MORRIS W. MITCHELL

 

     Morris W. Mitchell, a retired farmer of Jerico Springs, Mo., is a native of Blount County, Tenn., born July 1, 1821, his parents being Jesse Mitchell and Providence (Norwood). The father was born in Virginia, March 8, 1796, and in early boyhood became a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, and afterward became an ordained minister in the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, in Polk County, MO, where he arrived June 11, 1836. He was among the early settlers of the county, and died in 1854, having charge of the Stockton circuit at the time of his death. His father, Morris Mitchell, was also a minister in the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, and came to Polk County, Mo., in 1835, where and wife spent their declining years. Providence (Norwood) Mitchell was born in Tennessee, in 1800, and died in Polk Co., Mo.about 1884, having been a devoted member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, for many years. Their union resulted in the birth of fourteen children, eight of whom are now living. Morris W. Mitchell is the second of the family, and, after residing with his parents until twenty-seven years of age, in 1846 he enlisted in Company H. Willick's Battery, to serve in the Mexican War. After his return to Polk County, Mo., the 28th of September, 1848, he married Miss Mary Jane Lindley, who was born in Kentucky, July 5, 1831. Her parents, John and Mary Lindley, came to Missouri two years after her birth, and here the father was shot, in 1863, while sowing wheat. Mr. Mitchell and wife are the parents of four children: James L.; Mary E., wife of F. A. Brasher; W. F., and Laura L.; wife of Dr. J. P. Brasher. In 1850 Mr. Mitchell started for the gold fields of California, with an ox-team, and reached his journey's end at the end of four months and ten days. After being engaged in mining in that State for two years, he returned to his family in Missouri, and here he has ever since made his home. He owns 600 acres of land near Jerico Springs, but since 1884 has given up farm work. He is an influential citizen, well-to-do, and is a stockholder in the Jerico Bank. He is a Democrat in politics, and has held the following offices; County Sheriff, ex-officio collector of the county, county assessor two years, and census taker one year. He has been a member of the Masonic fraternity since 1860, and since ten years of age has been a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and Methodist Episcopal Church, South, of which his wife is also a member. During the Civil War he was captain of a company in the Confederate army for three years.

From the History of Hickory, Polk, Cedar, Dade and Barton Counties, Missouri, 1889, p. 758

 

A Pleasant Re-Union.

Jerico Optic.

     Tuesday, Uncle Morris Mitchell reached the 69th mite post on his journey to the land of the Leal. There could be a whole volume written on the life and past history of Uncle Morris, and had we the space we would take up the thread of his life, and weave a garment of facts that would read more like fiction than a true statement. But space forbids, suffice it to say that his family consisting of four children, James Mitchell, of Stockton, William Mitchell, Mrs. Frank Brasher, and Mrs. J. P. Brasher, and their children, gathered at his home to celebrate the occasion. B. L. Brasher, R. D. Shumate, Alonzo Hall and their families, Mrs. Mattie Stephens and her mother, and Aunt Caroline Clark were invited guests.

     Mr. Mitchell was born in Blunt county, Tenn., in 1821. He came to Polk county, Mo., in 1839, and resided in Polk, Dade and Cedar for 53 years. He went with the stampede to California in 1852, but soon returned. He was married in Dade county, and set up house keeping in Cedar, where all his children were born. He was in the Mexican war under Gen. Sterling Price, and when the distant mutterings of discontent gathered like a midnight pall over our own fair land, and the black midnight cloud burst its fury on the people in a declaration of war, he joined the fortunes and misfortunes of the land of his birth, and fought as only an American can fight, for the cause he deemed was right, being among the last troops of the Confederacy to surrender. After this he returned to find his home destroyed, his farm grown up in weeds, and his fortunes shattered. But like all true men he submitted to the inevitable, threw off the sword, and took up the plow shear and pruning hook, and retrieved his fortune, and to-day he can quietly sit under his own vine and fig tree, and listen to the gentle murmurs of the stream of time, as they carry him to that haven of repose, where we are all tending, beloved by all his children and the entire community in which he lives.

     He received some very fine presents from his children and friends, and we hope, with those that were at his home last Tuesday, that many more happy occasions like this may come and go to brighten the hearts of his friends before the Master calls him home.

Stockton Journal, Stockton, Missouri; Thursday 10 July 1890 page 3.

 

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