Edwin Maxwell (attorney general)
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Honorable Edwin Maxwell |
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Maxwell photographed in his later life
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| 3rd Attorney General of West Virginia | |
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In office January 1, 1866 – December 31, 1866 |
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| Governor | Arthur I. Boreman |
| Preceded by | Ephraim B. Hall |
| Succeeded by | Thayer Melvin |
| Justice of the Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia | |
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In office January 1, 1867 – December 31, 1872 |
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| Preceded by | Ralph Lazier Berkshire |
| Succeeded by | Charles Page Thomas Moore |
| Member of the West Virginia House of Delegates from Harrison County | |
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In office 1893–1895 Serving with Henry Wickenhoover |
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| Preceded by | Charles W. Lynch George F. Randal |
| Succeeded by | Jeremiah W. Hess Harvey M. Harmer |
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In office 1903–1903 Serving with Jasper S. Kyle |
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| Preceded by | Lloyd Washburn D. M. Willis |
| Succeeded by | Haymond Maxwell M. C. Jarrett |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
July 16, 1825 Weston, Virginia (now West Virginia), United States |
| Died | February 5, 1903 (aged 77) Charleston, West Virginia, United States |
| Political party | Republican |
| Spouse(s) | Loretta M. Shuttleworth |
| Relations |
Hu Maxwell (nephew) Lewis Maxwell (uncle) |
| Children | Edwin Maxwell, Jr. Haymond Maxwell |
| Parents | Levi Maxwell (father) Sarah Haymond Maxwell (mother) |
| Occupation | lawyer, judge, and politician |
| Signature |  |
Edwin Maxwell (July 16, 1825 – February 5, 1903) was an American lawyer, judge, and politician in the U.S. state of West Virginia. Maxwell served as Attorney General of West Virginia in 1866 and was an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia from 1867 until 1872. He was elected to the West Virginia Senate (1863–1866; 1886–1893) and the West Virginia House of Delegates (1893–1895; 1903).
Maxwell was born in 1825 in Weston, Virginia (present-day West Virginia) and raised on a farm until the age of 21. Despite his father's plans for him to become a carpenter, Maxwell studied jurisprudence under his uncle Lewis Maxwell, a U.S. Representative. Maxwell was admitted to the bar in 1848, and relocated to West Union, where he served two terms as the Commonwealth's attorney for Doddridge County. In 1857, Maxwell moved to Clarksburg and established a law partnership with Burton Despard, which was later joined by Nathan Goff, Jr.
He was resolute in his support of the Union during the American Civil War and of the statehood movement for West Virginia. Following the state's creation in 1863, Maxwell began his political career when he was elected to serve in the inaugural session of the West Virginia Senate. He also served as chairman of the Judiciary Committee. In 1865, Maxwell chaired a senate committee that proposed a state constitutional amendment known as the "Maxwell amendment" which aimed to remove citizenship rights from former Confederates returning to West Virginia. Governor Arthur I. Boreman appointed Maxwell as the Attorney General of West Virginia in 1866. In the fall of 1866, Maxwell was elected as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia, on which he served until 1872. He ran unsuccessfully for re-election to the bench in 1880, and was an unsuccessful Greenback-Labor Party gubernatorial candidate in 1884. During his gubernatorial campaign, he was known by the moniker "Old Honesty."
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