Nelson Jarvis Waterbury (July 9, 1819 – April 22, 1894) was an American lawyer and politician from New York.

[1] He married Nancy D. M. Gibson (d. 1897), and they had three daughters and a son—Nelson J. Waterbury Jr.—who became his father's law partner in 1884.

[2] He was New York County District Attorney from 1859 to 1861, elected on the Democratic ticket in November 1858, but defeated for re-election in 1861 by Republican A. Oakey Hall.

[2] After Tweed's fall, Waterbury returned to Tammany Hall, but left again in 1875 disagreeing with John Kelly.

Waterbury returned to Tammany Hall in 1890, being an admirer of Richard Croker and Mayor Thomas F. Gilroy.