Martha Reed Mitchell

Alexander Mitchell (Wisconsin Congressman).jpg

In 1841, Martha married Alexander Mitchell, a young Scotchman who had left his country to seek his fortune in the U.S. The young couple began housekeeping in a tiny one-storied cottage. While he milked the cow and attended to the horse and outdoor work, she did the housework. Both said that the first year of their married life, was the ideal one. With keen foresight, he grasped the opportunities that others did not see, and she entered into all projects for benefiting the poor, assisting in founding churches, hospitals and asylums. Ever sympathetic with the sufferings of others, especially of young children, she, with a few earnest women, early in the 1840s organized what became known as the Protestant Orphan Asylum. Mitchell was its first treasurer.[3]

In 1858, Mitchell was elected Vice-Regent of the Mount Vernon Ladies' Association for Wisconsin.[3][5]

Mitchell mansion, Milwaukee

As the years passed, the couple became wealthy.[3]

In art circles, she was prominent for many years, encouraging a love for it at home by supporting schools and giving exhibits of works imported from Europe entirely at her expense, so that in all the studios of Italy and France, as well as in the U.S., her name was synonymous with art. Where real talent was apparent in a struggling artist, encouragement by appreciation as well as pecuniary aid was extended by her.[3]

For years, after leaving Milwaukee, she supported a mission kindergarten, where, daily, nearly 100 children from the poorest parts of society were taught to be self-respecting and self-sustaining men and women.[3]

The rigorous climate of the Great Lake region being detrimental to her health as she aged, Mitchell opted to travel. She crossed the Atlantic Ocean many times, visiting England, Ireland, Scotland, France, Germany, Switzerland, Italy and Egypt. She also traveled in the U.S., Mexico City, Cuba, and the Bahamian island of New Providence.[3]

Villa Alexandria, Jacksonville, Florida

Soon after the Civil War, while visiting Florida, she found a location where health and the pleasures of a home could be combined. A tract of land was purchased on the St. Johns River 3 miles (4.8 km) from Jacksonville, Florida. In an area now known as the San Marco neighborhood of Jacksonville, they established the vast estate of Alexandria as a winter home.[6] With her indomitable will and energy, aided by ample means, Mitchell in a few years, converted a sandy area into "a thing of beauty and a joy forever." She brought to perfection the orange, lemon, banana, olive, plum, pear, peach, and apricot, the English walnut, the pecan from Brazil, and the Spanish chestnut. Among her rare trees were the camphor and cinnamon from Ceylon and the tea plant from China. Her list of bamboos includes the sacred tree of India and five varieties of cane. The family of flowers embraced all the well-known varieties of the temperate zone and the tropics. Her home showed good taste and care and was distinguished for hospitality.[3]

Prominent among her charities in Florida was St. Luke's Hospital, managed by an association of women, of whom Mitchell was the inspiration and head.[3]

After the death of her husband, April 19, 1887, Mitchell left Milwaukee and located her summer home on the St. Lawrence River, in the vicinity of the Thousand Islands. There she lived during the months of July and August.[3]

In 1888, Mitchell made a permanent move to her Villa Alexandria estate in Florida with her grandson, David.[7]

As the years past, she became increasingly characterized as of "unsound mind".[7]