, Mary Mitchell [2], Ellen Mitchell [2] and Margaret Eliot Mitchell [2]). (1793-1857)
« return to database listProfessor Elisha Mitchell was a geologist, explorer, minister, educator, and long-time faculty member at the University of North Carolina. He is best known for measuring the height of mountains of western NC over a period from 1828 to his death in 1857. Professor Mitchell claimed that one of them, known as Black Mountain, was the highest peak east of the Mississippi. Mitchell's claims were initially disputed by Thomas Clingman, one of his former students; however, in 1881-1882, the US Geological Survey upheld Mitchell's measurement and officially named the mountain Mt. Mitchell, a name that locals had already begun to call the mountain.
Elisha Mitchell was the eldest son of Abner Mitchell and Phoebe Eliot. On his father's side he was a descendant of Matthew Mitchell who immigrated to Massachusetts in 1635 from Yorkshire, England and subsequently relocated to Connecticut. On his mother's side he was descended from Jared Eliot, a prominent minister and scientist with deep roots in pre-Revolutionary Connecticut [1].
Elisha Mitchell was born on August 19, 1793, in Connecticut. He died on June 27, 1857, having drowned after falling from a cliff into a deep pool, and was buried in Mt Mitchell State Park.
, Mary Mitchell [2], Ellen Mitchell [2] and Margaret Eliot Mitchell [2]).