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closely associated with the early settling of Lavaca. Calhoun, and Jackson Counties. Here he was a prominent figure in our early history. He was a son-in-law of Major James Kerr whose daughter Mary Margaret hemarried.(The picture in Tuesday’s edition was erroneously identified as that of Capt. Mitchell).Capt. Mitchell, like other settlers, had to fight here the Indians, and also the Mexicans twice, when they attacked San Antonio.He came to Texas from Alabama in 1838, like Washingt n L. G. Foley, as Historian John H. Brown tells. Both must have been wealthy, for they brought many slaves with them, Mitchell more than seventy.Two Plantations He first settled on the land north of Hallettsville, called “Oakland”. Later he acquired alot of land on the shore of I*a-vaca Bay. He built a fine plantation home at Point Comfort, long known as “Mitchell’s Point”. It was just across from the present town of Port Lavaca. The census of 1850 shows Captain Mitchell owning property valued at $20,000, which was mostly in the slaves.In 1840 he was in the battle of Plum Creek, when the Indians destroyed the newly established port city of Linnville. Only a lost cemetery marks this spot. Many settlers escaped on small sailing vessels which the Indians could not reach. The settlement was looted and burn-the bride of Capt. Isaac Newton Mitchell July 9, 1843. On their honeymoon, travelling only the horse-and-buggy way. to Charleston, S.C., then by train. They visited Washington. D. (’. and were guests in the home of John C. Calhoun, their relative, then serving as Secretary of Sta'e. They also visited Yale University, returning to their Hallettsville plantation.Five children were born to them. Their happy married life ended in 1853, when Capt. Mitchell shot himself accidentally while turkey hunting. His wife was the first of the family to reach him. The accident was seen by their slave, hiding nearby. The wife also baptized the dying husband, whose lastwords were: “Darling it was my own gun as I was crawling up to the turkey.” This evidently io remove any suspicion from the slave. He was only 11 years old.The widow married again Joseph Charles Sheldon and also had five children. She died March 28. 1884, in Hallettsville, her remains being later removed to the Cuero Cemetery. Cap*. Mitchell was buried first on his land at Mitchell’s Point. But now he rests in the Gonzales Cemetery, removed there bv his descendant, Stockdale Mitchell.These memories come from a book “A Texas Family” collect-led by Major General James James Kerr Crain, retired of Washington, D. C., also a descendant of this outstanding p:o-neer, Capt. Isaac Newton Mit-che’l.hid(wolataiAMaiYwSifadlt;! A-GHarKClMolilwSitti| MararS;Llt;K
Newspaper Details
Yoakum Herald Times
Yoakum, Texas, US
Fri, Oct 21, 1960
Page 8
Full Page
Clipped by
Anonymous
USA 27 Nov 2024
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