Rev. Selah Merrill was born on May 2, 1837, in Canton Centre, Hartford, Connecticut.

He was a clergyman, consul, archeologist, and author. He graduated from Williston Seminary in Easthampton, Massachusetts, and studied theology at the New Haven Theological Seminary, graduating in 1863. He was ordained in the Congregational Church, Feeding Mills, Massachusetts in 1864. He then studied the ancient Hebrew language in Germany at the University of Berlin (1868–1870). He received the degree of M.A. from Yale College; D. D. from Grinnell College in 1875; and an LL. D. from Union College in 1884. He served as a chaplain in the 49th U.S. Colored Infantry, also known as the 11th Louisiana Regiment Infantry, during the American Civil War. From 1874 to 1877, he traveled to Palestine where he worked as an archeologist for the American Palestine Exploration Society. Merrill served as U.S. Consul in Jerusalem in 1882–1885, 1891–1893, and 1898–1907. He was a staunch opponent of the commune at the American Colony, Jerusalem, and sought every opportunity to dismantle it. He also opposed Jewish agricultural settlement in Palestine. He was a virulent anti-Semite and his views influenced the State Department's opposition to Jewish resettlement in Palestine at that time. In 1872 and 1879, he taught at Andover Theological Seminary and became curator of the Biblical Museum there. In 1907, he served as American Consul at Georgetown, British Guyana. Merrill was the author of numerous books including, “East of the Jordan” (1881), “Galilee in the Time of Christ” (1881), “Ancient Jerusalem” (1908), and “The Site of Calvary” (1886).

In 1866, he married Fanny Lucinda Cooke (–1867), in 1868, he married Phila Wilkins (–1870), and in 1875, Adelaide Brewster Taylor (1845–1929). He died on January 22, 1909, in Fruitvale, Alameda County, California.