Joseph T. Mitchell (b. ? - d.  circa 1830)
MSA SC 5496-51632
Property and Slave Owner, Kent County, Maryland

Biography:

            In 1830, Joseph Thomas Mitchell was the head of the household to three white women and thirty-six slaves.¹ One of these women was likely his wife, Sophia Granger.² Though there was no indication of his son on the 1830 census, he did have a son by the same name, Joseph T. Mitchell.³ For the sake of clarity, the son will be referred to as Joseph T. Mitchell II in this case study.

             Though not all of Joseph T. Mitchell’s slaves are accounted for, some have been recorded in chattel records. In 1824, Joseph T. Mitchell engaged in a bill of sale with Rebecca Ricaud and purchased a slave woman named Kitty (who is not mentioned on his inventory), as well as several crops and a couple horses.⁴

             Joseph T. Mitchell invested a fair amount of money and time in buying and selling land in Kent County. Originally from Charles County, Joseph T. Mitchell bought land in Kent County from Richard Bennet Mitchell (also from Charles County) in 1798 for $2,000. This land was called “Wickliff” and “Market Place,” both of which had come to R.B.G Mitchell’s ownership through his late wife Maria Granger, daughter of William Granger.⁵ Twenty-seven years later, on November 21, 1825, Joseph T. Mitchell sold “Wickliffe” and “Market Place” to Richard Bennet Granger Mitchell for $3,333.33 1/3. These two properties amounted to 600 acres on Eastern Neck Island.⁶ However, on November 21, 1825, Joseph T. Mitchell bought these properties, “Wickliffe” and “Market Place,” for the same sum of $3,333.33 1/3 from Richard Bennet Granger Mitchell, but on the terms that if Richard B.G. Mitchell were to pay this sum back to Joseph T. Mitchell, then Richard B.G. Mitchell could have the property (this was essentially a mortgage on the part of R.B.G. Mitchell).⁷ On December 3, 1828, Richard B. G. Mitchell paid $3,333.33 1/3 to Joseph T. Mitchell, effectively satisfying the payment agreed upon in the previous land records. Richard B.G. Mitchell then officially owned the 600 acres of “Wickliffe” and “Market Place.”⁸

 In addition to his land dealings in Eastern Neck Island, Joseph Thomas Mitchell also sold a 12 acre piece of the tract of land called “Arcadia” (likely in District Five of Kent County and reaching to the Chesapeake Bay shore) to William, Ann, and Kitty Scott for $1. Joseph T. Mitchell, as well as Major James Bowers, also owned portions of “Arcadia.”⁹ Nearby, Joseph T. Mitchell bought a 28 acre tract of land called “Swamps Resurveyed” from Morgan Browne for $570.75.¹⁰ Also in 1811, Joseph T. Mitchell bought a 20 acre tract of land called “Swamps Resurveyed” from Anne Maria Rowles for $5.¹¹ That same day, February 13, 1811, Joseph T. Mitchell sold 10 acres of “Arcadia” to Anne Maria Rowles for $5, essentially exchanging tracts of land and consolidating his ownership of “Swamps resurveyed.”¹² Eighteen years later, on September 4, 1829, Joseph T. Mitchell bought a considerable portion of a tract of land from John S. Tyson for $1,853.84. This tract was adjacent to “Swamps Resurveyed” and “Arcadia” and contained 370 acres.¹³

 On December 4, 1811, Joseph T. Mitchell paid $6,000 to William and Martha Ringgold for the 225 acre tract of land called “Tolchester,” nearby his other lands in District Five.¹⁴ That same day, William and Martha Ringgold paid Joseph T. Mitchell $6,000 for the tract of land called “Tolchester,” amounting to 375 acres. This land was paid in increments of about $500 over the course of ten years with interest.¹⁵

 Joseph T. Mitchell served as a trustee for Rebecca Ricaud in 1824 and purchased the tract of land called “Hinchenham” from Richard Miller. Richard Miller was supposedly in debt to Joseph T. Mitchell, or the family that he was serving, by $656.20. Upon settlement of the debt, Joseph T. Mitchell fronted $5 and Richard Miller acquired the “Hinchenham” property.¹⁶

 Richard Ricaud was bound to Joseph T. Mitchell by $3,903.12, $1,951.56 of which was to be paid with legal interest before January 29, 1830. If these sums were not paid, Mitchell was to receive a tract of land on Swan Creek, as well as two lots of land and houses in the City of Baltimore.¹⁷

