Mitchell, Ellen M. (1838 –1920)

Title

Mrs. Ellen M. Mitchell

Author

Mitchell, Ellen M. (1838 –1920)

Pseudonym

Ella Ellwood

Date

1838 –1920

Place of origin

New York

Country of origin

United States of America

Language

English

Profession

Lecturer

Literary critic

Educator

Philosopher

Biographical details

Ellen M. Smith was born in the Village of Geddes, New York to Harriet H. Rowland and Edwin R. Smith, the eldest of their four children. She graduated from the Cortland Academy, Homer, N.Y. in 1860, with a major in classics. During the Civil War her brother, Edwin R. Smith, Jr., served in New York's 149th Regiment. Edwin was killed in the Battle of Chancellorsville, May 3, 1863. Ellen adopted the pen name "Ella Ellwood" in identification with Edwin, writing with the name Ellwood during the war. Following Edwin's death, Ellen resigned her teaching position in Syracuse and moved to Cairo, Illinois, where she lived with her uncle, Ward L. Smith and his wife, Anna.
During the war, Ellen moved to St. Louis, Missouri. She wrote for the Missouri Republican newspaper of St. Louis, continuing to use the pen name Ella Ellwood until the war's end. She married St. Louis attorney and Union civil war veteran Joseph W. Mitchell in the Presbyterian Church of Alton, Illinois in September, 1867. While in St. Louis, she attended the Hegelian philosophy lectures which had been organized there by William T. Harris. She and Joseph also contributed to a literary and philosophical discussion group called "The Pen & Pencil Club," often hosting the meetings in their home. Ellen and Joseph moved to Denver, Colorado in 1878, seeking effective treatment for Joseph's illness (possibly tuberculosis). However, Joseph died in February, 1879. Ellen remained in Denver, where she taught school and, then, lectured on philosophy and literature in the University of Denver. Also, she actively contributed to the Kant Club, and to the Fortnightly Club, of Denver.
Mitchell attended the first session, in July 1879, of the Concord Summer School of Philosophy, which was hosted in Concord, Massachusetts, by Bronson Alcott on his property. William T. Harris organized the school and its programs after leaving St. Louis, with the intention of unifying the Hegelian Idealism of the St. Louis Philosophical Society with the Transcendentalism of Concord. At that first 1879 session, Ellen became acquainted with many women from across the country who were leading the struggle for women's suffrage, as well as the efforts to improve educational and social policy standards. Among those she met while attending the 1879 Concord session was Julia Ward Howe who, later, became the president of the Association for the Advancement of Women. The Concord School played an important role in helping to build networks of policy reformers; more than one half of those who attended were women. Mrs. Mitchell participated in the annual Concord School of Philosophy every year, until its final session in 1888. She wrote, in 1880, a description of the lectures during the previous session, and she delivered a paper titled "Friendship in Aristotle's Ethics" during the Concord session of July, 1887.
Mitchell actively contributed to the Association for the Advancement of Women, regularly attending the annual congresses. At the 12th Woman's Congress in 1884, held at Baltimore, she delivered a paper titled "A Study of Hegel." Throughout her career, Mitchell advocated, and endeavored to realize, the noble aspiration for American philosophy which was advocated by Walt Whitman in his great poetic essay manifesto of 1871, "Democratic Vistas". In Syracuse, she organized and led the Round Table of Syracuse, a literary and philosophical community adult seminar group. The Round Table began in 1894 and continued for more than 20 years. To assist the participants in their studies and discussions, Mitchell wrote and privately published a series of essays on Dante, Tennyson, and Goethe. The title for one of the essays, "The Way of the Soul" is adapted from Hegel's introduction to his Phenomenology of Spirit.
Mitchell died in Syracuse, N.Y. May 14, 1920 at the age of 81. She is interred beside her parents in the Myrtle Hill Cemetery of the Village of Geddes. In her obituary, May 16, 1920, the Syracuse Herald newspaper commented: "The Herald records with sincere regret the death of Mrs. Ellen M. Mitchell, for many years the gentle preceptor and oracle of the Syracuse Round Table. The value of her services to the literary life of the city cannot easily be overestimated....Mrs. Mitchell's personality was singularly lovable, and it imparted a magnetic charm to her discourse and her teaching. On its intellectual side the City of Syracuse is much the poorer by her death”.

Selected publications

Twelve lessons on Dante's Divina Commedia

"The 'Paradise' of Dante, introductory cantos"

Link to external sources

Ellen M. Mitchell - Wikipedia