William C Mitchell

William C. Mitchell was born in Arbroath, Scotland around 1874. According to his nephew, Harold Mitchell in an interview around 1990, William came to America ca. 1904. According to a statement by Mitchell himself in the Ithaca Journal of Oct 30, 1925 (p 5, col 4), when he stood as a Socialist candidate, he was born in Arbroath, Scotland, and emigrated in 1905.

He was a stone mason in the Ithaca area for many years, working on many buildings at Cornell University. He served several years as financial secretary of the local unit of the Bricklayers, Masons and Plasterers Union. He built the houses at 332, 336, and 340 Forest Home Drive. Prior to building these houses, he had lived on Judd Falls Rd in a house that he moved from a plot roughly opposite the old School House #2 to the lot where it now stands as 112 Judd Falls Rd [see https://tompkins.historyforge.net/buildings/8184 ] and had worked in Ottawa, Canada on federal buildings for some years. He was a founding member of Forest Home Chapel, which was built in 1915 [see https://tompkins.historyforge.net/buildings/8804 ].

His first wife Catherine, to whom he was married before they came to the U.S., and who was the mother of his four children (Stewart (~1900), Arthur (1905), William Jr. (1906), Isabelle (~1910), died in 1943. Catherine's 1943 obituary listed David and Andrew Boyle as brothers. In 1945, he was married to Maude Wilcox and they were living together at the time of the 1950 census. Maude died in 1957. According to an article in the Ithaca Journal on May 10, 1979 (p 15, cols 1-3), he married the younger sister of his first wife when he was 85. The 1961 Ithaca City Directory [https://www.tcpl.org/sites/default/files/content/archive/ICD_1961I-R.pdf] gives the first name Georgina for William Mitchell's third wife.

He died Tuesday Oct. 12, 1965, at the home of his daughter Isabelle, Mrs. Joseph E Thomas, 332 Forest Home Drive.

See https://tompkins.historyforge.net/people/189456 for his brother, Hugh Docherty Mitchell, who also emigrated from Arbroath, Scotland to Ithaca.

Sources:
* Obituary for William C. Mitchell (died Oct 12 1965) in Ithaca Journal, Wed Oct 13, 1965 (page 3, col 4)
* Obituary for Catherine, first wife of William C. Mitchell (died Feb 11, 1943) in Ithaca Journal, Feb 11, 1943 (page 5, col 1)
* Marriage announcement for Miss Maude Wilcox to William C. Mitchell on Nov 17, 1945, in Ithaca Journal, Nov 24, 1945 (page 4, col 4)
* Obituary for Mrs. Maude Wilcox Mitchell, second wife of William C. Mitchell (died Mar 21, 1957) in Ithaca Journal, Mar 22,1957 (page 2, col 2)
* Article "Organizing Church in Forest Home [and other news]" in Ithaca Journal, Sep 24 1914. Page 11, col. 3
* Article in Journal HOME: "The house that love built" in Ithaca Journal, May 10, 1979 (p15, cols 1-3).
* Article "Socialist Nominee for Assembly gives record and views." by William Mitchell. Ithaca Journal, Oct 30, 1925, (page 5, col. 4)
* Building-Inventory Structure Form for 332 Forest Home Dr. [See https://www.fhia.org/wp-content/uploads/BlueForms/332FHD_BlueForm_1991_sm.pdf ]
* https://ancestors.familysearch.org/en/MBBR-FLY/william-carnegie-mitchell-1874-1965 gives his middle name as Carnegie and confirms that Catherine's last name before marriage was Boyle.