ASSOCIATE JUSTICE SAMUEL NELSON - AUTOGRAPH LETTER SIGNED 09/07/1862 - HFSID 29716

SAMUEL NELSON
Samuel Nelson wrote this letter to lawyer E. W. Stoughton in 1862 to say that he couldn't attend court because of family matters.
Autograph letter signed "S. Nelson". 2 pages, 5¼x8¼, 1 sheet folded, front and verso. Black ink notations on verso in unknown hand. Cooperstown, New York, Sept. 7, 1862. Addressed to New York lawyer E. W. Stoughton. In full: "My dear Sir, I have written to Judge Shipman that I cannot be at the next court in H. as the draft as you know, it is understood, will come off about the time of its sitting. I must be home at the time as it may interfere seriously with my household. I count six a day thereafter when I can attend as the condition of the country is such no one can tell what a day may bring forth. I have written to Judge Curtis [former Supreme Court Justice Benjamin R. Curtis] on the subject advising him of my situation and am inclined to be with him at P. The case must be left to some arrangement in the future. Remember me to Mrs. S and the rest of your family." Nelson (1792-1873), who had made a name for himself as an attorney, was a Circuit Judge (1823-1831) and Associate (1831-1837) and Chief Justice (1837-1845) of the Supreme Court of New York before being appointed as an Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court by President John Tyler in 1845. Serving until resigning due to illness in 1872, Nelson was involved in the historic Dred Scott case, and he was appointed by President Ulysses S. Grant to serve on the joint high commission that arbitrated the Alabama claims in 1871. Lightly toned, stained and creased. Body of letter, but not signature, has smeared lightly in places but is legible. Notation, but not signature, has bled lightly but is legible. Light show-through touches signature and body of letter. Folded in half vertically and once horizontally. Otherwise in fine condition.