More Information:

About Jesse M Mitchell:

Home in 1880: Precinct 4, 7 and 10, Hernando, Florida
Levi Eiland 59 , Al, Al, Al, farmer
L. A. Eiland 55 , wife, Al, Al, Al, housekeeper
William Eiland 15 , Son, Al, Al, Al, attending school
Jessee Mitchell 10 , no relationship, attending school

I have no proof that Jesse Mitchell was the son of Jesse & Elizabeth (Eiland) Mitchell.
Facts:
Parents Jesse & Elizabeth moved from Alabama to Louisiana and Levi Eiland moved from Alabama to Florida between the 1870 and 1880 census reports.
Jesse was living with Levi Eiland on the 1880 census and the relationship was listed as other - at school.
Elizabeth Eiland was a cousin of Levi Daniel Eiland.
On Dec. 14, 1909, the Elfers post office was established. The first postmaster was Levi D. Eiland, whose wife ran the post office and chose the name for it. Her mother?s maiden name was Elfers.

REV. JESSE M. MITCHELL (1869-1935) was the first state senator from Elfers, elected from the 9th district in 1923 to 1927. He also served from 1927 to 1931 (Ash). Before then, he had been a member of the Pasco County Commission. He was born in Alabama on May 23, 1869, the son of Levi Eiland Mitchell. He was brought to Florida in 1871, and grew up on a farm four miles west of Dade City, working on the farm in the summer and attending school for a few months in the winter. He attended the Florida Seminary of the Methodist Church at Leesburg, where he acquired sufficient knowledge ot enter the Methodist Conference on trial as a preacher. After serving successfully for two years, he suffered a failure of voice which obliged him to retire from active service. However, he continued to preach occasionally to fill in vacancies, and in some instances hold special services. According to Bellwood, "He became a minister in the Methodist Conference, but as best remembered, never held a pastorate, rather devoting his time to organizing and building churches and doing evangelistic work." In 1895 he married Nola Irene Cox, a native of Kentucky, and they had one daughter, Jessie Gertrude (born, 1896, in Dade City), who became the wife of Kenneth E. Hope. According to an old register of the Hudson Methodist Episcopal Church, Mitchell was appointed by the Methodist Conference as pastor in December 1898 [WPH]. His first wife having died, Mitchell married a second time in Dade City on Feb. 23, 1901, to Ida Mioma Hay (1876-1980), daughter of Jesse Taylor Hay. They had one son, Wilford Berry Mitchell, who married Margaret Nyman. An adopted son, George Bruce Mitchell, married Mildred Chairs of Tarpon Springs. According to his obituary, "In the year 1904 he removed to the west coast of Pasco county, and settled in the woods, naming the spot Elfers." According to a biography, "He contributed all the lumber used in the building of the Methodist Church at Elfers (now the First Baptist Church) and also for the church at New Port Richey, and gave material assistance in the building of many other churches. Recognized as a leader, he served twelve yers as County Commissioner and was chairman of the board during that time; was State Senator for six years; Mayor of Elfers; a bank director, and organizer and operator of the first citrus packing company." In 1915, Mitchell preached the funeral of Lewis Draft, age 5. It was the first funeral in New Port Richey. On Jan. 7, 1921, the Tarpon Springs Leader reported that Mitchell had "again" been elected chairman of the Pasco County Board of County Commissioners. In 1923 Frank Zane Rankin purchased Mitchell's home and resided there until 1926 (Julie Obenreder in WPH). The Elfers West Pasco Record of April 27, 1922, reported that "Mr. Mitchell has been a resident of Pasco County for fifty years, seventeen years of which has been spent in the section now known as Elfers and New Port Richey." The New Port Richey Press reported on Dec. 11, 1925, that Mitchell was elected the first Mayor of Elfers "this week." According to Bellwood, a committee of leading Democrats in the state visited his office in the Elfers Bank building to ask him to run for Governor, but he declined. According to an old time resident, the first telephone in western Pasco county was installed in the early 1900s in the store of J. M. Mitchell in Sapling Woods. Mitchell died in Tampa on Jan. 12, 1935, and was buried in Mount Zion Cemetery, three miles west of Dade City.

Name: Jessie Mitchell
Death date: 12 Jan 1935
Death place: Tampa, Hillsborough, Florida
Gender: Male
Race or color (on document): White
Race or color (expanded): White
Age at death: 65y 7m 19d
Estimated birth year:
Birth date: 23 May 1869
Birthplace: Dothan, Ala
Marital status: Married
Spouse's name: Ida Miona Hay
Mother's Titles & Terms - Prefix(standardized):
Occupation: Minister M.E. Church
Residence: Elfers, Fla
Burial place: Tarpan Springs
Burial date: 12 Jan 1935
Collection: Florida Deaths, 1877-1939