Woman of the Century/Velma Caldwell Melville

VELMA CALDWELL MELVILLE. MELVILLE, Mrs. Velma Caldwell, writer of prose and poetry, born in Greenwood, Vernon county, Wis., 1st July, 1858. Her father was William A. Caldwell. Her mother's maiden name was Artlissa Jordan. They were originally from Ohio, removing to Wisconsin in 1855. The call of war, which, at the age of five years, forever severed Velma from a father's love and care, explains the intensely patriotic spirit of all her writings. He perished in the frightful mine before Petersburg. When twenty years of age Velma Caldwell became the wife of James Melville, C. E., a graduate of the Wisconsin State University, since well-known as an educator and a prohibitionist. Her productions in verse and prose have appeared extensively in the St. Louis "Observer," "St. Louis Magazine," "Housekeeper," "Ladies' Home Journal," "Daughters of America," Chicago " Inter-Ocean," "Advocate and Guardian," "Weekly Wisconsin," "Midland School Journal," Chicago "Ledger," "West Shore Magazine" and many other publications. She is at present editing the "Home Circle and Youth's Department" of the "Practical Farmer " of Philadelphia, Pa., and the "Health and Home Department" in the "Wisconsin Farmer" of Madison, Wis. She is a devoted follower of Henry Bergh, and with her pen delights to "speak for those who can not speak for themselves." For ten years past her home has been in Poynette, Wis., but she has recently removed to Sun Prairie. Wis., where her husband is principal of the high school. She has been one of the most voluminous writers in current publications that the central West has produced. She is always felicitous in her choice of subjects, and her work has been very remunerative.