... [Jacob Hall, M.D.] apologizes for not having previously sent a letter by "Parson Hall — but as we live some distance apart he could not get it before he entered on his Journey." It seems probable that Jacob Hall secured this position as tutor in Nelson's family through "Parson Hall" who is the Rev. Thomas Hall, the son of Jacob Hall's uncle John Hall of Philadelphia.
The Rev. Thomas Hall was a most interesting character. He took the degree of Bachelor of Arts at the University of Pennsylvania in 1770. He appears to have taken orders in England and to have returned to America in 1774, just before the Revolution to take charge of a parish in Virginia thought to have been Lower Brandon. Before the close of the Revolution he left Virginia as the tutor to a young Virginian of position to travel abroad. He was accused of Tory sympathies, which he denied, but he never returned to America. Afterwards he became chaplain to the British colony at Leghorn and remained there until his death. His letters describing conditions in Italy during the Napoleonic wars are most interesting and are well worthy of publication. He was a well known art collector and dilettante. The Rev. Thomas Hall had a large acquaintance in Virginia and it seems more than probable that Dr. Jacob Hall became a tutor in Nelson's family through his cousin the parson. ...
