Melvin C. Snyder

Melvin Claude Snyder was an attorney and a Republican politician who served as a United States Representative from West Virginia. He was born in Albright, Preston County, West Virginia on October 29, 1898. He was a member of the Eightieth Congress. He died August 5, 1972.

He attended the public schools. During the First World War, he enlisted in the United States Army and served as a private in 1918. In 1923 he graduated from the West Virginia University Law School at Morgantown, West Virginia and was admitted to the bar the same year. He began his legal practice in Kingwood, West Virginia. He became the mayor of Kingwood in 1926. He served as prosecuting attorney for Preston County from 1929 to 1944.

He returned to the United States Army and served from January 6, 1941 until his discharge as a colonel on January 30, 1946. He then served as the director of Surplus Property for Division of Territories and Island Possessions, Department of Interior. In 1946 he was elected to the House as a Republican. His subsequent election campaigns were unsuccessful in 1948 and 1950.

After leaving the House, he served as a judge, eighteenth judicial circuit court, West Virginia from January 1, 1953 to October 1, 1971. He was a member of the West Virginia Judicial Council and was a president of the West Virginia Judicial Association. He died in Kingwood August 5, 1972 and was buried in Maplewood Cemetery.