 On August 4, 1828, “Greshams Hall” was sold in an auction by the trustee James E. Barroll of the Wilkins estate. This land contained 442 acres and was sold initially to the highest bidder, John W. Wilmer, for $3,578. Joseph T. Mitchell and Richard G. Cox, however, petitioned this sale, arguing that Wilmer had purchased the land as their agent and so the court ordered the land to be surveyed and divided. The survey showed only 417 acres and Joseph T. Mitchell was given rights to 208 acres of the Wilkins estate. The lands “Greshams Hall” intersected with Joseph T. Mitchell’s lands called “Swamps Resurveyed.”¹⁸

 Later, on September 16, 1828, Joseph T. Mitchell paid Phillip Wallis $610 for the rights and title to part of “Worton Manna,” “Carola,” “Budd Discovery,” “Locust Point,” and “Cornwallis” containing 262.5 acres of land.¹⁹

 By the time of his death in 1830, Joseph T. Mitchell owned over 1,000 acres of land, most if not all of which was in the western portion of District Five. It is assumed that all of the land dealings prior to 1830 were with Joseph T. Mitchell, rather than his son, though there is no distinction (we can only be sure that any dealings after 1830 were definitely Joseph T. Mitchell II). Joseph T. Mitchell’s inventory, dated December 28, 1830, certainly has no lack of slaves with 39 negro slaves listed and valued at almost $3,700. He also had a myriad of livestock, including 14 horses, 59 sheep, 88 hogs, and 59 head of cattle, as well as farming equipment, blacksmiths tools, and home furnishings.²⁰ It is possible that at least some of these slaves, as well as land (perhaps Tolchester) and farming equipment were passed down to Joseph T. Mitchell II when his father died.

 Interestingly, in 1840, Joseph T. Mitchell II’s household held only 37 slaves, with no whites or free blacks.²¹ This anomaly draws attention to Mitchell’s story. Joseph T. Mitchell II had 58 slaves in the 1850 slave schedule.²² Joseph T. Mitchell II by 1854 married Katharine L. and appeared to have moved to Frederick County, though Joseph T. Mitchell II still carried out land affairs in Kent County.²³

 On January 18, 1840, Joseph T. Mitchell II. was indebted to George B. Westcott and Thomas R. Browne by the sum of $1,000 and therefore Westcott and Browne held the rights to the estates for $5 of “Tolchester” containing 375 acres, “Greshams College” containing 208 acres, and “Arcadia and Swamps” containing 478 acres until Joseph T. Mitchell II satisfied the mortgage.²⁴ On October 29, 1842, Joseph T. Mitchell II sold “Arcadia” to Elizabeth Burns.²⁵ A couple months later, in March 1844, Joseph T. Mitchell II was able to settle the mortgage debt for $1,000 with Westcott and Brown and received “Tolchester” “Greshams College” and “Arcadia and Swamps.”²⁶

 In addition to any slaves that might have been passed down from his father, Joseph T.Mitchell II purchased a negro boy named Tom, along with two horses and two cows, from John H. Tilden, in 1850.²⁷ Joseph T. Mitchell II sold his slave girl Fanny in 1850 to Richard Smyth.²⁸ Joseph T. Mitchell II also seemed to be involved in the timber market, where on multiple accounts he had oak timber logs on his property that were to be sold.²⁹

 On May 18, 1854, Joseph T. Mitchell II and his wife Katharine sold 1,051 acres of land on the western side of Kent County in District Three to James F. Gordon and George D.S Handy for $28,350. This tract of land included “Tolchester,” “Gresham Hall,” and “Swamp Resurveyed.”³⁰ That same day, it was written that George D.S Handy and James F. Gordon owed Joseph T. Mitchell II. $17,289 and if this money was not paid, the same recently sold land “Tolchester,” Gresham Hall,” and “Swamp Resurveyed,” containing about 1,050 acres would revert back to Joseph T. Mitchell II’s ownership.³¹ A survey was ordered to be conducted for this tract of land, and it was agreed that Gordon and Handy would pay the full sum for the land semi-annually to Joseph T. Mitchell II once a deed with the correct meets and bounds was created.³² This concluded Joseph T. Mitchell II’s land dealing in Kent County. It is assumed that he carried out the rest of his life in Frederick County, Maryland.

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Researched and written by Kathy Thornton, 2013.
 
 
 
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