Henry sailed "around the [Cape] horn" with Richard Henry Dana Jr. on the ship named the Pilgrim, and arrived in California in 1835, leaving the ship to become an agent's clerk onshore.

This firm had an active commercial business in San Francisco, and in 1846 bought the property of the Hudson's Bay Company.

Bell Row, a two-story, L-shaped adobe built by Captain Alexander Bell, became Mellus Row, owned by Henry Mellus.

[3] After relinquishing the Bryant & Sturgis agency in 1848, Mellus went to Boston with his family on a visit.

[4] Henry Mellus was elected as Mayor of Los Angeles on May 9, 1860, and died while holding that office.