James C. Mitchell (1810-1860) was an early settler of Bellevue, Iowa, and went on to the found the town of Florence in the Nebraska Territory in 1854.
By age eighteen, he was captain of the Lyden and the Lady Washington, ships which sailed between New York City and Liverpool, England.
[3] Toward the end of their time in Iowa, J. C. Mitchell signed the temperance pledge, a copy of which was published in the Jackson County Democrat on Friday, September 21, 1849.
[5] Mitchell was enchanted with the idea of the transcontinental railroad as a way to help his fellow midwesterners receive some of the bounty he had observed during a brief sojourn to the gold country in California.
[1] Following the advice of Peter A. Sarpy, Mitchell bought the land where the abandoned Mormon settlement of Cutler's Park stood, platting and settling in the new village of Florence, work that he, his team, and his family accomplished between 1853 and 1855.
On April 1, 1840, Sheriff Warren helped to lead a citizens' charge on W. W. Brown's hotel, the culmination of Mitchell's law-and-order work.
Mitchell asked to participate and Warren did not permit it, but he did give the prisoner arms in case he was attacked during the violence, since he had yet to face trial for the killing of Thompson, and Brown's men were none too happy about that.
[6] Mitchell served in the First Territorial Council and cast the vote that gave the early capital to Omaha, despite his own town of Florence being under consideration.
In order to secure his vote, Mitchell was appointed the sole commissioner for the new capitol building and granted an enlargement for his Douglas County land interests.