Biographical Sketch of B. F. Mitchell, Johnson County, Missouri, Centerview Township. >From "History of Johnson County, Missouri," by Ewing Cockrell, Historical Publishing Company, Topeka, Cleveland, 1918. ********************************************************************** B. F. Mitchell, an enterprising and prosperous farmer and stockman of Centerview township, is a son of one of Johnson county's noble pioneers T. H. Mitchell. The son was born in Kentucky in 1854 and when a child came to Warrensburg, Missouri in 1869 with his parents, T. H. and Clem- entina Mitchell, who settled on a farm of 320 acres of virgin soil in Centerview township in 1870. The father built a small, rude, box-like structure, which was the Mitchell residence many years. Mr. Mitchell, Sr. engaged in stock raising extensively and in corn growing. Crops were good in those early days before the fertility of the soil was ex- hausted and for a few years after the Mitchells came West prices were high but in time there came the inevitable fall of prices and a period when it was extremely difficult to get hold of any money at all. Then came the financial crash of 1873, brought on by rash speculations in Western railroads and followed by ruin of hundreds of business firms and want and suffering in thousands of homes, and the Mitchell family did not escape. B. F. Mitchell knows from hard, bitter experience what real "hard times" are. At that time, ninety-five percent of the land in Johnson county was open prairie. In Kentucky, Mr. Mitchell received the beginning of his education and after the family came West he atten- ded school at Warrensburg one year. B. F. Mitchell was born and reared on a farm and in choosing his vocation for life he followed in the footsteps of his father. The elder Mitchell prospered materially in the years following the panic of 1873, and at one time owned 400 acres of choice land in Johnson county. He was a man of invincible spirit and possessed excellent business judgement, an inheritance from his father, Shedwick Mitchell, who was a prosperous hotel proprietor prac- tically all his life. B. F. Mitchell is one of five children born to T. H. and Clementina Mitchell, who were united in marriage in 1841. The children were, as follow: Mrs. Sarah Ann Banfield, deceased; Mrs. Georgia A. Whitsett, Lamar, Missouri; Pleasant, who resides in Washing- ton; Mrs. Lucy Ann Simes, Ogden, Utah; B. F., the subject of this review; and one deceased. The mother died in 1856 and in 1857 Mr. Mitchell remarried. His second wife was Georgia Ann Stallcup, a sister of his first wife, and to this union were born two children, who are now living: Henry F., Richmond, Colorado; and Charles B., Kansas City, Missouri. T. H. Mitchell was gifted with the happy faculty of making true friends and no enemies and he was for years a leading man of his community. B. F. Mitchell owns a splendid farm in Centerview township, a place comprising 240 acres of land, which is well improved and nicely kept. In 1895, he built a pleasant and comfortable home, a residence of two stories. He has a good tenant house of six rooms on the farm, in which his son-in-law resides. There are six large, well constructed barns on the place, all in excellent repair. B. F. Mitchell harvested, this past season, 900 bushels of wheat, 700 bushels of oats, and 25 ton of hay, besides having 70 acres of his farm in corn. He had on the place, at the time of this writing, 150 head of hogs and 65 head of cattle, in addition to a large herd of horses and mules. Mr. Mitchell planted 45 acres of his farm in wheat last autumn, of 1917. B. F. Mitchell and Rosella Fitch were united in marriage in October, 1884. Mrs. Mitchell is a daughter of Crawford Fitch, who settled in Johnson county in 1874. She is one of ten children born to her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Crawford Fitch, all of whom were reared to maturity and are now living: James M., Centerview, Missouri; Mrs. Lavica A. Snyder, Deepwater, Missouri; George A., Eldorado Springs, Kansas; Mrs. Eliza McCord, Cincinnati, Ohio; Mrs. Nancy A. Stout, Warrensburg, Missouri; Mrs. Marietta Plummer, Vanceburg, Kentucky; Mrs. Rachel D. Brown, Warrensburg, Missouri; Charles H., who resides in Canada; Mrs. B. F. Mitchell, the wife of the subject of this review; and Mrs. Roberta Simmerman, Columbus township. To Mr. and Mrs. Mitchell have been born two children: Laura, who is engaged in teaching school; and Mrs. Ida Spicer, Centerview township, the wife of V. E. Spicer, who has rented the Mitchell farm and resides there. He and Mr. Mitchell are interest- ed in stock raising and are associated in partnership in this business. Mr. Mitchell is deeply interested in drainage and he speaks in an interesting manner of the advantages he, himself, has derived from tiling his farm, much of which is rich bottom land. From his own ex- perience, he states emphatically that tiling is a paying investment and he should know for he has used five carloads of tiles on his place and has, in all, 137 acres of his place drained by this method. The creek, which flows through his farm, was becoming more and more crooked and filled with soil. Since he has tiled his land, Mr. Mitchell has not lost one crop by an overflow from the creek. He places the tile in trenches not more than eighteen inches in depth, for he does not wish to remove the underground water, just the superfluous surface water. Nearly a half century ago, B. F. Mitchell came to Johnson county. He recalls the day when there were but two roads in the western part of the county, namely: the old State road and the Lexington-Clinton road. The early settlers traveled along trails and went from place to place more by their sense of direction. As has been previously stated in this sketch, most of the land was open prairie and Mr. Mitchell and his brother-in-law once split rails enough to fence 320 acres of land. Wild game abounded and this subject has often in the old days killed hundreds of prairie chickens, and many wild turkeys, besides a few deer. He remembers the kindly hospitality of the pioneers and the countless happy times they experienced at social gatherings. Mr. and Mrs. Mitchell are excellent citizens and worthy people and they are numbered among the county's best families. ==================================================================== USGENWEB NOTICE: In keeping with our policy of providing free information on the Internet, data may be used by non-commercial entities, as long as this message remains on all copied material. 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