James Mitchell, Jr. 1754-1835

Mitchell Family History

James A. Mitchell, Jr. & Elizabeth Brumfield

To: Index Contact: Joe Crouch

James Mitchell, Jr. son of James Mitchell, Sr. and his wife Margaret Caldwell Rodgers was born 17 Nov 1754 in Bedford, Va.; moved to Mitchelsburg, Ky. in 1781, then in 1807 he moved to Robertson County, Tennessee. On 6 Jan 1787 he married Elizabeth Brumfield [1], born 14 Sep 1763 the daughter of Robert and Susannah (Love) Brumfield . Elizabeth died 11 Sep 1828 and her epitaph read:

" Depart my friends - Dry up your tears, I must lie hours till Christ appears."

After Elizabeth died he married Margaret C. Finley. James died on 18 May 1835 and was buried in the Mitchell cemetery- three miles east of Mitchell homestead(near a road which terminates at the Mitchell homestead) in Saddlerville, Robertson County, Tennessee. On his gravestone is the inscription:

"He fought the battles of his country in the wars of the Revolution. He died as he lived, a Christian and a honest man."

James Mitchell's 'Revolutionary War Pension Application' was filed in Springfield, Robertson County, Tennessee in 1833 at the age of seventy-eight years. His pension application read:

State of Tennessee
Robertson County

On the ninth day of August 1832 personally appeared before me Milton Bourne justice of the peace in the county and state aforesaid James Mitchell a resident in the county of Robertson and State of Tennessee and being duly sworn according to law and on his oath make the following statement.

That in the fall of 1776 he lived in the house of John Rogers in the County of Bedford and State of Virginia that he volunteered in a rifle company under Capt. Christopher Irvine and served a tour of two or three months against the Cherokee Indians. Col Christian was first and I think Col Russel was second in command.

The said Mitchell doth further state on his oath, that on the first day of January in the year 1777 he enlisted in the army of the United States in the Continental line under Capt. George Lambert in the County of Bedford state of Virginia for the term of three years. He served under Col Hardin Bufort also a Col. Davis and a Col. Ball; I have a distinct recollection of an officer much beloved by the men whose name was Samuel Jordan Cavel, whose title was thus  Maj. Of the tenth Virginia regiment, Maj. Of Brigade, Brigade Inspector, Sub-inspector, and Adjutant General. My Captain George Lambert was broke of his command for starting a riot. I think that Archibald Moore succeeded Capt Lambert. Second Lieutenant, he (Rogers) resigned his commission after serving 12 or 15 months; Rogers is dead, his name may be found on the service I belonged to, the fourteenth Virginia Regiment that was afterwards reduced to the tenth.

When I joined the regular army we were marched to Dumfries, Va. and I was inoculated with the smallpox, from Dumfries we marched to Alexandria Va. (now in the District of Columbia) at which place we remained some weeks until we got well of the smallpox or vaccine from there we marched through Georgetown and other places not now recollected, and early in the month of June 77 we joined the main army under the command of Genl Washington in the state of N. Jersey. About which time I think that La Fayette received from Genl. Washington the command of a Maj. General. The first winter we lay at Valley forge in the state of Pennsylvania. I was in the battle of Monmouth under Genl Lee on the 28th of June 1778. The following winter we lay at Middle Brook in the state of New Jersey not far from New Benton. During the year of 79 we were marched to many places, but I cannot state with any precision the names of them.

In the fall or beginning of winter, 80 we had built our winter huts in the vicinity of Trenton N. Jersey but received orders for those whose time of service would expire on the first of January following to be marched to Philadelphia at which place many of the soldiers were discharged. Myself and others were retained for the purpose of guarding some prisoners to Fredericktown in the state of Maryland. At which place I received an honorable discharge for three years service. I received my discharge from Col. (probably Maj.) Hill, his Christian name not recollected.

I disposed of my discharge for a trifle, shortly after an Act of Congress making provision for the Officers and Soldiers of the Revolution who had received their wages in a depreciated currency. In the spring of 1781 I volunteered in Bedford County Virginia in a rifle company; Jacob Moore was my Captain, Benjamin Rice was first Lieutenant, and myself first-sergeant, we were under the command of Col. Charles Pinch until we joined Genl Greene, we marched to Guilford Courthouse in the state of North Carolina. I was in the heat of that battle on the 15th of March. My Capt. (Moore) was killed, Benj. Rice succeeded him and I was promoted to Ensign. At this battle, the British kept the field, but soon left it; we pursued them nearly to their shipping but would not get another fight out of them. The Virginia Volunteers left Genl. Greene with the regulars and returned home. I think I was about 2 months this tour, during the summer of 1781 I served another tour of a few weeks and the same fall I moved from Bedford County, Va. to what is now Mercer County Kentucky, (that portion of Mercer County now forms Washington County, KY) where I had many little skirmishes with the Indians.

