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Bryan - College Station Eagle Sunday, April 7, 1991 Page 9D
_______ _
Mitchell the 'Father (If Brazos County'
Editor's note: This 1 of a OUR PAST
series of stories on 1oc history i
being run to mark th' Brazos ` . '"` 'IP
County sesquicentennial. , CQ ��� � '
,
By Robert C. Borden
Eagle opinions editor +a+4 a I t x / i; ' 9 e �� ,,,
0
If anyone deserves to be called r + 3 ' `$ V ; _ ; co et �i • "Father of Brazo County," r ig t a , P ' • a i
alnly it is Harvey Mitchell, � F` a ■ a i i
ter, businessman, elected f t { r' Sl` ■ To '" It ri`' s • i 4, % y - tn, - 'It S
al and t he person most re- ;; ,f' _' r S '� , » t' ` s t .. �i� r� V i
..sible for establishing Texas is + 11'•'/'.,'?'*::: p r i'+4`'. . <C I 7 6 gg �Q.
1 Un iversity on a'site four �f � -I.. ' !•• t' �.
south ofBryan In 1872. v ` s ip(/ / CEt`�� �
Mitchell was born on 170 years �y " • 4 d •, , + s. iii, •
ago Tuesday near Corncrsv111e to r n with the help of M.W. McCraw
Giles County, Tenn., the sixth '" ' v'-° ' and John N. Henderson, raised
child of James and Jane McIntyre
i i enoug money for the down pay'
Mitchell. After education to the 1 ment on the land. Mitchell in-
local public school, Mitchell, then {.h. C. eluded 980 acres of his own land - 18, Joined a wagon train heading `' el the deal, for which he later
for Texas "to kill Indians and Mex-
scans, procure land and grow up , 1 4 1 ^ received 812,000. Peattle writes
with the country," according to z ' A' that notes for the balance of the
his great- granddaughter, Ruth
11 money were signed by Mitchell, it , , Y Mason D. Cole, J.M. Robinson,
wrote a history of Mitchell for
Weddington Peattte of Bryan, who af, w et ,...," Dr. J.P. Mitchell - Harvey Mit-
"Brazos County, Rich Past, Bright kr + ; 'l in shell's brother - E.L. Ward, Dave
Future," edited by Glenna Four- tl a 4 it w e.. . Mclntosch and Wlllta Mein-
man Brundfdge and published by ,, , �; t ik ' c • m torch.
7 . t �` �c Mitchell continued to give his
the Family f itstory Foundation m r + .m», t .- e . best to the county and its rest-
1986. 1 `" dents. In a Jan. 11, 1901, obi-
In the fall of 1839, Mitchell set- i y.e"" ` _i
tied in Tinnlnvlile, on the Old Sart Arthulsa Mitchell thy' the Eagle said, "... Out of
Antonio Road near its Navasota Harvey Mitchell his bounty no man gave to the
liver crossing in Robertson rooms. After the county sear'.vnq in q•t- 'nttntendeut of schools to poor and needy more freely and
County. Capt. Lee C. Smith's moved to Bryan after the coming 193/.
with less ostentation than he. It is
company of Texas Rangers had of the railroad, Mitchell built a During his days in Boonville, said of him that he made a prac-
bullt a blockhouse there in 1837 third courthouse - in 1878 - Mitchell began a series of land tice of loading up his buggy with
for protection from the Indians. In known as the "Brick Court - trades that allowed him to accu- provisions and quietly distrlbut-
1839, the settlement was head - house." mutate rather large land holdings. ing them among those In need,
quarters for volunteer military Mitchell didn't limit his efforts In 1855, he moved his family to and that even those who knew
operations between the Brazos to public buildings. In 1854, Mit- Red Top, near the later site of him best learned not of this
and Trinity rivers. chell was named one of the five Benchley, where they lived for through any word of his."
In 1840, Mitchell Joined the first trustees for Rev. Robert Alex- eight years while he actively was
Minute Men, organized by Capt. ander's Methodist Church. .Ac- F'n.gaged In the land business. Mitchell loses home
En Chandler to succeed the cording to "Brown's Wars and In 1863, Mitchell was named His generosity led to hardship.
Rangers, who had moved on. The Pioneers of Texas," in 1867 Mit- Assessor of Confederate State In 1879. Mitchell lost his home
Minute Men made forays to chell built the First United Meth- Taxes for Brazos County, requlr-
near Boonville and all his per-
protcct settlers from Indians and, odist Church in Bryan, donating ing a move back to the county near sonal belongings to creditors of
although there were several sklr- $500 and lending 8500 more to seat at Boonville. There, he built a friends for whom he had co-
mishes, there were no true bat - finish construction. two-story wood hotel on the town signed notes. Mitchell and his
ties, Peattle said in her history. In December 1852, Mitchell square, which later became an wife and son, James, moved into a
At this time, Mitchell lived with Joined 1 1 other Masons in organ- orphanage for black children. small cabin in Bryan, Peattte
the family of Richard Carter, the izing a new Masonic lodge in After the Civil War, the Houston writes, and the following year Mit-
first white man to settle in what is Boonville; Mitchell served as first and Texas Central Railroad ar chell was able to borrow enough
now College Station. Carter had Worshipful Master, a post he held rived in Bryan, which soon be-
money to buy a thousand-acre
lived on Carter Creek in what Is seven more times. Brazos Union came the county seat. In 1865, y y
farm.
