• General Notes

  Murphy:
  Jane Brewster
  Birth 18 NOV 1830
  Death 21 MAR 1906
  1849 8 Jul
  Age: 18
  Marriage to John Mitchell
  Philadelphia, PA
  John Mitchell 1823 – 1903
  Children:
  John J. Mitchell 1851 – 1942
  Martha Jane Mitchell 1857 – 1951
  Charles Brewster Mitchell 1859 – 1949
  Mary Ann Mitchell 1865 – 1948
  Margaret Hannah Mitchell 1872 – 1955
  
  Mitchell, John, Jr., farmer, Section 10; P.O. Fort Madison; his father John M., Sr., was born in County Derry, Ireland, in 1794.  In 1816, married Miss Mattie Burr, born in the same county in 1795; they had six children, four of whom came to this country; the eldest, Margaret, born in 1818, married Nathaniel Humphreys, came to America in 1841, settled in Philadelphia, where she died in April, 1874; Hannah, born October, 1820, came over to Philadelphia in 1848, where she married Francis Snowden and still resides; John, was born in May, 1823, learned the trade of linen-weaver of his father; in 1844, came to America, remained thirteen months in New York City, weaving carpets; went to Philadelphia, where he married Jane Brewster July 3, 1849; she was also a native of County Derry, Ireland; lost her parents when young, and, with a brother and two sisters, came to America in 1846; in 1851, they came to Van Buren Co., Iowa; a year after, Mr. Mitchell left his family with a brother-in-law, and went overland to California, with a company of twenty-six men, four women and six children, with thirteen wagons; they organized under the leadership of Capt. Stone, of Illinois, and left Council Bluffs May 17, 1852.  The cholera prevailed to an alarming extent all along their road until they passed the mountains, but owing to the good care of Dr. Murdock, of Fort Des Moines, they passed through safely; reached their destination Sept 13; Mr. M. remained four years engaged in mining with moderate success; returned via Panama, N.Y., and Philadelphia; reached home in May, 1856, and, a year after, settled at their present residence, the farm first settled by Cy. Ross, who brought the first rat to this township in a box of fruit-trees from Kentucky; the farm now consists of 150 acres, valued at $60 per acre, with brick residence which cost $3,500, and is well improved; they have five children - John, Jr., born July 3, 1851; Mattie J., March 25, 1857; Charles B., Aug 4, 1859; Mary A., Dec. 16, 1865; Maggie H., June 13, 1870; Mr. M.'s younger brother, Benjamin, was born in County Derry in 1825; came to America with his sister Hannah, and settled in Philadelphia as a laborer, then as a carpet-weaver; in 1854, went to California in 1865, married Jane Houston, and died in November, 1870.  Their mother died in 1828; father in 1845.
  Source:  History of Lee County, Iowa
  
  
  

Details of John's family with Jane [1847 - immig New York] Brewster