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SAMUEL NELSON
was born in Hebron, New York, on November 10, 1792. He
was graduated from Middlebury College in 1813, and read
law in a law firm in Salem, New York. Nelson was admitted
to the bar in 1817 and established a practice in Cortland,
New York. Nelson served as Postmaster of Cortland from
1820 to 1823 and as a delegate to the New York State Constitutional
Convention in 1821. In 1823, Nelson was appointed to the
Sixth Circuit of New York. He served on the New York Supreme
Court from 1831 to 1834, eight years as Chief Justice
of that Court. President John Tyler nominated Nelson to
the Supreme Court of the United States on February 4,
1845. The Senate confirmed the appointment ten days later.
In 1871, President Ulysses S. Grant appointed Nelson to
a Commission established to settle United States claims
against Great Britain, arising out of the latter’s
assistance to the Confederacy during the Civil War. The
proceedings resulted in an aware of $15.5 million in compensation
to the United States. On November 28, 1872, Nelson retired
from the Supreme Court after twenty-seven years of service.
He died on December 13, 1873, at the age of eight-one.
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