In 1807 I moved from Mercer County, Va. to Robertson County Tennessee my present residence. Should I live until the 17th day of November next I shall be 78 years of age; Springfield my county town, is a distance of fifteen miles from me, a greater distance than I have traveled for several years. I think I could travel that far, but it would be attended with much inconvenience, such being the case I have made my declaration before a Justice of the Peace, who constituted one of the judges of our County Courts and submit it to the department with such other evidence as I have been able to provide, as I am in possession of no papers that would go to establish my claim.

I hereby relinquish every claim whatsoever to a pension or annuity except the present embraced in an Act of Congress passed on the 7 June 1832, and do further declare that my name is not on the Pension Roll of the Agency of any State.
Sworn & Subscribed
To before me date above                                                                 James Mitchell
Written, Milton Bourne P.

I do truly certify that I believe the foregoing Statements in this declaration made by James Mitchell to be true  date above written.
Milton Bourne

When Lafayette visited the United Sates years after the close of the War, James Mitchell was asked to come to Philadelphia and visit him and he did. Lafayette's triumphal return to the United States seems to have been a yearlong love feast between the Frenchman who came to help the colonist in their fight for their freedom and the American people. James Mitchell, then 71, was willing to make the long hard trip to Philadelphia to see Lafayette is an example of the respect and love Lafayette engendered in the Americans. At the end of the Battle of Monmouth in which both James Mitchell and Major General Lafayette had participated, Lafayette slept on the ground among the exhausted American Soldiers. [3]

Margaret C. Mitchell was born December 23, 1815 and she died April 15, 1846. On her gravestone:

Her Christian piety and benevolent heart gained for her the love of all. In her death, her family sustained an irreparable loss. The Lord giveth, and the Lord taketh away, blessed be the name of the Lord

His children by Elizabeth Brumfield were:

1. Mary Ellen Mitchell, born 1789 in Mercer County, Kentucky, died on August 2, 1834 in Robertson County, Tennessee, age 45. Married Thomas Williamson about 1818 in Robertson County, Tennessee.

Children: 1) Martha Ann Rebecca Williamson b 23 Mar 1814 2) Margaret E. Williamson b. 10 Aug 1818 3) Mary Malvina Williamson b. 8 Sep 1822 4) Thomas J. Williamson b. 1825 (all Robertson, TN.)

2. Elizabeth Ewing Mitchell born 1792 in Mercer County, Kentucky; died in 1868 in Robertson County, Tennessee; married 1809 Caleb E. Irvine in Hickman, Kentucky.  He was born 22 Sep 1785 and died 14 Aug 1825 Cunningham, Carlisle County, KY. (Findagrave)

Caleb Irvine was drowned while attempting to cross Mayfield Creek in Graves County, Kentucky, when he was twenty-four years of age. He married Elizabeth Ewing Mitchell of Robertson County, Tennessee, who lived to be eighty years of age, and died in 1867. (source)

Children: 1) Norval Thomas Irvine b.  5 July1810 2) Robert Green Irvine b. 7 Dec 1818 3) Elizabeth Eleanor Irvine 4) Caleb Ewing Irvine b. 1825

3. John C. Mitchell born 1795 in Mercer County, Kentucky; died September 18, 1868 in Lee, Burleson, Texas at age 72 and buried in Hugh Wilson Cemetery, Tanglewood, Texas (Findagrave); married 1) Martha Wilson Carter born 1819 in Halifax, N.C., and died abt. 1830 in Tennessee. 2) Anna C. McCardle born New York 1808; married Dec. 18, 1843.

Headstone inscription reads:  Sacred to the memory of John C Mitchell who departed this life Sept 18, 1868 in the 73rd year of his age in hopes of a glorius immortality.

Children from 1st wife: 1) James Wilson Mitchell b. Apr 8, 1820 in Halifax, NC (Findagrave) 2) Mary Elizabeth Mitchell b. Jan 29, 1821 Robertson, TN. 3) Thomas Finley Mitchell b. Dec 24, 1827 Robertson, TN. (Findagrave)  4) Robert Mitchell b. abt 1830 Robertson, TN.   Children from 2nd wife: 5) Francis Mitchell b. 1843.

4. Robert Brumfield Mitchell, born 5 Jan 1798 in Mercer County, Kentucky; Died 19 Apr 1862 in Robertson County, Tennessee and buried in the Mitchell Cemetery; married Margaret Catherine Linebaugh on 13 Oct 1835.  He built dams on the creeks around Guthrie, Kentucky. He set up mills operated by water power. Besides serving the farmers in the area the mills were used in making sour mash whiskey.

Children: 1) Infant b. 1836 2) Infant b. 1837 3) Katherine Elizabeth Mitchell b. 1839 4) James Mitchell b. 1841 5)Robert Henry Mitchell, Jr. b. 8 Jan 1844 6) Margaret A. Mitchell b. 21 May 1845 (all Robertson, TN.)

5. Tabitha Mitchell born about 1800 in Mercer County, Kentucky; married Thomas Williamson about 1835 in Robertson, Tennessee.

Children: 1) Maria G. Williamson b. 1839 2) Virginia Mitchell Harrison b. May 26, 1840 Robertson, TN. 3) Logan Williamson.

