Collection 2489 - Mitchell Family Papers, 1869-2006

Creator: Mitchell Family

Provenance Note: The Mitchell Family Papers were donated by Mr. and Mrs. Burton Mitchell of Park City, Montana on September 21, 2006.

Historical Note: Freighting first brought William L.C. Mitchell from Kansas to Bannack and Virginia City, Montana Territory, in 1864. In 1869 Mitchell returned to Kansas where he married Mary (Molly) Cowan on February 27. On May 17, 1869 William and Molly, along with brothers Campbell and Alexander Mitchell and the William Chaffin family,journeyed by wagon train from Fort Scott, Kansas to the Bitterroot Valley in western Montana. Campbell Mitchell kept a diary during the overland journey, descibing the route from Fort Scott, through Fort Kearney, Nebraska, Cheyenne, Wyoming, Montpelier, Utah, and Bannack, Montana, all while driving a herd of cattle in addition to the wagons. The Mitchells were joined in Montana by other family members who traveled up the Missouri river by boat and all eventually settled in the Bitterroot Valley until the Nez Perce War of 1877. Campbell Mitchell was killed that year in the Battle of the Big Hole, and in 1879 William L. C. Mitchell, his wife Molly, and children Emma, Maude, Minnie, Florence and Burton Luther Mitchell, left for the Yellowstone Valley and settled near present day Park City. Burton Mitchell, the donor of this collection, is the grandson of Burton Luther Mitchell.

Content Description Note: The Mitchell papers include the Campbell Mitchell diary, mounted portrait photographs of Mitchell family members, typed and handwritten memoirs and historical narratives by various family members, assorted letters between family members, a newspaper clipping history of the family in Park City, land and mine claims, genealogical information and assorted other ephemera. A published version of the Campbell Mitchell diary can be found in The Song of the Bitterroot by Leda Mitchell Reed (1986).