BIO: David MITCHELL, Clearfield County, PA Contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by Judy Banja & Sally Copyright 2005. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/pa/clearfield/ NOTE: Use this web address to access other bios: http://www.usgwarchives.net/pa/clearfield/1picts/swoope/swoope.htm _____________________________________________________________ From Twentieth Century History of Clearfield County, Pennsylvania, and Representative Citizens, by Roland D. Swoope, Jr., Chicago: Richmond-Arnold Publishing Company, 1911, pages 852 - 854. _____________________________________________________________ DAVID MITCHELL, who is a prominent and substantial citizen of Clearfield county, Pa., resides on his fine farm of 130 acres which is situated one-half mile west of Curry Run village. He also owns a second farm of 218 acres which lies in Greenwood township, and another 110 acres in this township, Clearfield county, and has besides 340 acres in Bell township, and is a representative of a family that was established in this section in the days of his grandfather. Mr. Mitchell was born in Burnside township, October 14, 1838, and is a son of John and Elizabeth A. (McGee) Mitchell. John Mitchell was born also in Burnside township, Clearfield county, and died in Kansas, at the age of seventy years. In early years he was a blacksmith but did not work long at that trade, engaging in farming in Burnside township where he reared his family. At that time he owned 250 acres of land, which he sold in late middle life and moved to the state of Kansas, where the remainder of his life was spent. He married Elizabeth A. McGee, who was born in Bell township, Clearfield county, a daughter of Rev. James McGee, who was a minister in the Protestant Methodist church. Ten of their family of children still survive, namely: David, Mary Ellen, James, Thomas M., Ann Elizabeth, Margaret, John, Henry and Virgin and Orlena, twins. The mother of these children died in Kansas when aged sixty-five years. They were members of the Protestant Methodist church. David Mitchell had but meager school advantages when he was a boy and as soon as old enough he went into the woods and worked at lumbering. He has acquired his position of financial independence entirely through his own efforts and when he says that he never loafed a day in his life, it can easily be seen that persevering industry has had much to do with his success. He had very practical ideas from the start and began buying timber tracts as soon as he had capital, clearing them off and then selling, and as his foresight and judgment were excellent, by 1869 he had acquired the means to purchase the farm on which he lives, which was formerly the property of Lewis Smith. He has about 165 of his 800 acres cleared and under cultivation. After his marriage he had settled on a small place in Burnside township near his timber tract, and lived there until he bought his Greenwood township farm. Other and later purchases were: 130 and 225 acres near Bower; 112 acres of the Hoover farm, and 340 acres in Bell township. He is a stockholder in the Farmers and Traders Bank of Clearfield county and a charter member of the Mahaffey National Bank at Mahaffey, Pa. He has been a very active citizen and has been foremost in all movements to promote the progress and development of Clearfield county. He has served in almost all the township offices and is a man whom his fellow citizens regard with respect and esteem. He is proud of the fact that he has never had a law suit in his life and has lived at peace with his neighbors and friendly with all with whom either business or social life has brought him into contact. Mr. Mitchell was married December 31, 1863, to Miss Henrietta Weaver, who was born in Burnside township, June 16, 1844, a daughter of James H. and Sarah Ann (Campbell) Weaver. James H. Weaver was born in Union county, Pa., and came to Bell township, Clearfield county, when ten years of age. He became a farmer and earlier was a pilot lumberman and took rafts down the river. He died at the age of eighty-eight years and three months, leaving an estate of 100 acres. He married Sarah Ann Campbell, a daughter of Thomas Campbell, and she accompanied her parents to Clearfield county when eight years old and still survives, residing in Burnside township. She is so well preserved both in mind and body that it is difficult to realize that she is in her eighty-ninth year. Six children were born to Thomas Campbell and wife, namely: Henrietta, Francis E., Mary Keziah, John Thomas, Harriet Ruth and James Lewis, the last named being a merchant at Burnside, Pa. To David Mitchell and wife the following children were born: Harry S., who resides in Burnside township, married Ida Thorp; James Thomas, who lives in Greenwood township, married Nora Rager; John Francis, who is a merchant at Bell Landing, married Gertrude Johnson; Robert Clyde, who lives in the state of Washington; Rosetta, who is a teacher of music; David Attley, who is a physician at Pittsburg, married Blanche Dawson; Sarah Elizabeth, who is the wife of Ernest Miller, of Carlisle, Pa.; Samuel Orvis, who resides at Seattle, Wash.; Della, who lives at home; Mary, who is the wife of Stratton Stevens, of Wilkesbarre, Pa.; Ruth, who is the wife of Henry Hunter; and Cora, who is a teacher in the Clearfield High School. Mr. Mitchell is a Republican in his political sentiments. He belongs to the order of Odd Fellows at Mahaffey and for thirty- five years has belonged to Greenwood Grange, of which he is a charter member.