NAHUM MITCHELL was born in East Bridgewater, Feb. 12, 1769. His
father was Cushing Mitchell, son of Col. Edward, grandson of Edward,
and great-grandson of Experience, who was one of the Pilgrim
forefathers, and arrived at Plymouth in the third ship, the Ann, in
1623. They all lived and died in East Bridgewater, on the spot which
their descendants now occupy. His mother was Jennet, daughter of the
Hon. Hugh Orr, from Lochwinioch, County of Renfrew, Scotland, who
married Mary, daughter of Capt. Jonathan Bass of East Bridgewater,
whose father was Dea. Samuel Bass of Braintree, whose father was
John, who married Ruth, daughter of the Hon. John Alden, the Pilgrim;
and John's father was Dea. Samuel Bass of Braintree, (now Quincy.)
Capt. Jonathan Bass's wife was Susanna, daughter of Nicholas Byram
of East Bridgewater, whose wife was Mary, daughter of Dea. Samuel
Edson of West Bridgewater, and whose father, Nicholas Byram, married
Susanna, daughter of Abraham Shaw of Dedham.
Cushing Mitchell's mother was Elisabeth, daughter of Elisha Cushing
of Hingham, a descendant from Matthew Cushing, one of the first
settlers in Hingham, and ancestor of all of the name in this part
of the country, and whose father was Peter Cushing of Hingham in
England. Matthew's wife was Nazareth, daughter of Henry Pitcher.
Matthew's son Daniel married Lydia, daughter of Edward Gilman,
ancestor of all the Gilmans in New England. Daniel's son Daniel,
father of Elisha, married Elisabeth, daughter of Capt. John Thaxter
of Hingham, son of Thomas, the ancestor of all the Thaxters in this
vicinity. Capt. John Thaxter's wife was Elisabeth, daughter of
Nicholas Jacob, or Jacobs, of Hingham.
Col. Edward Mitchell's mother was Alice, daughter of Maj. John
Bradford of Kingston, son of William, Deputy-Governor, and grandson
of William Bradford, the Governor. The Governor's wife was widow
Alice Southworth, her maiden name Carpenter. William the Deputy's
wife was Alice, daughter of Thomas Richards of Weymouth. Maj. John's
wife was Mercy, daughter of Joseph Warren, son of Richard Warren,
and his wife Elisabeth, from London. Joseph's wife was Priscilla,
daughter of John, and sister of Eld. Thomas Faunce of Plymouth. Col.
Edward Mitchell's mother, after the death of his father, married Dea.
Joshua Hersey of Hingham.
The subject of this Memoir prepared for college with the Hon.
Beza Hayward, in Bridgewater, and entered Harvard College, July,
1785, where he graduated in 1789. He kept school at Weston, while
in college, and a few times after graduating, in Bridgewater and
Plymouth; and was engaged in instructing part of the time while
attending to his professional studies. He read law with the Hon. John
Davis, Judge of the District Court of Massachusetts, lately deceased
in Boston, but then living in Plymouth, his native place. He was
admitted to the bar, Nov. 24, 1792, and settled in the practice of
the law in East Bridgewater, his native place.
Judge Mitchell was Justice of the Circuit Court of Common Pleas
for the Southern Circuit, from 1811 to 1821, inclusive, being
Chief-Justice during the last two years of that time. He was
Representative to General Court from Bridgewater seven years between
1798 and 1812; Representative in Congress from Plymouth District two
years, from 1803 to 1805; Senator from Plymouth County two years,
1813 and 1814; Counsellor from 1814 to 1820, inclusive; Treasurer
of the Commonwealth five years, from 1822 to 1827; Representative
to General Court from Boston, 1839 and 1840, in which place he then
resided. He was appointed by the Governor one of the Commissioners
for settling the boundary lines between Massachusetts and Rhode
Island; and afterwards, for settling the line between Massachusetts
and Connecticut; and was Chairman of the first Commissioners for
exploring and surveying the country from Boston to Albany for a
railroad route, 1827, and is a member of the Massachusetts Historical
Society, and has been Librarian and Treasurer of that institution.
He was also several years President of the Bible Society in Plymouth
county.
Judge Mitchell married, in 1794, Nabby, daughter of Gen. Silvanus
Lazell of East Bridgewater, and has 5 children, Harriet, Silvanus L.,
Mary Orr, Elisabeth Cushing, James Henry. Harriet married the Hon.
Nathaniel M. Davis, Esq., of Plymouth; Silvanus L. married Lucia,
daughter of Hon. Ezekiel Whitman of Portland, Me., Chief-Justice of
Court of Common Pleas; Mary O. married David Ames, Jr., Esq., of
Springfield; Elisabeth C. married Nathan D. Hyde of East Bridgewater;
James Henry married Harriet Lavinia, daughter of John Angier of
Belfast, Me., and is a merchant in Philadelphia; Silvanus L. was
graduated at H. C., 1817, and he and his brother-in-law, Hyde, went
into business as merchants at East Bridgewater, and thence removed to
Boston.
Judge Mitchell wrote a short History of Bridgewater, which was
published in 1818, in the Collections of the Massachusetts Historical
Society, Vol. VII., 2nd series. He has since published an enlarged
History of the Early Settlement of that Town, with a particular
Genealogy or Family Register of the Early Settlers.