Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 07.djvu/359

 31 ELLEN

Mi^LViLLL

in Leipzig and received from the university the degree uf Ph.D. in 1890 ; was associate professor of Greek and Frencli in the University of Ten- nessee. 1891-92, and full professor, 1892-1900, when he resigned tu devote liiniHelf to hterary work and historical research. He was elected a member of the American Philological association, of the Modern Language Association of America, and of the Irving club of Knoxville, Tenn. He is the author of : Errors concerning Higher Education in the United States, and their Remedies (1890) ; Ttie University and the City (1892) ; monographs on famous Southern editors : George D. Prentice and John M. Daniel : and frequent contributions to periodicals.

MELLEN, Grenville, poet, was born in Bid- deford, Maine. Juik^ 19. 17U9; son of Judge Pren- tiss and Sally (Hudson) Mellen. He was grad- uated at Harvard in 1818, studied law in Portland, Maine, and practised in North Yarmouth, Maine, 1833-28, in Boston, Ma.ss., 1828-34, and in New York city, 1834-41. He established TJie Monthly Miscellany in 1839, which was soon discontinued. He contributed to the United States Literary Gazette, and is the author of : The Rest of the Nations (1826) ; Our Chronicle of 'S6, a satire (1827) ; Glad Tales and Sad Tales (1829) ; The Martyr's Triumph, Buried Valley, and other Poems (1833) ; 27ie Passions (1836), and a poem delivered at Amherst college (1839). He died in New York city, Sept. 5, 1841.

MELLEN, Prentiss, senator, was born in Sterling, Mass., Oct. 11, 1764; son of the Rev. John (1722-1807) and Rebecca (Prentiss) Mellen ; grandson of Thomas Mellen, a farmer in Hopkin- ton, Mass., and of the Rev. John Prentiss, of Lan- caster, Mass. He was prepared for college by his father and was graduated at Harvard with his brother Henry in 1784, his brother John having graduated in 1770. He was tutor in the family of Joseph Otis at Barnstable, Mass., 1784-85, studied law under Shearjashub Bourne in Barnstable, 1785-88, and practised at Sterling, Mass., 1788-89 ; at Bridge water, 1789-91 ; at Dover, N.H., 1791- 92 ; at Biddeford, 1792-1806 ; and at Portland, 1806-40. He was married, in May, 1795, to Sallie, daughter of Barzillai Hudson, of Hartford, Conn. He was a member of the Massachusetts executive council, 1808-09 and 1817 ; presidential elector on the Monroe and Tompkins ticket in 1817, and was elected to the U.S. senate as successor to Eli P. Ashmun, who resigned in 1818, and he served until 1820, when Maine became a separate state and he was made chief- justice of the supreme court of the state. He retired in 1834 on reaching the age of seventy years. He was chairman of the committee to revise and codify the public statutes of Maine in 1838. He received the degree of LL.D. from Harvard and from Bowdoin in 1820,

and was a trustee of Bowdoin, 1817-36. His de> cisions are in Maine Reports (vols. L-Xl). He died in Portland, Maine, Dec. 31, 1840.

MELLETTE, Arthur Calvin, governor of South Dakota, was born in Henry county, Ind., June 23, 1842 ; son of Charles and Mary (Moore) Mellette ; grandson of Arthur and Leauna (Glas.scock) Mellette, and a descendant of John and Sarah (Sutter) Mellette. John Mellette was l>orn in France, served as a soldier under La Fayette in the American Revolution and died in Virginia in 1790, his wife dying in 1815 ; Arthur Mellette removed from Virginia to Henry county Ind., in 1830 and died Oct. 24, 1853. Charles Mel- lette died in Henry county, Ind., April 14, 1876. Arthur Calvin Mellette attended Itlarion academy and was graduated from Indiana university. A.B., 1864, LL.B., 1866, A.M., 1867. He served in the 9th Indiana infantry 1864-65. He practised law at Muncie, Ind., 1866-78 ; was elected prosecuting at- torney of Delaware county in 1868 ; was a Re- publican representative in the Indiana legisla- ture, 1872-74, and editor of the Muncie Times for several years. He was register of the land office, Springfield, Dak. Ter., 1878-80, and at Watertown, Dak. Ter., 1880-85 ; was a member of the state constitutional convention that met at Sioux Falls, Sept. 4, 1883, and he was elected governor of the proposed state of South Dakota under the constitution of 1885, receiving 28,904 votes to 226 scattering. The state was not ad- mitted to the Union, however, and he was ap- pointed governor of the territory March 12. 1889, by President Harrison to succeed Louis K. Church, Democrat. The territory was divided into two states, both of which were admitted Nov. 2, 1889. He was elected Republican gov« ernorof South Dakota, Oct. 1, 1889, and served,. 1889-92. He afterward removed to Pittsburg,. B[an., where he practised law. He was married May 29, 1866, to Margaret daughter of Prof. T. A. Wylie of Indiana university. He died in Pitts- burg, Kan., May 25, 1896.

MELVILLE, George Wallace, naval officer, was born in New York city, Jan. 10, 1841 ; son of Alexander and Sarah (Danther) Melville ; grand- son of James Melville of Stirling, Scotland, and a descendant of Andrew Melville (1545-1622), the scholar, reformer and Presbyterian leader. He attended the public schools, the school of the Christian brothers, and Brooklyn Polytechnic in- stitute, and then served an apprenticeship in a machine shop. He entered the U.S. navy as 3d assistant engineer, July 29, 1861 ; was promoted 2d assistant engineer, Dec. 18, 1862 ; served throughout the civil war on the West India, Brazil and China stations, and was promoted 1st assistant engineer Jan. 30, 1865. He was chief engineer of the Tigress, sent to the Arctic seas in search of the