Was the Surname Melville or Milne?

According to Helen Hansen's At Home in Early Sandusky, William Gordon Melville-Milne was born in Aberdeen, Scotland in 1819. He emigrated to Canada, where he married Catherine Kennedy. The couple moved to Missouri, where Mr. Melville-Milne worked for E. F. Osborn, the owner of a large flour mill. In the 1840s, Mr. Osborn moved to Sandusky to serve as superintendent of the Mad River and Lake Erie Railroad. He sent for Mr. Melville-Milne in 1847, to assist in the operations of the railroad in Sandusky. 

In February, 1861 William Melville-Milne died at age 41. He left a widow and eight children, six of whom survived to adulthood. In her book, Mrs. Hansen explained that some branches of the family used the Scots double name of "Melville-Milne." Some family members used only "Milne" as their surname, but many dropped the "Milne" and went by the last name of "Melville." (This is just one example of how family history can be quite confusing.) There are streets in Sandusky named for both of the surnames Melville and Milne. Melville Street runs between Camp Street and Pearl Street, while Milne Street runs between West Adams and Harrison Streets.

Sons of William Melville-Milne, who were known as William and Charles Melville, ran a drug store in Sandusky which was in operation for fifty years. Another son, George W. Melville, was an engraver in Chicago. The former home of William G. Melville-Milne is at 319 Lawrence Street in Sandusky.

Photo taken in 1958

When looking through genealogical records, there are several variations of the surname. A descendant named Frank Rowland Melville Milne is listed as “Frank Rowland Melville” on his World War II draft registration card, but the name on his tombstone at Oakland Cemetery reads Frank Rowland Melville Milne.

When researching anyone in the Melville-Milne family, be sure to check for Melville, or Milne, or Melville-Milne! Do the same for any hyphenated name.

Early Twentieth Century Postcard of Sandusky

This postcard was created by noted photographer Louis James Pesha in the early 1900s. The eastern side of Columbus Avenue is pictured in Sandusky’s busy downtown district.   The Cooke building, with a flagpole atop a decorative tower, can be seen at the northeast corner of Columbus Avenue and Market Street. Stone’s Block, which housed the general offices of the Lake Shore Electric Railway, is at the southeast corner of Columbus Avenue and Market Street. At this time N.E. Marshall ran a bookstore at 210 Columbus Avenue. The S.H. Knox and Co. 5 and 10 Cent Store was in business at 214 and 216 Columbus Avenue. The Dietz and Mischler cigar store, at 224 Columbus Avenue, was known for selling Siesta cigars for five cents each. Puck, a cast zinc statue, stood in the front window of the store from the late 1800s until about 1915. Puck now can be seen at the Follett House Museum.

The Bauman Brothers sold wallpaper at 226 Columbus Avenue, and the Melville Brothers drugstore was located at 228 Columbus Avenue. Also in the 200 block of Columbus Avenue was William Seitz Sons, merchant tailor and the American Banking and Trust Company. O.S. Alcott ran a men’s furnishing store at the northeast corner of Columbus Avenue and Washington Row. You can read a portion of the sign of the O.S. Alcott store in the close up view of the postcard below.

Thanks to Mr. Pesha, we can take a peek into our community’s past. Sadly, L.J. Pesha was killed in an automobile accident in 1912.

A Cough Remedy from 1795

Mary Melville donated this 1795 recipe for a cough remedy to the Sandusky Library’s former historical museum many years ago. Mary was the sister of Charles and William Melville who operated a drugstore in the Cooke block in downtown Sandusky in the late 1800s and early 1900s.

A transcription of the recipe for the remedy reads:

Receipt by Dr. James Malone ; take two tea cupfuls of best linseed; four pence worth ____ licorice and half a pound of sun raisens, put all three in two Scott’s pints of water and boil them slowly till the quantity is reduced to a little more than one pint, then add half a pound of sugar candy and strain the whole through a clean cloth and when cold put in half a gill of old rum and as much best vinegar and cork it up in clean bottles. For use, take a large cupful at going to bed and little when the cough is troublesome, this receipt cures the worst of colds in three of four days and is a most balsomich cordial for the lungs without the least danger in the application, and also the best remedy in all consumptions.

July 11, 1795

It is not known exactly how Mary Melville came to be in possession of this vintage cough remedy, but it is interesting to read  a remedy that some of our ancestors may have used to help cure coughs and colds. 

Here is a picture of downtown Sandusky in 1899, when Sandusky’s soldiers were returning from the Spanish American War. The Melville Brothers drugstore was in business in street level of the Cooke block (the building at the corner in the background) at that time.

George W. Melville, Artist and Engraver

George W. Melville was an artist, designer, and engraver. He was born in Sandusky, Ohio to Mr. and Mrs. William Gordon Melville in February, 1856. An early example of Melville’s work is found in the 1882 Sandusky City Directory, which features an engraving of the pump house and standpipe of the Sandusky Water Works.

The Melville engraving below lets area residents know that Sandusky photographer W. A. Bishop has his studio all on the ground floor. This image appears on the back of a photograph taken by W. A. Bishop of a Marsh family member.

By the late 1880’s, George Melville had moved to Chicago. He illustrated and published Gems of Wonderful Chicago and the World’s Fair and a book about the first twenty-four mayors of Chicago. He also created panoramas of the World’s Fairs in St. Louis, Portland, and San Francisco. His last years were spent in California, where he lived in Hollywood and was active in the St. Thomas Episcopal Church. He died in California in 1928.

Helen Hansen provides historical background information about the Melville family in Article 23 of At Home in Early Sandusky. At times, some family members went by the double last name of Melville-Milne, in accordance with Scottish tradition. The home of William Gordon Melville-Milne is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.