John Ames Mitchell (January 17, 1845 – June 29, 1918) was an American publisher, architect, artist and novelist. He was co-founder, editor, and publisher of the original ''

Life Life is a quality that distinguishes matter that has biological processes, such as signaling and self-sustaining processes, from that which does not, and is defined by the capacity for growth, reaction to stimuli, metabolism, energy trans ...

'' magazine, in which he was a contributing artist, and the author of several novels.

Biography

John Ames Mitchell was born in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

on January 17, 1845. He was a

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

educated architect who studied at the

École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts The Beaux-Arts de Paris is a French ''grande école'' whose primary mission is to provide high-level arts education and training. This is classical and historical School of Fine Arts in France. The art school, which is part of the Paris Sciences ...

in Paris. In 1883 he co-founded ''

'' magazine with Andrew Miller. Serving as president, Mitchell held a 75 percent interest in the magazine with the remainder by Miller in his job as secretary-treasurer. Both men retained their holdings until their deaths. Much more like today's ''New Yorker'' than the ''Life'' of the later 20th century, Mitchell's magazine discovered and encouraged many fine writers and artists at the turn of the century, such as

Charles Dana Gibson Charles Dana Gibson (September 14, 1867 – December 23, 1944) was an American illustrator. He was best known for his creation of the Gibson Girl, an iconic representation of the beautiful and independent Euro-American woman at the turn of the ...

, the illustrator who created the

Gibson Girl The Gibson Girl was the personification of the feminine ideal of physical attractiveness as portrayed by the pen-and-ink illustrations of artist Charles Dana Gibson during a 20-year period that spanned the late 19th and early 20th centuries in th ...

. It covered the literary scene as well as political and social issues. He and

Horace Greeley Horace Greeley (February 3, 1811 – November 29, 1872) was an American newspaper editor and publisher who was the founder and editor of the ''New-York Tribune''. Long active in politics, he served briefly as a congressman from New York, ...

of the ''

New York Herald Tribune The ''New York Herald Tribune'' was a newspaper published between 1924 and 1966. It was created in 1924 when Ogden Mills Reid of the ''New-York Tribune'' acquired the ''New York Herald''. It was regarded as a "writer's newspaper" and competed ...

'' founded the Fresh Air Fund, which for many years operated the Life Fresh Air camp for city kids on the site of today's Branchville School in

Ridgefield, Connecticut Ridgefield is a town in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. Situated in the foothills of the Berkshire Mountains, the 300-year-old community had a population of 25,033 at the 2020 census. The town center, which was formerly a boroug ...

, the town in which Mitchell also lived. In 1875, Ames was hired by his uncle, Oliver Ames, Jr., to design the Unity Church of North Easton. Mitchell penned a half dozen novels. ''

The Last American ''The Last American'' is a four-issue comic book mini-series published by Marvel's Epic imprint in 1990. It was written by John Wagner and Alan Grant with art by Mike McMahon. Synopsis Twenty years after a global nuclear conflict, one man, U ...

'', a fictional journal about a Persian admiral who rediscovers America in the year 2951, was published in 1889. ''Amos Judd'' (1895) was made into the 1922 silent film, ''

The Young Rajah ''The Young Rajah'' is a 1922 silent film starring Rudolph Valentino. The film was based on the book ''Amos Judd'' by John Ames Mitchell. Plot After fifteen years, Joshua Judd ( Charles Ogle) tells his adopted son, Amos (Valentino), that his r ...

'', starring

Rudolph Valentino Rodolfo Pietro Filiberto Raffaello Guglielmi di Valentina d'Antonguolla (May 6, 1895 – August 23, 1926), known professionally as Rudolph Valentino and nicknamed The Latin Lover, was an Italian actor based in the United States who starred ...

. ''Life'' was purchased in 1936 by another Ridgefield resident,

Henry Luce Henry Robinson Luce (April 3, 1898 – February 28, 1967) was an American magazine magnate who founded ''Time'', ''Life'', '' Fortune'', and ''Sports Illustrated'' magazine. He has been called "the most influential private citizen in the America ...

, who turned it into a picture-oriented magazine. The headquarters of Mitchell's ''Life'' is now the Herald Square Hotel in New York, a gift to Mitchell from

in appreciation of the publisher's having seen and developed his potential as an artist.

Death and burial

Mitchell died suddenly on June 29, 1918, at his home in Ridgefield, Connecticut, of

apoplexy Apoplexy () is rupture of an internal organ and the accompanying symptoms. The term formerly referred to what is now called a stroke. Nowadays, health care professionals do not use the term, but instead specify the anatomic location of the bleedi ...

. He is buried in Fairlawn Cemetery in Ridgefield. Windover, his estate, was subdivided years ago, but the main house is still on West Lane. Its owner also operates the Herald Square Hotel, once Mitchell's ''Life'' headquarters.''Notable Ridgefielders''

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Mitchell, John Ames 19th-century American novelists American male novelists People from Ridgefield, Connecticut 1844 births 1918 deaths Harvard University alumni American magazine founders Life (magazine) people Butler–Ames family 19th-century American male writers American magazine editors Members of the American Academy of Arts and Letters