Joseph Mitchell

Joseph A. S. Mitchell (December 21, 1837 – December 12, 1890) was an American lawyer, politician, soldier, and judge who served as a justice of the Indiana Supreme Court from January 6, 1885, to December 12, 1890. Mitchell also served in the American Civil War as a captain in the 2nd Indiana Cavalry Regiment.

Biography Mitchell was born in 1837 near Mercersburg, Pennsylvania to Andrew Mitchell (of Scottish descent) and Sarah Mitchell (née Lecron, of French origin). He grew up on the family farm near Mercersburg until he was seventeen, when he moved to Blandinsville, Illinois in 1854 to become a student at Blandinsville Academy.

In 1865, Mitchell married Mary E. Defrees of the prominent Defrees political family of Indiana. Mitchell's father in law was U.S. Representative from Indiana, Joseph H. Defrees, and his uncle-in-law was John D. Defrees, a newspaper publishing magnate and Superintendent of the U.S. Government Printing Office under Abraham Lincoln. Mitchell's marriage also made him a relative of James S. Frazer, a former Indiana Supreme Court Justice who also married into the Defrees family. As mentioned, Mitchell was a cousin of John H. Baker, and is thereby related to his son, Francis E. Baker, another Indiana Supreme Court justice. Joseph and Mary Mitchell had two children. Mitchell was raised in a Presbyterian family, but was active in Goshen's First Methodist Church.

In 2009, Goshen mayor Allan Kauffman announced that the city would purchase Mitchell's historic Queen Anne style (built circa 1870) house to renovate and preserve it.