Percival Quartermaine and Jolene Blum lived in a beach house by the time their eldest child was born in 1710. Her name was Trudy Quartermaine, although she died of smallpox at only four years old. Three subsequent children (Jill, Max and Jack) until Melissa's birth died in similar circumstances; Jill got smallpox and died, Max chewed so much lead that he died, and Jack died of a heart condition.
Melissa, however, was the first 'lucky child', but she only survived into adolescence and later young adulthood whereas her much younger brother, Marc, lived into his late 60s. Percival himself died at 51, whereas Jolene died at 59.
Even after Melissa died, comedic fights and bloody vendettas between family members were common in the news.