by Jim Meehan with Additional Remarks by John Oblak
(From “The Mitchell Medley” and sung to the tune: “Annie Laurie”)
Christopher, Dave and Sir Andrew
Were fathers of our clan;
Andrew was the King’s Scotch Chaplain;
Nathan was a minute man;
David was a Governor;
Many Mitchells died at sea;
Stephen was U. S. Chief Justice;
Mitchells — they were proud to be!
Yale University’s roots begin in 1638 as a dream of the Reverend John Davenport to establish a college for educating the leaders of the New Haven Colony. This vision was realized in 1701 when the charter was granted for a school “wherein Youth may be instructed in the Arts and Sciences [and] through the blessing of Almighty God may be fitted for Publick employment both in Church and Civil State.”
In 1710 the Reverend James Pierpont of New Haven led a meeting of ten ministers to found the school at which each clergyman promised “I give these books for the founding [of] a College in this Colony.” The school’s appointed trustees selected Saybrook as the institute’s initial location – but this proved unpopular and it was moved to New Haven in 1716. Two years later it was named Yale College in honor of Welsh merchant Elihu Yale who donated over 400 books, a portrait of King George I, and goods that were sold for about 562 pounds.
(During this period, a number of Yale students were tutored in Wethersfield under the direction of Elisha Williams. According our website article on Williams by John Willard: ‘As a result of a disagreement among the Trustees of Yale College he tutored a number of students, which he performed “to the great satisfaction of the Trustees and the Advantage of the Scholars.”‘ (It’s also interesting how one of William’s students in Wethersfield, Jonathan Edwards, relates to Mitchell’s family. J.O.)
From March 1777 to June 1778, due to financial issues, classes assembled under tutors in the towns of Farmington, Glastonbury, and Wethersfield.
(There was another important reason. The British were now in control of New York City and Long Island. The British conducted raids across Long Island Sound to pillage, destroy and capture prominent individuals for ransom, prisoner exchanges or political concessions. Sons of Connecticut’s leading citizens attended Yale; and New Haven was vulnerable. Bringing Yale students to the interior of the state moved them out of harm’s way. J.O.)
As the only college in Connecticut, Yale educated the sons of the elite – among them Stephen Mix Mitchell, born in a house at the north end of Broad Street in Wethersfield.
In “Biographical sketches of the graduates of Yale College : with annals of the college history (1885), Franklin Bowditch Dexter writes , “STEPHEN Mix MITCHELL was born in Wethersfield, Connecticut, on December 9, 1743, the only child of James Mitchell, who emigrated in early life from Paisley in Scotland, and settled in Wethersfield, by his second wife, Rebecca, third daughter of the Rev. Stephen Mix (Harvard 1690) and Mary (Stoddard) Mix, of that town. His mother, who was a first cousin of Jonathan Edwards, died in his infancy[1]. He was prepared for college mainly by a Scotchman, named Beveredge, who was a man of learning[2].”
Mitchell graduated from Yale College in 1766 and immediately began a three-year position there as “Tutor” while he pursued the study of law under the honorable Jared Ingersoll (Yale 1742).
At the completion of his studies in 1769 he married Hannah Grant “A young lady of large fortune” – the daughter of Donald and Arminal (Toucey) Grant of Newtown Connecticut.
The nuptials, which occurred on August 2nd of that year, was commemorated by a humorous poem (“Epithalamion Stephan et Hannae”) written by John Trumbull (Yale 1767). The author later went on to become a noted writer of verses – most of them satirical. “Filled with humorous literary allusions, the poem also included some schoolboy snickering about the wedding bed, which (along with a reference to
Miss Grant’s attractive dowry) reportedly angered the groom.” The complete work appears at the end of this article.
Mitchell was admitted to the bar in Fairfield, Connecticut the following year, and lived in Newtown until 1772 when he returned to Wethersfield with his wife. He had a very successful law practice there for the next seven years, and was thought of as a man of diligence and integrity who “won the confidence of the profession and the community….Being, however, by inheritance and by marriage in easy circumstances he was not obliged to practice for a livelihood, and felt at liberty to indulge his inclination for public life.”[4], according
to “The history of ancient Wethersfield, Connecticut” by Henry Reed Stiles.
