Clarke-Rockbridge-Albemarle County Virginia USGenWeb Archives Biographies.....Mitchell, Roland Greene 1873 - ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/va/vafiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Joy Fisher http://www.rootsweb.com/~archreg/vols/00001.html#0000031 February 23, 2008, 10:16 am Author: Leonard Wilson (1916) ROLAND GREENE MITCHELL WHETHER judged from a scenic or a utilitarian standpoint, the Valley of Virginia is not surpassed in the United States and probably not in the world. Its rolling fields, covered with bounteous harvests of small grain, its meadows green with lush grasses, and its hills crowned with splendid orchards, all bounded by the Blue Mountains which appeal to the artist, and so impress even the city-bred man, as to make him feel a desire to forsake the pavements of the city for the green fields and sparkling brooks of this favored country. It is not surprising, therefore, that during these later years many men whose training has been in the cities have been led by the fair prospects of this smiling country to become identified with it and to contribute their part toward the increase of its productivity. Prominent among the younger citizens of the Lower Valley is Roland Greene Mitchell, of Boyce, farmer and lawyer. He was born at 1121 Spruce St., Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on April 4, 1873, son of Henry Post and Rebecca Simmons (Price) Mitchell. Retiring from business activities in the city, Mr. Mitchell's father, mother, and his brother, Joseph Price Mitchell, moved from New York City, where they were then living, to Brownsburg, Rockbridge County, Virginia, in 1881, locating on a thousand acre farm. Mr. Mitchell, then a boy of school age, after preparatory training, by a private tutor, was sent to the Augusta Military Academy, and thence to the Washington and Lee University, graduating in the law. He practiced his profession in Lexington and Brownsburg for two years, but the lure of the land was so powerful that he abandoned the law to manage his father's live stock interests, which occupation he followed until his marriage in 1910, when he began farming on his own account at his present location. A Democrat in his political beliefs, a man of force and of personal popularity, while a resident of Rockbridge, he was elected and served two terms in the General Assembly of Virginia as the representative of Rockbridge County and the city of Buena Vista. His removal from the Upper Valley to the Lower Valley did not affect his interests in political matters, and he is now serving as a member of the Democratic Executive Committee of Clarke County. Aside from his farming, he is interested in the banking business, being Vice-President of Boyce State Bank. He is a member of the Episcopal Church, which he serves in official capacity as a vestryman; and is affiliated with the Kappa Alpha College fraternity. Mr. Mitchell was married at Millwood, Virginia, ou January 4, 1910, to Susan Randolph Page, daughter of Robert Powell and Agnes (Burwell) Page. Mrs. Mitchell's family and Christian names recall much of the glorious history of the "Old Dominion" made by Randolphs, Pages and Burwells. Mr. and Mrs. Mitchell have one little son, Henry Post Mitchell (2), who was born on March 17, 1911. Also a daughter, Agnes Page Mitchell, born August 5, 1914. Every thoughtful man in the United States, who takes the trouble to look a little way beneath the surface, has realized for some years past that our national growth has been far too one-sided. Fifty years ago, no nation in the world occupied so favorable a position as the American Union. At that time sixty-five or seventy per cent, of our people were on the land, our cities were small, and our manufacturers, such as we then had, were prosperous. Then we went mad about manufacturing, and these last fifty years have seen the most marvelous development of manufacturing industries that the world has ever known, with the result that our cities have had an unhealthy and abnormal growth, our railroads a speculative extension, if indeed not too great an extension, and the people have become obsessed with the gambling mania. As a result of this, we see to-day one of the most fertile countries in the world, having the largest area for its population of any of the great civilized nations, actually having difficulty in feeding itself. Our lands are fertile and broad, but we have cultivated one side and forgotten the other. The cry of "back to the land" is not merely academic. It is founded on a vital and practical fact-which fact is, that unless we can readjust in some measure our population, and put a larger part on the land, our broad and fecund fields