Representative Nathan Kelsey Hall

Nathan Kelsey Hall (March 28, 1810 – March 2, 1874) was a United States representative from New York, the 14th United States Postmaster General, and a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of New York. He was born on March 28, 1810, in Marcellus, Onondaga County, New York. In his early youth he moved with his family to Erie County, New York, where he attended the local district schools. Before entering the legal profession, he engaged in shoemaking and agricultural pursuits, experiences that grounded him in the economic and social life of western New York during the early nineteenth century.

Hall’s formal legal training began in 1832, when he read law in Buffalo, New York, under the tutelage of Millard Fillmore, who would later become President of the United States. That same year he was admitted to the bar and commenced private practice in Buffalo, where he practiced law from 1832 to 1850. His association with Fillmore developed into a close professional and political relationship that would shape much of his later public career. As a young lawyer, Hall quickly became involved in local public affairs, building a reputation for diligence and legal competence.

Hall’s early public service was concentrated in Erie County and the city of Buffalo. He served as clerk for the Board of Supervisors of Erie County from 1832 to 1838, a position that placed him at the administrative center of county government. He was city attorney for Buffalo from 1833 to 1834, and in 1837 he served as an alderman for the city, participating in municipal governance during a period of rapid urban growth. From 1839 to 1841 he held the post of Master in Chancery in Buffalo, an office to which he was appointed by Governor William H. Seward of New York. Hall advanced to the bench as Judge of the Court of Common Pleas for Erie County, serving from January 1841 to January 1845, and later entered state-level legislative service as a member of the New York State Assembly in 1846.

Hall’s national political career began with his election as a Whig to the United States House of Representatives. Representing New York’s 32nd congressional district, he served in the Thirtieth Congress from March 4, 1847, to March 3, 1849. During his single term in Congress he aligned with the Whig Party’s economic and administrative reform agenda, though he did not seek renomination in 1848. Outside of elective office, he was deeply involved in the development of higher education in Buffalo and was particularly active in procuring the charter of the University at Buffalo, founded in 1846, in which Millard Fillmore also played a leading role.

Hall entered the executive branch at the cabinet level when President Millard Fillmore appointed him the 14th Postmaster General of the United States. He held that office from July 23, 1850, to August 31, 1852. As Postmaster General, he oversaw the nation’s postal system during a period of territorial expansion and increasing demand for reliable mail service, working within an administration preoccupied with sectional tensions and the implementation of the Compromise of 1850. His tenure in the cabinet further solidified his standing as a trusted adviser and associate of President Fillmore.

On August 13, 1852, President Fillmore nominated Hall to the United States District Court for the Northern District of New York, to fill the vacancy created by the resignation of Judge Alfred Conkling. The United States Senate confirmed his nomination on August 31, 1852, and he received his commission the same day. Hall thereafter devoted himself to federal judicial service, presiding over a wide range of civil and criminal matters arising in the rapidly developing northern and western regions of New York State. He remained on the bench for more than two decades, his service on the court continuing without interruption until his death.

Hall’s judicial service was terminated on March 2, 1874, upon his death in Buffalo, New York. He was interred in Forest Lawn Cemetery in Buffalo, a resting place for many of the city’s prominent citizens. Through his work as a local official, state legislator, member of Congress, cabinet officer, and federal judge, Nathan Kelsey Hall played a significant role in the civic and political life of New York and in the national government during the mid-nineteenth century.