John Mellen Thurston

John Mellen Thurston
United States Senator from Nebraska
In office March 4, 1895 – March 4, 1901
Preceded by	Charles F. Manderson
Succeeded by	Joseph Millard
Personal details
Born	(1847-08-21)August 21, 1847 Montpelier, Vermont
Died	August 9, 1916(1916-08-09) (aged 68) Omaha, Nebraska
Political party	Republican

John Mellen Thurston (August 21, 1847 – August 9, 1916) was a United States Senator from Nebraska.

Thurston was born in Montpelier, Vermont. He moved with his parents to Madison, Wisconsin, in 1854 and two years later to Beaver Dam, Wisconsin. He attended the public schools and graduated from Wayland University in Beaver Dam, where he studied law. Thurston was admitted to the bar in 1869 and commenced practice in Omaha, Nebraska. He was a city councilman 1872–1874 and the city attorney of Omaha 1874–1877. Thurston then served in the Nebraska House of Representatives 1875–1877.

He was appointed assistant attorney of the Union Pacific Railroad in 1877 and general solicitor in 1888. He was a presidential elector on the Republican ticket in 1880. In 1893, Thurston was an unsuccessful Republican candidate for United States Senator; he was elected as a Republican to the United States Senate two years later and served from March 4, 1895, to March 4, 1901. During his term, Thurston served as the chairman of the U.S. Senate Committee on Indian Affairs (Fifty-sixth Congress). He was not a candidate for reelection in 1901. He was appointed as the United States commissioner to the St. Louis Exposition in 1901. He moved to Washington, D.C., and resumed the practice of law; then in 1915, Thurston returned to Omaha and joined Edwin T. Morrison and Joseph Crow in the law firm of Thurston, Crow & Morrison. He practiced law in Omaha until his death on August 9, 1916. His remains were cremated at Forest Lawn Cemetery in Omaha and the ashes were interred in the Congressional Cemetery, Washington, D.C.

Between 1885 and 1890, his portrait was painted in Omaha by artist Herbert A. Collins.^[1]

Thurston County, Nebraska is named after him.

References

• John Mellen Thurston at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
• John Mellen Thurston papers at the Nebraska State Historical Society

References

United States Senators from Nebraska Class 1 Tipton Paddock Van Wyck Paddock Allen Hayward Allen Dietrich Burkett G. Hitchcock Howell Thompson Hunter Burke Butler Reynolds Hruska Zorinsky Karnes Kerrey Nelson Fischer Class 2 Thayer P. Hitchcock Saunders Manderson Thurston Millard Brown Norris Wherry Seaton Griswold Bowring Abel Curtis Exon Hagel Johanns Sasse

Chairmen of the United States Senate Committee on Indian Affairs Full Committee (1820–1947) Holmes Johnson Benton H. White Troup H. White Sevier Morehead A. White Sevier Bagby Atchison Sebastian Doolittle Henderson Harlan Buckingham Allison Coke Dawes Jones Pettigrew Thurston Stewart Clapp Gamble Stone Ashurst Curtis Spencer Harreld Frazier Wheeler Thomas O'Mahoney Select Committee (1977–1993) Abourezk Melcher Cohen Andrews Inouye Full Committee (1993–) Inouye McCain Campbell Inouye Campbell Inouye Campbell McCain Dorgan Akaka Cantwell Tester Barrasso