Melville James Bell was born on May 13, 1845 in Edinburgh, Scotland. He was the son of Alexander Melville Bell and Eliza Grace Symonds, and the elder brother of Alexander Graham Bell and Edward Charles Bell. He married Caroline Margaret Ottoway and had one son, Edward Charles Ottoway Bell, who lived to be only approximately two years old. He died on August 16, 1870 in London, England. Melville James Bell died of tuberculosis. His brother, Edward Charles Bell, also died of tuberculosis. The deaths of Edward Charles Bell and Melville James Bell prompted the Bell family to emigrate from the Old Country to Canada where the climate helped restore the failing health of Alexander Graham Bell.
References:
- https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Alexander_Graham_Bell_in_Brantford,_Ontario,_Canada_-Melville_James_Bell,_elder_brother_to_Alexander_Graham,_who%27s_death_led_to_the_Bell%27s_emigration_to_Canada,_c.1870.JPG
- https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Alexander_graham_bell_family.jpg
- https://www.loc.gov/resource/ppmsc.00881/
- https://www.loc.gov/collections/alexander-graham-bell-papers/articles-and-essays/family-tree/alexander-melville-bell/
- https://history-biography.com/alexander-graham-bell/
- https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Bell-7345
- https://www.ancestry.com/genealogy/records/melville-james-bell-24-221j2rf
- https://loc.gov/collections/alexander-graham-bell-papers/articles-and-essays/family-tree/melville-james-bell/
