George H. Mitchell

Quick Facts

Significance:

Apothecarist, Boston Vigilance Committee

Place of Birth:

Nantucket, Massachusetts

Date of Birth:

November 4, 1823

Place of Death:

Alameda, California

Date of Death:

February 17, 1908

Boston apothecarist George Henry Mitchell served on the 1850 Boston Vigilance Committee.

According to the official broadside listing members' names and their addresses, George H. Mitchell served on the Boston Vigilance Committee. Formed in response to the 1850 Fugitive Slave Law, the Vigilance Committee assisted freedom seekers coming to and through Boston on the Underground Railroad. Other than appearing on the membership list, however, Mitchell's specific contributions to the organization remain unknown.¹

Born in 1823 in Nantucket, off the coast of Massachusetts, Mitchell married Marion Crosby there in 1852. He first appeared in the Boston City Directory in 1846 working as an apothecarist, or druggist. He last appeared in the city directory four years later in 1850, meaning his work with Vigilance Committee likely did not last long. By 1860, Mitchell and his wife had moved to Philadelphia where he continued to work as a druggist. In 1861, he closed his shop in Philadelphia and left the city. At some later time, the Mitchells moved to San Franscisco where he continued to work as a druggist.²

Mitchell died a widower at age 84 in 1908 in Alameda, California, his wife having passed away seven years prior.³

If you are researcher or descendant of George Henry Mitchell and can provide any further details of his work with the Boston Vigilance Committee, or larger Underground Railroad network, please e-mail us.

Footnotes:

1. "Members of the Committee of Vigilance," broadside printed by John Wilson, 1850, Massachusetts Historical Society; Austin Bearse, Remininscences of Fugitive Slave Law Days in Boston (Boston: Warren Richardson, 1880), 4; "Records of the Vigilance Committee of Boston" (Ms B.17), Garrison Collection, Boston Public Library (BPL).
2. New England Historical Genealogical Society; Boston, Massachusetts; Massachusetts Vitals to 1850, Source Information, Ancestry.com. Massachusetts, U.S., Compiled Birth, Marriage, and Death Records, 1700-1850 [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2018. Massachusetts, U.S., Marriage Records, 1840-1915 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2013; Stimpson’s Boston Directory, 1846, 387; George Adams, Boston City Directory, 1850-1851, 240; "A Card," Philadelphia Inquirer, September 9, 1861, 7; The National Archives in Washington D.C.; Record Group: Records of the Bureau of the Census; Record Group Number: 29; Series Number: M653; Residence Date: 1860; Home in 1860: Philadelphia Ward 5 Northern Division, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Roll: M653_1155; Page: 103; Family History Library Film: 805155, Source Information: Ancestry.com. 1860 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2009; "Mitchell's Magic Lotion," Oakland Tribune, September 8, 1879, 2.
3. California, U.S., Death Index, 1905-1939 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2013; "Deaths," San Francisco Call Bulletin, February 18, 1908, 15; "Mitchell," San Francisco Examiner, September 16, 1901, 6.