Profile of the Day: Herman Melville

Have you read Moby-Dick? On this day in 1819, author Herman Melville was born in New York City, New York.

Image: Herman Melville / Library of Congress

He was the third of eight children born to Allan Melvill and Maria Gansevoort. Both of his grandfathers were heroes of the American Revolutionary War. His paternal grandfather, Major Thomas Melvill, participated in the Boston Tea Party and served as a Major in the Continental Army. Melville’s maternal grandfather, Peter Gansevoort, served as a Colonel during the American Revolutionary War and was best known for leading the resistance at the Siege of Fort Stanwix in 1777.

In 1851, Melville published his signature novel, Moby-Dick. Melville drew upon his experience working at sea while to write his story of a captain’s obsessive quest to hunt down the white whale, Moby Dick. Although today Moby-Dick is considered to be one of the greatest American novels, the book was initially a commercial failure at the time of its publication.

Melville died on September 28, 1891 at the age of 72. At the time of his death, much of Melville’s fame and success had vanished. It wasn’t until the early 1920s that Melville’s works were rediscovered. Today, the novel is hailed as one of the greatest masterpieces in literature.

View Herman Melville’s Geni Profile