6. Susan Mitchell, born about 1802 in Mercer County, Kentucky.

7. Samuel Findley Mitchell, born 7 May 1806 in Mercer County, Kentucky (now part of Washington County, Kentucky). Died 6 Feb 1896 Robertson County, Tennessee with burial in the Mitchell Cemetery, Robertson, Tennessee.

[1] Marriage Record - Mercer County, KY - James Mitchell & Betsy Brumfield married  6 Jan1787 in Mercer County, Kentucky. Bondsman William Whitehead, brides father Robert Brumfield. Teste John Berry & Thomas Pitman.

[2] 1830 Federal Census - Robertson County, Tennessee - James Mitchell

[3] The source of information is contained in a letter written by John Rodgers, son of William Rodgers and Margaret Caldwell Rodgers Mitchell to his cousin Elias Caldwell in the early 1800s. [Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, v. 19, p.92.]

What ties this information to James Mitchell Jr.? We can speculate: If
the James Mitchell that married Margaret Caldwell is James Mitchell Jr.'s
father, then James Mitchell Jr. and John Rodgers, the writer of the letter
were half-brothers. We note in James' sworn statement that he was living in
the house of John Rodgers in 1776. In November of 1775 estate papers of
Daniel Mitchell, dec'd, mention John Rodgers, Daniel, John and Mary Mitchell,
[Bedford County VA WB 2, pp. 8-9. (FamilySearch)] On October 4, 1780 John Rodgers,
Nathanial Rodgers, Mary C. Rodgers and Ann Rodgers witnessed a will for John
Willson. Security was furnished by James Mitchell, John Rodgers and Samuel
Clayton. [Bedford County Will Book #1 p. 382 (FamilySearch)] Bedford County Virginia records
for this period only show the Rodgers mentioned above. No other Rodgers other
than a Thomas, in 1770, appear in county records. In 1781 both James
Mitchell Jr. and John Rodgers moved to Kentucky. [James Mitchell 1832 sworn
statement and John Rodger's letter.]
John Rodgers writes in his letter that
his mother's son, Robert, died in Kentucky. Court records of Mercer County,
Kentucky show that ["The administration on the estate of Robert Mitchell,
dec'd, is granted to Daniel Mitchell and George Shipley, who entered into a
bond of 1,000 pounds with George Caldwell, James Mitchell and Adam Mitchell
as surities. Robert Caldwell, Abraham Irvine, John Cook and James Brumfield
or any three of them, to make appraisal of personal property of the
decedent." Mercer County, Kentucky Court Records, p. 308.] This document
shows James Mitchell, two Caldwells an Irvine and a Brumfield. James Mitchell
Jr.'s daughter married an Irvine and James wife was a Brumfield. Going
back to Margaret Caldwell's niece Martha, mother of John C. Calhoun. James
Mitchell Jr. and John Rodgers would be John C. Calhoun's first cousins once
removed.

[4] - Mitchell cemetery records Book - Robertson County Heritage of Homes, Published by Robertson  County 1979

In 1835 James Mitchell died. He left his home, and 150 acres to his son Samuel. Samuel married Mary Linebaugh in 1841, that same year he sold his portion of his inheritance to his brother, Robert B. Mitchell and moved west. It is believed that he made his home in Missouri for the next eighteen years. He returned to Robertson County in 1859, purchasing ninety-three acres of land from the estate of Robert Shanklin, where he built his home. Scattered throughout the front lawn are several aging pecan trees planted by Samuel. According to family tradition he brought the twigs in his saddlebags from Missouri to plant at his new home.

[5] The History of Robertson County, Tennessee page 21

By a provision of an old law persons desiring to build mills were compelled to procure permits from the county court. During the first few years after the organization of the county such permits were issued to the following persons: Thomas Woodard, Francis [p.835] Graham, on Brush Creek; Adam Shepherd & Co., on Iron Fork of Barton's Creek; William Reyburn, on Miller's Creek; L. Ventress, on Sycamore Creek; Nathan Clark, on Sulphur Fork; John Stump, on Sycamore Creek; James Mitchell, on Elk Fork of Red River; Archer Cheatham, on Sulphur Fork, near Springfield; Josiah Fort and Jesse Hewing, on Red River; James H. Fuqua, on Spring Creek; Benjamin Porter, on War Trace Creek; James Byrnes, on Caleb's Creek; William B. Gorham, on Sulphur Fork, one and one-half miles northwest of Springfield.

[6] Bedford County, Virglnia Will Book l, p. 382

October 4, 1780 John Rodgers, Mary C. Rogers and Ann Rogers witnessed a will for John Wilkinson. James Mitchell, John Rodgers and Samuel Clayton furnished security.

[7] The Lincoln Kinsman by Warren, Louis Austin, 1885-1983, published 1938 page 5

The heirs of James Brumfield sold in 1805 a piece of land on Chaplin's Fork (now Mercer Co., KY), divided into four tracts. Robert, a son of James, bought one, James Mitchell, a brother-in-law, bought another, and Josiah Campbell and Cornelius Tully bought the other two. By the time of this land transaction, William, the third son of James, had migrated to Hardin County. It is this one of James' sons who married into the Lincoln family.