Bio of MELIN, Ebin Luther (b.1883), Hennepin Co., MN
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EXTRACTED FROM: History of Minneapolis, Gateway to the Northwest; 
Chicago-Minneapolis, The S J Clarke Publishing Co, 1923; Edited by: Rev. 
Marion Daniel Shutter, D.D., LL.D.; Volume I - Shutter (Historical); 
volume II - Biographical; volume III - Biographical
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Vol III, pg 728-731
E. LUTHER MELIN (Ebin Luther Melin)
E. Luther Melin, an able and successful lawyer for many years, and a resident of
Minneapolis for about a quarter of a century, came to this city in his early
youth, and by necessity was thrown into the vortex of a struggle for
self-support and self-advancement that brought him into wholesome direct contact
with the masses, as well as with business and professional men. He has stood in
varied relations that have made him well known in the community.
Ebin Luther Melin was born at Harcourt, Webster county, Iowa, September 6, 1883.
His parents, Andrew Gustav Melin and Sarah Charlotte (Anderson) Melin, were both
natives of the anciently settled district, Skaraborg, Sweden. Sarah Charlotte
Anderson, at the age of seventeen years, and in 1864 when this country was in
the throes of a civil war, emigrated from Sweden. She took passage on a
sailboat, which, due to unusual conditions of weather and wind, lay on the ocean
waves for three months before being wafted to the shores of the new world. A
year later Andrew Gustav Melin took passage for America and during his voyage
cholera broke out on board ship, and, after many days at sea, to save the
surviving passengers and crew, the ship returned to England, but he persisted
and finally reached the shores of the United States. It was in Rockford,
Illinois, then an industrial center, that the two met and were married.
The parents of the subject of this review, after their marriage, decided to go
further west and they set out on the journey by team and wagon to Webster
county, in central Iowa. Here they had come before the railroads, and were among
the first settlers in a land overrun by wild grass and Indians. Here they
remained, as it were, sentinels in an outpost, for the vast army of settlers
that later rolled up from the east. Here they wrestled with a soil, the tenacity
of which, by centuries of growth of grass roots and grass fibres, was such as to
be hardly cleft with an axe or cut with a plow. Here they became enterprising
farmers and reared a family of one daughter and six sons. It was here that the
subject of this review was born and where he began to do a man's work at the age
of eleven years, and where he spent his boyhood days under the sturdy and
invigorating discipline of his parents. The spirit of his parents he had
imbibed, the Viking blood in his veins throbbed for ad­venture as he grew to
manhood, and he chafed in his confinement to the farm. An opportunity presented
itself to get away when a low rate excursion to Minneapolis was announced. His
father could not deny him such a trip, but he suspected that his son
contemplated a longer absence than that granted on an excursion, so he
hesi­tated to give him five dollars to cover his fare and expenses, and,
simultaneously, threatened to have him returned to the farm by an Iowa sheriff,
if he did not do so willingly. His mother, in whom he had confided his plans,
had tacitly given her consent.
E. Luther Melin was seventeen years old when he came to Minneapolis to stay. He
immediately entered Central high school and, after four years attendance,
graduated. He then entered the University of Minnesota, where he spent six
years, and after completing his courses in the College of Science, Literature,
and Arts, entered the law school and obtained his degree of Bachelor of Laws.
During his ten years of schooling, by force of necessity, Mr. Melin was
compelled to earn his own way. To do this he carried newspapers, waited on
table, clerked in a hotel and performed other odd jobs. During the latter part
of his University career he maintained an office in which he conducted an
architectural, engineering, and contracting business. Since being admitted to
the bar Mr. Melin has devoted most of his time to the practice of law, has built
up a large clientele, and enjoys the confidence of a vast number of people. He
has maintained an interest in politics and recently was a candidate for district
judge.