he was appointed by President Grant to serve on the joint high commission to arbitrate the " Ala- bama " claims on the part of the United States. This duty required a temporary cessation of his at- tendance on the bench, and exposure during the meetings of the commission caused an illness that compelled his resignation in October, 1872. Judge Nelson was of a grave and dignified appearance, slow in forming his judgments and reluctant to express them if they were unfavorable. He re- ceived the degree of LL. D. from Columbia in 1841. — His son, Rensselaer Russell, jurist, b. in Coop- erstown, N. Y., 12 May, 1826, was graduated at Yale in 1846, studied law, and in 1849 was admit- ted to the New York city bar. He removed to St. Paul, Minn., in 1850, became associate justice of the supreme court of the territory in 1857, and in 1858 U. S. district judge of the state of Minnesota, which office he still (1888) holds. In 1875 an opinion that he delivered on the civil rights bill attracted attention from the liberality of its views.
NELSON, Samuel Kelsey, clergyman, b. near
Jonesborough, Washington eo., Tenn., 9 Oct.,
1787 ; d. in Tallahassee, Pla., 7 May, 1827. He was
graduated at Washington college in 1803, after-
ward went to Kentucky, taught for a short time,
and then studied law, which he abandoned for
theology, and was licensed in the Presbyterian
church in 1807. In 1809 he became pastor" of the
Danville, Ky., church. He was one of the princi-
pal founders of Centre college, Danville, and of
the Kentucky asylum for the deaf and dumb at
that place. -^ David, clergvman, b. near Jones-
borough, Tenn., 24 Sept., 1793; d. in Oakland, 111.,
17 Oct., 1844. He was educated at Washington
college, Va., and studied medicine at Danville, Ky.,
and Philadelphia, where he was graduated. He
went to Canada with a Kentucky regiment as sur-
geon in the war of 1812, subsequently accompanied
the army of Gen. Andrew Jackson to Alabama and
Florida, and after the establishment of peace set-
tled in practice in Jonesborough. He had early in
life made a profession of religion, but had relapsed
into infidelity. Becoming convinced anew of the
truth of Christianity, he left a lucrative profes-
sional career to enter the Presbyterian ministry,
and was licensed in April, 1825. He preached for
nearly three years in Tennessee, and at the same
time was connected with the "Calvinistic Maga-
zine " at Rogersville. In 1828 he succeeded his
brother Samuel as pastor of the Presbyterian
church in Danville, Ky., and in 1830 he removed to
Missouri and established Marion college, twelve
miles from Palmyra, of which he became presi-
dent. In 1836, in consequence of the slavery ques-
tion, Dr. Nelson, who was an ardent advocate of
emancipation, removed to the neighborhood of
Quincy, 111., and established an institute for the
education of young men. In addition to articles
for the religious press, he published " Cause and
Cure of Infidelity " (New York, 1836), which has
been republished in London and elsewhere.
NELSON, Thomas, merchant, b. in Penrith,
Scotland, 20 Feb., 1677; d. in Yorktown, Va., 7
Oct., 1745. He emigrated to this country about
1690, settled in Virginia, and founded the "town of
York, where he built the first custom-house in the
colonies, one of the earliest brick buildings in the
state. His dwelling was well known as the " Nel-
son House." The bricks and ornamentations were
brought from England. The house shown in the
engraving was built near the site of the original
house, by William Nelson, in 1740. This building,
which is still (1888) in the family, is in excellent
preservation, as is his tomb, an elaborately carved
VOL. IV. — 32
marble mausoleum, covered with heraldic designs.
He accumulated a large fortune in merchandise,
and left sev-
eral sons, of
whom Thom-
as was at the
head of the
moderate par-
ty, and re-
ceived forty-
five votes in
the conven-
tion for Vir-
ginia's first
governor, but
was defeat-
ed by Patrick
Heniy. He
was chosen to
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the privy council, and for thirty years was its secretary. When the Revolution began he retired from public life, being too old to engage in the struggle. His house at Yorktown was Cornwal- lis's headquarters, but was subsequently destroyed by the Americans during the bombardment of the town. — Another son, William, governor of Vir- ginia, b. in Yorktown, Va., in 1711; d. there, 19 Nov., 1772, added to his inherited property by the accumulation of many years of successful mercan- tile ventures, purchased large landed estates, and became a great proprietor. He was a member of the executive council, subsequently president of that body, and in the interval that elapsed between the administration of Lord Botetourt and Lord Dun- more filled the office of governor. He also pre- sided over the general or supreme court of law and equity for the province, and was one of the ablest judges of his time. His manner of living is shown by his remark in a letter to a friend, that he had just bought Lord Baltimore's six white coach- horses, and meant to give his own six black ones a run in Hanover meadows. — William's son, Thomas, signer of the Declaration of Independence, b. in Yorktown, Va., 26 Dec, 1738 ; d. in Hanover county, Va., 4 Jan., 1789, was sent to Eton at fourteen years of age, and subsequently to Cambridge, where he was gradu- ated. He returned to the United States in 1761, and on his home- ward voyage was elect- ed to the house of bur- gesses. About a year afterward he married Lucy, daughter of Col. Philip Grymes, of Mid- dlesex county, and in- herited a large landed estate and £30,000, and dispensed a wide hospi- tality. He was a dele-
gate in 1774 to the
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house of burgesses, over which Peyton Randolph presided, and when that body was dissolved by Lord Dunmore, because it had passed I'esolutions against the Boston port bill, was one of the eighty- nine members that declared against the unwarrant- ed invasion of their rights, and recommended the appointment of deputies to meet in a general con- gress. He was returned to the next house of bur- gesses, was a member of the first general conven- tion, which met in Williamsburg, 1 Aug., 1774, and of that of March, 1775, when he earnestly ad- vocated the organization of a military force in the
