Thomas Melvill (American patriot)

Thomas Melvill
Portrait of Melville, ca. 1820s
Member of the Massachusetts State Legislature
In office
1832
Personal details
Born(1751-01-16)January 16, 1751
Boston, Massachusetts
DiedSeptember 16, 1832(1832-09-16) (aged 81)
Boston, Massachusetts
Resting placeKing's Chapel Burying Ground
Spouse
Pricilla Scollay
​
​
(m. 1774)​
RelationsHerman Melville (grandson)
Children11
Parent(s)Allan Melvill
Jean Cargill
Alma materCollege of New Jersey

Thomas Melvill or Thomas Melville (January 16, 1751 – September 16, 1832) was a merchant, member of the Sons of Liberty, participant in the Boston Tea Party, a major in the American Revolutionary War, a longtime fireman in the Boston Fire Department, state legislator, and paternal grandfather of writer Herman Melville.[1]

Life and work

Melvill was born on January 16, 1751, in Boston, Massachusetts, to Scottish-born merchant Allan Melvill (1728-1761) and Jean Cargill (ca. 1730-1759).[2][3] His paternal grandfather, Thomas Melvill was minister of Scoonie, Fifeshire, Scotland.[4]

Melvill was orphaned at the age of 10 and was raised by his maternal grandmother, Mrs. Mary Cargill, a relative of the eccentric Dr. John Abernethy.[4] He intended to become a minister, and attended the College of New Jersey (now Princeton University), from which he graduated in 1769.[5] In July 1773, he was awarded an honorary Master of Arts degree by Harvard College.[6]

Melvill was a close friend of Samuel Adams.[7]

Career

"When the citizens of Boston began to evince a determination to resist the arbitrary, offensive and onerous exactions of the British government, Melvill was conspicuous among the ardent and gallant young men of the capital, for his zeal and intrepidity, during that momentous advent of ... national independence."[8]

Melvill participated in the Boston Tea Party, "that immortal band which in December, 1773, in presence of the Royal fleet, boarded the tea ships in Boston harbor, and threw their rich cargoes into the ocean."[8] In March 1776, when "the British fleet was driven from Boston harbor, Captain Melvill discharged the first guns at the hostile ships, from his battery, at Nantasket."[7] During the war he "served in the Rhode Island campaigns of 1777 and 1779."[9]

Thomas Melville house, Green Street, Boston, 1832[10]

Post Revolutionary War

After the war, he worked as a naval officer (1786–1820)[7][11] and surveyor (ca. 1796) of the Port of Boston at the Boston Custom House on State Street.[12] (Customs houses were administered by three political appointees: the collector, naval officer, and surveyor. They supervised a staff that received cargo manifests from incoming ships, inspected cargoes, assessed and collected customs duties for remittance to the United States Department of the Treasury, and fined those who tried to evade paying duties. The collector, naval officer, and surveyor were paid a portion of the duties and fines they collected, making them lucrative and sought-after positions.)[13][14]

"When the custom house was established in Boston, in 1786, he was appointed surveyor; in 1789 was made inspector, and ... in 1814, he was appointed naval officer of the port."[1] He served as a town fireward (1779–1825);,[10][14] and for twenty-five years was chairman of the board;[15] an incorporator of Boston's Scots Charitable Society (1786);[16][17] a founder of the Massachusetts General Hospital (est.1811);[18] and president of the Massachusetts Charitable Society (ca.1825-1826);[19] "He was in the state legislature in 1832."[1] Melvill lived in Boston's West End "in an old wooden house on the south side of Green Street, between Staniford Street and Bowdoin Square. ... It was a wooden house of two stories."[20]

In 1830, Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr. published a poem entitled "The Last Leaf", which was inspired in part by Melvill, "the last of the cocked hats."[4] Holmes would later write that Melvill had reminded him of "a withered leaf which has held to its stem through the storms of autumn and winter, and finds itself still clinging to its bough while the new growths of spring are bursting their buds and spreading their foliage all around it."[21]

