DISTINGUISHED NANTUCKETERS. 123 



twenty-ninth year of his age, he was sent as a delegate 

 to the convention held in 1820, to revise the Constitu- 

 tion of Massachusetts; from which period he never 

 ceased to have an interest in the welfare of our great 

 Commonwealth. 



During the thirty or forty years preceding his re- 

 moval from Nantucket, Mr. Mitchell was at one time 

 a member of the State Senate, and for several years 

 one of Governor Briggs's council. Notwithstanding 

 he held these offices- of honor (thrust upon him, never 

 sought by him), his mind was rather that of a student 

 than politician. 



Chairman of the Harvard Observatory Committee, 

 and for a long time one of the overseers of Harvard 

 College, he was in constant correspondence with the 

 learned men, not only of our own country but of Eu- 

 rope; exchanging observations with the Astronomer 

 Koyal of England and Sir John Herschel. 



With strong intellect, calm judgment, sincerity of 

 purpose, and love for his fellow-beings, he drew about 

 him valued friends wherever his lines were cast, and 

 his residence was a rendezvous for the learned and cul- 

 tivated. Having a wife in every respect his peer, 

 through her aid he spared no pains in the educa- 

 tion of his children, carefully noticing any individual 

 specialty, and bringing this to the front for instruc- 

 tion. 



Though all of Mr. Mitchell's children were students, 

 two alone followed directly in their father's course: 

 viz., Henry Mitchell, assistant in the coast survey, 

 whose opinions as civil engineer are authority the 

 world over; and Maria Mitchell, the well-known as- 



