Henry Laurens Mitchell (September 3, 1831 – October 14, 1903) was an American lawyer, judge, and politician. He served as the 16th Governor of Florida (1893–1897).

Biography

Mitchell was born near

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands, within the wider West Midlands (region), West Midlands region, in England. It is the Lis ...

in Jefferson County,

Alabama Alabama ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Deep South, Deep Southern regions of the United States. It borders Tennessee to the north, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gu ...

. His family moved to

Tampa Tampa ( ) is a city on the Gulf Coast of the United States, Gulf Coast of the U.S. state of Florida. Tampa's borders include the north shore of Tampa Bay and the east shore of Old Tampa Bay. Tampa is the largest city in the Tampa Bay area and t ...

when he was 15 years old. Mitchell studied law and was

admitted to the bar An admission to practice law is acquired when a lawyer receives a license to practice law. In jurisdictions with two types of lawyer, as with barristers and solicitors, barristers must gain admission to the bar whereas for solicitors there are dist ...

in 1849 at the age of 18. When the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...

began, Mitchell resigned from his post as

State Attorney In the United States, a district attorney (DA), county attorney, county prosecutor, state attorney, state's attorney, prosecuting attorney, commonwealth's attorney, or solicitor is the chief prosecutor or chief law enforcement officer represen ...

and enlisted in the

Confederate States Army The Confederate States Army (CSA), also called the Confederate army or the Southern army, was the Military forces of the Confederate States, military land force of the Confederate States of America (commonly referred to as the Confederacy) duri ...

. Mitchell was such a strong supporter of Southern nationalism that he had two members of his

Masonic Freemasonry (sometimes spelled Free-Masonry) consists of fraternal groups that trace their origins to the medieval guilds of stonemasons. Freemasonry is the oldest secular fraternity in the world and among the oldest still-existing organizati ...

lodge expelled for fighting in the Union Army. In July 1863, Mitchell left the Confederate Army to take a seat in the

Florida House of Representatives The Florida House of Representatives is the lower house of the Florida Legislature, the State legislature (United States), state legislature of the U.S. state of Florida, the Florida Senate being the upper house. Article III, Section 1 of the C ...

, to which he had been elected while serving. He was reelected after the war, in 1873 and 1875. His brother Charles Mitchell later became the Florida Commissioner of Land and Immigration, the modern equivalent of the Commissioner of Agriculture. In 1888, Mitchell was appointed to the

Florida Supreme Court The Supreme Court of Florida is the state supreme court, highest court in the U.S. state of Florida. It consists of seven justices—one of whom serves as Chief Justice. Six members are chosen from six districts around the state to foster geog ...

, serving as an associate justice until 1891, when he resigned to start campaigning for governor. He won the election. During his term as governor, Mitchell was paid $3500 per year. After he left office, Mitchell returned to Hillsborough County, where he was elected as

clerk A clerk is a white-collar worker who conducts record keeping as well as general office tasks, or a worker who performs similar sales-related tasks in a retail environment. The responsibilities of clerical workers commonly include Records managem ...

of the

circuit court Circuit courts are court systems in several common law jurisdictions. It may refer to: * Courts that literally sit 'on circuit', i.e., judges move around a region or country to different towns or cities where they will hear cases; * Courts that s ...

and subsequently county treasurer there. He died in Tampa on October 14, 1903, and was buried at Oaklawn Cemetery. In 1915, Henry Mitchell Elementary School opened and was named after him.

References

External links

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Henry Laurens Mitchell
City of Tampa, Oaklawn Cemetery {{DEFAULTSORT:Mitchell, Henry Laurens Democratic Party governors of Florida 1831 births 1903 deaths County constitutional officer (Florida) Justices of the Supreme Court of Florida 19th-century American judges