George W. Mitchell Biography


	This biography appears on pages 1185-1186 in "History of Dakota 
	Territory" by George W. Kingsbury, Vol. V (1915) and was 
	scanned, OCRed and edited by Maurice Krueger, mkrueger@iw.net.

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				GEORGE W. MITCHELL. 

	The town of Winner is a typically representative western 
municipality. Of rapid growth, its advancement has been substantial, 
its builders recognizing that they should lay the foundation not only 
for present progress but for future growth and upbuilding. Among the 
worthy and influential citizens of the town is numbered George W. 
Mitchell, the president of the Lamro State Bank. He was born in Lodi, 
Wisconsin, August 27, 1867, and is a son of William H. and Susan 
(Canning) Mitchell. The father, who was a farmer by occupation, has 
departed this life but the mother survives and makes her home at 
Winner, South Dakota. 

	Spending his youthful days under the parental roof, George W. 
Mitchell attended the public schools of Wisconsin and afterward entered 
the State University at Madison, while still hater he became a student 
in the Northwestern Business College in the same city. He then went to 
the west and for a period sojourned in Denver but afterward removed to 
Nebraska and while in that state entered a general store, in which he 
was employed as a clerk at a salary of forty dollars per month. It was 
about that time, or in 1890, that he married and established a home of 
his own. He continued clerking for seven years, during which period he 
carefully saved his earnings, practicing close economy as well as 
industry in order to acquire the capital which would enable him to 
engage in business on his own account. When he felt the sum was 
sufficient he opened a general store, which he conducted until 1906, 
when he sold out and removed to South Dakota, first settling at Presho. 
In the spring of 1909, however, he came to Lamro, South Dakota, and 
established the Lamro State Bank, which he subsequently moved to 
Winner. Other banks were also founded here at the opening of the town, 
but Mr. Mitchell is the only one of the original bankers remaining. 
From the outset he has enjoyed a good patronage and the business of the 
bank is now large and satisfactory. Mr. Mitchell has ever maintained a 
safe policy in conducting the bank and has thoroughly won and merited 
the confidence of the stockholders, patrons and the general public. He 
has made judicious investments in property, becoming a large landowner 
in the state. He is one of the organizers of the Chamberlain Land & 
Loan Company, which purchased seventy quarter sections and has since 
disposed of the greater part of this at a good profit. 

	In 1890 Mr. Mitchell wedded Miss Della Saunders and they have one 
child, Brandon E. The parents are members of the Episcopal church, 
taking a helpful interest in its work. Mr. Mitchell votes with the 
republican party and puts forth earnest effort in its behalf yet is not 
an office seeker. Fraternally he is a third degree Mason, a member of 
the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks, the Knights of Pythias and the 
Modern Woodmen. His interest in community affairs is manifest in many 
tangible ways, including his service as president of the executive 
board of the local Chamber of Commerce. He approves the good roads 
movement and stands at all times for public progress, in which 
connection he is a man of action rather than theory. He enjoys 
horseback riding and motoring and is fond of fishing and hunting and 
utilizes those interests for rest and recreation. He leads a busy life, 
makes his work count for the utmost and his ready discrimination 
between the essential and the non-essential is one of the salient 
features in his increasing prosperity.