Death

When Major Melvill retired from the fire department, the Columbian Centinel for 31 October 1832 wrote, "his associates presented him with a Silver Pitcher, as a token of personal respect, and a public testimonial of his faithful services." In addition, the younger firemen named an engine for him. When a fire broke out at noon on 7 September 1832, in a brick building on Green Street, opposite the Melvill house, the eighty-one-year-old major responded in character. He was active by "furnishing the firemen with refreshments, having an open house to all of them," wrote the Firemen's Advocate. But in the events he "took a violent cold, which terminated in the diarrhea; and owing to his advanced age, and the violence of the disorder, medicine had no effect in checking its progress."[15] The major died on Sunday evening, 16 September. One of the city's most prominent and colorful citizens, he was mourned and eulogized for weeks. Firemen paid him a meaningful tribute, the Boston Evening Gazette reported on 22 September. "The members of the 'Melville Fire Association,' attached to the Melville Engine, No. 13, met at their Engine House - attended the funeral - and voted to wear the usual badge of mourning for thirty days."[15][22]

Personal life

Portrait of Priscilla Scollay Melvill, wife of Thomas Melvill, by Francis Alexander, 1820s

In 1774, Melvill married Priscilla Scollay (1755–1833), the daughter of prominent Boston merchant John Scollay, and sister of William Scollay (1756–1809), a developer and militia officer.[4] Together, Thomas and Priscilla were the parents of 11 children, including:[23]

  • Thomas Melvill (1776–1845), who married Françoise Raymonde Eulogie Marie des Douleurs Lamé-Fleury (1781–1814) in 1802.[23] After her death, he married Mary Anna Augusta Hobart (1796–1884), a widow, in 1815.[23]
  • Mary Melvill (1778–1859), who married John De Wolf (1779–1872),[24] a brother of U.S. Senator James De Wolf.[25]
  • Nancy Wroe Melvill (1780–1813)[24]
  • Allan Melville (1782–1832), who married Maria Gansevoort (1791–1872), the daughter of Gen. Peter Gansevoort, in 1814.
  • Priscilla Melvill (1784–1862),[24] who did not marry.[23]

Portrait

Melvill's portrait was painted by Francis Alexander in the 1780s. It is now in the collection of the Bostonian Society, along with a portrait attributed to Benjamin Blyth,[26] and the tricorn hat "said to have been worn by Major Melvill at the Boston Massacre."[27]

References

  1. ^ a b c James Terry White (1901), The National Cyclopaedia of American Biography, J.T. White, OCLC 17692533, OL 20470915M
  2. ^ Copy of the Merchants Petition to the Council March 25th 1760. Boston Evening Post.; Date: 04-07-1760
  3. ^ Boston Gazette, Jan. 26, 1761
  4. ^ a b c d The National Cyclopedia of American Biography Being The History of the United States | As illustrated in the lives of the founders, builders, and defenders of the republic, and of the men and women who are doing the work and moulding the thought of the present time. | Vol. XI. New York: James T. White & Company. 1901. Retrieved 6 September 2017.
  5. ^ Hershel Parker, Herman Melville: A Biography. Volume One, 1819-1852, Johns Hopkins University Press, 2.
  6. ^ Boston News-Letter.; Date: 07-22-1773
  7. ^ a b c Francis S. Drake (1884), Tea Leaves: Being a Collection of Letters and Documents Relating to the Shipment of Tea to the shipment of tea to the American colonies in the year 1773, A. O. Crane, ISBN 9781404726918, OCLC 57263320, OL 20506417M
  8. ^ a b Obituary notice of Major Thomas Melvill. Farmers' Cabinet, 10-05-1832
  9. ^ Drake. 1884
  10. ^ a b Boston Directory. 1823
  11. ^ Boston Directory. 1789, 1823
  12. ^ "Rare Documents and Historic Newspapers". walkingboston.com. Walking Boston. Retrieved 6 September 2017.
  13. ^ Boston Directory. 1796
  14. ^ a b Fleet's Register and Pocket Almanack. Boston: T. & J. Fleet, 1800.
  15. ^ a b c Parker (1996), 76
  16. ^ An act for incorporating certain persons by the name of the Scots Charitable Society. 1785. Acts and laws of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. 1785
  17. ^ "Scots' Charitable Society of Boston website". Retrieved 6 July 2010.
  18. ^ An act to incorporate certain persons by the name of the Massachusetts General Hospital. 1811. Laws of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, from February 28, 1807, to February 27, 1813.
  19. ^ Independent Chronicle and Boston Patriot, September 8, 1824; September 7, 1825
  20. ^ Descriptive catalogue of a map of the town of Boston in 1775. Boston: 1866
  21. ^ Oliver Wendell Holmes (1923), The complete poetical works of Oliver Wendell Holmes, Boston: Houghton Mifflin, OL 23265358M
  22. ^ Sammarco, Anthony Mitchell (1998). Boston's West End. Arcadia Publishing. ISBN 9781439621622. Retrieved 6 September 2017.
  23. ^ a b c d Rollyson, Carl Edmund; Paddock, Lisa Olson; Gentry, April (2007). Critical Companion to Herman Melville: A Literary Reference to His Life and Work. Infobase Publishing. ISBN 9781438108476. Retrieved 6 September 2017.
  24. ^ a b c Parker, Hershel (2005). Herman Melville: A Biography. JHU Press. p. 975. ISBN 9780801881862. Retrieved 6 September 2017.
  25. ^ DeWolf, Thomas Norman (2008). Inheriting the Trade: A Northern Family Confronts Its Legacy as the Largest Slave-trading Dynasty in U.S. History. Beacon Press. ISBN 9780807072813. Retrieved 6 September 2017.
  26. ^ Henry Wilder Foote (1953–1957). "Benjamin Blyth, of Salem: Eighteenth-Century Artist". Proceedings of the Massachusetts Historical Society. Third Series. 71: 64–107.
  27. ^ Bostonian Society. "Catalog". Retrieved 6 July 2010.

