Tulare County Biographies

ADOLPHUS MITCHELL

Transcribed by Kathy Sedler

This file is part of the California Genealogy & History Archives
http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~cagha/index.htm

 
The life of Adolphus Mitchell has been closely identified with the early history 
and development of the state of California, and he is numbered among those 
pioneer settlers who have been instrumental in its progress for many years. He 
is a representative of an old and honored family, members of which have taken 
active part in the wars of the new as well as the old world. He is the son of 
Lewis and Mary E. (Duff) Mitchell. His grandfather, Solomon Mitchell, was a 
soldier in the Revolutionary war, and fought under General Pickens of South 
Carolina, while his son, Lewis Mitchell, father of Adolphus, was a soldier in 
the war of 1812. The latter's death occurred in 1861, when he was aged about 
seventy years. On the maternal side, the Duff family is of Irish descent. His 
grandfather, Robert Duff, was major in the Irish rebel army. The Irish lost 
their cause, and so Mr. Duff came to America; but on account of religious 
difficulties he dressed in woman's clothes, was stowed away on a vessel and thus 
came to America, locating in West Virginia. Robert Duff married Miss Dickerson, 
who was also of Irish extraction, and their daughter was Mary E. Duff, who was 
born in West Virginia. Her husband, Lewis Mitchell, was born in South Carolina.
Adolphus Mitchell was born in Hawkins county, in eastern Tennessee, May 28, 
1829, and in 1836 moved with his parents to southwestern Missouri, in what was 
then Barry county, but which has been changed to McDonald county. He attended 
the common schools there, but at that time the method of educating was very 
crude, owing to the lack of facilities. The lights used were pine knots and 
candles. His entire attendance at school here covered a period of only nine 
months, the last two months when he was over twenty years of age. Reared on the 
frontier, accustomed to face hardships and unflinchingly forge ahead, he was a 
man well fitted for work in his new home. He remained at home until he had 
reached the age of twenty-five years, when he started out with oxen and wagons 
for the coast, but finally decided to leave them on Green River, and packed from 
there. He had many encounters with Indians en route, both warriors and friendly, 
but he finally arrived in California August 5, 1855. As he was undecided what 
line of work to follow he stopped in the mines for a time and then came to 
Tulare county, where, in 1857, he embarked in the cattle business, buying 
Spanish cattle to the amount of a hundred and fifty head, at $12.50, pasture 
being free. The next spring he sold thirty head at $30 each.
Mr. Mitchell had decided not to follow the miner's life because of their ill 
luck, and accordingly in 1859 bought land in Visalia, when that town had but 
three business houses. He had crossed the plains in company with, his brother 
and there was also a Mrs. Billips in the party, whom he afterward found keeping 
a restaurant in Visalia. At the time of this purchase the houses there had 
canvas tops and were rudely built. He has seen this country grow to its present 
proportions and has benefited by it. In 1857 he met Colonel Baker, founder of 
Bakersfield, who advised him to buy land. This he did, from time to time, until 
he owned twelve hundred acres in that vicinity. Through all his hard struggle to 
gain a foothold in the new country, Mr. Mitchell had the assistance and earnest 
cooperation of his brother, Ozro, who was born June 4, 1831, and whose death 
occurred in December, 1906, at Mr. Mitchell's home, which had always been his. 
He had never married.
On January 11, 1862, the flood covered their tract with water, and there seemed 
to be three waves pass through the valley. The second flood, on December 24, 
1867, coming in one wave, covered everything. Mr. Mitchell returned to Missouri 
in 1869, leaving Visalia on the 9th of June and arriving home in the same month. 
Here he remained for a time, being taken with an attack of typhoid in July, and 
he was obliged to stay there for fifteen months, during which time his marriage 
took place. He returned to California, by stage from Stockton, and settled on a 
ranch near Visalia, where he made a specialty of raising stock, but at the time 
the railroad came was giving his attention to the cultivation of wheat. Visalia 
courthouse was to be moved by the railroad, but as the Constitution prohibits 
removal more than once, and it was formerly at Woodville and thence removed to 
Visalia, it could not be taken to Tulare as they proposed. However, it was a 
hard fight to hold it at Visalia, but through the hard work of the citizens it 
was finally kept there. Mr. Mitchell had rented sixteen hundred acres for cattle 
in what is now Kings county, and owning cattle, was there when the county 
division was made.
Mr. Mitchell was married to Susan Bogie, who was born in Cannon county, Tenn., 
but had lived in Missouri since 1859. They had five children born to them, viz.: 
Mary, who is unmarried; Walter Franklin, who works on his father's ranch; Addie, 
who is the widow of Edward C. Jones, of Visalia; Chester, deceased; and Arthur 
Galen, who is also on the ranch with his father. Mr. Mitchell owned at one time 
about twenty-five hundred acres of land, but he has divided his property among 
his children.
Mr. Mitchell takes an active interest in all public matters and is a 
progressive, energetic citizen, but he would never consent to holding office. 
Since 1856 he has made many prophesies concerning the welfare and growth of his 
adopted state, and they have in most cases materialized. A self-made, 
self-educated man, he is public-spirited and interested in all that tends to the 
prosperity of his community, and he is well known throughout the county as a 
most successful man.
 
History of Tulare and Kings Counties, California with Biographical Sketches - 
Los Angeles, Calif., Historic Record Company, 1913, Pp 803-805