Notes for: Edwin Maxwell

Although he was never able to attend a college of any kind, Edwin Maxwell pursued the study of law under the direction of a friend who was a practicing attorney. He passed the bar exam and was admitted to the bar at West Union, Doddridge County, in 1848. He served two terms as prosecuting attorney of Doddridge County, and in 1857 began practicing law in Clarksburg. He became a member of the well-known law firm of Despard, Maxwell & Goff. He was chairman of the judiciary committee in the First State Senate of West Virginia in 1863, and in 1866 was appointed Attorney General by Governor Boreman. He was judge of the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals from 1867 to 1873, and in 1884 was the Republican Party's candidate for governor, unsuccessful in the Democratic landslide that year. In 1888 he was elected to the State Senate, serving two terms, and was later elected to the State House of Delegates, where he was serving at the time of his death.