 On September 25, 1834, Selden married Laura Anne Baldwin at Clarkson, and they had three sons and two daughters, among them George Baldwin Selden, who became the first person to be granted a patent for the automobile.Selden became the case reporter for the New York State Court of Appeals in 1851.Originally a Democrat, he became an abolitionist and founding member of the New York Republican Party in 1856, and was elected Lieutenant Governor that November.