Wapello County IA Archives Biographies.....Mitchell, Joseph C. 1849 - 
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Joy Fisher http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00001.html#0000031 June 29, 2013, 12:33 pm

Source: See Below
Author: S. J. Clarke, Publisher

JUDGE JOSEPH C. MITCHELL.
Judge Joseph C. Mitchell has for twenty-one years been an active representative
of the Ottumwa bar, while for forty-one years he has been a practitioner in
Iowa. He was born in Monroe county, Indiana, January 23, 1849. His father, James
Mitchell, also a native of that county, was born December 2, 1828, and was
reared to farm life but later turned his attention to merchandising. He came to
Iowa in 1850 and after his removal to this state patented a binder which was the
first ever patented in America. He dropped this, however, to enter the army, for
the country had become involved in the Civil war. He joined the Sixth Iowa
Infantry and was among those who laid down their lives on the altar of their
country, his death being occasioned by typhoid fever when he was in the service.
His wife, who bore the maiden name of Susannah Berry, was born in Lincoln
county, Kentucky, August 11, 1827, but was reared in Indiana, and her last days
were spent in Osceola, Iowa. By her marriage she became the mother of four
children, but two of the sons are deceased. The daughter, who survives, is Eliza
Frances Mitchell, now living in Osceola.

Judge Mitchell pursued his education in the common schools to the age of twelve
years and afterward worked upon the farm, in a woolen factory, in a printing
office and also drove stage to the age of seventeen years. His youth was largely
a period of earnest and unremitting toil and upon him devolved responsibilities
not often resting upon one of his years. Recognizing the value of education, he
determined to supplement his early training by further study and by the aid of a
friend, H. C. Sigler of Osceola, he was able to take the full classical course
at the Iowa Wesleyan University at Mount Pleasant, graduating with the class of
1871. He then took up the study of law in the office of Ambler Brothers & Babb
of Mount Pleasant, these gentlemen directing his reading until his admission to
the bar in that place. In January, 1873, he opened an office in Chariton, Iowa,
where he remained in active practice for twenty years. He was appointed by
Governor Boies to the bench of his district and served thereon for about a year.
In 1893, however, he came to Ottumwa, where he opened a law office and resumed
private practice. He does not specialize along a given line to the exclusion of
other branches but continues in the general practice of law and is well informed
upon the subject of jurisprudence. He has always prepared his cases with
thoroughness and care, and his clear and cogent reasoning and logical deductions
have been important features in his success.

On the 28th of April, 1875, Judge Mitchell was united in marriage to Miss Alice
C. Wilson, then of Eau Claire, Wisconsin, but who was born at Oakland Mills,
Henry county, Iowa. She was reared and educated in Mount Pleasant and was a
daughter of Robert and Adeline (Henshaw) Wilson, both of whom are deceased. Mrs.
Mitchell was born June 22, 1853, and passed away on the 2d of December, 1912.
She was the organizer of the chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution
at Ottumwa and was the representative from that chapter to the national
convention in Washington. She was also very active in the P. E. O. sorority,
being the second or third person initiated into that sorority’s first chapter in
Mount Pleasant, Iowa. She was eligible to membership in the Daughters of the
American Revolution from the fact that she was descended from five ancestors who
were officers of the Revolution, and she had five bars upon her pin. Judge
Mitchell belongs to the Sons of the American Revolution and some time ago was
notified by the secretary of the Society of Cincinnati that he was eligible to
membership in that organization by reason of the fact that Colonel Joseph
Crockett, of the Revolutionary war, was the grandfather of Judge Mitchell’s
grandmother. He reared his granddaughter, who afterward became Mrs. Mitchell. At
her death Mrs. Alice Mitchell left a daughter and two sons: Adelyn, the wife of
F. R. Williams of Ottumwa; Mark, who is connected with a coal company in Albia,
Iowa; and Paul, living in Ottumwa.

Judge Mitchell gave his allegiance to the democratic party until 1897 and since
then to the republican party. He has ever kept well informed on the significant
and vital questions of the day but does not seek nor desire office. He attends
the Episcopal church, and he has for many years had membership in the Masonic
and Odd Fellows societies. He is a broad-minded, cultured gentleman, keeping in
touch with the general line of the world’s progress, while in his profession his
comprehensive knowledge and clear reasoning have gained him more than local
distinction.


Additional Comments:
Extracted from:
HISTORY OF WAPELLO COUNTY IOWA
ILLUSTRATED
VOLUME II
CHICAGO
THE S. J. CLARKE PUBLISHING COMPANY 1914


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