Following is one of the Biographies and Stories which where gathered by Charles Sumner McKamy in the 1950s for publication in a Crawford County History Book. Unfortunately he passed away before the book was published.
Orval Calvin Mitchell, fourth child of Robert and Eliza (Wampler) Mitchell, born March 19, 1884, in Lawrence County, Illinois, and the family moved from Albion, Ill. to Robinson in 1901, where he attended the city school, completing the Eighth Grade, after which he worked for his Father in the Mitchell Marble Shop, cutting and lettering stones. He served as a Sergeant in the local State Militia in Company "D", 4th I.N.G. In 1909 he left the Marble Shop and entered the Government service as a Rural Carrier from the Robinson Post Office, where he carried the mail for more than forty years, retiring in 1948.
He was united in marriage to Maude Ellen Hamilton in 1905 and hey went to housekeeping at 206 North King Street in Robinson, the present home of Mrs. J.H. Price. After living there for approximately six months they built a home at 604 West Ash Street in Robinson for ten years, and from this home they moved to the home where they now reside and have lived for the past forty years at 802 South Jefferson Street. To this union were born two sons, Hubert A. and Charles M. The older son, Dr. Hubert A., D.D.S. was graduated from the Robinson High School and from Loyola University, Chicago, who married Marion Benrens of Chicago and they have one son, Robert Behrens Mitchell and they live now in Fayetteville, Arkansas where Hubert A. is a dentist in the Veterans Administration Hospital. Charles M., the second son graduated from the Robinson High School and from Molars Barber School. He was married to Pauline Woolsey of Vandalia, Ill. and the have one son, Max Calvin and a daughter, Charlene Kay. Charles M. resides in Urbana, Ill. where he is employed by the Ohio Oil Company.
Orval Calvin and Maude Ellen celebrated the Golden Wedding Anniversary on May 22, 1955. Orval Calvin was a native of Crawford County and his Father, who was a son of Thomas and Nancy Mitchell was born on a farm near Robinson.
In 1878 his father, W. Robert Mitchell was united in marriage to Eliza Jane Wampler and to this union eight children were born, to wit: Kate, Fred, Orval C., Ellis, Roy, Johnny who died at an early age, Lennie and Alma, both die at an early age of Scarlet Fever. Kate (Mrs. William Naylor) died in 1917.
The family first made their home in Birds, Ill., where "Bob" (as he was better known) worked as a salesman for different marble firms, first with Wagner of Sumner, Ill. the Niblo of Olney, Ill. and later with Wilson & Son, of Albion, Ill.
In 1901 the Mitchell family moved to Robinson and Father worked for Peter Cook in the marble business, and he later established a marble business for himself together with his two sons, Fred and Orval, which they located at the southwest corner of the public square in Robinson, where the business was successful carrying a fine line of granite and marble, the Father and sons establishing a reputation as being the finest and best in lettering and finishing monuments.
Father passed away on July 31, 1914 and the Mother on December 28, 1906, both buried in the Old Robinson Cemetery in Robinson.