Selden family papers

Samuel Hart Selden was the second son of Richard Ely Selden (1797-1868), who graduated from Yale College in 1818, was a farmer and a member of the Connecticut State Senate in 1844. Samuel's mother was Elizabeth, daughter of William Lynde, of Saybrook, Connecticut. He was born in Hadlyme, in the township of Lyme, Connecticut, March 16, 1826.

After graduation from Yale College in 1848, it was his desire to study for the ministry, but his health did not permit. For a year he was a tutor in the family of William Denniston, in Salisbury Mills, New York, and thereafter followed the profession of civil engineering. From 1850 to 1862 he was engaged in railroad work, principally with the Erie & Pittsburgh Railroad, making his home at first in Batavia, New York, and afterwards in Erie and Girard, Pennsylvania. From 1862 to the time of his death he was connected with the Chicago & Northwestern Railway, as resident engineer in charge of the North Michigan Peninsula Division, residing for three years at Marquette, and from 1865 at Escanaba, Michigan.

On June 16, 1853, Selden married Sarah A., the eldest child of Oliver I. Lay, of Lyme, Connecticut. Mrs. Selden and five of their seven daughters outlived him. The third daughter is the wife of C. P. Coffin (Yale, 1881), and the fourth of T. H. Linsley (Yale, 1876s). Early in November 1891, Selden left Escanaba with his family for their winter home in Harrison, Florida. Making a few days' stop at Linsley's home in Evanston, Illinois, he was there taken ill with erysipelas and passed away on November 25, 1891, at the age of 65.

Selden was a man of winning presence, of strong character, and of deep religious convictions. For twenty-five years he was an elder in the Presbyterian Church. His life was blameless and his influence strongly felt in the community on the side of religion and morality.

(Derived from Yale Obituary Record, 1859-70 and 1880-1902).