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Gen. Selden Erastus Marvin is a son of Hon. Richard Pratt and Isabella (Newland) Marvin and was born in Jamestown, Chautauqua county, N. Y., August 30, 1835. He is a lineal descendant of Reinold Marvin, a native of England, who came to America with his family and his brother Matthew in 1635, and settled first in Hartford, Conn., afterward in Farmington, and finally in Saybrook, where he died in 1662. Lieut. Reinold Marvin, son of Reinold, was born in 1634, settled in Lyme, Conn., and was one of the committee to divide the town of Saybrook in 1665. He died in 1676. His first wife was Jemima Belcher and his second wife Sarah . Reinold Marvin, of Lyme, son of Lieutenant Reinold, was born in 1669, was a representative to the General Court from 1701 to 1728, and died in 1737. He married, first, Phebe, and second, in 1708, Martha Waterman. He had a son, Deacon Reinold Marvin, who was born about 1701, married, first, in 1725, Mrs. Sarah Lay, and second, in 1746, Mrs. Mary Kellogg, and died in 1761. Dan Marvin, son of Deacon Reinold, both of Lyme, Conn., was born in 1731, married in 1762 Mehitable Selden, and died in 1776. Selden Marvin, the son of Dan, was the first of the family to settle in Chautauqua county, N. Y. He was born in 1773 and died in 1832. In 1798 he married Charlotte Pratt, of Saybrook, Conn.; his second wife was Mrs. Elizabeth Vandenburg. Hon. Richard Pratt Marvin, son of Selden by his first marriage, was born in 1803, and held several offices of trust and honor. He was member of assembly in 1835, represented his district in the Twenty-fifth and Twenty-sixth Congresses; and was a member of the Constitutional Convention of 1846, under which he was elected a justice of the Supreme Court, an ofiice he filled with great credit and dignity for nearly twenty-five years. He died in January, 1892, widely respected and honored. In 1834 he married Isabella Newland.
Gen. Selden E. Marvin was educated in the public schools and academy of Jamestown. N. Y., and at Professor Russell's private school in New Haven, Conn. He then became bookkeeper and teller in the Chautauqua County Bank, in his native town, and remained there until 1802, serving the last three years as cashier. In July, 1862. he was appointed adjutant of the 112th N. Y. Vols, and on the 17th of that month was mustered into the United States service. He served in that capacity and as assistant adjutant-general of Foster's Brigade, with the Army of Southern Virginia, through the Peninsular and Charleston campaigns, until September, 1863, when he was appointed additional paymaster U, S. Volunteers and was assigned to duty in the Army of the Potomac. He filled this position till December 27, 1864, when he resigned to accept the post of paymaster-general of the State of New York on the staff of Gov. Reuben E. Fenton. Upon Governor Fenton's re-election General Marvin was appointed adjutant-general of the New York State Militia. As paymaster-general he had, in the execution of the laws for the reimbursement of bounties paid by the localities in the State to fill quotas established by the general government, and for the equalization of the excess of years on calls for troops prior to the last call of December, 1864, a difficult and arduous task. The sura required and paid for this purpose was $27,000,000, and its disbursement necessitated the exercise of a careful, discriminating judgment to protect the interests of the State and render full justice to the several localities. As adjutant-general he inaugurated and carried into practical effect reforms in the National Guard which were greatly needed, and which, with subsequent reforms instituted by his successors, have placed this splendid body of citizen soldiery upon a firm and efficient foundation for every service that may be required of it. During his service in these capacities he maintained his residence in Albany. After his term of adjutant-general expired he engaged in banking in New York city, being a member of the firm of Morgan, Keen & Marvin until the spring of 1873, when they dissolved. His chief operation as a banker in the metropolis was the placing of Northern Pacific securities on the market, in which he was eminently successful. On January 1. 1874, he went to Troy, N. Y., as the representative of Erastus Corning's interest in the iron and steel business carried on by the firm of John A. Griswold & Co., and while there organized the Albany and Rensselaer Iron and Steel Company on March 1, 1875. This corporation was a consolidation of the establishments of John A. Griswold & Co. and the Albany Iron Works, and General Marvin was elected a director and the secretary and treasurer. On September 1, 1885, this concern was succeeded by the Troy Steel and Iron Company, which went into the hands of a receiver in 1893. General Marvin continued as director, secretary, and treasurer of the company until its business was closed up November 1, 1895. On June 17 of that year he was appointed receiver of the Perry Stove Company of Albany, which position he still holds.
As a business man of recognized ability General Marvin has long been actively and prominently connected with a number of important enterprises. He was for several years a trustee and vice president of the Albany City Savings Institution and since June 1, 1894, has been its president. He has been a director of the Hudson River Telephone Company since 1892 and president since February, 1894, and was the chief organizer and principal promoter of the Albany District Telegraph Company, of which he has been a director and the president since the incorporation on July 1, 1895. He is a member of the State Board of Charities, having been appointed by Governor Morton on March 27, 1895, and is also a member of the chapter and assistant treasurer of the cathedral of All Saints, treasurer of the Diocese of Albany, treasurer of the Board of Missions, treasurer of the Aged and Infirm Clergy Fund, treasurer of the Fund for Widows and Orphans of Deceased Clergy, treasurer of the Fund for Theological Education, and treasurer of the Clergy Reserve Fund. He is an influential member and trustee of the Corning foundation, on which is built St.Agnes's School, the Child's Hospital, St. Margaret's House, Graduate Hall, and the Sister's House in Albany. He is also a member of the Board of Managers of the Domestic and Foreign Missionary Society of the Protestant Episcopal church in the United States, a prominent member of the Fort Orange Club, and actively connected with several other institutions of the capital city.
General Marvin was married on the 24th of September, 1868, to Miss Katharine Langdon Parker, daughter of the late Judge Amasa J. Parker, of Albany. They have had six children: Selden E., Jr. (military secretary, with the rank of colonel, on the staff of Gov. Levi P. Morton), Grace Parker, Langdon Parker, Edmund Roberts, Richard Pratt (deceased), and Katharine Langdon.
