Mellen family.

Rev. John Mellen (1723-1807) graduated from Harvard in 1741, settled in Sterling, Mass., and married Rebecca Prentice (1728-1802). He wrote a religious tract, Fifteen Discources, in 1765 and became minister of the Sterling Church from 1744 to 1774, when he was dismissed after a bitter controversy over his doctrinal inconsistencies and temperament. He later became minister in Hanover, Mass., from 1784 to 1805. His son, John Mellen, Jr. (1752-1828), a 1770 Harvard graduate, married Martha Fritch Wendell (1761-1835) of Boston and was then installed as minister in Barnstable, Mass., from 1783 to 1800. He subsequently moved to Cambridge, where he served as selectman, Justice of the Peace, and Representative to the General Court.