Eugene Mitchell

Last updated
Eugene Mitchell
Eugene Muse Mitchell.jpg
Mitchell in 1906
President of the Atlanta Board of Education
In role
1911–1912
Personal details
Born
Eugene Muse Mitchell

October 16, 1866
Atlanta, Georgia, U.S.
DiedJune 17, 1944(1944-06-17) (aged 77)
Atlanta, Georgia, U.S.
Resting place Oakland Cemetery
Spouse(s) Mary Isabel Stephens
Children3 (including Margaret Mitchell)
Parent(s)Russel Crawford Mitchell
Deborah Margaret Sweet
Relatives Joseph Mitchell (grandson)
Education University of Georgia
Occupationlawyer, historian

Eugene Muse Mitchell (October 16, 1866 - June 17, 1944) was an American lawyer, politician, and historian. He served as the President of the Atlanta Board of Education from 1911 to 1912, during which time he eliminated the use of corporal punishment in city schools. He owned a law firm in Atlanta, and was a co-founder of the Atlanta Historical Society. He was married to the prominent Catholic activist and suffragist Maybelle Stephens Mitchell and was the father of Margaret Mitchell, who wrote the novel Gone With the Wind .

Contents

Family background and early life

Mitchell was from a prominent Georgia family descended from Thomas Mitchell, a colonial land surveyor originally from Aberdeenshire in Scotland who settled in Wilkes County in 1777 and served in the American Revolutionary War. [1] His great-grandfather, William Mitchell, was born in Edgefield County, South Carolina and owned a farm near Flat Rock. [1] His grandfather, Issac Green Mitchell, farmed in Flat Rock before selling his property to Ira O. McDaniel and purchasing a farm on the north side of the South River in DeKalb County. [1]

His father was Russel Crawford Mitchell, a wealthy lawyer and lumber industrialist who served in the Texas Brigade, an infantry formation of the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War. [2] He was severely wounded at the Battle of Sharpsburg and demoted for "inefficiency", later serving as a nurse in Atlanta. [3] [4] After the war, he made a large fortune supplying lumber for the rebuilding of Atlanta, which had been largely destroyed during the Battle of Atlanta, becoming one of the richest men in Atlanta and serving as the city's mayor. [2] His mother was Deborah Margaret Sweet, the daughter of William Charles Sweet and Mary Ann McKenzie and the granddaughter of Rev. Gospero Sweet and Ann Munnerlyn, who was from Quincy, Florida and met his father while serving as a nurse during the war. [2] [3]

Mitchell was born on October 16, 1866, in Atlanta, the eldest of eleven children. [2] He was educated at Means High School, where he was an exceptional student but often got into fights. [3] He was an undergraduate at the University of Georgia, where he was a member of Phi Beta Kappa, and graduated with the university's highest recorded grade point average at that time. [3] He graduated with honors from the University of Georgia School of Law in 1886. [3] [5] [6] [7]

Marriage, family life, and career

He married Mary Isabel "Maybelle" Stephens, the daughter of Captain John Stephens and Annie Fitzgerald Stephens of Rural Home Plantation, at her family's Jackson Street mansion on November 8, 1892. [7] [8] [9] The wedding was reported in The Atlanta Constitution . [10] Although raised Protestant, and married to a devout Catholic, Mitchell was not fond of organized religion and, despite agreeing to baptize and raise his children in the Catholic faith, he had disdain for the Catholic Church. [3]

In 1893, he opened a law office with his brother, Gordon Forrest Mitchell. [3] The firm was later renamed Mitchell & Mitchell when his son joined him at the practice. [3]

Mitchell and his wife had three children, Russell Stephens Mitchell, Margaret Mitchell, and Alexander Stephens Mitchell. [2] Their first child, Russell, died in infancy. [2] The Mitchells first lived in a two-story, six-room frame cottage at 296 Cain Street in an affluent part of Atlanta inhabited by old families, where all of their children were born. [3] The family was very wealthy and had many servants. [3] They lived a few doors down from the palatial city residence of his mother-in-law, Annie, and near many of his wife's relatives. [3] Mitchell took his family on annual vacations to New York City or Boston, and sometimes they visited Albany by sailing up the Hudson River in an ocean liner. [3]

