"99-Colonel Samuel Selden, Esq., eldest son of Captain Samuel and Deborah (Dudley) Selden, was born on Twelve Mile Island Farme, North Lyme, in what is now the Hadlyme Society, January 11, 1723. … Samuel Selden had been received as a member of the church in East Haddam, but was transferred to the Hadlyme Society by a letter of dismissal and recommendation, July, 1750; he was elected to fourth Deacon of the new society and served in that capacity from 1756 until the time of his death in 1776. … In 1752 he was appointed lieutenant of the train band in Lyme. … it would be natural that he would be a Justice of the Peace, and we find that he held this office in 1763 and from 1765 to 1776. In 1774 Samuel Selden was promoted to the rank of Major in the Third Regiment of Militia. … On June 20, 1776, Major Selden was commissioned Colonel of the Third Battalion of Connecticut Militia. … Colonel Selden was in New York with his regiment in August, 1776. His regiment took its part in building the many earthworks that were thrown up around the city. … Sunday, September 15, 1776, … Selden collided with a body of Hessians near what is now 23rd Street and 3rd Avenue. After some sharp fighting in which four Hessians were killed and eight wounded, Colonel Selden, prostrated by a painful wound, by the heat, and by the anxiety of the retreat, was taken prisoner, his men having been greatly outnumbered. … Colonel Selden was at first thought to be killed. … the diary of Captain Jabez Fitch, … 'Colonel Selden had been some time sick of a fever, of which he Died ye Fryday following, at about 3 o'clock in ye afternoon; his corpse was provided with a Coffin and decently buried in ye New Brick Church yard ye next day.' … This would make the date of his death, Friday afternoon, October 11, 1776, at 3 P. M., in his 52nd year."
