Samuel Minton Mitchell, M.D. 1818

Dr. Mitchell was born on January 30, 1818 near Lebanon, Tennessee. He was the eldest son of Sion Hunt Mitchell and Elizabeth Cook. Shortly after his birth the Mitchell family moved to southern Illinois to the current Cave Township, Franklin county area. The Mitchells were a deeply religious family and helped to organize a number of churches in Tennessee and Illinois. One of these churches was Zion church in Corinth Township, Williamson County where Dr. Mitchell and many of his relatives and close associates are buried. . Zion church is longer active, having been closed by the United Methodist Church.

Dr. Mitchell studied medicine at and was a graduate of the Louisville Medical College and later from Rush Medical College in Chicago, Illinois. He then practiced medicine in Posey county Indiana before returning to Williamson county Illinois. Dr. Mitchell is said to have been the first physician in southern Illinois to perform abdominal surgery. He also trained the eminent Chicago physician, James Stewart Jewell, a founder and first president of the American Neurological Association. One of Dr. Jewell's sisters, Josephine A. Jewell, was married to Dr. Mitchell's eldest son from his first marriage, Sion Francis Mitchell.

While in Posey county, Indiana he had two children, a boy and a girl, while married to, his first wife, Martha Millard. She died on June 1, 1848 just after the birth and death of their infant daughter, Emily. Dr. Mitchell then married Martha Ann Harrison; she bore him two sons in Indiana. They returned to southern Illinois around 1853 and had a total of five sons and one daughter. Martha Harrison died July 14, 1859. His last wife was May Marie Moulton. There were no children from that marriage. May passed away August 1885. In all, Dr. Mitchell was a widower three times, having fathered a total of six sons and two daughters.

The Mitchell farmhouse was a stop on the Underground Railroad in southern Illinois. Dr. Mitchell put his life at risk many times and the house was heavily guarded day and night by armed men since his stance on this issue was not universally appreciated. He is said to have lain in the woods to help free slaves and in order to save his own life numerous times. It is said that slaves were hidden in the stonewalled basement of the family home. Court records show that Dr. Mitchell had been charged with harboring escaped slaves.

During the Civil War he received his commission for duty as an Army surgeon. After he was packed and ready to go serve in the war, the local men that were leaving to serve persuaded him that they could fulfill their duty better with the knowledge that he was caring for their families back home in Illinois. He honored their request and stayed on as the physician to their families. Dr. Mitchell was a personal friend of General John Logan and is said to help organize Logan's famous 31st regiment. One of the companies of the 31st regiment was organized and trained on the Mitchell farm.

Dr. Mitchell, a Republican, was elected to the Illinois State Legislature in 1870-1872 for the 47th District. He died July 39th 1895.