The Death of Melvin (Mellville?) Herstine
December 27, 2018
Updated: 2018-December-27
We found the above newspaper article, recently, when visiting the library at the Mercer Museum in Doylestown, PA. It obviously tells a sadder tale than the “facts” recorded in our genealogical database.
Our database has him listed as Mellville Herstine. All other documents we’ve found mention him as Mellville (or Melville), so we assume that Melvin was simply what he was known as locally. Mellville would have been 6 years old at the time of his death.
So much has changed in this area in the nearly 120 years since this event, it is hard to determine exactly where the “Lumberton mill” was located. My cursory research leads me to believe the mill (and its associated race) was located somewhere near the intersection of River Road and Cuttalossa Road.
We believe the “older brother” in this story (although not named there) is Wilson Herstine (who would have been 7 years old) as indicated by the 1900 US Census for Cornelius Herstine‘s family.
He was buried at the Union Cemetary in Ferndale, PA.