Introduction

Biography

Edward was the son of Ed­ward Phil­lips Mitch­ell and Eli­za­beth Tyn­dale. His mo­ther des­cend­ed from a bro­ther of Will­iam Tyn­dale, au­thor of the first Eng­lish trans­la­tion of the New Tes­ta­ment.

In 1841, Ed­ward’s fa­ther moved the family to Phi­la­del­phia, Penn­syl­van­ia, where he en­gaged in mer­can­tile pur­suits and was pre­si­dent of the Com­mon­wealth Bank. His eldest son, James Tyn­dale Mitc­hell, be­came a jus­tice of the Penn­syl­van­ia Su­preme Court, and for ma­ny years ed­it­ed the Am­eri­can Law Re­gis­ter.

Edward was edu­cat­ed in Phi­la­del­phia’s Cen­tral High School and the Uni­ver­si­ty of Penn­syl­van­ia. In 1859 he was ad­mit­ted to the bar in Phi­la­del­phia. In 1861, he be­came a Swe­den­bor­gi­an min­is­ter. He served pas­tor­ates in:

• Philadelphia (1860–63)
• Providence and Paw­tuck­et, Rhode Is­land (1863–66)
• North Bridge­wa­ter (now Brock­ton), Mas­sa­chu­setts (1866–69)
• Detroit, Mi­chi­gan (1869–72)

In Ap­ril, 1872, Mitch­ell moved to Min­ne­ap­olis, Min­ne­so­ta, and in 1876 to St. Paul, Min­ne­so­ta. From 1872–80 he of­fi­ci­at­ed in both Min­ne­ap­olis and St. Paul, but start­ing in 1880 he served the St. Paul church on­ly.

In 1865, he mar­ried Lou­sia C. Fer­nald of Port­land, Maine, but she did not long sur­vive. In Ju­ly 1876, he mar­ried An­nie Iun­ge­rich.

Active in ci­vic life, Mitch­ell was in­volved with:

• St. Paul So­ci­ety for the Re­lief of the Poor (on board of man­ag­ers and ex­ec­utive com­mit­tee, was vice-pre­si­dent se­ver­al years)
• Free Kin­der­gar­tens of St. Paul (found­er)
• St. Paul Day Nur­se­ry (foun­der and or­gan­iz­er)
• Humane So­ci­ety (vice pre­si­dent for a num­ber of years)
• Sons of the Am­eri­can Re­vo­lu­tion (char­ter mem­ber, and chap­lain un­til De­cem­ber, 1898)
• Society of the Co­lo­ni­al Wars in the State of Min­ne­so­ta (chap­lain for the year 1899)
• Society of Am­eri­can Wars
• American In­sti­tute of Ci­vics
• St. Paul Aca­de­my of Sci­ence (pre­si­dent)

Works

In ad­di­tion to ma­ny ser­mons and lec­tures, Mitch­ell’s works in­clude:

• The Pa­ra­bles of the New Tes­ta­ment, Spir­it­ual­ly Un­fold­ed (Phi­la­del­phia, Penn­syl­van­ia: W. H. Al­den, 1900)
• Scripture Sym­bo­lism (Phi­la­del­phia, Penn­syl­van­ia: Will­iam H. Al­den, 1904)