Early Life
His 19th century Dutch American ancestors; Thomas Arnold Demill (1799–1877), Henrietta Elizabeth Demill (1821–1881), William Edward Demill (1824–1873), and Richard Mead Demill (1828–1905) owned and operated a Commission Merchant (shipping and trading) company, Demill & Co. in New York City at 178-1/2 Water Street, serving the ports of the Eastern Seaboard, including but not limited to Halifax, Nova Scotia and (Little) Washington, North Carolina throughout the American Civil War. A very close family friend, J.J. Reford, was identified as a person of interest and known associate of John Wilkes Booth, the assassin of President Abraham Lincoln, as the result of a letter dated N.Y. 20th Feby/65 from Reford being discovered amongst Booth's belongings during the government's search of the actor's room at the National Hotel in Washington, D.C. as part of the official investigation after the assassination.
He was born in Monrovia, California, to William C. deMille, (whose first wife was Anna Angela George, the daughter of notable economist Henry George), and Lorna Moon. His uncle, Cecil B. DeMille, adopted and raised Richard, not telling him of his true parentage until the death of his birth father. He first enrolled at Columbia University, later transferring to the University of California, Los Angeles before graduating.
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