Spotswood Wellford Corbin, son of James P. and Jane Catherine Wellford Corbin, was born in King and Queen County, Virginia, on January 22, 1835. He married Diana Fontaine Maury, the daughter of Matthew F. Maury on April 29, 1858; the couple would have three children. The 1860 federal census shows the Corbins living and farming in King George County, Virginia. During the American Civil War, Corbin entered the Confederate Navy as a master's mate and was promoted to second lieutenant on March 18, 1862. On January 6, 1864, he was commissioned a first lieutenant in the Confederate States Navy. He was taken prisoner at Petersburg, Virginia on June 15, 1864; he was paroled in February 1865 at Fort Delaware, Delaware and exchanged on February 27 at City Point, Virginia. Following the war, Corbin continued to farm; he was a member of the Virginia State Board of Agriculture and served as its president. He also taught at the Virginia Military Institute and was a Virginia state senator. S. Wellford Corbin died in Virginia on June 11, 1897, and was buried in Fredericksburg Cemetery, Fredericksburg, Virginia.