now Brazos County until 1836, Lodge 129, AF&AM, later moved Mitchell was named county tax Mitchell's "angel wife" died
when he moved his family to Tin- to 1 3,,, - an, where It thrives today. asscssor•co:!ector. A year later, June 30, 1885, and is burled in
ninvllle, returning to his former Throughout his life, Mitchell be- he built a home about a mile from Boonville Cemetery.
home in 1841. Mitchell founded lleved to God devoutly. In her his- Boonville. He became a surveyor Ina letter to his children, Mit-
Brazos County's first school, re- tory, Peattle quotes from one of operating out of Bryan; his sta- chell wrote, "The thrill of despair
cowing $20 a month and teaching Mitchell's early memoirs, written tionery in 1871 Tea,: H. Mitchell, still goes crushing &bursting
out of the Carter home. It was the after he had become lost on a deer Surveyor, Brick Office, Court in echoes, through my whole be-
start of a lifelong support for edu- hunt and had discovered fresh House Square. ing. and I see no prospect of the
cation. Indian tracks: History records that Mitchell end until I shall be lard down to
"I had been taught from child- "built a fine ferry across the Bra- rest by her side, to which event I
The move to Boonville hood that there was efficacy to zos River" and rebuilt the "Navisot now look for my greatest console-
Mitchell left the military in prayer, and I dropped on my Bridge," according to Peattte. [ion."
knees in the middle of that sandy That time didn't come until Jan.
January 1842 and moved to road, reverently holding on to my A & M brought to Brazos County seat of the newly ry 9, 1901. With full Masonic hon-
formed county. According to Peat- gun, and it ever a boy e v pray But It was in the 1870s that ors, on Jan. 11, Mitchell was bur -
tle. Mitchell soon was named the honestly, earnestly and fervently, Mitchell made his most lasting led next to his wife.
I was that boy, I prayed to God
first deputy for the county clerk's that if he would vouchsafe to me a contribution to the county. In the In 1912, Texas A &M honored
office, the first of a series oC safe return home from that expo spring of 1971, the Legislature Mitchell by naming a dorm in his
governmental positions that dltion I would never go deer hunt- authorized establishment of the honor. Mitchell Hall was torn
would occupy him for years to ing again in this world...." Agricultural and Mechanical Col- down r Center is atede Beutel
the
come. His duties Included assist- Mitchell did make his way home loge of Texas and appointed three Healt
Mg the county's Judge, tre asurer safely and, he wrote, "I have never commissioners to find a suitable site.
and tax collector. gone on a deer hunt since that location. The following December, Efforts are under way to have
Later that year, Mitchell was Brazos County residents voted the cornerstone from that build -
named superintendent of public day 200 -6 to try to bring the college to ing, laid June 3. 1912, and
education. He built a hewn log Brazos County. They approved is- preserved today, returned to a
school house with a plank floor - Mitchell marries suing 822,000 in bonds to buy place of honor on the Texas A &M
• the first such building in the On April 6, 1848, Mitchell mar- land near the Rector farm south campus.
county - and taught classes Tied Arthulsa Jane Foley, daugh- of Bryan.
there, earning 8200 for the next ter of John H. and Margaret Foley, Mitchell, Judge Spencer Ford
year. originally from Memphis, Tenn. and Sen. Wtlliarn A. Saylor later
Mitchell continued to run the They had nine children. were named to a committee to
county offices for the next decade, During the week of Jan. 18 -25, seek to bring the college to the
also serving as Justice of the peace 1870, four of their children, as county.
and postmaster. He also found well as the first Mitchell grand- On June 20, 1872, the state
time to work as a blacksmith and child, all died from meningitis. selection commission met in
an innkeeper, Peattle reports. Two were buried in one casket. Houston, where they met with
From 1851 to 1854, Mitchell Like Mitchell's parents - his Mitchell. After finding out what ,
served as county Judge. father died at 75 on July 25, 1856, was needed to bring the school to
and his mother at 78 four years to Brazos County. Mitchell wired
Builds three courthouses the day later - the children were Bryan Mayor Hiram T. Downard
burled to the Boonville Cemetery. for instructions. Receiving no re-
In 1846, Mitchell received the In all, the Mitchells had 19 ply, Mitchell bid 622,000 in land
contract for the county's first grandchildren, and a number of on his own authority.
courthouse, what became known descendants are living today. One The offer was accepted. pro- '
as the "Board Shanty Court- of his granddaughters, Wesa vided Mitchell could obtain clear
house" located in Boonville, east Weddington, was long -time prtn- titles to at least 2,250 acres
of what is now Bryan. Seven years clpal at Stephen F. Austin Hlg within 48 hours.
later, he built a larger courthouse Mitchell returned to Bryan and,
in Boonville; it included two jury School in Bryan and, briefly, act-
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