Galfrid DeMelville of the twelfth century".

     Still reading from the Media Bureau: "Probably the first of
the name in America was John Melvin, who came to Charlestown,
Mass., sometime before 1676 from Scotland, and it is thought prob-
ably that he was accompanied by a brother named Robert, of whom
no more is known. By his first wife, Hannah Lewis, whom he mar-
ried about 1679, he was the father of John, Hannah, Robert, James,
Jonathan, David, and Benjamin. In 1696 he married a second wife,
Margaret Shamesbury of Shanesbury, who gave him further issue of
Eleazer and Margaret.

     Of the sons of the emigrant John, no record has been found of
the first three; Jonathan was married in 1714 to Sarah Hartwell,
by whom he had issue of Sarah, Jonathan (father of the Jonathan
Melvin who married Beulah Leland and resided in Phelps, N.Y.),
John, Ebenezer, Josiah, Nathan, (of Ashburnham, Mass.), and Amos;
David is said to have married Mary Farrar about 1715 and to have
issue by her of Robert, Mary, David, Ephraim, James, Jacob, Mary,
Hannah, Lucy, and Susannah; Benjamin had issue by his wife,
Hannah, of Lydia, Mary (?), and probably Benjamin; and Eleazer
was the father by his wife, Mary Stow, of Nathaniel, Sarah, Mary,
David, John, Bridget, and Joshua, as well as possibly an ear-
lier son named Eleazer.

     Another early emigrant of this family was Patrick Melvin,
who was of Scotch Ancestry and came to Chester, N.H., sometime
before 1735. By his wife, Mary, he was the father of Benjamin,
Abraham, Elizabeth, John, Mary, and Jane.

     Of the sons of the emigrant, Patrick, Benjamin married Me-
hitable Bradley and was the father by her of Anna, Samuel, Polly,
Benjamin, John, Josiah, Mehitable, William, and Richard; Abraham
removed to Weare, N. H., and married Mary Colburn, by whom he
was the father of John, Mary, Jane, Abraham and Stephen; and John
went to Maine and probably raised a family there, although his
records have not yet been found."

     The Melvins have contributed their share in the founding
and development of a free country in America. Among those who
fought in the war of the Revolution were Capt. George of Georgia;
John of North Carolina; Daniel, John, George, and Thomas of N.H.;
John, Amos, David, Eph, Isaac, James, Josiah, Nathan, Samuel,
Benjamin, George, Jonathan and Reuben of Massachusetts. A Maj.
Thomas Melvin was said to have been a member of the Boston Tea
Party in 1775 and is said to have been the last American to wear
a cocked hat.

     One of the most ancient of the many coats-of-arms to the
English family of Melville, from which the Melvins are descended
is thus described.

Arms   "Gules, three crescents argent, a bordure invecked of the
        last, charged with eight roses of the first."

Crest  "Two eagles, wings conjoined proper."

Motto  "Denique Sursum"
           (taken from Burk's General Armory 1884)
 
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