Allan and Maria Melvill had eight children, all of whom survived to adulthood:
Gansevoort (1815-1846), a gifted lawyer and Democratic politician in New York City. He helped Herman get his first book, Typee, published. He died at age 31.
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| Gansevoort Melville at about age 21 |
Helen Maria (1817-1888), who married Harvard-trained attorney George Griggs (1814 or '15 - 1888). Reputedly a bit of a curmudgeon, George had met Helen through his friend Lemuel Shaw (my pseudonymous namesake), who was in turn a friend of the Melvill family before becoming Herman's father-in-law.
Herman (born in New York City at 11:30 p.m. on Sunday, Aug. 1, 1819; died in bed between 12:00 and 1:00 a.m. on Monday, Sept. 28, 1891). I understand he was a writer of some sort.
Augusta ("Gus") (1821-1876), with Fanny, one of the two maiden sisters who lived with Herman and his wife at Arrowhead. My sense is that Gus was one of life's Marthas; she helped to keep the family in touch as her mother aged.
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| Gus in her mid-30s |
Allan (1823-1872), a lawyer who practiced with Gansevoort in New York and eventually became the wealthiest of the eight Melville children. His first wife was Sophia Eliza Thurston (1827-1858); they had five daughters, of whom four survived to adulthood. His second wife was Jane W. Dempsey (died 1890).
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| Allan in his mid-20s |
Kate (1825-1905), who became the second wife of John Chipman Hoadley (1818-1886) and bore him two girls. The family lived in Lawrence, Mass., where John managed a locomotive-manufacturing business before he started his own business producing a portable steam engine he had designed. He also became one of the original trustees of MIT.
Fanny (1827-1885), Herman's other maiden sister.
Tom (1830-1884), who went to sea on a whaler at age 15 and thereafter rose to become a captain in the merchant service. He married Catherine E. Bogart (1842-1928) relatively late in life.
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| Tom Melville at about age 35 |
As you can see, this was an accomplished generation of Melvilles -- much more so than their father and his brother, Uncle Thomas.
(The biographical data in this and related posts are drawn from Hershel Parker's 2-vol. Herman Melville: A Biography [Johns Hopkins Univ., 1996 & 2002], Laurie Robertson-Lorant's Melville: A Biography [Clarkson N. Potter, 1996], and Stanton Garner's Civil War World of Herman Melville [Univ. of Kansas, 1993].)
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