Thomas-Pulaski-Laurens County GaArchives Biographies.....Mitchell, Robert G. 1843 - living in 1913
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Joy Fisher http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00001.html#0000031 October 19, 2004, 10:31 pm

Author: William Harden
p. 825-828

   JUDGE ROBERT G. MITCHELL. A man of the true and noble character for which the
sons of the Southland are noted, Robert Goodwin Mitchell has played his part
bravely and well in all the activities of his life. He has served his state in
times of war, suffering severe wounds in the service of the cause of the
Confederacy, and has served it no less efficiently in times of peace, as a
legislator, and also as an industrious private citizen and a Christian
gentleman. A native of the community in which he has passed the greater part of
his long and honored life. Judge Mitchell was born on a plantation in Thomas
county, Georgia, July 15, 1843. His father, the Hon. Richard Mitchell, was born
near Petersburg, Virginia, in 1797, the son of Col. Thomas Mitchell.

   Col. Thomas Mitchell was a native of the Old Dominion state, and commanded a
troop of cavalry in the War of the Revolution. After the colonies had been freed
from the yoke of tyranny, Colonel Mitchell moved from Virginia, and settled in
Montgomery county, Georgia, where he resided for some years. He finally left his
home in that locality, however, and became one of the pioneer settlers of
southern Georgia, establishing himself in Thomas county, on a tract of wooded
laud about nine miles southwest of Thomasville. There he built a log house, one
of the early type, with a puncheon floor. He was the owner of a number of
slaves, and set them to work to clear his land, and put it under cultivation.
Colonel Mitchell is said to have been the first to grow sugar cane for market.
He made what was called "sugar mush" of the cane, and hauled it in this form to
the port of St. Marks, about sixty-five miles distant, for shipment to New York.
This proved a profitable venture, and he continued to grow cane on his
plantation until his death. He was buried on the plantation where he had lived,
in the family burying ground, where his wife also sleeps.

   The father of the subject of this history was a mere boy when his parents
moved to Georgia. Having received a good education as a foundation for success,
he started out as a young man in the mercantile business at old Hartford,
Pulaski county, Georgia. After a time, however, he gave up this enterprise, and
moved to Thomas county, where he bought land near his father's estate, and
engaged in the pursuit of agriculture. He remained on this land where he had a
number of slaves at work for him, until his death, which occurred on the twelfth
of February, 1856. A member of the old Whigs, Richard Mitchell always took an
active interest in public affairs. His devotion to his party and to the best
interests of his community were rewarded in the 30's, by his election to the
state legislature, a representative from Pulaski county. Richard Mitchell was
united in marriage to Sophronia Dickey, who was born near Sumpter, South
Carolina, in the year 1808, and died many years after her husband, on the 17th
of May, 1893, at the advanced age of eighty-five years. Sophronia Dickey
Mitchell was the mother of nine children. One of these, a daughter, and the
second child, died in infancy, but the rest lived to the age of maturity. Their
names are as follows: Henry, Frances Nelson, Richard Baines, William Dickey,
Sarah Ann, Robert Goodwin, Harriet E., and Amy Susan.

   After some preliminary work in the neighborhood schools, Robert Goodwin
Mitchell attended Fletcher Institute, at Thomasville, and later he was a student
in the preparatory department of Mercer University for one term. When but
eighteen years old, he volunteered for the Confederate service at Thomasville,
and was mustered in Savannah in July, 1861, as color bearer, in Company E of the
Twenty-ninth Regiment. Soon after this he was appointed sergeant and at the
re-organization in 1862, was made second lieutenant of his company.

   The Twenty-ninth was held on the coast, serving about Atlanta, and between
that city and Charleston, until May, 1863, when it was sent to Mississippi as
part of the command of Gen. W. H. T. Walker, for the re-enforcement of Gen.
Joseph E. Johnston. There Lieutenant Mitchell participated in the fighting about
Jackson, and the march toward Vicksburg, and when Gen. C. C, Wilson, of the
Twenty-first Regiment, was put in command of the brigade, including the
Twenty-ninth, he was appointed to his staff as aide-de-camp. In this capacity he
participated in the gallant and important service of Walker's division at the
battle of Chickamauga, and during one siege of Chattanooga, and the battle of
Missionary Ridge.

   General Wilson dying about this time at Ringgold, Gen. C. H. Stevens assumed
the command of the brigade with his own staff, and Lieutenant Mitchell returned
to his regiment, and was at once appointed adjutant, in which capacity he
performed his duty brilliantly throughout the Dalton and Atlanta campaigns. He
was in battle about Dalton, at Resaca, Cassville, New Hope Church, Kenesaw
Mountain, Peachtree Creek, and was in the battle at Atlanta in which General
Walker was killed, on July 22, 1864, and after serving in the entrenchments
under fire following this last-named engagement, was severely wounded on the
line southwest of the city, August 9, 1864. His wound entirely incapacitated him
for duty during the remainder of the war, and after remaining under treatment at
Macon for some time, he returned home. He was forced, however, to use crutches
for six months after peace had been declared.

