Selene was born at Belle Meade Farm, the youngest of three surviving children of Selene née Harding and William Hicks Jackson.

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Elliston—Jackson

   "Nashville, Tenn., May 19—(Special)—A notable wedding was celebrated at the Church of the Advent at 11 o'clock this morning. The contracting parties were William R. Elliston and Miss Selene Jackson. The Rev. George F. Degen performed the ceremony. The only persons present were Joseph Warner and Miss Reba Wilson, Dr and Mrs Larkin Smith and Mrs [Edwards] Sinclair. The latter and Mrs Smith are sisters of Mr Elliston. Immediately after the ceremony the party repaired to the Duncan House for luncheon, and telephoned the bride's father, Gen. W. H. Jackson, of the event. Their intention had been to leave to-night for New York, but they accepted an invitation from Gen. Jackson to spend the night at Belle Meade. The bride … enjoys a deserved popularity as one of the most beautiful and attractive young women in Nashville. Mr Elliston is a prominent young society man, and leader of all the germans."  (The Courier-Journal, Louisville, Kentucky, Wednesday 20 May 1896, 4.)

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On the demise of Belle Meade Farm:

        "The pressure of population toward the suburbs inevitably contributed to the break-up of the country estates adjacent to the city, which, in early days, had been self-supporting from their farming operations.

        "Other causes also contributed: witness Belle Meade, which at the turn of the century was owned by the three children of General William Hicks Jackson, who had inherited it from their mother…. General Jackson had survived his wife, and continued to operate the farm with the help of his son, William Harding Jackson … and of his sons-in-law, Albert D. Marks, who had married Eunice, and William Robert Elliston, who had married Selene. General Jackson was hospitable and civic-minded and could be depended upon to entertain visiting celebrities at Belle Meade as in the old days. But the old order was soon to change.

        "The suicide [of Albert Marks] brought to light the fact that Belle Meade had been mortgaged to the Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Company by General Jackson's three children, the legal owners, to raise money for the operation of the farm. It also developed that Marks, to whom General Jackson had entrusted his financial affairs, had seemingly appropriated substantial sums to his own use.

        "The mortgage debt, the unpaid bills, and the undivided interests in the real estate necessitated lengthy Chancery Court proceedings. … Marks had been Jackson's attorney as well as his man of affairs and had collected large sums for General Jackson, as well as for other clients, for which he had not accounted. … Selene Jackson Elliston made a private sale of her one-third interest to Nat Baxter Jr. for $47,000, agreeing, however, to pay her one-third of the mortgage indebtedness, the total of which amounted at the time to approximately $75,000. Baxter in turn sold his interest to James E. Caldwell.

        "The syndicate which had bought the Marks interests also bought the interest of William Harding Jackson Jr…. Belle Meade Land Company was incorporated to take title, and this corporation promptly bought the Elliston interest from Mr. Caldwell. … Judge [Jacob McGavock] Dickinson then bought for himself, from Belle Meade Land Company, the house and 400 acres extending to the old country road just south of Richland Creek."

(William Waller, ed., "Transition," Nashville, 1900 to 1910, Nashville: Vanderbilt University Press, 1972.)

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Author and Jackson-Harding family member W. Ridley Wills II writes:

        "After leaving Belle Meade, Selene Jackson Elliston and her son, Billy, moved a number of times. During 1905 and 1906, they lived at Nashville's Tulane Hotel. Afterward, they briefly lived at 318 22nd Avenue North, before settling in a small house at 2007 Murphy Avenue. There, Selene employed several family servants to look after the house and care for her son. Her furnishings included some of the furniture and paintings from Belle Meade.

        "Selene was estranged from her [West Meade] family. When any of them called, she instructed her servants to say that she was not at home. Her aunt, Mary Jackson … would put her foot in the door and go in anyway. In 1910, Selene executed a new will, leaving her estate to her son. In it, she appointed her godfather, the Right Reverend John B. Morris, then the Roman Catholic bishop of Arkansas, as guardian for William during his minority."

(Ridley Wills II, The History of Belle Meade, Nashville: Vanderbilt University Press, 1991.)

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According to her death certificate, Selene died of toxic psychosis and myocarditis, attended by Dr John W. Stevens, six days after her admission to City View Sanitarium, Nashville. She was buried at Mt Olivet Cemetery in Nashville with the Jackson-Harding family including her parents, brother, sister-in-law Anne Davis (née Richardson) (Jackson) Stevenson, sister Eunice and infant son Albert Jackson Marks, and her own son, William Jackson Elliston.

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Parents:

     Selene Harding (1846–'92)

     William Hicks Jackson (1835–1903)

Siblings (4):

     Mary Elizabeth Jackson (1869-'69)

     Eunice Jackson (Marks) (1871–1901)

     an unnamed male infant (1872–'72)

     William Harding Jackson (1874–1903)

Married (19 May 1896):

     William Robert Elliston (1872–1909)

Child (1):

     William Jackson Elliston (1897–1969)