MEMOIR. 



BY PROFESSOR CHARLES PHILLIPS. 



ELISHA MITCHELL^ D. B., Professor of Chemistry, Mineralogy, ami 

 Geology iu the University of North Carolina, was born in Washington, 

 Litchfield County, Connecticut, on the 19th of August, 1793. He was 

 the eldest son of Abxer Mitchell, a respectable farmer of that town- 

 ship, whose wife, Piicebe Eliot, was a descendant in the fifth generation 

 of Joiix Eliot, the celebrated " Apostle to the Indians." Dr. Mitchell 

 wa.x thus a member of a family now very widely spread over the United 

 States, and reckoning many who have exercised much influence in Com- 

 merce, Politics, Science, and Religion. He possessed many of the charac- 

 teristics which marked the Eliots, especially of the earlier generations. 

 The Rev. Jared Eliot, M. D. and D. D., minister for many years at Kil- 

 lingworth, Connecticut, was Dr. Mitchell's great-grandfather. He wavS 

 distinguished in his own times for his knowledge of History, Natural 

 Philosophy, Botany, and Mineralogy, while as a theologian he was sound 

 in the faith and delighted in the doctrines of Gospel Grace. Among his 

 ctjrrespondents were Dr. Franklix and Bishop Berkeley, and in 1762 he 

 was honored by the Royal Society of London with a gold medal for a 

 valuable discovery in the manufacture of Iron. This ancestor Dr. Mit- 

 chell closely resembled in many peculiarities of body and soul. Both 

 were men of large stature, of great bodily strength, of untiring activity^ 

 of restless curiosity, of varied and extensive attainments, of a quaint and 

 cjuiet humor, of persevering generosity, and of a well established piety. 

 This desire for excellence in things pertaining to the mind was a pronii^ 

 nent feature in Br. Mitchell's character from early childhood. When 

 only four years old he acted a spirited part in an exhibition of the school 

 he then attended, greatly to his own satisfaction, and to the delight of hin 

 friends. As he grew older, he was never so well pleased as when his 

 playmates would gather around him to hear him tell what he had read iu 

 his books, and explain the pictures they contained. His preparation for 



college was completed by the Rev. Azel Backus, D. D., who maintained 

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