By Gene Kemmeter

Columnist

Was Mathias Mitchell one of Thomas G. and Hester Mitchell’s children?

The 1840 U.S. Census showed Mathias living next door to Thomas in Deerfield in Boone County, Ill., and that usually hints at some kind of relationship.

The search for finding out who Mathias was has become longer than expected. Mathias, who was born in 1812 or 1813, could have been Thomas and Hester’s child.

Thomas was born in 1787, and Hester was born about 1794, so Thomas would have been about 25 and Hester, 18, when Mathias was born.

Thomas and Hester are linked to four children on the findagrave website, yet there are indications the family was larger.

The listed children include:

* Mary Ann Mitchell (1822-1904) who married Abram Stewart and is buried in Moscow, Idaho.

* Rachel Mitchell (1826-1909) who married James Milliken and is buried in Capron, Boone County, Ill.

* Peter Mitchell (1828-1918) who married Laura E. Field and is buried in Buffalo, N.Y.

* Priscilla Mitchell (1830-1913) who married William Taylor in Boone County and is buried in Moscow, Idaho.

Rachel says in a biographical sketch in the “1909 Boone County Historical Biography” that she came to Illinois with her two older brothers Samuel and Alexander in 1837 when she was 11 years old. Her father joined them that winter, the sketch says, and her mother came the following fall.

That would mean Thomas and Hester had at least six children.

Rachel also said Samuel soon left for Sugar River in Wisconsin (now Albany in Green County), and Alexander farmed in the area until 1850 when he left for Pike’s Peak, dying en route.

Peter was a pioneer explorer for iron ore and minerals in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan and on the Mesabi range in northeastern Minnesota.

A biography of Peter Mitchell presented to the St. Louis County (Minn.) Historical Society July 27, 1929, reported when he was 18, he went to live with his brother Samuel in Green County, Wis.

In 1847, they headed to northern Wisconsin to the headwaters of the Wisconsin River, continuing to Lake Superior.

Samuel (1816-1902) is recorded in the 1850 Census, age 33, a lumberman living in Wausau with his wife Jane and two sons.

He is buried in Albany, Green County, Wis., where he was one of the pioneer settlers, but his gravesite is not linked to the other four.

Did Samuel and Peter stop to visit Mathias, who lived close to the river in Stevens Point?

Peter settled in Ontonagon, Mich., using it as his base while he explored the copper regions of northern Michigan and Minnesota.

While there, he also served as sheriff and a state highway commissioner, in addition to his travels in Michigan and Minnesota.

Although his mother Hester came to Ontonagon and is buried there, he is buried beside his wife in Buffalo,

Alexander Mitchell is listed in five records on Ancestry as marrying Margaret Snowden on Aug. 7, 1842, in Boone County, Ill., but there were no other records found on Ancestry or other sites for Alexander.

There are three other possible children besides Mathias, who would be the oldest in the family with an 1812 birthdate: Isaac (1816- unknown); Samantha (1834-unknown) and Alvera (1840-1889).

Isaac first appears in the 1850 Census, living in Boone County with his wife Esther and three children.

In the 1855 Illinois State Census, he is listed directly below Thomas G., with his wife and four children, living in Boone County.

He is last listed as living in Shasta County in California in the 1860 Census with his wife and four children.

Isaac apparently died in that decade, because his wife Esther is listed as keeping house with his son Marshall Mitchell, 22, a farmer, who is head of household in the 1870 Census.

Samantha was born in 1834 and was living with Thomas and Hester in the 1850 Census. Samantha married Josiah Chandler Sept. 12, 1850, according to Boone County records.

Josiah and Samantha are listed in the 1856 Iowa State Census, living in Union in Story County in central Iowa, north of Des Moines, with their daughter Mary, 3.

That’s the last record found on the Chandlers.

Alvera was married to Thomas Hopkin Emmons Oct. 9, 1859, in Neosho Falls, Kan., died April 1, 1925, and is buried in Evergreen Cemetery in Ontonagon, Mich.

She is listed as born in Pennsylvania in the 1850 Census, Illinois in the 1870 Census and Kansas on her Michigan Death Certificate, which also lists her father as Robert Mitchell.

No records could be found about Robert.

The 1929 biographical sketch about Peter Mitchell delivered in St. Louis, Minn., says his father served on Gen. George Washington’s staff in the Revolutionary War and was present when British Gen. John Andre was hanged Oct. 2, 1870, as a spy for negotiating with Benedict Arnold to turn over the fort at West Point, N.Y., to the British.

However, Thomas G. Mitchell was born Feb. 6, 1787, in Pennsylvania, after the war was over to Thomas Mitchell (1754-1824) and Sarah Hyatt (1757-1820). So, Thomas G. couldn’t possibly have been present at the hanging. But maybe, his father was.

A search for “Thomas Mitchell” with a birthdate in the 1750s revealed the Mitchell Family Tree.

The Daughters of the American Revolution and the Sons of the American Revolution have developed extensive family trees to verify membership eligibility in the organizations.

The Thomas G. Mitchell Family Tree states he married Hester Cowen and they had 13 children together.

He also had one daughter from another relationship.Mathias was the first child when he was born in Pennsylvania in 1813.

A daughter Sarah was born July 12, 1814, and died Aug. 25, 1875, but little is known about her.

Then came Isaac, Samuel, Mary Ann, Alexander, Rachel, Peter, Priscilla, Samantha and Alvera. Two other boys are listed as children of Thomas G., George Spink Mitchell (1848-1886) and Oscar Mitchell, (1856-?).

George Spink Mitchell is listed as 2 years old in the 1850 Census, living with Thomas and Hester.

Despite being largely unknown in Portage County and maybe to his younger siblings, Mathias Mitchell led an adventurous pioneer’s life, like many in his family, and made a historic and lasting donation to the city of Stevens Point with the Mathias Mitchell Public Square that remains a landmark today.

Many have questioned why the Public Square is an oasis of green space in the downtown, like the Public Squares in New England.

However, Mathias may have been inspired to create the Public Square because of a plat for Belvidere, the county seat of Boone County, Illinois where he lived before moving to Stevens Point.

“The Historical Encyclopedia of Illinois and History of Boone County” in 1909 said the undated plat for Belvidere created a vacant spot in the central part of the town that was called the “Public Square,” blocking Main Street as a through-street.

Streets on either side of the Square were called East and West streets, delineating the east and west sides of town.

Belvidere has since extended Main Street through its Public Square, while the Mathias Mitchell Public Square remains as designed in his Plat of 1851, a historic treasure for the community and a location for farmers to sell fresh produce.