Selden Chapin was a career foreign service officer

Foreign Service Officer

A Foreign Service Officer is a commissioned member of the United States Foreign Service. As diplomats, Foreign Service Officers formulate and implement the foreign policy of the United States. FSOs spend most of their careers overseas as members of U.S. embassies, consulates, and other diplomatic...

 and United States diplomat

Diplomat

A diplomat is a person appointed by a state to conduct diplomacy with another state or international organization. The main functions of diplomats revolve around the representation and protection of the interests and nationals of the sending state, as well as the promotion of information and...

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Biography

Selden Chapin was born at Erie, Pennsylvania

Erie, Pennsylvania

Erie is a city located in northwestern Pennsylvania in the United States. Named for the lake and the Native American tribe that resided along its southern shore, Erie is the state's fourth-largest city , with a population of 102,000...

. He graduated from the United States Naval Academy

United States Naval Academy

The United States Naval Academy is a four-year coeducational federal service academy located in Annapolis, Maryland, United States...

 in 1919 and served in the U.S. Navy

United States Navy

The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...

 from 1919 to 1925. He married Mary Paul Noyes, March 30, 1927.

He was appointed a foreign service officer in March 1925. He was the U. S. ambassador to Hungary, Iran, Netherlands, Peru and Panama. He is interred in Arlington National Cemetery

Arlington National Cemetery

Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington County, Virginia, is a military cemetery in the United States of America, established during the American Civil War on the grounds of Arlington House, formerly the estate of the family of Confederate general Robert E. Lee's wife Mary Anna Lee, a great...

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His son was Frederic L. Chapin

Frederic L. Chapin

Frederic Lincoln Chapin was a United States diplomat. He was the ambassador to Ethiopia and Guatemala. He was the son of Selden Chapin, United States ambassador to the Netherlands, Peru and Iran.-External links:...

, ambassador to Ethiopia and Guatemala. His niece and ward

Ward (law)

In law, a ward is someone placed under the protection of a legal guardian. A court may take responsibility for the legal protection of an individual, usually either a child or incapacitated person, in which case the ward is known as a ward of the court, or a ward of the state, in the United States,...

 is Hope Cooke

Hope Cooke

Hope Cooke is an American socialite who was the "Gyalmo" of the 12th Chogyal of Sikkim. But Palden was to be the last king of Sikkim as a protectorate state under India. By 1973, the country and their marriage was crumbling; soon Sikkim was annexed by India. Cooke returned to New York City...

, wife of the former king of Sikkim

Sikkim

Sikkim is a landlocked Indian state nestled in the Himalayan mountains...

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External links

• Selden Chapin at Arlington Cemetery