Sources

Images

  • Advertisement for Allan & John Melvill, merchants, Boston, 1758. Allan Melvill was the father of Thomas Melvill
    Advertisement for Allan & John Melvill, merchants, Boston, 1758. Allan Melvill was the father of Thomas Melvill
  • Advertisement for Parker & Melvill, Cornhill, Boston, 1773
    Advertisement for Parker & Melvill, Cornhill, Boston, 1773
  • Tea taken from the boots of Thomas Melvill, after the Boston Tea Party in 1773 (Old State House Museum, Boston)
    Tea taken from the boots of Thomas Melvill, after the Boston Tea Party in 1773 (Old State House Museum, Boston)
  • Portrait of Thomas Melvill, ca.1770s-1780s (Bostonian Society)
    Portrait of Thomas Melvill, ca.1770s-1780s (Bostonian Society)

Further reading

  • Oliver Wendell Holmes (1895), The last leaf, Cambridge: Houghton, Mifflin, OL 7249686M. Illus. by George Wharton Edwards and F. Hopkinson Smith.
  • Daniel A. Cohen. Passing the Torch: Boston Firemen, "Tea Party" Patriots, and the Burning of the Charlestown Convent. Journal of the Early Republic, Vol. 24, No. 4 (Winter, 2004), pp. 527–586.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Thomas Melvill.

Read other articles:

George Henry Horn

Artikel ini bukan mengenai entomologis Jerman Walther Hermann Richard Horn. George Henry HornGeorge Henry HornLahir7 April 1840Philadelphia, PennsylvaniaMeninggal24 November 1897(1897-11-24) (umur 57)Beesley's Point, New JerseyKebangsaanAmerika SerikatAlmamaterUniversitas PennsylvaniaKarier ilmiahBidangEntomologiInstitusiAmerican Entomological Society George Henry Horn (7 April 1840 – 24 November 1897) adalah seorang pakar entomologi Amerika Serikat yang mengkhususkan dir...

 

Kakao padat

Kue pres setelah penyarian mentega kakao Kakao padat adalah sebuah campuran beberapa bahan yang dipadukan setelah mentega kakao disarikan dari biji kakao. Saat dijual sebagai produk akhir, ini juga disebut bubuk kakao atau kakao. Kakao padat adalah bahan utama dari coklat, sirup coklat, dan manisan coklat. Pranala luar Hamel, PJ (10 January 2014). The A-B-C's of cocoa. Flourish. King Arthur Flour. Diakses tanggal 30 May 2015.  Wikimedia Commons memiliki media mengenai Cocoa powder.

 

Kata lemes

Kosakata lemes dalam Soendaneesch-Hollandsch woordenboek (1913) karya Sierk Coolsma ditandai dengan l., pada gambar di atas, contoh kosakata yang ditandai dengan l. adalah nanging, koeramas (kuramas), angkat, angken, angkeng (angkéng) dan angkeut. Kata lemes atau kecap lemes (aksara Sunda baku: ᮊᮨᮎᮕ᮪ ᮜᮨᮙᮨᮞ᮪, pengucapan bahasa Sunda: [kəcap ləməs]) adalah kosakata bahasa Sunda yang digunakan dalam ragam bahasa hormat ka batur. Dalam bahasa Sunda, lemes memiliki m...

