connection Falls Apart

Sadie Luck, the longtime Sylva librarian, kept the original 1924 letter from William. She showed it to WCU founder R.L. Madison, who took it to president H.T. Hunter in 1933.

Hunter made a copy that still exists at WCU, but the original letter vanished after Luck died in 1971. More research showed that Selvey’s grandfather died fighting at Vicksburg during the Civil War.

The Danish origins story seemed completely made up. The foreign language part that added mystery to the tale fell apart under historical fact-checking.

Descendants Clear Up the Family Name

Carol Sullivan, Selvey’s great-granddaughter, and other relatives confirmed they spelled their name “Selvey.”

His daughter Will Lena and granddaughter visited Sylva many times in the 1950s, curious about the town named for their father.

The family knew about the spelling difference between their name and the town’s but never complained. Census records showed Selvey lived a normal life in Cleburne, Texas with his wife and kids.

Family members verified he wasn’t Danish and likely had ties to Jackson County before his “mysterious” arrival.

Questions Still Linger About the Handyman’s Identity

Research in the 2000s suggests William’s mother may have been born in Jackson County’s Canada area. This connection would make him less of a wandering stranger and more of a returning local.

The spelling mix-up between “Selvey” and “Sylva” remains unexplained to this day. Why did he sign his 1924 letter as “Sylva” when his family used “Selvey”?

Why create a fictional Danish background? Local residents embraced the mystery, making it part of their town’s unique story.

A century later, the tale of the quiet handyman who gave his name to a North Carolina mountain town lives on in local folklore.

Visiting Sylva, North Carolina

You can dig into the William D. Selvey mystery at the Jackson County Courthouse at 310 Keener Street. Climb the 107 steps to reach the courthouse entrance.

Inside, the museum is open Monday and Wednesday 9am-6pm, Tuesday and Thursday 9am-8pm, and Friday-Saturday 9am-5pm.

Free guided tours happen the fourth Saturday in April during the Greening Up the Mountains Festival, and WCU’s Special Collections Reading Room offers additional research materials Tuesday-Thursday 10am-4pm.

This article was created with AI assistance and human editing.

Read more from this brand:

• North Carolina’s “fake” rapids train real Olympians – and you can paddle them too
• The Cold War’s weirdest barter: how Pepsi briefly owned Soviet warships
• Cornwallis vs. Greene: The pyrrhic victory that cost Britain the war