ASSOCIATE JUSTICE SAMUEL NELSON - AUTOGRAPH LETTER SIGNED 09/14/1865 - HFSID 79470

SAMUEL NELSON
Samuel Nelson wrote this letter as an Associate Justice of the U. S. Supreme Court in 1865 to an autograph hunter from his summer home in Cooperstown, New York.
Autograph letter signed "S. Nelson/A. S.Surpeme Court". Unknown signatures on verso.Black ink notations at bottom edge in unknown hand.1 page, 4¾x4½, affixed to a same-size sheet of cardstock. Cooperstown, New York, Sept. 14, 1865.Addressed to W. W. Campbell Phelan. In full: "Dear Sir, enclosed, I send you this autograph requested by your note of the 5th inst. Respectfully". Nelson had a summer home in Cooperstown and died there eight years after writing this letter. 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,foxed,stained, soiled, creased and rippled. Signature and body of letter have bled lightly in places and signature is lightly smeared in places; both are legible. Border touches body of letter and signature. Notations touch address but not signature. Missing bottom left corner. Light tear in top left corner. Irregular edges. Adhesive residue on verso (no show-through). Folded in half horizontally and once vertically. Otherwise in fine condition.