Mitchell, James (of Jacksonville)

Born: 1827-07-04 New York

Died: 1902-09-26 Jacksonville, Illinois

Flourished: 1858 to 1902 Jacksonville, Illinois

James Mitchell enlisted as an apprentice in the U.S. Navy in 1837 and remained in the service for several years. He re-enlisted as an ordinary seaman in 1847 for a three-year term of service during the Mexican War and was discharged in 1849. Mitchell subsequently settled in Jacksonville, Illinois sometime before 1858, where he worked as a blind and sash maker and was active with the volunteer Union Fire Company. On the advent of the Civil War Mitchell served as a first lieutenant in the Tenth Illinois Infantry between April and July of 1861. He married Martha A. Rust in 1862 and was survived by five children from this marriage.

Daily Illinois State Journal (Springfield), 21 July 1858, 2:4; U.S. Census Office, Eighth Census of the United States (1860), Jacksonville, Morgan County, IL, 52; Illinois Civil War Muster and Descriptive Rolls, Illinois State Archives, Springfield, IL; Illinois Statewide Marriage Index, Morgan County, 23 April 1862, Illinois State Archives, Springfield, IL; U.S., Civil War Draft Registration Records, 1863-1865(Lehi, UT: Ancestry.com Operations, 2010); Jacksonville Daily Journal (IL), 27 September 1902, 4:1; Illinois State Register (Springfield), 28 September 1902, 1:8; Gravestone, Diamond Grove Cemetery, Jacksonville, IL.