The professors at Arkansas Industrial Univeristy: James Mitchell

James Mitchell
History of the University of Arkansas

James Mitchell
From Linda Davis via findagrave.com

James Mitchell (b. May 8, 1832; June 26, 1902)

AR. White.
Education: Cane Hill College (honorary B.A.)

Occupation: editor, farmer, publisher, school teacher

James Mitchell was born in Cane Hill, Arkansas in 1832 to James and Mary Ann Mitchell. The father was a farmer. His parents had moved to Arkansas from the midwest shortly before James was born.

Growing up, James had to help out on the family farm but attended school when could, for example during winters. His formal education concluded with attending Cane Hill College for the 1855-56 academic year. 

In 1856, the year after his formal education ended, James received an appointment as a U.S. deputy surveyor. This job took him to the Kansas and Nebraska territories for the next two years. 

In Fall 1859, shortly after after he'd returned from working as a surveyor, he opened a school in Evansville, AR. The next year was elected to the state legislature. He served in the house and was elected as a Democrat. As a legislator, he chaired the House Education Committee.

When the Civil War broke, James enlisted in the army and fought for the Confederacy. In 1861, he served as a private in an independent cavalry company. The next year he entered 34th Arkansas Infantry Regiment as a lieutenant. He was transferred to Crawford's 1st Arkansas Cavalry Regiment around December 1863 and was appointed quartermaster. He served until the end of the war. 

The Civil War came to an end for James in May 1865, when his unit surrendered near Corsicana, TX. His family was also living in Texas at this time, as they had fled wartime disruptions in Arkansas. The family lived for a year in Bonham, TX while James taught to earn money. 

In 1866, after he'd spent a year in Texas, James returned to Cane Hill, AR. He soon began teaching at Cane Hill College. While he was teaching there, the college awarded him a B.A. degree, although the degree was presumably honorary. He taught at the college for about 6 years. 

James left Cane Hill to teach at the Arkansas Industrial University in 1874. He was elected Professor of History and English Literature. James was hired around the time that A. W. Bishop was made univeristy president. At a July 1874 inaugural ceremony, James gave a speech about education in Arkansas. In his speech, he promoted education as a way to improve the state:

What do we need in Arkansas? Do we not need more trained and cultivated intellects, more trained workers, in all classes and ranks of society? Do we not need them in our courts, in our Legislatures, at the bar, at the bedside of the sick, in the schoolroom, in the pulpit, in private life, in public life – everywhere? Looking back at the dark past of Arkansas, and forward to our future by no means bright, we are constrained to say that we need a better, higher and purer culture among all our people. It is said of Themistocles that when he was laughed at on account of his ignorance of certain accomplishments held in much esteem by many of the Athenians, he replied: "It is true that I never learned to tune a harp, or play upon a lute; but I know how to raise a small and obscure State to greatness and renown." Oh, that from the multitude of her public servants – that from the horde of politicians that now afflict the body politic, there would arise, in the near future, but one Themistocles to lead Arkansas to glory and renown!

The reference to "the horde of politicians that now afflict the body politic" is likely a reference to the state Republican politicians which dominated Arkansas at the time. James was giving his speech shortly after the state governorship had been violently contested in the Brooks-Baxer war. 

James taught at the university until 1877. That year he resigned his professorship to move to Little Rock.

James moved to Little Rock to assume the editorship of the Little Rock Gazette. After about two years, he left the Gazette to become part owner of the Arkansas Democrat. In 1890, ownership of the newspaper was transferred to the Arkansas Democrat Company. James was made president of the company and editor-in-chief of the newspaper. In that capacity, James advocated for improving education and promoted Democratic politics. 

In addition to his newspaper work, James served as Little Rock's postmaster during President Cleveland's second administration (from 1893-97).

James died in Little Rock in 1902 after a short illness. He is buried in Mount Holly Cemetery. His papers are held by the Univeristy of Arkansas.

James Mitchell
From NoBody via findagrave

Sources cited

1. 1850; Census Place: Cane Hill, Washington, Arkansas; Roll: 31; Page: 417a

2. 1860; Census Place: Cane Hill, Washington, Arkansas; Page: 565; Family History Library Film: 803052

3. 1870; Census Place: Cane Hill, Washington, Arkansas; Roll: M593_66; Page: 89B

4.  1880; Census Place: Little Rock, Pulaski, Arkansas; Roll: 54; Page: 300A; Enumeration District: 143

5. 1900; Census Place: Little Rock Ward 2, Pulaski, Arkansas; Page: 14; Enumeration District: 0073

6. Reynolds, John Hugh and Thomas, David Yancey, History of the University of Arkansas. Fayetteville, University of Arkansas. (1910).

7. Ross, Frances Mitchell, and James Mitchell. "Civil War Letters from James Mitchell to His Wife, Sarah Elizabeth Latta Mitchell." The Arkansas Historical Quarterly 37, no. 4 (1978): 306-17. 

8. Ross, Frances Mitchell. "James Mitchell, Spokesman for Women's Equality in Nineteenth Century Arkansas." The Arkansas Historical Quarterly 43, no. 3 (1984): 222-35.