So he began a career of increasingly important elected and appointed positions in the state of Connecticut’s legislative and judicial branches:
Representative in the General Assembly of the State, 1778-84
Associate Judge of the Hartford County Court, 1779-90
Presiding Judge of the Hartford County Court, 1790-93
Superior Court Justice, 1795-1807,
Chief Justice of the State in May, 1807, retiring under the age-limit in 1814
During his years in the judiciary he continued as Representative in the General Assembly (where he served one term as clerk) until his transfer to the upper House of the Legislature in 1784. He was re-elected to that upper chamber (“House of Assistants”) for a total of seven more years (1785, 1787- 92), at which time he was selected to fill the unexpired term of the late Hon. Roger Sherman as United States Senator, serving
from December 1793 to March 1795.
In local Wethersfield politics Mitchell (described as an “energetic young lawyer”) served on the town committee which, on December 12, 1774, approved the Articles of Association that had been recently adopted by the Continental Congress – “especially the article providing for town committees of surveillance over persons suspected of being too friendly to the British government and interests.” He was also appointed Justice of the Peace and Quorum (1782) and chaired a committee to establish “a lengthy series of By-laws and Regulations” for the town’s “Public Fair or Mart” in 1784.
Mitchell was elected as a delegate to the Continental Congress in 1783, 1785, and 1787, and was the second last survivor of that original Congress – President James Madison being the last. During that time Mitchell corresponded with Doctor William Samuel Johnson -signer of the United States Constitution, Senator from Connecticut (1789 – 1791) and then President of King’s College (Columbia). Johnson had rejected his election to the First Continental Congress believing that the American Revolution was unnecessary and that independence would be bad for everyone concerned. Here are some excerpts from their correspondence as published in the “Letters of Delegates to Congress,
1774-1789”, edited by Gerard W. Gawalt.
“Dear Docr.
“N York Feby. 21. 1786.
“Nothing of Consequence has occurrd. since your Departure. The Assembly of this State after puzling themselves some Days, about the time they should elect Delegates to serve for, the constitutional right they had to elect &c &c &c, Finally determined to erase from their journals all their proceedings on that Subject since the commencement of their present Sessions, consequently their former Members joind. us this Day.
“…indeed you are a very Wickd. Man to run away & leave me a young Pullet in the Care of so many gay Gallants, who at the hazard of every particle of puritanic Credit I was possessd. off have led me to the Concert, in future I shall not have the Impudence at an Election of Deacons to appear on the hustings.
“Will you suffer me to beseige Mr. Wilson, on the score of our western Cession, as soon as I can feel out his hobby-horse? You know we are twa bonny scotch Lads & very national, the weak things of this world often confound the strong; would it be amiss to obtain his Influence in our favor, even by a little verbal abuse of Wyoming?
“Please to give my most respectful Compts. to Mrs. Johnson & family & beleive me your most Obedient & very humble Sert, S. M. Mitchell”
(I would guess that the western Cession is the Western Reserve. “Wyoming” is the Delaware Indian word for “river valley”. Connecticut’s colony in the Susquehanna River valley near Wilkes-Barre was established before the French & Indian War and called the Wyoming Colony. Connecticut’s right to the Wyoming Colony was disputed by Pennsylvania. That dispute went to arbitration shortly after the Treaty of Paris in 1783; and Pennsylvania prevailed. Connecticut then moved on to securing the Western Reserve. J.O.)
In the course of his tenure in that organization Mitchell was instrumental in securing title to the “Western Reserve” for Connecticut in 1786. (Like several other states Connecticut had given up its claim to unsettled land in the west in exchange for the federal government assuming its Revolutionary War debt. Connecticut however retained 3,366,921 acres in Ohio, which became the “Western Reserve”. In 1795 or 1796 Connecticut ultimately sold its title to the Western Reserve land to the Connecticut Land Company for $1,200,000.)