Lotha Naga

Major Naga ethnic group found in Nagaland Lotha NagaTotal population173,111[1] (2011 census)LanguagesLotha language(Sino–Tibetan)ReligionChristianity (chiefly Baptist)Related ethnic groupsother Naga Ethnic Groups The Lothas, also known as Kyongs are a major Naga ethnic group native to Wokha District in the Northeast Indian state of Nagaland. Origins Scholars have presented several theories about the migration of the Lothas and the other Naga people, based on vocal explanations passe...

 

Resolusi 414 Dewan Keamanan Perserikatan Bangsa-Bangsa

Resolusi 414Dewan Keamanan PBBPembagian SiprusTanggal15 September 1977Sidang no.2.032KodeS/RES/414 (Dokumen)TopikSiprusHasilDiadopsiKomposisi Dewan KeamananAnggota tetap Tiongkok Prancis Britania Raya Amerika Serikat Uni SovietAnggota tidak tetap Benin Kanada Jerman Barat India Libya Mauritania Pakistan Panama Rumania Venezuela Resolusi 414 Dewan Keamanan Perserikatan Bangsa-Bangsa, diadopsi pada 15 September...

 

Lashing (ropework)

Way of fastening two or more items together with rope This article relies largely or entirely on a single source. Relevant discussion may be found on the talk page. Please help improve this article by introducing citations to additional sources.Find sources: Lashing ropework – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (June 2017) Bamboo scaffolding secured with lashings in Kowloon. A lashing is an arrangement of rope, wire, or webbing with linki...

Mukluk

Soft boot worn by Arctic peoples This article needs attention from an expert in Arctic. The specific problem is: English online sources generally poor. WikiProject Arctic may be able to help recruit an expert. (December 2017) Two pair of sealskin kamiit. Left, winter kamik, right, summer kamik. Mukluks[1] or kamik (Inuktitut: ᑲᒥᒃ [kaˈmik][2]) (singular: ᑲᒪᒃ kamak, plural: ᑲᒦᑦ kamiit) are soft boots, traditionally made of reindeer (caribou) skin or se...

 

Adriaen Isenbrant

Adriaen IsenbrantVierge à l'Enfant Fondation BembergNaissance Vers 1480-90BrugesDécès Juillet 1551BrugesAutres noms Ysenbrandt, maître de la Vierge des Sept DouleursActivité peintreLieu de travail BrugesInfluencé par Gérard DavidŒuvres principales Triptyque de l'Assomption de la Viergemodifier - modifier le code - modifier Wikidata Adriaen Isenbrant[1] (entre 1480 et 1490 - juillet 1551, Bruges), est un peintre de la Renaissance flamande. L'identification réalisée à l'occasion de l...

 

Військово-музичне управління Збройних сил України

Військово-музичне управління Збройних сил України Тип військове формуванняЗасновано 1992Країна  Україна Емблема управління Військово-музичне управління Збройних сил України — структурний підрозділ Генерального штабу Збройних сил України призначений для планува...

Wake Island

Pacific island administered by the United States, claimed by the Marshall Islands This article is about the U.S. territory of Wake Island. For other uses, see Wake Island (disambiguation). This article may require copy editing for grammar, style, cohesion, tone, or spelling. You can assist by editing it. (October 2023) (Learn how and when to remove this message) Unincorporated and unorganized U.S. territory in Unorganized unincorporated territory, United StatesWake Island Ānen Kio (Mars...

 

Prima Brigata mobile carabinieri

Prima Brigata Mobile Carabinieri Descrizione generaleAttiva2001 - oggi Nazione Italia Servizio Arma dei Carabinieri TipoUnità mobile e specializzata DimensioneBrigata ColoriRosso e blu Battaglie/guerreGuerra in Afghanistan Guerra in KosovoGuerra in IraqGuerra civile somala Anniversari2 Maggio Sito internetSito Carabinieri.it Parte diDivisione unità mobili carabinieri Reparti dipendenti4º Reggimento carabinieri a cavallo; 8 reggimenti mobili 4 battaglioni mobili ComandantiComandan...

