Jane Ann Melville born in 1806 in St. Vincent, was married to Harvey Rowe in England and had 5 children. The first Jane Melville was born in 1800 and died in 1803 in St. Vincent. The last child was named Lucentia Sarah Melville and was born in 1814. Alexander and Margaret Jane Cox had 10 children.

james alexander melville was born in saint vincent in the 1880′s and married margaret rodriques whose sister and family still lived there into at least the 1920′s. also there mnay be a connection to the choykee family

my grandfather and his parents were born on the island.james alexander melville (born 1876).
he married margaret rodrigues and had three children on sv before moving to nyc.
children: john, muriel, launcelot. is there a link to the melvilles c. 1800-1830

hello

I did notice your James Alexander Melville on the New York Census, and saw him on the Ellis Island ship records. I often wondered if he was related to the Melville’s that Im descended from. My Melville’s were born on the island of St. Vincent to Robert Hadman Melville, a scottish man and Aida Boddington, a women of ambiguous ancestry, but surely a women of color, maybe African, Caribe Indian, East Indian, Mulatto? Together they had four known children, Thomas Alexander Melville, Mcleod Fred Melville, Henry Hadman Melville, and Dora Melville. Dora was my Great great grandmother. All of these Melville children were born in Richmond, but moved to Layou and Kingstown, which I believe to be because of a volcano erruption during the time period, which I believe influenced them to come to New York. The first to come was the oldest son Henry Melville in 1908. Henry was tall, blue eyed, blondish hair, and very fair. All of the Melville’s were fair, and seem to go back and forth with their race identity once they came to America. But it was the second oldest Thomas Melville, who passed as white, turning his back on the family and disappeared into the white world. I know Thomas and Henry wives were East Indian, like actually from India. Mecleod married an indigenous Caribe Indian. My Great great, grandma married a man who was half African and East Indian. Im telling all of this because my family had issues with race, big time. And Alot of the East Indians brought to the island there beliefs about color due to the caste system that forced them on the ships because they were viewed as too dark and low class. And when they came to the island to replace the african slaves on the plantation, the Africans did not like them. Coincidently, I saw that your ancestor was mix race, and his wife was listed as white, which is very interesting!

hi, i really wanted to get back to you immediately. your story is incredibly similar to mine. james was mostly descibed as black or african. i think mulato once. i was in my forties when i realized what my family history really was. ellis island records were just released.
as you know james was “black” his wife margaret was born on madeira and grew up in a catholic orphanage either on madeira or svg. that was when i first realized my maternal racial background. apparently race also became an issue in my family. i have much more to tell you but i have to get off line right now. in short i grew up white, while my first cousin larry grew up black. i just located him after 50 years. the last time i saw him i was 12. i am now 62. he’s a great guy and we’ve gone out to dinner a few times.
gary

hi, here’s the rest of the story. my maternal grandmother margaret rodrigues was born in london or madeira a Portuguese island. she was raised by nuns on either madeira or saint vincent. she married james melville and had 3 children on sv. i believe james came to nyc in 1906. margaret is verified to have arrived nov 30, 1907.
my mother was born in nyc in 1909 they all have been described at times as black, african black, mulato, negro, and once or twice margaret as white. my father is white(jewish) and i am very light. i grew up with what i thought was a white family. at some point in time (1940′s?) 3 of the 4 siblings and my grandparents apparently chose to be white. interestlingly, the son who chose to be black married a very light skinned black socialite. she was a member of the Gay North Easterners, a black social club that still does good work, but back then discriminated against dark skinned people. i saw a newspaper article (1930′s?) stating that the four siblings were going to attend a meeting at the home of my uncle’s future wife in connecticut. i’m thinking that race may be the reason my uncle became disassociated with the others.
when a school assignment asked where my grandparents came from my mom said “tell them europe.” this was my first hint that something wasn’t kosher. this is funny. when at jewish bungalow colonies in ny state during the summer my mom would tell me not to tell anyone she wasn’t jewish. give me a break she wasn’t even white!
you mention your relation to henry hadman melville. unbelievably a few days before your post i came across a 3 year old email to a coworker who is from SV and also has melvilles in her family.. she is also a Crichton. henry melville was listed as a cousin on francis alexander’s WWI registration card. i seems likely you are related to my coworker.
keep in touch.

just to clarify a typo. francis aleander Chrichton’s cousin is henry h melville

I do not know what to even type! Our family stories are frighteningly parallel, exciting, and just whoa!