On December 11, 1782 William Beadle of Wethersfield murdered his wife Lydia, and his children Ansel Lothrop, Elizabeth, Lydia and Mary Beadle and then took his own life. Beadle was a friend and neighbor of Mitchell and Mitchell wrote a full account of the event, which was first published as an appendix to the sermon delivered by the Reverend John Marsh at the funeral of Mrs. Beadle and the children. According to Henry Reed Stiles “The history of ancient Wethersfield, Connecticut “, Mitchell reported that the committee appointed to investigate the incident was unable to formulate a conclusion “in consequence of the general consternation and confusion which ensued.”
In March 1783 Judge Mitchell along with schoolmaster Ezekiel Williams, businessmen Joseph Webb and Col. John Chester, and about 60 others established the Union Library Society – Wethersfield’s first public library. It was a subscription library and cost 20 shillings for the initial subscription and 40 shillings for annual dues.
In 1788 he was a member of the State Convention that ratified the Constitution of the United States, was a member of the Electoral College in 1805, and in 1818 he participated in the Convention for the formation of a new State Constitution.
(I believe as head of Connecticut’s courts, Mitchell served as recording secretary at the 1814-1815 Hartford Convention. While there were rumors of New England attempting secession, the minutes show not vote on secession. Politics were rougher then. Jefferson and Madison had the intent of destroying the Federalist party. The Hartford Convention pretty much did that for them. J.O.)
Just as he did at Yale College, Judge Mitchell continued to inspire poetry.
Lydia Huntley Sigourney (September 1791 – June 1865) was an American poetess and author known as the “Sweet Singer of Hartford” who was extremely popular in her own time, but is nearly forgotten today. Some of her works were published anonymously at her husband’s request. The majority was published under the variations of her name “L. H. S.,” “Mrs. Sigourney,” or “Mrs. L. H. Sigourney.”
Among her poems was “Lines addressed to Judge Mitchell on his 90th birthday,” as well a verse to the memory of poet John Trumbull – the aforementioned author of the Mitchell’s wedding epithalamium. The author was unable to locate a copy of the Mitchell work, but the Trumbull piece begins follows:
“To the memory of the Hon. JohnTrumbull, Author of M’Fingal, and other poems; a native of Connecticut: who died at Detroit, Michigan: a tribute to the memory of one who was no less the pride of his native State than of his Country; the patriotic bard, who having left among his native hills the thrilling Harp which had animated every camp, and enlivened every cottage, till its notes resounded across the Atlantic.
“This was he
Whose shaft of wit had touch’d the epic strain
With poignant power.”
Stephen Mix Mitchell died in Wethersfield on September 30, 1835 at the age of 93 having been for two years the oldest living graduate of Yale College. He is buried in Wethersfield’s Ancient Burying Ground. His original epitaph inscribed on “an imposing stone table” read,
“In memory of The Honorable Stephen Mix Mitchell, L.L.D. Born at Wethersfield, December 20, 1743. Died, September 30, 1835 AE XCIII. In early life he represented his native town in the Legislature of the State, and was one of the council during and after the revolutionary War.
He was a member of Congress under the Confederation, and one of the Committee of that body who recommended the calling of the convention which formed the Constitution of the United States. A Representative and Senator in Congress under the Constitution. For many years he held the office of Chief judge of the Supreme Court of this State, in which office he closed his public life at the age of seventy. While in the Councils of the State and Nation, Distinguished for the Wisdom of his Measures, Revered for his devotion to the public good. As a Judge, Ready, impartial and independent. As a Christian, humbly trusting for mercy in the merits of the Redeemer.”
That stone has since been replaced by a headstone which now says, “In Memory of Hon. Stephen Mix Mitchell, L.L.D.
/ Memb’r Cont’l Cong. 1883-5. U. S. Senator 1793-5. / Judge Sup’r Court 1795-1807. / Chief Justice State of Conn. 1807-14. / He Died Full of Years & of Horors Sept. 30, 1835. AE. 93. / His Beloved Wife Hannah daughter of Don’d Grant died / Feb. 11,1830. AE. 81. / Children of S. M . M. & H. G. M. / Don’d Grant, Capt U. S. Army. Died Aug. 1798. AE. 26. / Stephen Mix, Couns’lr-at-law. Died May 1820. AE. 55. / Lewis, Couns’lr-at-law. Died June 1826. AE. 39. / Charles, couns’lr-at-law. Died June 1831. AE. 46. / Rebecca, died Aug. 1831. AE. / Alfred, Rev. buried at Norwich. Died Dec. 1831. AE. / Walter, couns’lr-at-law. Died July 1849. AE. 72. / Hannah Grant, died Dec. 1866. AE. 87. / Harriet, Died July 1878. AE. 85.”
