Background
William Bell Mitchell was the son of John and Mary (Henderson) Mitchell, both natives of Scotland. He was born on 19 November 1832, in Welland County, Ontario.
William Bell Mitchell was the son of John and Mary (Henderson) Mitchell, both natives of Scotland. He was born on 19 November 1832, in Welland County, Ontario.
After a preparatory education in the local schools, Mitchell matriculated at Jefferson College, Canonsburg, Pennsylvania, where he was graduated in 1853. At college, he formed a friendship with Eugene M. Wilson, with whose father, Edgar C. Wilson of Morgantown, Virginia, he read law after a brief period of teaching.
Mitchell was admitted to the bar in the circuit court of Virginia in 1857. Almost immediately, he went to the pioneer town of Winona, Minnesota, to practice with the younger Wilson until the latter removed to Minneapolis. A partnership with Daniel S. Norton, which was terminated by Norton's election to the United States Senate, was followed by one with William H. Yale. In 1859-60, Mitchell was a member of the second state legislature of Minnesota. He was interested in railroads, became president of the Winona & Saint Peter Railroad Co. , and later was president of the Winona Savings Bank. Mitchell's real career began when he became a judge of the 3rd judicial district in 1874, to which position he was reëlected in 1880. In 1881, shortly after his second election, he was appointed by Gov. John S. Pillsbury to one of the two newly created positions on the supreme bench. In 1882, he was elected for the regular term and twice thereafter reelected, so that his service in this capacity extended from the spring of 1881 to December 1899, when he filed his last opinion. In 1898, he accepted the nomination by the Democratic and Populist parties but was not endorsed by the Republicans, as he had been at the three previous elections. His Republican opponent was elected by a small majority, much to the regret of most of the bar. During the years, he was an associate justice of the supreme court of Minnesota there were relatively few issues of great public significance that came before it for adjudication; it was, however, a period during which he had occasion to read many opinions that vitally affected the body of common law in Minnesota. The soundness of his reasoning, balanced between respect for past judicial dicta and a recognition that new times and new forces demanded modification of old formulae, drew the attention of lawyers and legal writers in all parts of the country.
Without bitterness at his defeat, he turned, for the remaining few months of his life, to private practice, for he had accumulated no fortune on which to retire. He declined to be considered for appointment as chief justice of Puerto Rico. In 1891, he had been nominated by President Harrison for the circuit court of appeals, but his name was withdrawn before action by the Senate. It was, however, probably no loss to legal development that he was left to carry on his invaluable work in a state court, whatever might have been his gratification at holding the more conspicuous position. He died at Lake Alexandria, Minnesota.
Mitchell was an indefatigable worker and student. His opinions and they averaged one every three days for the nineteen years on the bench, showed familiarity not only with contemporary decisions but a real knowledge of the history of the law.
Quotes from others about the person
Sometime after Mitchell's death, Dean Woodruff of the College of Law in Cornell University wrote: "It has seemed to me, as I have read Judge Mitchell's opinions, that he belongs in the group with Chief Justice Shaw of Massachusetts, Chief Justice Gibson of Pennsylvania, and the few others who mark the highest achievement of our state courts. His mind was a quick solvent for the most refractory and opaque material of legal contention"
On September 3, 1857, Mitchell was married to Mrs. Jane (Hanway) Smith, the daughter of John Hanway of Morgantown. His first wife died in 1867, leaving three daughters. On July 11, 1872, he was married to Mrs. Frances (Merritt) Smith of Chicago, the daughter of Jacob M. Merritt. They had one son, William DeWitt Mitchell.