will fail for want of sufficient labor, to supply the necessities of life to our teeming population. It is to the credit, therefore, of men like the subject of this sketch that they have been willing to put their brains, their labor and their money into this great interest which has been, if not impoverished, at least attenuated by an unwise greed to make great fortunes quickly. Mr. Mitchell is descended from that sturdy English stock which settled New England, and despite harsh climate, savage Indians and infertile soil, was instrumental in establishing a half dozen powerful and prosperous Commonwealths. To their credit be it said that, though the necessities of their condition made them frugal and they attached much value to the dollar, they never for a moment forgot the claims of the higher life, and education and religion went hand-in-hand with the business of money-getting. Mr. Mitchell's immediate family belonged to the Island of Nantucket, and his forbears included the good old English names of "Minturn" and "Post" in addition to his own family name. The Minturn family (also spelled "Minterne" and "Mintern") was long settled in Dorsetshire, England; and members of this family were among the early settlers of the Narragansett section of Massachusetts, becoming prominent in the church. The Post family came from County Kent, England, and was founded in New England by Stephen Post, who came with his brother Richard from Chelmsford, England, in 1634. Stephen stopped on the Connecticut side of the Sound, and Richard settled on Long Island. It is of interest to note that there was also a Holland Dutch family bearing the identical name of "Post" which settled later in New York State, and from this Holland family have come some splendid men. The first of the Mitchells in Massachusetts was Experience. He landed at Plymouth on the third ship which came over, the "Ann," in 1023. The next was Matthew Mitchell, born in England in 1590. He came to Massachusetts on August 7, 1635, and died in 1645. About the same period came the Rev. Jonathan Mitchell, who was the founder and pastor of the First Church of Cambridge, Massachusetts. Of these three, probably Experience Mitchell has the largest number of descendants, who are widely scattered all over the country. Settlers from Massachusetts came to Nantucket in 1650. John Post, who was evidently a son of Stephen, the immigrant, was one of the first settlers of Norwich, Connecticut, in 1660; and the probabilities are that the Posts of Nantucket were also descendants of Stephen. When the Minturns came cannot be stated definitely. The Nantucket Mitchell family certainly in part adhered to the Society of Friends, and from that part of the family was descended William Mitchell, born in 1790; his daughter, Maria, born 1818; and his son, Henry, born 1830; who constituted the most brilliant group of astronomers that this country has ever known. Also to this Massachusetts group of Mitchells belonged the Rev. Dr. Hinckley Gilbert Mitchell, clergyman and professor; Charles Eliot Mitchell, famous lawyer and former Commissioner of Patents; John Ames Mitchell, a great writer and the founder of "Life"; Doctors Henry and John M. Mitchell, famous physicians and medical authors; Professor Elisha Mitchell, clergyman and professor, who lost his life on Mt. Mitchell, which was named in his honor, and which is the highest point in the United States east of the Rockies. In addition to these, there were several other distinguished Mitchells from New England who had a different origin, being descended from a Scotch family which settled in Connecticut; and Philadelphia has been the scene of the life-work of two very eminent physicians of the Mitchell family, who belonged to another Scotch family originally settled in Virginia. Those specified by name here, however, all belonged to the Massachusetts English Mitchells. The Mitchell Coat of Arms is described as follows: "Sable a chevron or, between three escallops argent." Additional Comments: Extracted from: MAKERS OF AMERICA BIOGRAPHIES OF LEADING MEN OF THOUGHT AND ACTION THE MEN WHO CONSTITUTE THE BONE AND SINEW OF AMERICAN PROSPERITY AND LIFE VOLUME II By LEONARD WILSON, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF ASSISTED BY PROMINENT HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL WRITERS Illustrated with many full page engravings B. F. JOHNSON, INC. CITY OF WASHINGTON, U. S. A. 1916 Copyright, 1916 by B. F. Johnson, Inc. Photo: http://www.usgwarchives.net/va/clarke/photos/bios/mitchell51gbs.jpg File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/va/clarke/bios/mitchell51gbs.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/vafiles/ File size: 9.5 Kb