Ware-Screven-Liberty County GaArchives Biographies.....Mitchell, Henry 1841 - living in 1913
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Joy Fisher http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00001.html#0000031 October 17, 2004, 7:04 pm

Author: William Harden
p. 737-739

   HENRY MITCHELL. For many years identified with the development and promotion
of the lumber interests of Georgia, Henry Mitchell is now living retired from
active pursuits in Waycross, enjoying to the utmost the well-merited reward of
his long-continued and unremitting toil. Coming on both sides of the house from
a long and honored line of pure Scotch ancestry, he was born, November 11, 1841,
in the parish of Abernethy, Perthshire, Scotland, a son of William Mitchell.

  His Grandfather Mitchell, a tiller of the soil, for many years operated the
farm known at "Bartlett field," which was located about six miles north of
Perth. He and his wife were both life-long residents of Scotland. They reared
five children, one daughter and four sons. The daughter, Helen, married a Mr.
White, and spent her entire life in her native country. All of the sons left
Scotland, one of them, Henry, settling in London, England; Robert located
permanently in Ireland; George came to America, settling in Wellington county,
Ontario, Canada; and William also immigrated to America.

   Born in the parish of Dron, Stirlingshire, Scotland, William Mitchell learned
the trade of a tailor when young, and followed it for a number of years in
Abernethy, Perthshire. Immigrating to America in 1848, he opened a merchant
tailoring establishment in Guelph, province of Ontario, Canada, where he spent
his remaining years, passing away at the advanced age of seventy-nine years. He
married Jane Kinghorn, who was born in Perthshire, Scotland, of Scotch ancestry,
and was there reared and married. Her brother, Joseph Kinghorn, was an expert
steamboat engineer, and when the Turks bought steamships in Scotland he went to
Turkey on board one of the vessels, and was for several years in the employ of
the sultan, teaching the Turks how to operate the ships. Another of her
brothers, Henry Kinghorn, immigrated to the United States, and served as foreman
of the shipyard in New York when the steamers Atlantic, Pacific, Adriatic and
Baltic were under process of construction. He continued a resident of New York
until his death, and many of his descendants are still living there. Mrs.
William Mitchell survived her husband about a year, dying at the age of
seventy-nine years. Seven children were born of their union, as follows:
William, deceased; Jane, wife of Richard Waldron, of Guelph, Ontario; Henry, the
subject of the sketch; David, deceased; Robert, who was for many years a
merchant in Guelph, and is now the postmaster; John, a carriage top manufacturer
in Guelph; Helen, wife of Myron W. Burr, of Guelph, a furniture manufacturer,
now retired.

   In 1849 Henry Mitchell came with his mother, brothers and sisters to America,
joining his father, who had emigrated from Scotland the previous year, in
Canada, the ocean voyage in a sailing vessel having covered a period of six
weeks. Landing in New York, the family went by way of the Hudson river and the
Erie canal to Rochester, New York, thence by way of the Genesee river and Lake
Ontario to Hamilton, Canada, where, there being no railroads, they took teams to
convey them to Guelph. Continuing his education, which he had begun in Scotland,
Henry Mitchell attended the schools of Guelph regularly until seventeen years
old, in the meantime earning a little ready money by clerking during his leisure
time in a store. Anxious then to secure congenial and remunerative employment,
he bade good-bye to home and friends, and journeyed to New York City, where he
expected to find his uncle, Henry Kinghorn. The uncle, however, had died.
Concluding therefore to go farther south, Mr. Mitchell went to Charleston, South
Carolina, where he hoped to have an opportunity to develop his mechanical
ability by learning the machinist's trade. Finding no favorable opening in that
city, he sought other employment, applying for work to Mr. James M. Rahb, who
was the master mechanic and superintendent in the building of the Charleston &
Savannah Railroad, of which a few miles only had then been completed. He began
work as a common laborer, but after two days was given clerical work, later
becoming first a fireman, and then a railroad engineer.

