The Autobiography of William Mitchell Written in His 77th Year
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As one of the outstanding citizens of Nantucket, William Mit chell was a teacher, business man and scientist, who was suc cessful in all three fields. As the father of the famous woman astronomer, Maria Mitchell, he was her first teacher, and, upon retirement, he spent his last years in her home. The manuscript was written in his 77th year, and is in the possession of the Maria Mitchell Association. This organization has given permission for its use in the issues of Historic Nantucket. It is the form of a reminiscence addressed to his daughter, Phebe Mitchell.
My dear Phebe, In compliance with thy suggestion & my promise, I now begin the story of my life, intending also to give thee, as well as I am able, an ac count of thy mother to whom, under Providence, I am indebted for the prolongation of that life & most of its enjoyments. I do not propose to speak of my virtues or my vices. Of the former it would not become me to speak; for the latter I hope to be forgiven. Nor do I mean to speak of my capabilities or my want of capacity. Whatever of these may have been the estimate of other men, they were the meted gifts of a good Providence. I mean only to speak of the events and experience that have marked a long life. But, when I speak of thy mother I shall not fail to speak of her virtues and capabilities, not only because they were both remarkable, but because myself & my offspring have been the favoured recipients of these qualities, the one by example and precept, the others by the same & by inheritance also. I was born at Nantucket on the 20th of the 12th mo. 1791 & on the spot where the Methodist Church now stands. The house was a quaint old building, modernized in 1805, & taken down in 1822. My parents, Peleg & Lydia Mitchell, were both natives of the island, & my mother sprang, on her mother's side, from one of the earliest settlers of the place. They were exemplary members of the society of Friends, my father being many years an Elder in the church. They educated their children in the same faith, & most of them retained the peculiarities of the sect in mature life. The easy circumstances of my father enabled him to give to his children the best education that the period & the place afforded, neither of them having been sent abroad; and three of them became teachers. The earliest event of my life of which I have recollection, is the recovery from a fit of sickness which was then called "The throat distemper" and which I have supposed might have been the "Putrid sore throat". When I grew strong enough again to walk about the room, my father promised that he would have a little cart made for my amusement. The carpenter employed in this interesting matter was
