Mitchell, Elisha ___ 1793-1857 ___ American ___ teacher

BIOGRAPHICAL SUMMARY
Mitchell was born in Washington, Connecticut, studied at Yale, and, after teaching for a while on Long Island, returned to Yale as a tutor. In 1817, he took over the chair of mathematics and natural philosophy at the University of North Carolina. In 1819, he married Maria Sybil North (they had four daughters), and, in 1821, was ordained as a presbyterian minister. In 1825, when only in his early 30s, he became professor of chemistry, mineralogy and geology at the same university, and then stayed in that position until his death. In parallel, he worked as the state surveyor, making many geological and botanical excursions. He was the first to establish that the mountains of North Carolina were the highest east of the Rockies. While on an expedition to Black Dome (now Mitchell's Peak), trying to establish its exact height as the largest peak in the range, he was overwhelmed by a storm and died. Mitchell published regularly during his life, including papers in the 'American Journal of Science', the book 'Elements of Geology, with an Outline of the Geology of North Carolina', and a diary of a geological tour he took after being made professor of chemistry, mineralogy and geology.
A biography link
Wikipedia bio
The Diary Review - Lead in the mountains

DIARY DATES, CONTENT DESCRIPTORS
1827-1828 ___ exploration geology nature science

WEB TEXT LINKS
etext
etext

ORIGINAL MANUSCRIPT LINKS
Library of the University of North Carolina

SOME PUBLISHED TITLES
Diary of a Geological Tour by Dr. Elisha Mitchell in 1827 and 1828
 

May 2005, July 2008, April 2013
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IMPORTANT NOTES AND CAUTIONS: 1) The first line of basic information may be incomplete in several ways: some historical figures have different names (titles, pen-names); their birth and death dates may be unknown or uncertain (g - guess, c - circa); similarly, their occupations may be unknown, or they may have had other jobs; and, for early diarists, I've used 'British' a bit too freely. 2) The biographical summary may not be accurate. It was compiled quickly from various sources, mostly on the internet, and the facts were not checked anywhere near as rigorously as they would have been if they'd been intended for publication in a printed form. 3) The journal dates and descriptors (which are in no particular order) must be treated with caution: since I have not examined the diaries myself, the descriptors are only guesses based on bibliographies, anthologies and internet biographies. 4) For the biography and etext links, I have ignored any sites with charges, and I have avoided, wherever possible, those with pop-ups or too much advertising. I have limited myself to providing three etext links where there is some variety between them. 5) For the original manuscript links, I have limited myself to providing a maximum of two (although, for a few diarists, their original diaries are held in more than two places). 6) I have provided the titles - chosen randomly - for up to three printed editions of the diaries.