Selden, Henry R.

Born: 1805-10-14 Connecticut

Died: 1885-09-18 Rochester, New York

Born in Lyme, Connecticut, Henry R. Selden was a lawyer, court reporter, lieutenant-governor of New York, and judge. He moved to Rochester, New York in 1825, studied law at the firm Gardiner & Selden, and was admitted to the bar in 1830. He relocated to Clarkson, New York and partnered with Simeon B. Jewett, with whom he practiced successfully for many years. In September 1834, he married Laura Anne Baldwin, with whom he had eleven children. In 1851, he received appointment as reporter of the New York Court of Appeals. He served in this position until 1854. In 1856, voters elected him lieutenant-governor of New York. This position also made him ex-officio president of the New York Senate. He remained in this position until 1858. That year, Yale College awarded him the honorary degree of doctor of law. In 1862 he received appointment as judge of the New York Court of Appeals in order to fill a vacancy. He won reelection to this position, but resigned in January 1865 due to ill health. He traveled to Europe in search of relief from his ailment and did not return to the United States until after the Civil War.

William F. Peck, Semi-Centennial History of the City of Rochester (Syracuse, NY: D. Mason, 1884), 373; Franklin B. Hough, New York Civil List, From 1777 to 1857 (Albany: Weed, Parsons, 1857), 32; Reuben H. Walworth, Hyde Genealogy; or the Descendants, in the Female as Well as in the Male Lines, From William Hyde, of Norwich (Albany: J. Munsell, 1864), 1:583; Gravestone, Mount Hope Cemetery, Rochester, NY.