MITCHELL.
791
MITCHELL, Donald Grant, LL.D., born at Norwich, Connecti- cut, in April, 1822. He graduated at Yale College in 1841, studied
- law. travelled in Europe, and, in
1847, published *' Fresh Gleanings, or a New Sheaf from the Old Fields of Continental Europe," under the pseudonym of "Ik Marvel." In 1848 he was again in Europe, and Wrote, under his former pseudonym, "The Battle Summer," 1849. Ee- tuming to New York, he published, anonymously, "The Lorgnette," a series of satirical sketches of society, 1850. In the same year appeared " The Eeveries of a Bachelor," fol- lowed in 1851 by " Dream Life." In 1853 he was appointed United States Consul at Venice, where he remained two years, and made col- lections for a " History of the Venetian Republic." Betuming to America in 1855, he purchased a fine farm at Edgewood, near New Haven, Connecticut, where he now resides. From 1869 to 1870 he was editor of Hearth and Home. In 1873 he was a U. S. Commissioner at the Paris Exposition. He has pub- lished, " Fudge Doings," 1854 ; "My Farm at Edgewood," 1868; "Wet Days at Edgewood," 1864; " Seven Stories, with Basement and Attic," 1864; "Dr. Johns," 1866; " Rural Studies," 1867 ; " Pictures of Edgewood," 1869; and "About Old Story-Tellers," 1878.
MITCHELL, Mabia, born at Nantucket, Massachusetts, Aug. 1, 1818. For astronomy and its cog- nate branches she had a strong pre- dilection, and at an early age became an active assistant of her father, who was himself a teacher and an astronomer of some note, and car- ried on a series of independent observations. In 1847 sh6 dis- covered a telescopic comet, for which she received a gold medal from the King of Denmark. She calculated the elements of this comet, and communicated them to the Smith- sonian Institution ; and was subse- quently employed on the Coast
Survey and in the compilation of the American Nautical Almanac. She visited Europe and the prin- cipal observatories of Great Britain and the Continent in 1857, and in 1865 was appointed Professor of Astronomy in the Vassar College, a collegiate institution for women at Poughkeepsie, New York.
MITCHELL, Th« Hon. Peter, bom Jan. 4, 1824, at Newcastle, Miramichi, province of New Bruns- wick, and educated at the same I^ace, was in 1856 elected a repre- sentative for his native county to serve in the Provincial Parliament, and was subsequently re-elected. After serving as representative for five years, he was apx)ointed Life Member of the Legislative Council, and was a member of the Executive Government of New Brunswick from 1858 till 1865, when his government was defeated on the question of the confederation of the British Ame- rican provinces. He was three times appointed delegate to Canada and England, with the view of obtaining the construction of the Intercolonial Railway from Halifax to Quebec, and the confederation of the provinces. In 1865 he was called upon, in connection with the Hon. R. D. Wilmot, to form an adminis- tration to test the province on con- federation, and was api)ointed Pre- sident of the Executive Committee. Having dissolved, they were sus- tained by a majority of 33 to 8, and confederation was carried. Mr. Mitchell, who was an ardent advo- cate of union, did much by his writings and speeches in and out of parliament to promote British con- nection. On the organisation of the Dominion government in July, 1867, Mr. Mitchell was called to the cabi- net as Minister of Marine and Fishe- ries, which post he held until the resignation of the Macdonald Ad- ministration in 1873. Mr. Mitchell took an active part in the settle- ment of the Fisheries dispute be- tween the Dominion of Canada and the Government of the United
Googl^
