Bio: Joe Mitchell, Grant Parish Louisiana Source:March 3, 1939 Winnfield News-American Submitted to USGENWEB by: Greggory E. Davies 120 Ted Price Lane Winnfield, LA 71483 ********************************************** Copyright. All rights reserved. http://usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://usgwarchives.net/la/lafiles.htm ********************************************** JOE MITCHELL Bio From an Obit Joe Mitchell of Wheeling Claimed By Death Feb. 23 Dies Following Paralytic Stroke On His 83rd Birthday Joe Mitchell, a descendant of one of the earliest white settlers of the Wheeling Community, died at his home on February 23, his 83rd birthday. Mr. Mitchell suffered a paralytic stroke on February 11, from which he was unable to rally, since he was so weakened by two previous strokes. "Uncle Joe" as he was familiarly known was the son of Isaac Mitchell, an immigrant from Alabama before the Civil War and the story of the family is interestingly told in the following contribution sent in for publication. "In the year 1855 there was quite a move on for the people of Alabama to move to Louisiana and Texas because of the fact that there land could be homesteaded-land which was very fertile and upon which grew beautiful timber as well as all sorts of wild animals. Several families were packing up and moving to these states. In Coosa County, Alabama, there lived a man by the name of Isaac Mitchell. He was of the frontier type. Many Mitchells had migrated to Alabama from Tennessee and it is believed that either he or his ancestors came from there. "Isaac Mitchell decided to move to Texas. On his way there he came through Louisiana. While passing through what is now Winn Parish-a political subdivision of North Louisiana- he met some of his friends who had previously moved from Alabama and who induced him to stop over a while with them for the purpose of hunting wild animals of the vicinity. here homes could be had by merely clearing land, building a house, and living there for several years; the soil and climate were very favorable for the growing of cotton, corn, potatoes, peanuts, and watermelons; the forests were full of squirrels, turkeys, deer, hogs, and cattle for eating, wild fur-bearing animals for trapping during the winter season, and fishes in the rivers, creeks, and branches for catching in the spring and summer. "It wasn't long before Isaac Mitchell came to the conclusion that this was an ideal location for a man who loved frontier life, who had not many early possessions but who was industrious and ambitious for a home. Mr. Mitchell, with his small family, settled here in the old Wheeling vicinity. His wife, formerly a Miss Robbins, was also a native of Alabama. "Several children were born to the family; one of these was named Joe. Joe, together with some of the other boys of the community, walked from Wheeling to Mars Hill to school-a distance of about three miles. The natural consequences of this educational disadvantage was that the children didn't get much formal schooling. "The children of Isaac Mitchell grew up during the period of the Civil War and had many experiences with the soldiers and with robbers, a band of which settled at the Wheeling vicinity about his time in order to take money and other valuable possessions from travelers. "After building himself a homestead, Joe Mitchell married in April, 1883, a Miss Olivia Gardner (Garner?)-who with her parents had moved from South Carolina to Sparta, Bienville Parish. To them were born four children, Ed Mitchell, Mrs. Melton Davidson, Miss Belle Mitchell, and Mrs. Josie Davison, all of whom and their mother, Mrs. Olivia Mitchell, survive their father. Funeral services were conducted by Rev. Jasper Brown of Ball, Louisiana, an old friend of the family, and Rev. Jones of Montgomery, at the Mt. Zion Methodist Church.