Duval County FlArchives Biographies.....Mitchell, Alexander J. November 14, 1863 - ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/fl/flfiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Nancy Rayburn http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00025.html#0006128 October 20, 2015, 12:02 am Source: Vol. II pg.107 The Lewis Publishing Co. 1923 Author: History of Florida, Past and Present ALEXANDER J. MITCHELL, meteorologist and climatologist, and head of the Florida Weather Bureau forces at Jacksonville, has, and following his present important and difficult vocation, slipped far from the moorings of his youth, for, while it is not generally known, he began his career as an accredited lawyer and entered the weather bureau at the beginning of the Government meteorological classes. Today he is accounted one of the most expert men in his line in the country, and is recognized as an absolute authority in several departments of weather forecasting. Professor Mitchell was born at Glenville, Russell County, Alabama, November 14, 1863, and is a son of ABRAHAM H. and ANN ELIZABETH (PERNSONS) MITCHELL, natives of the State of Georgia. ABRAHAM H. MITCHELL was born April 14, 1834, and as a young man went to Alabama, where he became an extensive cotton planter, with several thousand acres of land, operated by slave labor. He also carried on a general merchandise business in Russell County. At the outbreak of the war between the states he enlisted in the Fourth Regiment, Alabama, Volunteer Infantry, with which he served in all its engagements, marches and skirmishes up to the fight at Columbus, Georgia. At the close of a valiant and faithful military service Mr. Mitchell returned to his general merchandise business in Russell County, where he passed the remainder of his life, dying in 1889. He never cared for office, although he took an active part in democratic politics. Fraternally he belongs to the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. He was a faithful member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, as was also Mrs. Mitchell, who is also deceased. They had four children, all of whom survive, Alexander J. having been the second in order of birth. ALEXANDER J. MITCHELL attended the public schools of Russell County and graduated from Auburn, Alabama, the Technical School of Civil Engineering, in 1881. He entered the Signal Service, U. S. A., at Fort Meyer, VA., being a member of the class of 1882. Fort Meyer was the school of instruction for weather bureau officials. He was admitted to the state bar in 1892, after examination. A review of Mr. Mitchell’s career as pertaining to his connection with the Florida Weather Department began in June, 1884, at Cedar Keys. He became section director in April, 1895. Recently the Jacksonville Times-Union said, in part, as follows: “So one finds that A. J. Mitchell, known now pretty generally as ‘Mitch’ since a series of ‘weather rhymes’ appeared in the columns of the Times-Union, has guided the state work over more than half the road since the bureau first established stations in Florida a half century ago. In all this time he has been a consistent booster for Florida by telling the truth about its climate, and his widely circulated reports have influenced thousands to make their homes here. Lawsuits have been decided by his figures, and so have they figured in criminal courts, while he is absolutely indispensable since this ‘new-fangled’ rain insurance policy has made its bow to business. Forty years ago A. J. Mitchell crossed the Rubicon of deciding his career by entering the newly-beginning meteorological classes of the United States Whether Bureau at Washington, D. C. Up to that time no systematic forecasting organization had been formed, and allied sciences were reported upon almost exclusively by the Smithsonian Institute in this country. Up through the years of ridicule the forecasters had to endure to its present state of comparative reliability. Professor Mitchell has seen the work develop and the science brought more and more to a point where fine exactitude can be hope for. He has aided materially in that work, and some of the products of his pen, while not light summer fiction for the tired business man or boarding school vacationist, are widely read and accepted as authoritative. Now located on top of the Graham (Heard) Building, the local headquarters of the Florida Weather Bureau have moved several times since their establishment in 1872. The first location was opposite the Clark Building, in what is now the Mutual Life Building. Then the office was moved to the ‘Astor Building’, now the Atlantic Hotel, which at the same time sheltered the Florida Times-Union. Fire also expelled them from the Upchurch Building, where they had moved from the Astor Building when that building was gutted, and so, January 1, 1915, the old wind machine was solidly braced atop the Graham Building and a suite of offices taken on the thirteenth floor, the highest spot in Jacksonville. There they have observed the weather’s changes for the past seven years and hope to remain undisturbed. From a few stations located at Key West, Pensacola and Jacksonville, when Professor Mitchell first took charge, the weather bureau has expanded until one may find observers all over Florida, some regular and some cooperative. The climate has been analyzed so thoroughly as to make it almost certain to just when to hold picnics and put out rain barrels. Aiding the cold statistics taken on every angle of weather, Professor Mitchell has stored in the archives of his memory supplementary data that make him one of the leading authorities of the country.” Professor Mitchell is a democrat in his political allegiance, and he has always been a firm supporter of the principles and candidates of his party. As a fraternalist he holds membership in the local Knights of Pythias and the Alpha Tau Omega fraternity. On October 11, 1883, Professor Mitchell was united in marriage at Mobile with Miss ELIZABETH PRYOR, who was born at Mobile, and to this union there have been born four children: RUTH, the wife of J. O. WALTON, of Portsmouth, Virginia; LUCILLE, who is unmarried and resides with her parents; and two children who died in infancy. File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/fl/duval/bios/mitchell212bs.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.poppet.org/flfiles/ File size: 6.6 Kb