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Biography of John ‘Jack’ Henderson
Mitchell & Mabel Margaret Lee
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Mitchell Family Stamford ON circa 1910
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John Henderson Mitchell
(b. Dec 24 1877) was the eldest son of Hugh and Sarah (nee McMicking
1846-1926) Mitchell who lived on farm in Stamford Township in Ontario
just outside of Niagara Falls. His brothers were William, Hugh,
Gordon, and Robert and two sisters, Mary and Janet. His father, Hugh
Mitchell, (1844-1926) took over the farm from his father, John
Mitchell Sr. (1806–1890) who had cleared the property as
a homestead. |
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After graduating from
high school he went to Hamilton, Ontario, took a business course and
lived with his Aunt Mary Jane Dobbie. After graduating from Business
College he got a job with Wood, Alexander and James, a wholesale
hardware firm where he met Mabel Lee, his future wife. He worked
there one or two years and then he asked to be transferred to their
Brandon, Manitoba operation. He had been a YMCA member in Hamilton so
he joined the YMCA in Brandon and met George Bell. George Bell was
telegrapher for the C.P.R., and they became very good friends. |
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Mabel
Margaret Lee was the eldest daughter of Christopher (1859-1937) and
Mary Ellen (nee Gawley 1859-1933)
Lee. Chris was from Morpeth Ontario and
Ellen was from Binbrook. They ran a general store on King St. in
Hamilton. Her brother Harry (1885-1972) joined the RCMP at an early
age and was posted out to Western Canada around 1900. One
sister Blanche (1883-1957) married Edgar Billing (1877-1941) and they
lived in Buffalo, Chicago, Niagara Falls, and Philadelphia. They had
no children. The other sister Elizabeth (1890-1972) went with her
parents when Christopher heeded the call of the West, left his
general store on King St., took his family out to Saskatchewan and
homesteaded 60 miles south of Regina at Forward near Pangman. A few
years later Harry left the police force and took over the homestead
with his father. Later Christopher and Ellen moved to an adjacent
farm and farmed there for several years on the semi-arid, ‘dirt
farming’, western plains. |
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Mabel Lee also worked
in Hamilton for Wood, Alexander, and James as a secretary and she
moved to Brandon MB in 1905. John and Mabel became reacquainted in
Brandon and very shortly went to Winnipeg to get married (Aug 29
1909) then returned to Brandon. | |
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George Bell and John
Mitchell decided to move further west to Regina. They set up a farm
insurance business, Bell & Mitchell - Hail, Wind, and Crop Damage
Agents, and later on George Bell moved to Calgary to set up a
business. His brother Gordon Bell set up a branch of the same
business in Vancouver. John stayed in Regina as secretary/treasurer
and manager of the Regina Branch. Bell & Mitchell were regular
supporters of UBC Graduates. |
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For a few years John
and Mabel lived in an apartment on 12th Avenue in Regina,
and they were there at the time a tornado (June 30, 1912) swept
through Regina and destroyed a number of blocks in the center of
town. The apartment wasn’t damaged but some buildings were torn
apart. Shortly after that they bought a house at 2139 Robinson St. in
Regina (shown at right). |
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On Feb 5, 1917 a son
John Hugh Mitchell (1917-2005) was born and on Nov 14 1922, a
daughter Dorothy Ellen (1922-1985). John Hugh graduated as an
Engineer from the U of Saskatchewan in 1941 and was employed by
Westinghouse back in Hamilton ON where he married Mary Davey and
raised a family. Dorothy also moved to Hamilton and married Bob
Hamilton. |
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Around 1915, John
Henderson’s brother Hugh Mitchell (1883-1938), graduated from
the U of Toronto with a Doctor of Medicine (1910) went down to Boston
for a post graduate course, and then came back to Regina (1913) and
set up his medical practice at John Mitchell’s family home,
2139 Robinson St. Hugh married Myrtle Acton (1890-1964) on April 21,
1915 and they bought a house on Ray Street. In 1929 John and Mabel
built a new home at 2700 19thAve at the corner of Angus
Boulevard in Regina.
John was an early president of the
‘Gridders’ Regina Rugby Team who were Western Canadian
Champions in 1912. The Gridders became the Saskatchewan Roughriders
of the Canadian Football League (CFL). He was also
secretary/treasurer to the Agriculture Insurance Company of Sask Ltd.
which was the first Financial Company to be owned by farmers. John
and Mabel were also avid curlers and golfers.
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Mabel organized the
Self Help League in 1932 which was a Regina city- wide organization
designed to combat the effects of the ‘Great Depression’.
She was active in the Women’s Missionary Society in Westminster
United Church Regina. |
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The Mitchells like to
travel and camp. They visited Waskesiu National Park in Northern
Saskatchewan, Riding National Mountain Park in Manitoba and Banff
National Park in Alberta. They travelled many times on the train to
the Bell & Mitchell office in Vancouver and back to the family
farm in Ontario for reunions. Here John, John Jr, and Dorothy are
shown forming a family chain across the great divide in the Rocky
Mountains between Alberta and British Columbia. John Jr. kept up the
family tradition. He and his family travelled and camped extensively. |
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John sold his ownership
in the business to a long time employee in 1946 and built a home in
St Catharine’s Ontario to be near his children and the old
Mitchell family farm. Mabel was partially paralyzed by a stroke
earlier in life. She died on Nov 30, 1951. John remarried a woman
named Ann L. in 1953. He died of a heart attack on Jan 6, 1955. John
is buried in the family plot in the old Stamford Presbyterian
Cemetery alongside his wife Mabel and his numerous Mitchell
ancestors. Here John Jr and his son Robert D. stand next to the
family burial plot. |
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Robert D. Mitchell
November 16, 2011
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