FOREWORD
BY
THE AUTHOR

This book needed to be written. There exists nowhere else a history of our branch of the Melville family. To be sure, you will find records of other Melvilles such as Melville, the explorer; Emilie Melville, the actress; Herman Melville, author of "Moby Dick" and many others who have achieved fame. That our own family line is missing from such illustrious company is no disgrace; we have much to be proud of. The one thing that has most impressed me in preparing this volume is the high caliber of the Melville men and women---their integrity, their love of God and their fellow ~ and the esteem in which they have been held by others. These are qualities of great worth.

This book had to be written for the same reason that other genealogies are written: to collect knowledge, now extant, that must be inevitably lost through the mere passage of time, and to preserve it in the form of a written record for future generations. Time blurs events; memory fades; :i.~ecords are lost or destroyed. There remain many lesser, though compelling reasons for compiling such a book, not the least of which, is to clarify relationships, dates, and events. A genealogy provides an easy way of determining family facts; it is a veritable almanac of family affairs and an invaluable argument settler. Likewise it is a foundation for future historians. To facilitate the use of this book as a reference work, a Chart- Index has been provided, permitting one to quickly understand the relationship of one individual with another. The page number at the right provides a ready reference. As in all families, given names are frequently repeated. We find many James's, many Johns, and many Elizabeths, making it difficult to know just which one is referred to. To resolve this dilemma a system of numbering has been devised which is quite simple once it is understood. The first Melville is assigned the number "1". His children are then given numbers in the order of their birth. (If the exact order is not known, the numbers are assigned arbitrarily). Thus "11" represents the first child of the first progenitor, "12" his second child, etc. "121" represents the first child of the previously mentioned second son, and so on. A few minutes devoted to the study of the Chart-Index should make the system quite clear.

A roster of all living family members has been provided for easy reference together with their addresses. All members of a single household are listed together under one address; the names appearing below the address line indicate that these persons are unmarried children, usually minors; should another adult be a part of the same household an explanatory word in parentheses is added, such as (mother) or (uncle). Married children have their own household listing. An asterisk indicates either a divorced or widowed person. There is no bibliography because no literature on our particular family line exists. The source of the data shown herein comes primarily from two classes of records, public and private; the former includes such documents as wills, decrees, marriage licenses, cemetery records and tombstone inscriptions. Most of the data presented, however, comes from private sources which comprise such material as letters, memoirs, wedding and baby books, photographs, and the memory and recollections of individuals. Newspaper files and clippings have been a rich source of information but their accuracy is sometimes questionable. Biographical sketches of living people were in most cases supplied by the person concerned; biographical data of the deceased were collected from various sources and synthesized by the author. As far as possible collateral material is placed adjacent to the. person concerned and the source of all quoted data is indicated.