Charles B. Mitchell

Charles B. Mitchell was born in Kentucky on April 20, 1842.[1][2] He was the son of Dr. Charles G. Mitchell, a physician and plantation owner.[2] In his youth, Charles B. Mitchell moved with his parents to Pontotoc County, Mississippi, where his father owned a plantation.[2] Mitchell attended a college in Murfreesboro, Tennessee.[2] When the Civil War began, Mitchell set aside his studies and enlisted in the Confederate Army.[2] He was shortly discharged due to a physical disability, but later rejoined and served until the end of the war.[2] After the Civil War ended, Mitchell returned to Pontotoc County, Mississippi, where he studied law under Colonel C. B. Fontaine and was admitted to the bar.[2] He then set up a law practice in Pontotoc County.[2]

Mitchell was elected to represent, and then represented, Pontotoc County in the Mississippi House of Representatives in the 1870 and 1871 sessions.[3] He was a presidential elector for Winfield Scott Hancock in the 1880 election.[2] Mitchell then represented the 20th District in the Mississippi State Senate in the 1882 and 1884 sessions.[4][3] Twice in the 1880s, Mitchell unsuccessfully ran for the Democratic nomination for the U.S. House of Representatives.[2][5] He was elected to the House again for the 1888 session, and served as its Speaker for that term.[3][2] After being elected to fill a vacancy, he served in the House again in the 1894 session.[6][7] He was re-elected to the Senate in 1895 to represent the 31st District for the 1896–1900 term.[5][8] This term was cut short by his death.[8] At the time of his death, Mitchell was also serving on the board of trustees of Mississippi Industrial Institute and College.[2]

Mitchell was a member of the Baptist Church.[2] His first wife was the former Virginia Dennis. They had seven children: Charles D., Jennie (Mitchell) Connelly, Mary (Mitchell) Morphis, Willie, George T., Annie (Mitchell) Gracy, and Fannie.[2] After Virginia's death in 1884, Mitchell remarried to San White, with whom he had one child, Ida.[2] Mitchell's third wife was Pauline (Bayinger) Patterson, with whom he had two children: Victor and Pauline.[2] Mitchell died after a short illness on March 3, 1899, in Pontotoc, Mississippi.[8]