In 1902 Mitchell moved his family into a large house on the corner of Jackson Street and Highland Avenue in the affluent Jackson Hill neighborhood. [3] [11] A year later, as his law practice prospered, he moved the family into a large, twelve-room, brick Victorian mansion at 179 Jackson Street. [3] The house had a large front porch and was shaded by giant oak trees. [3] At the bottom of Jackson Hill was an African-American neighborhood called Darktown, where some of the Atlanta Race Riot of 1906 occurred. Mitchell was awoken by the sounds of gunshots the night the riot began and wrote to his wife, who was away, the following morning stating, "sixteen negros had been killed and a multitude had been injured" and that "rioters killed or tried to kill every Negro they saw." [12] As the rioting continued, with an angry mob of 10,000 white people assembling in the streets beating and killing black people, false rumors began spreading that black men were assaulting white women and would potentially burn down Jackson Hill. [13] At his daughter Margaret's suggestion, Mitchell stood guard of his home with a sword, as he did not own a gun. [14] No attack occurred on the Mitchell home.

In 1909, Mitchell purchased a large lot at 1149 on Peachtree Street, where he built a two-story Colonial Revival mansion with terraces. [3] The family moved into the house in 1912, which had a parlor, a sitting room, a music room, a dining room, a large kitchen, a pantry, a large front entrance hall, and upstairs bedrooms that opened out onto porches. [3] [15] Their former home on Jackson Street was destroyed in the Great Atlanta Fire of 1917. [16]

Mitchell served as president of the Atlanta Board of Education from 1911 to 1912, during which he abolished corporal punishment in public schools. [17] [18] [17] He was a co-founder of the Atlanta Historical Society. [19]

He died on June 17, 1944, in Atlanta and is buried in Oakland Cemetery. [20]

Related Research Articles

<i>Gone with the Wind</i> (novel) 1936 novel by Margaret Mitchell

Gone with the Wind is a novel by American writer Margaret Mitchell, first published in 1936. The story is set in Clayton County and Atlanta, both in Georgia, during the American Civil War and Reconstruction Era. It depicts the struggles of young Scarlett O'Hara, the spoiled daughter of a well-to-do plantation owner, who must use every means at her disposal to claw her way out of poverty following Sherman's destructive "March to the Sea". This historical novel features a coming-of-age story, with the title taken from the poem “Non Sum Qualis eram Bonae Sub Regno Cynarae”, written by Ernest Dowson.

Margaret Mitchell American author and journalist

Margaret Munnerlyn Mitchell was an American novelist and journalist. Mitchell wrote only one novel, published during her lifetime, the American Civil War-era novel Gone with the Wind, for which she won the National Book Award for Most Distinguished Novel of 1936 and the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1937. In recent years long after her death, a collection of Mitchell's girlhood writings and a novella she wrote as a teenager, titled Lost Laysen, have been published. A collection of newspaper articles written by Mitchell for The Atlanta Journal was republished in book form.

Crawford Long 19th-century American physician

Crawford Williamson Long was an American surgeon and pharmacist best known for his first use of inhaled sulfuric ether as an anesthetic.

History of Atlanta Aspect of history

The history of Atlanta dates back to 1836, when Georgia decided to build a railroad to the U.S. Midwest and a location was chosen to be the line's terminus. The stake marking the founding of "Terminus" was driven into the ground in 1837. In 1839, homes and a store were built there and the settlement grew. Between 1845 and 1854, rail lines arrived from four different directions, and the rapidly growing town quickly became the rail hub for the entire Southern United States. During the American Civil War, Atlanta, as a distribution hub, became the target of a major Union campaign, and in 1864, Union William Sherman's troops set on fire and destroyed the city's assets and buildings, save churches and hospitals. After the war, the population grew rapidly, as did manufacturing, while the city retained its role as a rail hub. Coca-Cola was launched here in 1886 and grew into an Atlanta-based world empire. Electric streetcars arrived in 1889, and the city added new "streetcar suburbs".

Peachtree Street Main street of Atlanta, Georgia, USA

Peachtree Street is one of several major streets running through the city of Atlanta. Beginning at Five Points in downtown Atlanta, it runs North through Midtown; a few blocks after entering into Buckhead, the name changes to Peachtree Road at Deering Road. Much of the city's historic and noteworthy architecture is located along the street, and it is often used for annual parades,, as well as one-time parades celebrating events such as the 100th anniversary of Coca-Cola in 1986 and the Atlanta Braves' 1995 World Series victory.

Buckhead District of Atlanta

Buckhead is the uptown commercial and residential district of the city of Atlanta, Georgia, comprising approximately the northernmost fifth of the city. Buckhead is the third largest business district within the Atlanta city limits, behind Downtown and Midtown, a major commercial and financial center of the Southeast.