   On the breaking out of the Civil war Mr. Mitchell was made sergeant of an
independent company, and sworn into service, as an expert mechanic being placed
on detached duty. He continued as an engineer, and in that capacity formed the
acquaintance of General Lee, and was detailed to run his special train, having
charge of the engine that drew the general's train while he had charge of the
Georgia-Florida district. As previously stated, Mr. Mitchell's great ambition
had always been to learn the machinist's trade, and while with General Lee left
the train without permission to work in the railroad shops, which were under the
supervision of his former employer, Mr. S. S. Haines, who was elected
superintendent to take the place of the former superintendent. The commanding
officer hearing of this, ordered Mr. Mitchell to headquarters. Mr. Haines
accompanied him, pleaded his case most eloquently, telling the officers that as
a good mechanic Mr. Mitchell was worth more to the Confederacy in the shops than
at the front, putting his side of the case so effectively that Mr. Mitchell was
allowed to remain in the shops, where he became familiar with all kinds of work.

   A few days before the surrender of Fort Sumter, Mr. Mitchell was called there
to adjust the sights of the cannon, and was afterwards one of the volunteers
that undertook to blow up the Ironsides, and at the close helped to sink the
Confederate boats that they might not be of service to the Federals. The close
of the war left Mr. Mitchell penniless, but he and a companion, having found a
boat adrift, established a ferry across the Ashley river, and for a few days
carried on a profitable business, most of their patrons being Union soldiers.
Entering then the employ of the United States government, under Bob Hunter, he
was for a short time engaged in the construction of bridges, and the raising of
sunken vessels.

   Receiving financial aid then from his home people, Mr. Mitchell returned to
Canada, and there served an apprenticeship of three years in the machine shops
of F. G. Becket & Company. Returning then to the South, Mr. Mitchell was for a
year employed as an engineer on the Fernandina & Cedar Keys Railroad. At the
solicitation of Mr. S. S. Haines, he then went to Savannah, Georgia, and from
that time until 1877 was an engineer on the Atlanta & Gulf Railroad. Resigning
that position, he entered the employ of his father-in-law, for six months having
charge of his saw mill in Screven, Georgia. The following two years he operated
a saw mill at Ocean Pond, Florida, and subsequently became a partner in the firm
of Dale, Dixon & Company, which was operating a planing mill in Savannah, and a
saw mill in Liberty county, Georgia. The latter plant Mr. Mitchell operated
until it burned, six years later. Captain Dale died about that time, and Mr.
Dixon and Mr. Mitchell purchased his interests in the business, and under the
firm name of Dixon, Mitchell & Company operated a planing mill in Savannah, and
a saw mill in Alexandria, Georgia, for several years. The partnership being
dissolved in 1903, and the business disposed of, Mr. Mitchell located in
Waycross, and was here profitably engaged in the lumber business until 1911,
when he sold out, and has since lived retired from business cares, making his
home with his son, Joseph D. Mitchell.

   Fraternally Mr. Mitchell is a member of Waycross Lodge, No. 305, Ancient Free
and Accepted Order of Masons; Waycross Chapter, No. 9, Royal Arch Masons;
Damascus Commandery, No. 18, Knights Templar; and also belongs to Golden Rule
Lodge of Savannah, Independent Order of Odd Fellows.

   Mr. Mitchell married, in 1877, Kate Dale, who was born and educated in
Savannah, a daughter of Capt. Joseph J. and Delia (White) Dale, the former of
whom was a native of England, while the latter was born in the United States.
Mrs. Mitchell died in 1883, in early womanhood, leaving two children, one of
whom lived but eighteen months. The other child, Joseph Dale Mitchell, born in
Wayne county, Georgia, but raised and educated in Savannah, was for many years
associated in business with his father. He married Minnie Jones, and they have
five children, namely: Katie Dale, Minnie, Joseph Dale, Jr., Nellie Burr, and
William Bruce. He, too, stands high in the Ancient Free and Accepted Order of
Masons, being eminent commander of Damascus Commandery, No. 18, Knights Templar.



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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