Nathan Kelsey Hall

author

Nathan Kelsey Hall

1810–1874

A Buffalo lawyer who studied with Millard Fillmore, he moved from local public service into national office as U.S. postmaster general and later spent more than two decades on the federal bench. His career offers a compact look at 19th-century American politics, law, and public service.

1 Audiobook

The Postal Service of the United States in Connection with the Local History of Buffalo

The Postal Service of the United States in Connection with the Local History of Buffalo

by Thomas Blossom, Nathan Kelsey Hall

About the author

Born in Marcellus, New York, in 1810, he moved to Erie County while still young and began working in trades and farm life before turning to law. He studied in Millard Fillmore’s office, was admitted to the bar in 1832, and built his career in Buffalo.

Public service came early and often. He served in local and county roles, became a judge in Erie County, sat in the New York State Assembly, and represented New York in the U.S. House from 1847 to 1849 as a Whig. When Fillmore became president in 1850, he chose Hall as postmaster general, showing how closely the two men were linked politically.

In 1852, he left the cabinet for a federal judgeship on the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of New York, where he served until his death in Buffalo in 1874. Remembered as a lawyer, politician, and judge, he followed a path from local office to national responsibility that was typical of the era, but impressive in its range.