   The Twenty-ninth Regiment was commanded by Judge Mitchell's brother, Col.
William Dickey Mitchell, who was severely wounded at Chickamauga. Having
recovered from this wound, Colonel Mitchell joined Hood's command, and went on
the Tennessee campaign, taking part in the battles of Murfreesboro, Franklin,
and Nashville. He was captured in the battle of Nashville, and taken to
Johnson's Island, Lake Erie, where he was detained as a prisoner of war until
the contest was ended. Upon his return home he engaged in the practice of law at
Thomasville, in which place he made his home, living in the honor and esteem of
the entire community, and receiving many honors, among them the offices of
county judge, in which capacity he was serving at the time of his death, which
occurred in 1892.

   It was while Robert G. Mitchell was disabled from the wound he received in
the war that he began the study of law, a profession in which he was destined to
attain many honors. After his admission to the bar, he formed a partnership with
his brother William. In 1873 he was appointed solicitor general of the southern
circuit of Georgia, a position which he held for about twelve years. At the end
of this time he resigned, and in 1884 was elected to the state senate, serving
in the session of 1884-5. In the year 1890, he was again chosen to receive the
honor of the state senatorship, and represented his district in the legislature
of that year, serving in that session and that of the following year as
president of the senate. Upon the consummation of his term as senator, Judge
Mitchell resumed the practice of his profession, and held no public office until
1903, when he was elected judge of the superior court of the southern circuit of
Georgia, to succeed Judge Hansell. He resigned from this office in 1910, having
been one of the best judges the state of Georgia has ever known.

   Since his retirement from the judgeship, Judge Mitchell has been engaged in
the peaceful pursuit of agriculture. He has a farm of about two thousand acres,
situated from six to eight miles south of Thomasville. He resides in Thomasville
on the outskirts of the city, in the home he has occupied since 1865. His house
is a commodious frame structure, built in colonial style, with large pillars
supporting the porch. It is situated about one hundred feet back from the
street, in a lawn well-shaded by large oak and magnolia trees, and with an
avenue of stately pecan trees leading to the door.

   On the 21st of January, 1864, Robert G. Mitchell was married to Amaretta
Fondren, who was born in Dublin, Laurens county, Georgia, the daughter of John
G. and Nancy Thompson Fondren, both natives of Laurens county. For many years
Mr. Fondren was in the mercantile business in Dublin, afterward coming to Thomas
county, where he bought a large tract of land, on which he employed as many as
two hundred slaves. He spent the last days of his life in Thomasville, where he
died before the war. Judge and Mrs. Mitchell have been blessed with nine
children, who have reached maturity, and two others, Rufus L. and Harriet E.,
who died in childhood, aged fourteen and five years respectively. The children
who have survived are as follows: Minnie Lee, Frances, Annette, Robert Goodwin,
John Fondren, Emmett, Carl, Julian Raines, and Richard. Of these, Minnie Lee
married Dr. W. W. Bruce, of Thomasville, and has one child, Helen; Annette is
the wife of Theodosius Winn, a resident of Thomasville, and has three children,
Davies, Nettie, and Sarah; Robert G., who is now an attorney of Blackshear,
Georgia, is married to Mary 0. Acosta, and has eight children, Blanche Acosta,
Catherine, Robert Goodwin, Emily, Eustace, Mary Lillian, Nettie Fondren, and
John Gorden; John F., married Anne Montgomery; Emmett married Augusta Bowen
Lathrop, and has three children, Lathrop, Emmett, and Fondren. Carl is cashier
of a bank at Lyons, Georgia, and Julian R. is a resident of Kansas City,
Missouri. The judge's daughters received their education in the Thomasville
schools, graduating from the Young Female College.

   John F. took a law course at Athens, Georgia, and served three terms in the
Georgia legislature and lacked but two votes of being elected speaker.

  Mrs. Mitchell and the judge are both members of the Missionary Baptist church,
and have reared their sons and daughters in the same faith. Besides his many
interests in public and private life, Judge Mitchell has found time to affiliate
with the Masonic fraternity, belonging to the Thomasville lodge of that
organization. He is also a member of the W. D. Mitchell Camp of Confederate
Veterans.

   The following, which appeared in a paper in the locality in which Judge
Mitchell makes his home, is a true testimonial of the esteem and honor in which
he is so deservedly held:

   "Throughout all his career, civil and military, he has been loyal to his
country, his party, and generous and public spirited. * * * He did heroic
service in redeeming Georgia from the second invasion, known as the
'reconstruction,' and he is one of the old guard, never departing from the
faith, always holding to the time-honored principles of his party, warning
against strange doctrines and new departures."



Additional Comments:
From:

A HISTORY OF SAVANNAH AND SOUTH GEORGIA
BY
WILLIAM HARDEN

VOLUME II
ILLUSTRATED
THE LEWIS PUBLISHING COMPANY
CHICAGO AND NEW YORK
1913

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