Date of Birth: 
About Elias McMellen
- Captain Elias McMellen (November 16, 1839 – March 2, 1916) was a bridge-maker and Captain in the Union Army.McMellen's wife’s name was Annie E.
- Wenditz (November 13, 1841 – April 1, 1899).
- They were married on September 21, 1865 and had the following children: Ella, Sara (also known as Sadie), Joseph, Walter and James.
- Their home for many years was located at 28 East Vine Street, Lancaster, Pennsylvania; he provided a home for his mother next-door. During the Civil War, McMellen enlisted for service in the Union Army, becoming a private in Co.
- K, 79th P.
- V.
- I., which regiment was assigned to Gen.
- Negley's brigade.
- At Perryville, he contracted camp fever through exposure, and was sent home on a furlough.
- In 1863 he was mustered out of the 79th Regiment on a surgeon's certificate, and the same year, when his health had somewhat recovered, was again received into the service, as first lieutenant of Co.
- C, 21st Pa.
- Cavalry.
- Later, he was appointed captain of the Color Company of the regiment, Co.
- 1, 21st Pa.
- Cavalry.
- Capt.
- McMellen participated in the last charge made by the Army of the Potomac, on the morning of the surrender of Gen.
- Robert E.
- Lee. When he was twenty years old he built the bridge over Chickies Creek, at Snavely's Mill, and went on to build some of the most celebrated covered bridges in Pennsylvania.
- In this work of building and contracting he was very successful, and many iron, wooden and stone bridges in Lancaster and adjoining counties were erected by him, his reputation as a bridge builder being second to that of no man in eastern Pennsylvania.
- He died March 2, 1916 and is interred in the Greenwood Cemetery in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.
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