As indicated above, Hannah, his wife died on February 14, 1830, at the age of 81. Stephen and Hannah had six sons all of whom graduated from Yale.
“Those who knew Judge Mitchell best emphasize as most remarkable his quick discernment of character, his union of moderation and firmness, and his sterling integrity and benevolence.”
In 1933 the Griswoldville School, adjacent to what is now called Mill Woods Park, was renamed in honor of Stephen Mix Mitchell. At the same time the Ridge Road School and the Center School were renamed for Colonel John Chester and Governor Thomas Welles respectively. The Mitchell Elementary School was closed in June 1979 and converted to elderly housing after a December 1980 town referendum approved the modification by 110 votes.
Epithalamion
Stephan et Hannae
By
John Trumbull
Ye
nine great daughters of Jupiter,
Born
of one mother at a litter,
Virgins
who ne’er submit to wisdom,
But
sing and fiddle all your lifetime;
In
verse and rhyme great wholesale dealers,
Of
which we bards are but retailers,
Assist!
— but chiefly thou, my muse,
Who
never didst thine aid refuse,–
Whether
I sung in high bombastic,
Or
sunk to simple Hudibrastic,
Or
in dire dumps proclaimed my moan,
Taught
rocks to weep, and hills to groan;
Or
chang’d the style to love and dreary!
‘Till
even echo blush’d to hear ye,–
These
mournful themes no longer usurp,
But
tune to sweeter sounds thy Jew’s harp,
To
sing of bridegroom, bride, and wedding,
Of
kissing, fondling, love, and bedding.–
Now,
from his hammock in the skies,
Phaebus
jumpt up, and rubb’d his eyes,
Clapt
on his daylight round his ears,
Saddled
his horse and fixt his spears;
Night
turn’d her b**k**de, so in turn he
Mounted,
and set forth on’s journey:
Our
wedding folks were yet in bed,
Nor
dreamt what’s doing o’er head.
At
leisure now, — for Episodes
We’ll
introduce our sett of gods.
Sing
then, my muse, in lofty crambo,
How
Hymen came with lighted flambeau,
To
kindle fire of love between ’em
And
make their livers burn within ’em.
Juno,
it seems, by sad mishap,
O’er
night with Jove was pulling cap,–
For
by what way she’s wont to govern
(So
Homer tells) the hen-peckt sov’reign,
But
now stole off, and left him fretting,
And
rode post-haste to come to wedding:
Lucina
was not there that morning,
But
ready stood at nine month’s warning.
The
nymphs of ever sort and size
Came
there before the bride could rise:
The
mountain nymphs skipp’d down like fleas,
Dryad’s
crept out from hollow trees;
The
water nymphs from swamps and flats
Came
tripping on like drowned rats:
The
birds, around on sprays and thistles,
Began
to light and tune their whistles:
The
cock, when daylight had begun,
Being
chorister, struck up the tune
And
sung an hymn in strains sonorous,
While
ev’ry quail-pipe join’d the chorus–
But
we must quit this singing sport, else
Mischance
may seize our sleeping mortals,
Who
now ‘gan jostle, round the fabric,
Finding
they’d slept till after day-break.
Our
bridegroom, ere he did arise,
Rubb’d
sleep’s soft dews from both his eyes,
Look’d
out to see what kind of weather,
And
sprang from bed as light as feather,
Joyful
as Dick after obtaining
His
master’s leave to go to training.
Here,
did not rhyming greatly harrass one,
‘Twere
a fine place to make comparison;
Call
up the ghosts of heroes pristine–
Egyptian,
Trojan, Greek, Philistine;–
So
sweetly sung in ancient lays;
Set
them in order by our gallant,
To
prove him handsome, wise and valiant.
He
now came forth, and stood before
His
lovely goddess’ chamber door,
Address’d
her with three gentle halloos!
