Amos Madden Thayer

Amos Madden Thayer (October 10, 1841 – April 24, 1905) was a United States federal judge.

Thayer was born in Mina, New York. He graduated from Hamilton College in 1862 and then joined the United States Army, serving as a major from 1862 to 1865. He read law in 1868 and went into private practice in the Montana Territory, then in St. Louis, Missouri. He became a judge to the Circuit Court of Missouri in 1876, and remained on that court for over a decade.

On February 21, 1887, President Grover Cleveland nominated Thayer to the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri, to a seat vacated by Samuel Treat. He was confirmed by the United States Senate on February 26, 1887, and received his commission the same day. He also took a position as a professor at Washington University in 1890. Then on August 6, 1894, President Cleveland nominated Thayer to the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit, to a new seat created by 28 Stat. 115. He was confirmed by the United States Senate on August 9, and received his commission the same day. Thayer remained on that court until his death in 1905 in St. Louis.

Justice Thayer was a veteran companion of the Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States and an hereditary companion of the Military Order of Foreign Wars.

Sources

• Amos Madden Thayer at the Biographical Directory of Federal Judges, a public domain publication of the Federal Judicial Center.