William Brown Meloney (1878–1925)
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William Brown Meloney (1877–1925) was a
journalist A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalism ...
, writer, executive secretary to Mayor
William Jay Gaynor William Jay Gaynor (February 2, 1849 – September 10, 1913) was an American politician from New York City, associated with the Tammany Hall political machine. He served as the 94th mayor of the City of New York from 1910 to 1913, and previously ...
of New York City and a historian of
shipping Freight transport, also referred as ''Freight Forwarding'', is the physical process of transporting Commodity, commodities and merchandise goods and cargo. The term shipping originally referred to transport by sea but in American English, it h ...
.


Biography

He was born on June 6, 1877, in
San Francisco, California San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...
. His grandfathers were a ship captain and a shipbuilder, ran away to sea at the age of eleven. In 1896, when he was eighteen years old, he became a shipping news and political reporter in San Francisco and also started writing fiction and verse and "resolved to do what he could to further the establishment of a powerful American merchant fleet.""Major W.B. Meloney Dies; Victim of War," ''The New York Times,'' December 8, 1925
/ref> Meloney was the son of James Meloney of Boston, Massachusetts, and Addie Meloney. His father died in
Somerville, Massachusetts Somerville ( ) is a city located directly to the northwest of Boston, and north of Cambridge, Massachusetts, Cambridge, in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. As of the 2020 United States Census, the city had a total population of 81, ...
, in April 1898. In 1899, Meloney, as a reporter for the ''
San Francisco Bulletin The ''San Francisco Evening Bulletin'' was a newspaper in San Francisco, founded as the ''Daily Evening Bulletin'' in 1855 by James King of William. King used the newspaper to crusade against political corruption, and built it into having the highe ...
,'' was assigned by editor
Fremont Older Fremont Older (August 30, 1856 – March 3, 1935) was a newspaperman and editor in San Francisco, California for nearly 50 years. He is best known for his campaigns against civic corruption, capital punishment, prison reform, and efforts on ...
to investigate Police Lieutenant Frederick L. Esola, who was a candidate to be appointed as city police chief. Meloney testified before the city's police commission, and the evening after his testimony was finished, he and another ''Bulletin'' reporter were beaten by two men in a saloon at 206 Sutter Street. Suspicions were raised that the beating was connected to the hearing, but nothing was proven. Meloney moved to
New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
in 1901 and worked seven years for the ''
New York World The ''New York World'' was a newspaper published in New York City from 1860 until 1931. The paper played a major role in the history of American newspapers. It was a leading national voice of the Democratic Party. From 1883 to 1911 under publi ...
'' newspaper, "part of the time as day city editor." In 1910 he was appointed executive secretary by newly elected Mayor Gaynor, after which he wrote several novels and plays but concentrated on a history of shipping, ''The Heritage of Tyre.'' When his book was published,
Secretary of the Interior Secretary of the Interior may refer to: * Secretary of the Interior (Mexico) * Interior Secretary of Pakistan * Secretary of the Interior and Local Government (Philippines) * United States Secretary of the Interior See also

*Interior ministry ...
Franklin K. Lane Franklin Knight Lane (July 15, 1864 – May 18, 1921) was an American progressive politician from California. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, he served as United States Secretary of the Interior from 1913 ...
praised it as the "best thing ever written on shipping," and
Theodore Roosevelt Theodore Roosevelt Jr. ( ; October 27, 1858 – January 6, 1919), often referred to as Teddy or by his initials, T. R., was an American politician, statesman, soldier, conservationist, naturalist, historian, and writer who served as the 26t ...
wrote that Meloney "had the vision of one of America's great needs." He served with the Army in France, where he was gassed during the Meuse-Argonne offensive. After returning to the U.S. in 1919, he wrote a handbook for soldiers: ''Where Do We Go From Here?'' covering practicalities such as insurance and job-search after discharge. The
War Department War Department may refer to: * War Department (United Kingdom) * United States Department of War (1789–1947) See also * War Office, a former department of the British Government * Ministry of defence * Ministry of War * Ministry of Defence * Dep ...
published five million copies. He was an editorial writer on the
New York Tribune The ''New-York Tribune'' was an American newspaper founded in 1841 by editor Horace Greeley. It bore the moniker ''New-York Daily Tribune'' from 1842 to 1866 before returning to its original name. From the 1840s through the 1860s it was the domi ...
for six months and then worked for five years on a biography of
John Purroy Mitchel John Purroy Mitchel (July 19, 1879 – July 6, 1918) was the 95th mayor of New York, from 1914 to 1917. At 34, he was the second-youngest mayor and he is sometimes referred to as "The Boy Mayor of New York." Mitchel is remembered for his sho ...
, mayor of New York from 1914 to 1917, which he completed months before he died in his country home in
Pawling, New York Pawling may refer to: *Pawling (town), New York, in Dutchess County **Pawling (village), New York, in the town of Pawling ***Pawling (Metro-North station), train station for the village **Pawling Nature Reserve, in the northern section of the to ...
, on December 7, 1925. The manuscript was never published but is on file in the Rare Books and Manuscript Collection of the Columbia University Library.


Legacy

His widow, magazine editor and journalist
Marie Mattingly Meloney Marie Mattingly Meloney (1878–1943), who used Mrs. William B. Meloney as her professional and social name, was "one of the leading woman journalists of the United States", a magazine editor and a socialite who in the 1920s organized a fund drive ...
, and a son, also named William Brown Meloney, survived him.


Other publications

Meloney also wrote about
sea shanties A sea shanty, chantey, or chanty () is a genre of traditional Folk music, folk song that was once commonly sung as a work song to accompany rhythmical labor aboard large Merchant vessel, merchant Sailing ship, sailing vessels. The term ''shanty ...
, in a work that was published first in ''Everybody's Magazine'' in 1914, then in book form as ''The Chanty Man Sings''.Meloney, William Brown IV, 1926. The Chantey Man Sings. New York: Privately printed


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Meloney, William Brown 1878 births 1925 deaths American male journalists Journalists from California Military personnel from California United States Army officers United States Army personnel of World War I Writers from San Francisco