Name:
George Mitchell 
Location served:
Wallaceburg  
Years in Practice:
1866 to 1914
Area of Specialization:
Family Medicine  

Biography:

Dr. George Mitchell was born in Lambton County, Ontario on the 10th of June, 1838.  Dr. Mitchell was the 6th of 8 children born to William Mitchell and the former Jane Ballagh.  His parents and most of his siblings were born in Ireland. Dr. Mitchell was the first of the Mitchell children to be born in Canada.  In fact on his brother William’s death record, it records his place of birth as the Atlantic Ocean in August of 1833.  (The same information is repeated on the 1901 census.)  His parents were farmers and his siblings were; Elizabeth, Mary, Robert, John, William, Angus and Jeremiah.

Dr. Mitchell attended Bellvue Hospital Medical College in New York, graduating M.D. in 1866. He received a certificate from the Toronto School of Medicine the same year.  According to the 1882 Ontario Medical Register, Dr. Mitchell joined the College of Physicians and Surgeons on the 26th of December, 1866.  He initially practiced medicine in Wyoming (Lambton County) but by 1868 he was settled in Wallaceburg.

Dr. Mitchell married Mary Ann Mott.  Mrs. Mitchell was born in Athens, Ontario on the 4th of March, 1845.  Mrs. Mitchell was the eldest of 5 children born to Dr. George Mott and the former Hester Ann Smith.  Her father was a physician and her siblings were; Charlotte Amelia Mott, Sarah Tamson Mott, Artimisie Mott and George Frederick Mott.

Dr. and Mrs. Mitchell had 4 children; Hattie Jane Mitchell was born on the 9th of July, 1867 (d. 1946), George Frederick Claude Mitchell was born on the 7th of January 1871 in Wallaceburg but died of croup on the 22nd of October 1875.  William Harry Mitchell was born on the 7th of September, 1876 (d. 1951) and George Roy Mitchell was born on the 20th of March, 1884 (d. 1956).

Dr. Mitchell was made an Associate Coroner of Kent County in 1872.  Wallaceburg was incorporated as a village in 1874.  Dr. Mitchell was elected to the first village council of Wallaceburg in 1875 and he represented Wallaceburg as a Reeve from 1879 to 1881. He was elected as a Reeve again in 1883 and he served in that capacity until 1885.   He was elected as a Warden of Kent County in 1885.

Dr. Mitchell was listed in the 1869 and the 1874-1875 Kent County Business Directory.  He also appears in the 1885 and 1900 Ontario Business Directories as practicing medicine in Wallaceburg.

Dr. Mitchell ran as a Conservative candidate in the Federal Election of 1897, but he lost to the Hon. David Mills.

Dr. Mitchell was instrumental in the formation of the Sydenham Glass Company in Wallaceburg in 1891. He was also one of the early members of the Kent Historical Society.   Dr. Mitchell built a home at the corner of Duncan and Wellington St. in Wallaceburg in 1892. (The home stood until 1962). Dr. Mitchell wrote a paper on Lord Selkirk’s Baldoon Settlement in 1913. The paper was published posthumously.  Dr. Mitchell was a member of the Oddfellows.

Dr. Mitchell appears in the 1913 Bell Telephone Directory.  His telephone number was 21.

Dr. Mitchell died on October 2nd, 1914, at his residence in Wallaceburg.  Mrs. Mitchell died at her residence of influenza on the 22nd of February, 1922.  Dr. and Mrs. Mitchell are buried at Riverview Cemetery in Wallaceburg.

*Dr. Mitchell’s father-in-law, Dr. George Mott also appears on the Chatham-Kent Physician Tribute website.