132 PROCEEDINGS OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY 



In the war of 1812, the property, mostly in ships, of Mr. Mitchell's 

 father was greatly impaired, and the most rigid economy was de- 

 manded of the son, in order to support his young family. He left his 

 school and engaged with his father in an oil-factory and cooperage. In 

 1822 he resumed school-keeping, which he always loved ; and when the 

 public schools w r ere established in his native town, he was one of the 

 first two teachers appointed. Finding this occupation too laborious, he 

 relinquished it in a few years, and again started a private school. In 

 1830 he gave this up also, and became secretary in an insurance office. 

 In 1887 he took charge of the Pacific Bank as cashier, and, at nearly 

 the same time, of a savings-bank. Both these offices he held for about 

 twenty years. In 1861, being nearly seventy years of age, he retired 

 from all business, and removed to Lynn, where two of his daughters 

 resided. In 1865 he followed his distinguished daughter, Miss Maria 

 Mitchell, to Vassar College, near Poughkeepsie, N. Y. 



Although Mr. Mitchell was little of a politician, he held many honor- 

 able positions in the State. He was a member of the Convention for 

 the Revision of the Constitution of Massachusetts, in 1820. Twenty- 

 four years afterwards he was a member of the State Senate, and later 

 still of the Council of Governor Briggs, to whom he was much attached. 

 He was elected a member of the Board of Overseers of Harvard Col- 

 lege for six years, and, at the expiration of that time, he was re-elected 

 by an almost unanimous vote of both Houses. 



From his earliest years, Mr. Mitchell. was interested in the study of 

 Astronomy, having inherited the taste from his father. His mathe- 

 matical learning was not sufficient to carry him through its difficult 

 calculations, but Bowditch's Navigator and the Nautical Almanac were 

 thoroughly studied. He calculated carefully, and observed success- 

 fully the eclipse of February 12, 1831, which was annular at Nan- 

 tucket. With a small spy-glass he caught an early sight of Halley's 

 comet, at its last return in 1835. He was one of the first, if not the 

 very first, to see it in this country. Mr. Mitchell was familiar also 

 with meteorological phenomena, of which he kept a record for about 

 half a century. His eye was quick to detect any change in nature. 

 For some years he made observations for the United States Coast 

 Survey, in order to determine the latitude and longitude of Nantucket. 



Mr. Mitchell said modestly of himself: " I have somehow had a 

 scientific reputation, although never entitled to it, and in middle life 

 held quite a position among astronomers of that day." To the scientific 



