Honorable Thayer Melvin | |
|---|---|
 Photographic portrait of Thayer Melvin in his later years. | |
| 4th Attorney General of West Virginia | |
| In office January 1, 1867 – July 1, 1869 | |
| Governor | Arthur I. Boreman |
| Preceded by | Edwin Maxwell |
| Succeeded by | Aquilla B. Caldwell |
| Circuit Judge for the First Judicial District | |
| In office June 26, 1869 – November 19, 1881 | |
| Preceded by | Elbert H. Caldwell |
| Succeeded by | John Jeremiah Jacob |
| In office 1899 – November 9, 1906 | |
| Preceded by | Joseph R. Paull |
| Succeeded by | Frank W. Nesbitt |
| Personal details | |
| Born | November 15, 1835 Fairview, Brooke County, Virginia (now known as New Manchester in Hancock County, West Virginia) |
| Died | November 9, 1906 (aged 70) Wheeling City Hospital, Ward 5, Wheeling, West Virginia |
| Resting place | United Methodist Cemetery, New Manchester, West Virginia |
| Political party | Whig Party (pre-Civil War) Republican Party (post-Civil War) |
| Parent(s) | James Melvin (father) Philenia Thayer Melvin (mother) |
| Profession | lawyer, politician, and judge |
| Awards | Brevet |
| Military service | |
| Allegiance | Union |
| Branch/service |  United States ArmyUnion Army |
| Years of service | 1861–1865 |
| Rank | Captain Adjutant General of the Department of West Virginia Brevet Colonel |
| Unit | Company F, 1st West Virginia Volunteer Infantry Regiment Department of West Virginia |
| Battles/wars | American Civil War |
Thayer Melvin (November 15, 1835 – November 9, 1906) 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 (1869–1881 and 1899–1906).
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 to which he was twice reelected in 1856 and 1860.
In May 1861, Melvin served as a 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. In 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 partisans, 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 elected 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, resigning in 1881 to practice law in Wheeling. In 1899, Melvin was reappointed to his First Judicial District circuit judge seat and served on the bench until his death from a stroke in 1906.