M. W. Brother Melish was born in Wilmington, Clinton County, Ohio, July 28, 1852. His father was the Rev. Thomas Jefferson Melish and his mother was Maria Bromwell Melish, daughter of William Bromwell, a merchant and at one time councilman of Cincinnati, Ohio. William Bromwell’s father, Jacob Bromwell, migrated to Cincinnati from Baltimore in 1819, coming down the Ohio River on a flatboat and bringing a few wire looms with him, with which he became the first wire manufacturer in the west. The paternal grandfather, John Melish, came from Paisley, Scotland, and after his arrival in 1817, became, at the request of President Thomas Jefferson, a book publisher in Philadelphia. His son, the father of William B. Melish, was for many years rector of St. Philip’s Protestant Episcopal Church in Cincinnati.
William B, Melish was educated in the public schools of Cincinnati and at Dennison University, Granville, Ohio. In 1871 he began his business career as clerk and bookkeeper of the Bromwell Brush and Wire Goods Company, founded by his grandfather; He was secretary-treasurer from 1883 to 1896, when he became president of the company and continued in that position until his death. In 1874 Colonel Melish married Miss Sallie Gatch, daughter of Frank Gatch, retired farmer and financier of Milford, Ohio, to this marriage two children were born.
He was a republican in politics and served as member of the Water-works Commission, which built the present water system of Cincinnati. He also was senior aide-de-camp on the staff of the late Governor Asa B. Bushnell with the rank of Colonel. He was president of the Chamber of Commerce in 1916. The Convention Bureau of which he was head for six years, brought more than one thousand conventions to Cincinnati in that period.
The Masonic career of M. W. Brother Melish was unique. His love for the fraternity was not confined to one or a number of branches of Masonic endeavor, but embraced all. He was a Thirty-third degree Mason at 33, the earliest age at which the degree is attainable. He was familiar with every detail, ritualistic or executive, and had conferred or worked in every degree of all branches, grades and orders. Ho rendered great service to his country during the World War, and also to his fraternity. He went to Europe to take charge of Masonic relief work, and expended approximately half a million dollars thus in England, France and Belgium. He established a hospital and home for widows and orphans of soldiers in France.
A brief and incomplete chronology of his Masonic activities follows:
Blue Lodge – Initiated an Entered Apprentice, September 2, 1873; passed to the Degree of Fellowcraft, September 16, 1873; raised a Master Mason, October 21,1873, in Milford Lodge No. 54, Milford, Ohio. Affiliated with Lafayette Lodge No. 81, Cincinnati, Ohio, on November 8, 1881; elected Senior Warden of this Lodge, 1885-1886; elected Worshipful Master of this lodge, 1886-1887.
Grand Lodge of Ohio, F. & A. M. – Elected Grand Junior Warden October 19, 1892; elected Grand Senior Warden, October, 1893; elected Deputy Grand Master, October, 1894; elected Grand Master, October, 1895.
Chapter Record – Milford Chapter No. 35, R. A. M., Milford, Ohio, April 1875; demitted, December 15, 1880. Affiliated with Willis Chapter No. 131, R. A. M., Cincinnati, Ohio; elected High Priest, 1886-1887.
Council Record – Kilwinning Council, now Cincinnati Council, No. 52, Cincinnati, Ohio)-1877; elected Captain of the Guard, 1880-1881; elected Principal Conductor of Work, 1881-1882; elected, Thrice Illustrious Master, 1882-1883.
Commandery Record – Hanselmann Commandery, Knights Templar, No. 16, Cincinnati, Ohio, 1877; elected Eminent Commander, 1883-1884; demitted in the year 1887; then, in 1887, became a charter member of Trinity Commandery, K. T., No. 44, Cincinnati, Ohio; Eminent Commander, under dispensation, June to October, 1887.
Grand Commandery, Knights Templar of the State of Ohio -, Grand Commander 1890-1891.
Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite – May 30, 1874, Supreme Council of the Thirty-third and Last Degree-Created September 16, 1885.
Brother Melish was the representative in the United States of the Great Priory of England and ‘Wales of the Order of the Temple. He was the only man in the United States entitled to wear the Grand Cross of tile Great Priory of England under the title of Grand Cross Templar. He received this, the highest honorary order of English Templary, in 1911, in London, England, at the hands of H. R. H., the Duke of Connaught, Sovereign Grand Master of the Great Priory of England. He was also the representative of the Sovereign Great Priory of Canada.
He was a member of the Provincial Grand Lodge, Royal Order of Scotland, and Dean of Past Grand Commanders of the Grand Commandery of Knights Templars of Ohio, and senior living Past Imperial Potentate of the Shrine. He inaugurated the work of Syrian Temple in Cincinnati in 1883 and remained as potentate of that body for fifteen years, when he resigned to become Imperial Potentate of North America. He was the Grand Master of the Grand Encampment of Knights Templar of the United States from 1910 to 1913. He was an honorary member of over fifty Masonic bodies, grand and subordinate, in the United States and abroad.
M. W. Brother Melish departed this life on October 21, 1927 and was interred in Spring Grove Cemetery, Section 87, Lot 19, Cincinnati, Ohio.