serviceyears branch death_date allegiance birth_date alt term_end restingplace death_place imagesize profession battles term_start rank image name caption predecessor birth_place unit party awards office parents governor successor article_title
1861 -- 1865 usa union army november 9 , 1906 november 15 , 1835 union november 15 , 1835 a in his later years . black and white photographic portrait of thayer melvin july 9 , 1906 1 , 1869 november 19 , 1881 november united methodist cemetery , new manchester , west virginia wheeling west virginia city hospital , ward 5 , wheeling , 200px lawyer , politician , and judge american civil war january 1 , 1867 june 26 , 1869 1899 captain brevet colonel adjutant general of the department of west virginia thayer melvin.png thayer melvin photographic . portrait of thayer melvin in his later years edwin maxwell elbert h. caldwell joseph r. paull fairview as new manchester in hancock county , west virginia -rrb- , brooke county , virginia -lrb- now known company department of west virginia f , 1st west virginia volunteer infantry regiment whig post-civil war -rrb- party -lrb- pre-civil war -rrb- republican party -lrb- brevet 4th the first judicial district attorney general of west virginia circuit judge for james mother -rrb- melvin -lrb- father -rrb- philenia thayer melvin -lrb- arthur i. boreman aquilla b. caldwell john jeremiah jacob frank w. nesbitt thayer melvin

thayer melvin

thayer melvin -lrb- november 15 , 1835 -- november 9 , 1906 -rrb- was an american lawyer , politician , and judge in the u.s. state of west virginia .
melvin served as the fourth attorney general of west virginia from january 1 , 1867 until july 1 , 1869 ; and twice served as the presiding circuit judge of west virginia 's first judicial district in the state 's northern panhandle -lrb- 1869 -- 1881 and 1899 -- 1906 -rrb- .
melvin was born in 1835 in present-day new manchester , west virginia .
he was educated in local common schools and began studying law at the age of 17 .
in 1853 , at the age of 18 , melvin became a member of the hancock county bar .
by the age of 20 , he was elected as the hancock county commonwealth 's attorney , a post he was twice reelected to in 1856 and 1860 .
in may 1861 , melvin served as an accredited delegate to the first wheeling convention .
at the start of the american civil war , melvin enlisted as a private in company f of the 1st west virginia volunteer infantry regiment of the union army .
by august of that year , he organized a company of men in hancock county .
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 , melvin was captured in cumberland , maryland , along with general kelley and major general george crook , by the confederate partisan mcneill 's rangers .
melvin , kelley , and crook were taken to richmond where they were exchanged for confederate general isaac r. trimble .
in 1865 , melvin was elected prosecuting attorney of hardy county and was reelected as the prosecuting attorney for hancock county the following year .
he 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 .
melvin was twice reelected to his circuit judge position , and resigned in 1881 to practice law in wheeling .
in 1899 , melvin was appointed to his first judicial district circuit judge seat and served on the bench until his death resettling from a stroke in 1906 .
