Glendale, California Biographies
Alexander
Mitchell
Alexander
Mitchell, who recently completed eight years of service as United States Land
Receiver in the Los Angeles
district, is a native of Aberdeen, Scotland. He was born September 13, 1859, a son of George and Barbara Jane
(Shives) Mitchell. He supplemented his
public schooling by attending King’s College at Aberdeen. At the age of eighteen he came to America
with his uncle, Alexander Mitchell, and , locating at Milwaukee,
Wisconsin, secured a position as clerk with
the Wisconsin Marine and Fire Insurance Bank, where he remained for three
years. For four-years he was land agent
for the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railway Company in Northwestern
Iowa; later he was made traveling passenger agent for the same
company with headquarters at Salt Lake City;
and from 1890 to 1900, he was commercial agent in charge of all freight and
passenger business in Utah, Montana,
Idaho and Wyoming. He was then transferred to Chicago
where he remained for about one year before coming to Southern
California.
The
immediate cause of his coming to Southern California was
to benefit the health of his youngest son.
He obtained a ninety-day leave of absence from the railway company, but
on his own responsibility, continued that leave indefinitely and has since
resided on a tract of land purchased in North Glendale. He engaged in the real estate business, in
which he continued until July, 1914, when eh was appointed land receiver of the
Los Angeles district, the largest district
in the country, with receipts of upward of $250,000.00 per year. He has always been active in the support of
the Democratic party, and upon the expiration of the term of O. R. W. Robinson
as land receiver, he was the choice of the Los Angeles County Democratic
Central Committee for appointment to that office with apparently no opposition,
and on the basis of qualification and record he was reappointed June 19, 1918,
and served until July 1, 1922.
In 1896,
while in Salt Lake City, he was a
delegate to the Democratic National Convention at Chicago,
and took part in the Bryan campaign
of that year. In 1908 he was President
of the Bryan Club of Glendale, and
has been a leader in every Democratic local and state campaign since, but never
sought the honors or responsibilities of public office until he was chosen as
land receiver. Fraternally, Mr. Mitchell
is an Elk and was the first Exalted Ruler of Salt Lake City, Lodge No. 85, B.
P. O. E., thereby becoming a life member of the Fraternal Brotherhood, and
served as president of the Glendale Lodge for several years.
On June
28, 1888, Mr. Mitchell married Jessie M. Pridham, of Chicago, Illinois. Their four children are: Lorraine, principal
of Columbus Avenue School, Glendale: George A., deputy county surveyor,
enlisted in the navy in 1917, and was advanced to the rank of Ensign; Barbara
Isabelle, secretary for C. C. Julian of Los Angeles, was active during her
school and college days, in amateur theatricals, in which she played leading
parts; Gilbert, an engineer in the employ of E. M. Lynch. Mrs. Mitchell is a charter member of the
Tuesday Afternoon Club. She was the
first President of the Glendale Union High School Parent-Teacher Association,
and is a Past President of the Columbus Avenue Parent-Teacher Association.
From “History of Glendale and Vicinity”
by John Calvin Sherer. The Glendale Publishing Company, c. 1922 F. M. Broadbooks
and J. C. Sherer. Pg. 466-468. A photograph
of Alex Mitchell appears on page 466.