Im reading this over and over again! The whole passing thing just went to the extreme, with our melville ancestors, and sadly they were victims of it. The world they came to, America in those times, I could only imagine! What stikes me is the Alexander in your James middle name. I read once it was common for scottish people, to Give their children middle names, the names of their mothers or grandparents last names. And now Im looking up Francis Alexander Chrichton! U definitely have to tell your co-worker about me. Are you on Facebook? I would love to show you my family pictures, do you have any? Maybe we can find similar traits? Other family names that came to America from St. Vincent are, Frazier and Webster. Henry Hadman Melville, I know sometimes gets confused in discussion boards with a Henry Reed Melville, they were Melvilles from the island of Jamaica.

Here they are, these are the desendants of my Great Great Uncles. Henry Hadman is the old man in the front sitting down, marying his daughter Shirley off. Off course Thomas and his children left the family by then, and Mcleod wasnt present, but his children are mostly in the middle row.

The other pic is of Henry’s sister Dora, my great great grandmother, with husband William Robertson. and the little girl is my great grandmother, who told me stories about her St. Vincent origins! She came to America at the age of five. She never denied her mix heritage but, she didnt want people to know she was west indian, she wanted to be Americanized.

I wonder if this is Francis?

Name: Frank Crichton
Event: Census
Event Date: 1930
Event Place: Bronx (Districts 501-750), Bronx, New York
Gender: Male
Age: 30
Marital Status: Married
Race: White
Birthplace: British West Indies
Estimated Birth Year: 1900
Immigration Year: 1917
Relationship to Head of Household: Head
Father’s Birthplace: England
Mother’s Birthplace: England
Enumeration District Number: 0505
Family Number: 2
Sheet Number and Letter: 21B
Line Number: 72
NARA Publication: T626, roll 1482
Film Number: 2341217
Digital Folder Number: 4661152
Image Number: 00887
Household Gender Age
Frank Crichton M 30
Spouse Murial Crichton F 25
Child Ronald Crichton M 3

I was able to look at the world war I registration card, and indeed, it is my same Henry H Melville! I have got to get in contact with your co worker, I told several of my family memebers about this new discovery! Thanks alot!

my friend myrna is also related to the crichtons. she knows frank and that he lived in the bronx, etc

hi again,
i’m sorry i’ve taken so long to get back to you. between the holidays, some family illnesses and most recently my co-worker Myrna had surgery. anyway i hope you are sitting down. you and myrna are definitely related. henry hadman melville is definitely in her family. I showed her the wedding pic and she immediately said that’s Dorothy my cousin. Dorothy lives in our town and hopefully i’ll meet her soon. we have been trying to arrange this for many months. Henry actually resembles my uncle John Alexander Melville and the bride resembles my mom. overall it’s a very handsome family. Here’s another shocker, also thomas changed his name to melvillestein.

Im so excited! Let me know when you guys arrange to meet, I want to be there! I live in Brooklyn, NY, Dorothy always tells me she’s right in NJ, across the George Washington Bridge!

Do you think your James Alexander Melville is related also? Were the Crichtons East Indian?

that’s one of the links i’ve been working on. also what was my james’ occupation on sv. his father was also born there. it’s a small island. how many melvilles could there have been?. i think it’s more likely than not that i am related to you and myna

hi i am a descendant of governor Robert Melville so i must say that we are all related i saw a photo of Herman Melville and he looks a lot like my uncle Henry an Robert look just like my dad.I would really like to know more about my relatives out there my name is S Melville

i am a melville descendant and i am living in the west indies,st vincent and the grenadines to be exact

Please tell me more about your family history!

hey magic and jahrod, we had a death in the family feb 14th and am just beginning to deal with more pleasant topics. magic do you know of any catholic orphanages that were in existence in the 1870′s-1880′s. my grandmother margaret rodrigues married james a melville on svi and had 3 children. margaret never knew her parents. she was brought up by nuns. ji don’t know if the orphanage was on svi or madeira which is where her family was. i have no idea how she got to svi. my james melville is definitely not the one whose occupation is civil engineer. i also have connection to the Burgess family. there are church records on svi listing margaret as a witness for a burgess christening. i’m working on getting set up on facebook. jahrob can we meet at a diner in queens?