Then
read, or said, or sung as follows:–
“Arise!
my love, and come away
To
cheer the world, and gild the day,
Which
fades for want of fresh supplies
From
the bright moonshine of thine eyes.
How
beautiful art thou, my love!
Surpassing
all the dames above:
Venus
with thee might strive again;
Venus
with thee would strive in vain,–
Tho’
ev’ry muse, and ev’ry grace,
Conspire
to deck bright Venus’ face:
Thou’rt
handsomer than all this trash,
Rise,
then, my love! and come away,
To
cheer the world and gild the day,
Which
fades for want of fresh supplies
From
the bright moonshine of thine eyes.”–
And
now came forth our lovely bride
Array’d
in all her charms and pride:–
Note
here, lest we should be misguided,
Lovers
and bards are so quick-sighted,
In
ev’ry charm they spy a Cupid,
Tho’
other people are more stupid;–
So
our fair bride, her lover swore,
Was
deck’d with Cupid’s o’er and o’er:–
Thus
Virgil’s goddess’ Fame appears
From
head to foot o’erhung with ears.
Here,
if our muse did not check first,
We
might go on to sing of breakfast;
Of
kissing, courting, and thereafter,
‘Till
all their mouths began to water;
Of
nymphs in gardens picking tulips;
Of
maids preparing cordial juleps;
With
other matters of this sort, whence
We
come to things of more importance:–
The
sun, who never stops to halt,
Now
riding at his usual rate,
Had
hardly pass’d his midway course,
And
spur’d along his downward horse,
Our
bridegroom, and his lovely virgin,
Set
forth to cherish — without urging:
A
solemn throng before, behind ’em
A
lengthen’d cavalcade attend ’em
Of
nymphs and swains; a mingled crew,
Of
every shape, of ev’ry hue:
Not
that more solemn scene of old
As
in romances we are told
By
Hudibras, that val’rous knight,
For
joining dog and bear in fight:
Nor
shall we make a pause for stating
Th’
odds ‘twixt marriage and bear-bating.
In
midst of these, with solemn wag,
Our
priest bestrode his ambling nag:
His
dress and air, right well accoutered,
His
hat new brush’d, his hair new powder’d:
His
formal band, of trade the sign,
Depending
decent from his chin:
His
thread-bare coat, late turn’d by Snip,–
With
scripture-book, and cane for whip:
Unnotic’d
past amid the throng,
And
look’d demure, and jogg’d along:
Yet
laymen ne’er his power cou’d equal
As
we shall shew you in th sequel:
For
when this priest o’er man and maid
A
set of scripture words had said,
You’d
find them closely link’d together
For
life, in strange enchanted tether,
(Like
spirits in Magician’s circle)
‘Till
friendly death should him or her kill:
Tied
up in wond’rous gordian knot
They
neither can untie or cut;
Enclos’d
in cage where all can see ’em
But
all the world can never free ’em:
For
once by priest in bonds of wedlock,
When
tied and hamper’d by the fetlock,
They
fight, or strive, and fly in vain,
And
still drag after them their chain;
Like
the earth and moon, at distance great,
Still
t’ward each other gravitate,
And
many a time and oft invade
With
dark eclipse and angry shade.–
Trifles
skip’d o’er, our next proceeding
Shall
give description of the wedding,
Where,
tho’ we Pagan mix with Christian
And
gods and goddesses with priests join,
Truth
need not stand to make objection–
We
poets have the right of fiction.
And
first — great Hymen in the porch
Like
link-boy stood with flaming torch;
Around,
in all the vacant places
Stood
gods and goddesses and graces:
Venus
and Cupid (god of love)
With
all the rabble from above:
In
midst our groom and bride appear
With
wedding guests in wings and rear.–
Our
priest now shew’d his slight of hand
Roll’d
up his eyes, and strok’d his band,
Then
join’d their hands in terms concise
And
struck the bargain in a trice
And
for the bridegroom first began he,
Saying
— “You Stephen! take her, Hannah”–
And
then — to make both parties even–
For
her, “you Hannah take him Stephen:”
Then
told them, to avoid temptation,
To
do the duties of their station;
In
state of sickness, nurse and nourish;
In
health cleave fast, and hug and cherish:
And
then some queerer stuff he said
Of
keeping clean the marriage bed.
