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.[1][2]
After a short education in Blandinsville, Mitchell became a school teacher. Returning to Pennsylvania in 1856 at age nineteen, he began to study law at the office of Riley & Sharp in Chambersburg.[1][2]
In 1859, Mitchell was admitted to the Indiana bar. After travelling for several months in the South, Mitchell moved to his lifelong home of Goshen, Indiana in 1860. He opened up a private law practice, but following the outbreak of the Civil War, he left Goshen to serve in the Union Army.[1][2]
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.[1][2]
In 1880, Mitchell was the Democratic candidate for a seat on the Indiana Supreme Court. He was defeated that year, but ran again in 1884 and won, succeeding Justice Edwin Hammond to the bench. While serving on the bench, Mitchell helped resolve a legal dispute between the owners of a dam on the St. Joseph River in South Bend. He was re-elected to his seat on the bench in 1890, but died weeks after his re-election, at the age of 52. Justice Robert McBride was appointed to Mitchell's now vacant seat. Mitchell was eulogized by fellow Indiana Supreme Court Justice Byron Elliott at his funeral in Goshen.[1][2][5][6]
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.[7][8]
