Herman Melville (1819-1891), who ranks as one of America's greatest writers, was a member of All Souls Church, a fact that was unknown until the research for Walter Donald Kring's book, Henry Whitney Bellows, was under way. The effect of this discovery is best described by Dr. Kring himself, in his book Safely Onward: During the writing of Volume II of The History of All Souls, Henry Whitney Bellows, it was established that Herman Melville was a bona-fide member of All Souls Church.

All of the photographic evidence for this was published in 1981, by the Melville Society in a small 80-page book, The Endless, Winding Way in Melville: New York Charts by Kring and Carey, edited by Donald Yannella and Hershel Parker. The book contains photos of all the All Souls records which establish this fact:

Melville's name as it appears in the treasurer's pew record book, 1850; the record of his daughter, Elizabeth Shaw Melville's baptism on March 31, 1872; Melville's name and address as it appears in Theodore Williams' membership book, circa 1884; the record of Melville's funeral service conducted on September 18, 1891 by Mr. Williams at the Melville home at 126 East 26th Street; and the pathetic letter of Elizabeth Melville to Mr. Prichard, the church treasurer, December 31, 1872, indicating that they could no longer afford the pew rent of $22 per year.

The members of the Melville Society were so surprised that Herman Melville had been a Unitarian that they issued this booklet so that these records would be safely kept. Thus this information can be found in the libraries of Melville scholars around the world.