Charles F. Mitchell

Charles Franklin Mitchell (February 18, 1806 – September 27, 1865) was a U.S. Representative from New York in the Twenty-fifth and Twenty-sixth Congresses.

For other people named Charles Mitchell, see Charles Mitchell (disambiguation).
Charles Mitchell
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from New York's 33rd district
In office
March 4, 1837 – March 3, 1841
Preceded byGideon Hard
Succeeded byAlfred Babcock
Personal details
Born
Charles Franklin Mitchell

(1806-02-18)February 18, 1806
Middletown Township, Pennsylvania, U.S.
DiedSeptember 27, 1865(1865-09-27) (aged 59)
Cincinnati, Ohio, U.S.
Resting placeSpring Grove Cemetery
Political partyWhig (Before 1856)
Republican (1856–1865)

Biography

Mitchell was born in Middletown Township, Bucks County, Pennsylvania, on February 18, 1806.[1][2][3] A Quaker,[4][5] he attended the public schools in Pennsylvania and became a journeyman miller. He settled in Lockport, New York, in 1828 or 1829, operated a successful grain milling business, and was appointed to the volunteer fire department in 1829.[6][7] He was also active in other business ventures, including the Batavia and Lockport Railroad[8] and the Niagara Suspension Bridge Bank.[9]

On December 2, 1829, he married Elizabeth F. Ellis in Henrietta, New York.[10][11][12] She was born in Princeton, New Jersey, on October 23, 1809, and died in Cincinnati, Ohio, on February 24, 1898.[13][14]

Active as a Whig, he was an early protege and business partner of Thurlow Weed.[15] In 1836 he was elected to the U.S. House as the Representative of New York's 33rd District. He was reelected in 1838 and served from March 4, 1837, to March 3, 1841.[16][17][18]

During his second term he was accused of not devoting his full attention to the business of Congress, and of not spending time in his district.[19] He was convicted of forgery later in 1841, and sentenced to one year in prison and a fine, but paroled for ill health, and later pardoned.[20][21][22][23][24][25][26]

He later lived in Cincinnati and northern Kentucky.[27] By the time of the American Civil War, Mitchell had established himself in Flemingsburg, Kentucky.[28] By now a Republican, in 1860 and 1861 he sent letters to Abraham Lincoln and others in Lincoln's administration, in which he described the Kentucky political situation and the prospects for success at keeping the state in the Union.[29]

Later in the war Mitchell was part of a delegation that lobbied Secretary of State William H. Seward for the release of individuals from the Flemingsburg area who were being held prisoner for suspected Confederate sympathies, with Mitchell taking part because he was personally acquainted with Seward from their time as Whig politicians in New York.[30]

He died in Cincinnati, Ohio, on September 27, 1865, and was buried at Spring Grove Cemetery in Cincinnati.[31]

References
  1. Spring Grove Cemetery, Burial record, Charles F. Mitchell Archived 2016-03-04 at the Wayback Machine, accessed September 18, 2013
  2. Joseph C. Martindale, M.D., History of the Townships of Byberry and Moreland, in Philadelphia, Pa., 1867, page 206
  3. Rochester Monthly Meeting, Monroe County, New York: Quaker Records, Results for Charles F. Mitchell. The text reads: Charles F Mitchell s Walter & Hannah Lockport Elizabeth F Ellis b 3-2-1776, dt Barzillai & Mary Brighton m 12-2-1829 (H) Henrietta Cert fr Chesterfield 5-6-1828 for Elizabeth Cert fr Middletown, PA 8-7-1829 (H) for Charles F.
  4. Donald A. Clark, The Notorious "Bull" Nelson: Murdered Civil War General, 2011, page 40
  5. Mark E. Neely, The Civil War and the Limits of Destruction, 2009, page 188
  6. Clarence O. Lewis, Niagara Gazette, Pioneer Leaders of Frontier are Recalled, September 20, 1964
  7. Lockport Journal, Pioneer Firemen, June 4, 1904
  8. New York Secretary of State, Laws of the State of New York, Volume 59, 1836, pages 634-635
  9. Upper Canada Legislature, Journal of the House of Assembly of Upper Canada, 1838, page 219
  10. Central Library of Rochester and Monroe County, Indexes, 1818-1850, ELE-GEN, marriage record, Elizabeth F. Ellis and Charles F. Mitchell, Digitized 2006, page 21
  11. Central New York Genealogical Society, Tree Talks, Volumes 16-17, 1976, page 107
  12. Society of Friends, Rochester Monthly Meeting, Quaker Records, Rochester, Monroe County, New York, 1900, page 97
  13. Maysville (Kentucky) Daily Register, Death Notice, Mrs. Charles F. Mitchell, February 25, 1898. Text: Mrs. Charles F. Mitchell, whose husband some years since was in the milling business at Flemingsburg, died this week at her home in Walnut Hills, Cincinnati, aged 88
  14. Friends' Intelligencer and Journal, Death Notice, Elizabeth F. Mitchell, page 187, March 12, 1898
  15. Glyndon Garlock Van Deusen, Thurlow Weed, Wizard of the Lobby, 1969, page 139
  16. Geneva Gazette, The Late Election, December 7, 1836
  17. Republican Watchman (Monticello, New York), Congressional Canvass, December 27, 1838
  18. Sanford & Company, History of Niagara County, N.Y., 1878, page 108
  19. Blair and Rives, Extra Globe, The "Hon." Charles F. Mitchell, May 26, 1841, page 28
  20. Thurlow Weed, Life of Thurlow Weed, 1883, page 159
  21. Jeremiah Hughes, Editor and Publisher, Niles' National Register, Volume 61, November 27, 1841, page 208
  22. Henry Clay, The Papers of Henry Clay: The Whig Leader, January 1, 1837-December 31, 1843, 1988, page 519
  23. Houston Daily Mercury, The Lockport Union Has a Bit of History to Tell, December 24, 1873
  24. William M. Gouge, The Journal of Banking, From July 1841 to July 1842, 1842, page 183
  25. Prison Association of New York, Report of the Prison Association of New York, 1845, page 51
  26. New York Spectator, General Sessions, July 15, July 15, 1842
  27. 1850 United States Federal Census, entry for Charles F. Mitchell, accessed via Ancestry.com, September 17, 2013
  28. Lewis Collins, Richard Henry Collins, Collins' Historical Sketches of Kentucky: History of Kentucky, Volume 1, 1878, page 361
  29. Abraham Lincoln, The Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln, Volume 4, 2008, pages 54-55
  30. J. Marshall Crawford, Mosby and His Men: A Record of the Adventures of that Renowned Partisan, 1867, page 86
  31. Charles Franklin Mitchell at Find A Grave
  • The Political Graveyard
  • United States Congress. "Charles F. Mitchell (id: M000806)". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.

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