43 Facts About Thayer Melvin

Thayer Melvin was an American lawyer, politician, and judge in the US state of West Virginia.

Thayer Melvin was born in 1835 in present-day New Manchester, West Virginia.

Thayer Melvin was educated in local common schools and began studying law at the age of 17.

In 1853, at the age of 18, Thayer Melvin became a member of the Hancock County bar.

In May 1861, Thayer Melvin served as a delegate to the First Wheeling Convention.

Thayer Melvin was later commissioned as Adjutant general of Volunteers on the staff of Brigadier General Benjamin Franklin Kelley in the Department of West Virginia.

On February 21,1865, Thayer Melvin was captured in Cumberland, Maryland, along with General Kelley and Major General George Crook, by the Confederate partisans, McNeill's Rangers.

In 1865, Thayer Melvin was elected prosecuting attorney of Hardy County and was elected as the prosecuting attorney for Hancock County the following year.

Thayer Melvin was elected West Virginia's Attorney General in 1866 and served in the post until 1869 when he was appointed to the circuit judgeship of West Virginia's First Judicial District.

Thayer Melvin was twice reelected to his circuit judge position, resigning in 1881 to practice law in Wheeling.

In 1899, Thayer Melvin was reappointed to his First Judicial District circuit judge seat and served on the bench until his death from a stroke in 1906.

Thayer Melvin was born on November 15,1835, in Fairview, Virginia.

Thayer Melvin received his early education in the common primary and secondary schools in Hancock and other neighboring counties.

Thayer Melvin commenced his studies in jurisprudence at the age of 17 in New Manchester, which was then the county seat of Hancock, and received his law books and instruction from the town's lawyers.

Thayer Melvin then relocated to New Lisbon, Ohio, for a year to further his law studies under the instruction of a friend.

In 1855, Thayer Melvin was elected as the Commonwealth's attorney of Hancock County, despite the fact that he was under the required minimum age of 21 to hold public office.

Thayer Melvin was twice reelected for full terms to the position in 1856 and 1860.

Thayer Melvin continued to serve as Hancock County's prosecuting attorney notwithstanding his relocation to Wheeling in 1857.

In May 1861, Thayer Melvin served as a delegate from Hancock County to the First Wheeling Convention.

Thayer Melvin served first as an orderly sergeant and then as a first lieutenant of his company.

Thayer Melvin then served on the staff of General Philip Sheridan during the Shenandoah Valley Campaigns of 1864.

Thayer Melvin served as an adjutant and chief of staff to Kelley while he was in command of the garrison guarding the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad in Cumberland, Maryland, which was then the headquarters of the Department of West Virginia military district.

An article published in Richmond's Enquirer newspaper claimed that Thayer Melvin had been caught in bed with "a blushing bride" by McNeill's men during his capture; however, Wheeling's Daily Intelligencer newspaper reminded its readers that the story was baseless, as Thayer Melvin was unmarried.

Thayer Melvin became a Republican following the war and remained affiliated with the party until his death although he was never a strong partisan.

In 1866, Thayer Melvin was nominated as the Republican candidate for Attorney General of West Virginia, and he won his election to the position with 23,509 votes, receiving the highest number of votes cast for an attorney in West Virginia's brief three-year history.

On January 1,1867, Thayer Melvin began his one-year tenure as attorney general; he was renominated on June 4,1868, at the West Virginia Republican Convention and reelected to the position in fall 1868.

Thayer Melvin served in the office until his resignation on July 1,1869.

Thayer Melvin resigned his post as attorney general to accept an appointment to a circuit judgeship of the First Judicial District of West Virginia which comprised Brooke, Hancock, Marshall, and Ohio counties.

Thayer Melvin had been appointed to the judgeship by West Virginia Governor William E Stevenson to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Elbert H Caldwell.

In 1873, Thayer Melvin refused to transfer the case of Taylor Strauder, a black man, to a federal court following his indictment by an all-white Ohio County grand jury for the murder of his wife.

On October 12,1880, Thayer Melvin was reelected with 7,730 votes alongside a second judge to serve the First Judicial District, and he commenced his new term on January 1,1881.

Thayer Melvin resigned his circuit judgeship on November 19,1881, after tiring of the "wool sack", which is what he called his judicial court dress.

On June 3,1900, Thayer Melvin granted an injunction that prevented the Wheeling Stogies baseball team from playing Sunday games in Wheeling.

Thayer Melvin's injunction, the violation of which was a fine of $2,000, followed.

Thayer Melvin served the remainder of Paull's unexpired term, and was nominated by both Democratic and Republican parties and reelected for another eight-year term without opposition in November 1900.

Thayer Melvin served out his term until October 31,1906, when he suffered a stroke while holding a session of the circuit court in Wellsburg.

Thayer Melvin died at 16:00 on November 9,1906, at the hospital as a result of apoplexy.

Thayer Melvin was interred next to his father and mother in his family's graveyard at United Methodist Cemetery in his hometown of Fairview in Hancock County.

Thayer Melvin was a member of the Wheeling Shakespeare Club and was active in several Union veterans' organizations and reunions.

In October 1871, Thayer Melvin delivered an address to welcome the soldiers and attendees of the Army of West Virginia Soldiers' Reunion in Wheeling.

Thayer Melvin was later a member of the Society of the Army of West Virginia, later known as the Army of West Virginia Association.

In 1883, and again on September 9,1897, Thayer Melvin was elected a vice president of the organization.

Thayer Melvin was a member of the 1st West Virginia Association, of which he was elected president on September 6,1894.