Margaret Mitchell House and Museum United States historic place

The Margaret Mitchell House is a historic house museum located in Atlanta, Georgia. The structure was the home of author Margaret Mitchell in the early 20th century. It is located in Midtown, at 979 Crescent Avenue. Constructed by Cornelius J. Sheehan as a single-family residence in a then-fashionable section of residential Peachtree Street, the building's original address was 806 Peachtree Street. The house was known as the Crescent Apartments when Mitchell and her husband lived in Apt. 1 on the ground floor from 1925 to 1932. While living there, Mitchell wrote the bulk of her Pulitzer Prize-winning 1936 novel, Gone with the Wind.

Oakland Cemetery (Atlanta) Historic garden cemetery in Atlanta, Georgia, United States

Oakland Cemetery is one of the largest cemetery green spaces, in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. Founded as Atlanta Cemetery in 1850 on six acres (2.4 hectares) of land southeast of the city, it was renamed in 1872 to reflect the large number of oak and magnolia trees growing in the area. By that time, the city had grown and the cemetery had enlarged correspondingly to the current 48 acres (190,000 m2). Since then, Atlanta has continued to expand so that the cemetery is now located in the center of the city. Oakland is an excellent example of a Victorian-style cemetery, and reflects the "garden cemetery" movement started and exemplified by Mount Auburn Cemetery in Massachusetts.

Joel Hurt

Joel Hurt (1850–1926) was an American businessman. He was the president of Trust Company of Georgia, and a developer in Atlanta. He was one of the many founders of SunTrust Bank.

William Yates Atkinson American politician

William Yates Atkinson, was the 55th Governor of Georgia from 1894 to 1898.

Neel Reid American architect

Joseph Neel Reid, also referred to as Neel Reid, was a prominent architect in Atlanta, Georgia, in the early 20th century as a partner in his firm Hentz, Reid and Adler.

Alonzo Herndon

Alonzo Franklin Herndon was an African-American entrepreneur and businessman in Atlanta, Georgia. Born into slavery, he became one of the first African American millionaires in the United States, first achieving success by owning and operating three large barber shops in the city that served prominent white men. In 1905 he became the founder and president of what he built to be one of the United States' most well-known and successful African-American businesses, the Atlanta Family Life Insurance Company.

Georgian Terrace Hotel

The Georgian Terrace Hotel in Midtown Atlanta, part of the Fox Theatre Historic District, was designed by architect William Lee Stoddart in a Beaux-Arts style that was intended to evoke the architecture of Paris. Construction commenced on July 21, 1910, and ended on September 8, 1911, and the hotel opened on October 2, 1911. The George C. Fuller Construction Company was contractor, and the developer was Joseph F. Gatins, Jr.

Rufus M. Rose House United States historic place

The Rufus M. Rose House is a late Victorian, Queen Anne style house located in the SoNo district of Atlanta, Georgia. Occupying a narrow lot on Peachtree Street, one and half blocks south of North Avenue, the house was built in 1901 for Dr. Rufus Mathewson Rose. The architect was Emil Charles Seiz (1873-1940), who designed many residential and commercial structures in the city, including the 1924 Massellton Apartments on Ponce de Leon Avenue.

Joseph Reynolds Mitchell was an American heir and philanthropist; one of the two nephews of Margaret Mitchell, author of Gone with the Wind; and the last family member to control the Mitchell Estate.

One Georgia Center Skyscraper in Atlanta

One Georgia Center is a skyscraper in SoNo, Atlanta, at the intersection of West Peachtree Street and North Avenue. Completed in 1968, the 24-story building is notable for its Georgia marble exterior.

St. Lukes Episcopal Church (Atlanta) Church in Georgia , United States

St. Luke's Episcopal Church is an Episcopal church in Atlanta, Georgia. The parish was founded in 1864, with the current building on Peachtree Street constructed in 1906.

Annie Elizabeth Fitzgerald Stephens was an American landowner, businesswoman, and political activist. She was born to a prominent planting family in Clayton County, Georgia and grew up on the family plantation, Rural Home. The daughter of an Irish immigrant, she was a devout Catholic. Stephens was involved in real estate endeavors in Atlanta and sued the federal government after General William Tecumseh Sherman's Siege of Atlanta, during the American Civil War, damaged some of her properties. Some historians, literary critics, and film critics, including Molly Haskell, consider her to be the inspiration behind the fictional character Scarlett O'Hara, from Stephen's granddaughter, Margaret Mitchell,'s novel Gone With the Wind.

