Hugh Nelson (1768–1836), attorney and public official, was the son of Virginia governor Thomas Nelson, of Yorktown. He graduated from the College of William and Mary in 1790, moved to Albemarle County, married John Walker’s daughter, and thereby acquired Belvoir after Walker’s death. Nelson represented Albemarle County in the House of Delegates, 1805–09, the last two sessions as speaker, and he sat on Virginia’s General Court, 1809–11. He exchanged political views and local news regularly with TJ while representing his congressional district in the United States House of Representatives, 1811–23. Nelson resigned that seat to become minister plenipotentiary to Spain, 1823–25, and concluded his public service with a final term in the House of Delegates, 1828–29 (ANB description begins John A. Garraty and Mark C. Carnes, eds., American National Biography, 1999, 24 vols. description ends ; DAB description begins Allen Johnson and Dumas Malone, eds., Dictionary of American Biography, 1928–36, 20 vols. description ends ; Norfleet, Saint-Mémin description begins Fillmore Norfleet, Saint-Mémin in Virginia: Portraits and Biographies, 1942 description ends , 193–4; Lay, Architecture description begins K. Edward Lay, The Architecture of Jefferson Country: Charlottesville and Albemarle County, Virginia, 2000 description ends , 304n; JEP description begins Journal of the Executive Proceedings of the Senate of the United States description ends , 3:320, 324 [13, 15 Jan. 1823]; Lynchburg Virginian, 28 Mar. 1836).