 

Male contraceptive

Pregnancy prevention methods used by men Male contraceptives, also known as male birth control, are methods of preventing pregnancy by interrupting the function of sperm.[1] The main forms of male contraception available today are condoms, vasectomy, and withdrawal, which together represented 20% of global contraceptive use in 2019.[2][3][4][5] New forms of male contraception are in clinical and preclinical stages of research and development, but as of ...

Théophile Thoré-Bürger

French journalist and art critic (1807–1869)This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed.Find sources: Théophile Thoré-Bürger – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (January 2020) (Learn how and when to remove this message) Théophile Thoré-Bürger photographed by Nadar (c. 1865) Étienne-Joseph-Théophil...

 

Orang Han

Orang Han (漢族 atau 汉族)Zhou GongGong FuziLaoziQu YuanZhuge LiangWang XizhiTang TaizongLi BaiQin ShihuangHan WudiWu ZetianYue FeiWen TianxiangQin LiangyuKoxingaSun Yat-senJumlah populasi1.310.000.000 (satu miliar tiga ratus sepuluh juta)19,73% populasi dunia(estimasi)Daerah dengan populasi signifikan Tiongkok1.317.541.842[1] Taiwan22.575.365[2] Hong Kong7.393.410[3] Singapura2.984.936[4] Makau433.641[5] Thailand9.053.240[6] Malaysia7.590.500[7] Am...

 

P15 road (Ukraine)

Road in Ukraine Road P15Автошлях Р15Route informationLength149.4 km (92.8 mi)Major junctionsnorth end M 19 in Kovelsouth end M 09 in Zhovkva LocationCountryUkraineOblastsVolyn Highway system Roads in Ukraine State Highways ← P 14→ P 16 P15 is a regional road (P-Highway) in Volyn Oblast and Lviv Oblast Ukraine. It runs north-south and connects Kovel with Zhovkva.[1] Main route Main route and connections to/intersections with other highways in Ukrai...

Volleyball at the 2024 Summer Olympics – Men's qualification

This section tabulates the heads of qualification in a form suitable to be filled in as events progress. The full qualification rules[1] for volleyball published by FIVB contain intricate conditions too lengthy for inclusion in Wikipedia. Volleyball at the2024 Summer OlympicsIndoorQualificationmenwomenTournamentmenwomenRostersmenwomenBeachQualificationmenwomenTournamentmenwomenvte The men's qualification for the Olympic volleyball tournament took place between September 2023 and June...

 

Maximilien de Béthune, Duke of Sully

17th-century French military officer and statesman This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed.Find sources: Maximilien de Béthune, Duke of Sully – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (December 2017) (Learn how and when to remove this message) Prince of SullyMaximilien de BéthuneGMAMaximilien de Béthune in ...

 

Arthur Beauchesne

Arthur BeauchesneCMG, QC, FRSCClerk of the House of CommonsIn office1925–1949Preceded byWilliam Barton NorthrupSucceeded byLéon Raymond Personal detailsBorn(1876-06-15)June 15, 1876Carleton, Quebec, CanadaDiedApril 7, 1959(1959-04-07) (aged 82)Ottawa, Ontario, CanadaPolitical partyConservativeAlma materSt. Joseph's College Arthur Beauchesne CMG QC FRSC (June 15, 1876 – April 7, 1959) was a Canadian civil servant who was Clerk of the House of Commons from ...

坪川信三

日本の政治家坪川 信三つぼかわ しんぞう 生年月日 1909年11月13日出生地 福井県足羽郡社村(現福井県福井市)没年月日 (1977-11-20) 1977年11月20日（68歳没）出身校 福井師範学校(現福井大学教育学部)卒業前職 内務大臣秘書官所属政党 (無所属→)(日本民主党→)(自由党→)自由民主党 第20代 総理府総務長官第3代 沖縄開発庁長官内閣 第2次田中角栄内閣在任期間 1972年12月22日 - 197...

 

横山助成

伝記の記載を年譜形式のみとすることは推奨されていません。 人物の伝記は流れのあるまとまった文章で記述し、年譜は補助的な使用にとどめてください。（2019年10月） 日本の政治家横山 助成よこやま すけなり 生年月日 1884年1月1日出生地 日本 秋田県北秋田郡大館町没年月日 (1963-03-27) 1963年3月27日（79歳没）出身校 東京帝国大学前職 警視総監所属政党 （立憲政友会�...