Senator John Mellen Thurston

John Mellen Thurston (August 21, 1847 – August 9, 1916) was a United States Senator from Nebraska who served one term in the U.S. Senate from 1895 to 1901 as a member of the Republican Party. His service in Congress occurred during a significant period in American history, and as a senator he participated in the legislative process and represented the interests of his Nebraska constituents while contributing to national debates at the close of the nineteenth century.

Thurston was born in Montpelier, Vermont, on August 21, 1847, the son of Daniel Sylvester Thurston and Ruth (née Mellen). In 1854 he moved with his parents to Madison, Wisconsin, and two years later the family settled in Beaver Dam, Wisconsin. He attended the public schools there and pursued higher education at Wayland University in Beaver Dam, where he studied law. After completing his legal studies, he was admitted to the bar in 1869 and that same year moved to Omaha, Nebraska, where he commenced the practice of law, marking the beginning of a long professional and political career closely tied to the development of Nebraska.

Thurston quickly became active in local affairs in Omaha. He served as a city councilman from 1872 to 1874 and as the city attorney of Omaha from 1874 to 1877. At the state level, he was elected to the Nebraska House of Representatives, serving from 1875 to 1877. These early positions established his reputation as a capable lawyer and public servant within the Republican Party. In his personal life, Thurston married Martha L. Poland (1849–1898) in 1872. After her death in 1898, he married Leodora “Lola” Purman in 1899.

In addition to his public offices, Thurston built a prominent legal and corporate career. He was appointed assistant attorney of the Union Pacific Railroad in 1877, a position that placed him at the center of one of the most influential transportation enterprises in the region. In 1888 he was promoted to general solicitor of the railroad, underscoring his stature as a leading railroad attorney in the West. He also participated in national politics as a presidential elector on the Republican ticket in 1880. Between 1885 and 1890, his prominence in Omaha society was reflected in the commissioning of his portrait by artist Herbert A. Collins.

Thurston first sought a seat in the United States Senate in 1893 as a Republican candidate but was unsuccessful. He was elected two years later and served as a Republican senator from Nebraska from March 4, 1895, to March 3, 1901. During his single term in office, he contributed to the legislative process at a time of rapid economic and political change in the United States. In the Fifty-sixth Congress he served as chairman of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, a role that placed him at the center of federal policy discussions concerning Native American lands and governance. He chose not to be a candidate for reelection in 1901, thereby concluding his formal congressional service after one term.

After leaving the Senate, Thurston continued to hold positions of national responsibility and to practice law. In 1901 he was appointed United States commissioner to the St. Louis Exposition, reflecting his continued standing in Republican and national circles. He moved to Washington, D.C., where he resumed the practice of law and remained engaged in legal work for several years. In 1915 he returned to Omaha and joined Edwin T. Morrison and Joseph Crow in forming the law firm of Thurston, Crow & Morrison, resuming an active legal practice in the city where his career had begun.

Thurston practiced law in Omaha until his death there from heat prostration on August 9, 1916. His remains were cremated at Forest Lawn Cemetery in Omaha, and his ashes were interred in the Congressional Cemetery in Washington, D.C., symbolically linking his final resting place to the national legislature in which he had served. His legacy in Nebraska is commemorated in the naming of Thurston County, Nebraska, in his honor, reflecting the lasting impact of his legal, political, and congressional career on the state and its history.