author
Nathan Kelsey Hall
1810–1874
A close ally of Millard Fillmore, he rose from shoemaker and farm worker to become a congressman, U.S. Postmaster General, and federal judge. His career traces a classic 19th-century path from local public service to national office.
1 Audiobook
The postal service of the United States in connection with the local history of Buffalo
by Nathan Kelsey Hall, Thomas Blossom
About the author
Born in Marcellus, New York, in 1810, Nathan Kelsey Hall moved to Erie County as a boy and started out in practical trades, working as a shoemaker and in agriculture before turning to law. He studied in Buffalo under Millard Fillmore, was admitted to the bar in 1832, and built a legal and political career in western New York.
Hall served in a series of local posts before representing New York in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1847 to 1849. In 1850, President Fillmore chose him as Postmaster General, a role he held until 1852, placing him in the middle of national politics during a turbulent period.
Later in 1852, Fillmore nominated him to the United States District Court for the Northern District of New York, where Hall served as a federal judge for the rest of his life. He died in Buffalo in 1874, remembered as a trusted Fillmore associate whose public service stretched from county offices to Congress, the Cabinet, and the federal bench.