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1. THE first of the migratory DeMilles, of sturdy Dutch stock, left his native Haarlem for America in 1765, choosing to settle in a section of New York where land was plentiful and cheap. He acquired a parcel of semi-marshland that is now a part of lower Wall Street. The family's early roots were put down in North Carolina by a vigorous Episcopalian, William Edward DeMille, Cecil's grandfather. In a little place called Pingotown, he studied law, gained admission to the bar, later gave up his practice to open a general store in nearby Washington, North Carolina, He became the town's mayor and at the start of the Civil War received orders from General Martin to operate a com- missary for a southern contingent recruited largely from his own area. He had been away a short time when word reached him that his family had fled to Greenville before advancing Federal troops. He hurried to Greenville to ascertain their safety and to be on hand for his wife's thirtieth birthday. In the midst of muted festivities William Edward was taken pris- oner by a cavalry detachment that had just entered Greenville. After a tearful farewell, there was a hurried bolting of the doors. At that moment, Henry Churchill DeMille, father of the future Cecil, was having his own troubles. The youth, having encountered a Federal trooper who had taken freely of Con- federate whisky, was sprinting to the nearest haven, his grand- mother's home, with the trooper not far behind, drunkenly 63