To
all the parson said or meant
Our
bride and bridegroom gave consent;
He
bow’d to what the priest did say–
She
blush’d, and curtsy’d — and cry’d “aye.”
The
bargain made, he gave his blessing
And
bad them sign and seal with kissing:
The
smack being giv’n neat and fresh,
He
straight pronounc’d them both one flesh.
By
mathematics ’tis well known
It
takes two halves to make up one;
And
Adam, as our priests believe,
Was
but one half without miss Eve:
So
ev’ry mortal man in life
Is
but one half — without his wife.
And
hence, by natural co-action,
Man
seeks as much his other fraction;
Which
found, no tinker, ’tis confess’d
Can
splice and solder — but a priest.
The
rites now o’er, the priest drew near
And
kiss’d the bride’s sinister ear;
Told
them he hop’d they’d make good neighbours,
And
wish’d a blessing to their labours.
Him
follow’d every mincing couple,
Licking
their lips — to make them supple.
Each
got a smack from one or t’ other
And
wish’d them both much fun together.
The
wedding o’er, with joy and revelry
Back
to their bride’s return’d the cavalry;
And,
as when armies take a town
Which
costs them long to batter down,
That
fame may raise her voice the louder
The
fire whole magazines of powder,
And
heaps of fuel lay upon fires
To
celebrate their joys and bon-fires:
So
now the bride had chang’d her station,
Surrender’d
pris’ner at discretion,
Submitting
to our heroes fancies
Herself,
with all appurtenances
The
well-pleas’d crowd, (for greatest joys
Triumph’d
by firing — shouting — ringing–
By
dancing — drinking wine — and singing:
But
yet our groom (time march’d so lazy)
Sate
hitching, nestling, and uneasy;
Thought
daylight never would be gone,
And
call’d the sun a lazy drone,
The
sun, just when ’twas time to sup,
Came
to the sea — where he puts up;
Sent
his last rays o’er earth to scatter,
And
div’d down headlong into water–
Here
is the place — if we would chuse
To
tire our reader and our muse–
To
name and number ev’ry guest;
To
tell what fare compos’d the feast;
With
other things that did betide–
As,
how they kiss’d and jok’d the bride;
How
frolicksome the liquor made ’em;
And
how the fidler came to aid ’em;
And
made his lyre make such a scrapering
It
set the people all a-capering:
When
Orpheus fiddled at his guidance,
Thus
trees leapt forth and join’d the set dance.
Grim
night at length, in sable waggon,
Drawn
by a sooty bat-wing’d dragon,
Rode
till she came right over-head
And
on the earth her blanket spread.
The
moon was out upon parole;
Stars
danc’d, as usual, round the pole;
All
nature saw, with drowsy head,
Had
thrown by cares, and gone to bed;
Sleep
reign’d o’er all, but wolves and rovers,
Owls,
bats, and ghosts, and thieves and lovers.
The
maids with madam bride now clamber
Up
stairs, to find the bridal chamber:
First,
of her robes they disarray’d her,
Then
softly in the bed they lay’d her;
Her
groom flew swiftly to her arms,
To
feast and revel on her charms:
No
alderman — invited guest
To
gormandize at turtle feast–
When
first he sees the dish brought in,
And
‘gins to dip and grease his chin,
E’er
feels such raptures as our lover,
Now
all his fears and griefs are over.
Th’
events that afterwards befel,
Over
bashful muse would blush to tell:
The
Bridegroom, as himself confest,
Found
not a moment’s time to rest;
And
people lodging in the house
Heard
noises loud and ruinous,
And
started oft from sleep profound,
Thinking
an earthquake shook the ground:–
Which
they interpret as an omen
Of
something past, and something coming:
And
what that is (I’m somewhat jealous)
A
boy will come next year to tell
References:
Wethersfield Historical Society Archives
“Biographical
sketches of the graduates of Yale College : with annals of the college history
(1885)
“Letters
of Delegates to Congress, 1774-1789”, edited by Gerard W. Gawalt.
“The
history of ancient Wethersfield, Connecticut “, Henry Reed Stiles
http://archive.org/stream/mitchellfamilyre00seav/mitchellfamilyre00seav_djvu.txt