JOHN S. MITCHELL

MITCHELL

Posted By: Jake Tornholm (email)
Date: 4/20/2020 at 14:35:48

JOHN S. MITCHELL, a popular and enterprising farmer of Mercer township, Adams county, since he settled here in 1873, was born in Henderson county, Illinois, May 12, 1843, a son of Matthew Mitchell, who was born in Beaver county, Pennsylvania, of Scotch-Irish extraction. Mr. Mitchell's great- grandfather was one of three brothers, "Covenanters," who emigrated to the United States before the Revolution. His mother, whose maiden name was Jane Stevenson, was born in Knox county, Ohio, the daughter of John Stevenson, who was a native of Pennsylvania; and her mother, whose name before marriage was Ann Lee, was a native of Ireland. Matthew Mitchell moved to Illinois in 1839, and in the autumn of 1840 purchased a piece of land. The day of which William Henry Harrison was elected President of the United States, he arrived with his family at Monmouth, Illinois, where he is still living, at the age of eighty-four years; and his wife is seventy-two. They reared six sons and three daughters, one of whom is deceased.

The subject of this sketch, Mr. John S. Mitchell, the second child in the above family, was reared to farm life. In 1873 he came to Quincy township, Adams county, where he lived three years, and in 1876 he settled on his present farm, which was then wild land, excepting that seventy acres had been broken. He has made this one of the best farms in the neighborhood. He has a comfortable frame house, a barn forty- eight feet square, and all other farm appurtenances in good order. The premises indicate that their proprietor is a man of thrift and good judgment.

In Henderson county, Illinois, December 22, 1869, Mr. Mitchell married Miss Mary Morton, a native of Ripley county, Indiana, who at the age of sixteen years moved into Illinois. Her parents, George and Janette (Culberson) Morton, were from Scotland. They have three children: George O., Arthur M. and Cora W.

Mr. Mitchell is a Republican in his political principles. He has served his township as trustee, and has held minor offices. He is a member of the United Presbyterian Church, and the superintendent of its Sunday- school, etc. Mrs. Mitchell and the two sons are also members of the same church.