Maybelle Stephens Mitchell American suffragist

Mary Isabel "Maybelle" Stephens Mitchell was an American suffragist, clubwoman, and activist. Born into a prestigious planting family of Irish Catholic background, she was educated at the Villa Maria Convent in Quebec and the Atlanta Female Seminary in Georgia. A social and political activist, Mitchell was a leader in the women's suffrage movement in Georgia, protesting against state laws and meeting with local politicians to advocate for the rights of women, and was a member of the Atlanta Woman's Club. In 1915, she served as the president of the Atlanta Women's Suffrage League and, later, co-founded the League of Women Voters in Georgia. Mitchell helped establish the Catholic Layman's Association of Georgia, fighting against Anti-Catholicism in the United States. She was the mother of author and journalist Margaret Mitchell, whose character Ellen Robillard O'Hara from Gone With the Wind may have been based on Mitchell.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Mitchell, Stephens. "Margaret Mitchell and Her People in the Atlanta Area". The Atlanta Historical Bulletin.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Davis, Anita Price (10 January 2014). The Margaret Mitchell Encyclopedia. McFarland. p. 101. ISBN   9780786492459 . Retrieved 6 February 2022– via Google Books.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 Marianne Walker. "Margaret Mitchell & John Marsh" (PDF). Peachtree-online.com. Retrieved 6 February 2022.
  4. ↑ Simpson, Harold B. (1977). Hood's Texas Brigade: A Compendium. Hillsboro, TX: Hill Jr. College Press. p. 69. ISBN   0912172223.
  5. ↑ Candler, Allen D.; Evans, Clement A. (1906). Cyclopedia of Georgia. Vol. 2 of 3. Atlanta, Georgia: State Historical Association. pp. 602–605. OCLC   3300148.
  6. ↑ Garrett, Franklin M. (1969). Atlanta and Environs: a chronicle of its people and events. Vol. 1. Athens, Georgia: University of Georgia Press. p. 819. ISBN   0820302635.
  7. 1 2 Ruppersburg, Hugh (2007). The New Georgia Encyclopedia Companion to Georgia Literature. Athens, Georgia: University of Georgia Press. p. 326. ISBN   9780820328768.
  8. ↑ Historical Jonesboro/Clayton County Inc. Jonesboro-Historical Jonesboro. Mount Pleasant, SC: Arcadia Publishing, 2007. p. 8. ISBN   0-7385-4355-1
  9. ↑ Reed, Wallace Putnam (1889). History of Atlanta, Georgia: with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers. Syracuse, New York: D. Mason & Co. p. 563. OCLC   12564880.
  10. ↑ The Chi Phi Chakett: Graduate Personals. January 1893, Vol. V, p. 135.
  11. ↑ Bartley, Numen V. The Evolution of Southern Culture, Athens, GA: University of Georgia Press, 1988. p. 89. ISBN   0-8203-0993-1
  12. ↑ Hobson, Fred C. South to the future: an American region in the twenty-first century, p. 19-21.
  13. ↑ Godshalk, David Fort. Veiled Visions: the 1906 Atlanta race riot and the reshaping of American race relations. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2005. p. 38. ISBN   978-0-8078-5626-0
  14. ↑ Bartley, N. V., The Evolution of Southern Culture, p. 92.
  15. ↑ Williford, William Bailey. Peachtree Street, Atlanta. Athens, GA: University of Georgia Press, 1962. p. 122-123. ISBN   978-0-8203-3477-6
  16. ↑ Mitchell, Margaret (2000). Before Scarlett: Girlhood writings of Margaret Mitchell. ISBN   9781892514622.
  17. 1 2 Hornady, John R. Atlanta: yesterday, today and tomorrow. American Cities Book Company, 1922. p. 351-352. OCLC   656762028
  18. ↑ Fifield, James Clark. The American Bar. Minneapolis: J.C. Fifield Company, 1918. p. 97. OCLC   8308264
  19. ↑ Dickey, Jennifer W. (1 April 2014). A Tough Little Patch of History: Gone with the Wind and the Politics of Memory. University of Arkansas Press. p. 23. ISBN   9781610755436 . Retrieved 6 February 2022– via Google Books.
  20. ↑ Davis, Anita Price (10 January 2014). The Margaret Mitchell Encyclopedia. McFarland. ISBN   9780786492459 . Retrieved 6 February 2022– via Google Books.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.