Representative women of New England/Elizabeth W. Mitchell
ELIZABETH WILLIAMS MITCHELL, of Boston, Mass., real estate agent, is a native of Newport, Monmouthshire, England. Born February 7, 1874, daughter of William and Susan (Allen) Williams, she came to this country in 1885, her parents, with five boys and two girls, leaving Liverpool on April 22 by the "Grand Republic" of the White Star Line and arriving in New York, May 5. The family went to Salem, N.H., where the children's grandfather, Henry Buck, who had immigrated some years previously, received them. Their mother was born in England, December 10, 1848, and their father, July 8, 1847. They were married September 21, 1869. The father was a farmer, and still follows that calling in Salem, N.H. In religion both parents are Methodists. One boy and two girls were born to them in Salem, N.H., making ten children hi all—namely, Thomas, Alfred, Elizabeth (the subject of this sketch), John, Sarah Jane, William Henry, George, Susan, Hikla May, and Harold Allen.
Mrs. Mitchell began to attend the common schools in Newport, England, when she was about five years old, and continued her studies in the Salem schools until she was fourteen. At the age of twenty she came to Boston, and took the full course at Comer's Business College, where she was graduated November 30, 1897. On December 2 she advertised in the Boston Herald for a position, and thereby obtained employment the next day with the E. J. Hammond Lumber Company in the Exchange Building. She left that place after three months to take a position with L. P. Hollander & Co., dry goods merchants of Boston, but gave this up shortly to become private .secretary of Miss E. P. Sohier, the secretary of the Free Public Library Commission. Retaining this position, at the same time she accepted the office of agent for the Massachusetts Volunteer Aid Association, in which Miss Sohier was an active worker. As agent, besides attending to an unusually large correspondence, she had to investigate every case for relief called to the attention of the Association, visiting the dwellings of the objects of the relief, ascertaining what was needed, and, when the case was a worthy one, supplying the same, such as fuel, clothing, food, and lodging. In the performance of her duties she was frequently obliged to travel both in and out of the State. Yet, busy as her secretaryship and agency made her, she was able to add to her occupations that of collector for the Associated Charities in their admirable work of promoting, by their home savings effort, the habit of saving among the poor. This she did evenings, and the work took her into the poorer families of the sundry nationalities comprising the city's immigrant population at both the North and South Ends, enabling her to acquire valuable ex- perience. The sums so collected by her at each visit varietl from five to twenty-five cents, the Associated Charities becoming trustees therefor until the amount became large enough to bank, when the owner was duly notihed and atlvised what bank to place it in. In this period she also performed the arduous duty of visitor for tlie AsvSociated Charities, investigating ami reporting cases of extreme poverty coming umler her notice. Nor was this all: at one time she simultaneously served in no less than eight different cajjacities of importance.
Her hrst experience in the real estate busi- ness was in assisting the agent of the tenement house ])ro])erty of the Boston Co-operative Building Company, located in different parts of the city. To this she devoted every iSatur- day, visiting every tenement, and seeing that a code of rules made by the proprietors was observed.
In 1899 she gave up her engagement with the As.sociated Charities to take charge of a number of tenement houses on Lan.sdowne Street for J. F. F. Brewster, a Boston real estate dealer. A year later she had charge of a number of apartment hou.ses in the Mount Bowdoin district in Dorchester, rented by the month. Later she obtained charge of the Ellis Memorial Building in South Boston, owned by the Improved Dwelling Association, containing fifty-six tenements. She resigned her agency for the Massachusetts Volunteer Aid As.sociation in May, 1901.
Besides the estates already named, she now has charge of property on Rochester and Eustis Streets, Edgerly Place, and other localities. She has been remarkably success- ful in handling the properties entrusted to her. She gives them her pensonal super- vision, and orders all repairs when necessary, never taking a conmiission for such services except from the proprietors. Of her own volition she follows the example of the Bos-' ton Co-operative Building Company, obliging all tenants to observe a number of printed rules displayed on sundry parts of the estates subject to them (this in relation to tenement or apartment property). Her tactful enforce- ment of the rules has made a profitable in- vestment of all the tenement property in her hands, while at the same time the mutual regard for each other's rights required of the tenants by Ww. rules has made healthier and hapi)ier homes for all. She collects rents from about five hundred families, and, although her rules are strict, they are obeyed. One of her tenants says: —
"Mrs. Mitchell lias pretty strict rules, but she is kind and helpful to us in many ways. She means what she says. It is one of her rules that all tenants must. pay in advance, but if we have been sick, and are out of money, she lets our rent run until we are able to pay it."
Another says: " Mrs. Mitchell has done a won- derful lot of good arovmd here. She is always bright and cheerful when she comes to see us. She always says something encouraging."
About four years ago three blocks of tene- ments on Lansdowne Street, Roxbury, were ' placed under her management. She saw there was urgent neetl of a kindergarten in the vicinity. Her appeal to the city having been refused, she succeeded in getting the Kindergarten Training School to furnish teachers. She then had her office arranged for a school-room, reserving only one corner for her desk, where she attends to business thrice a week. Every day, from nine o'clock till one, twenty small children attend this school, with two training-school girls for teachers. In the same school there are weekly classes for girls in reading and sewing and a gymnasium for boys. • By special effort a branch of the Public Library was established in the school-room, so that the whole neighbor- hood has free access to good reading. In regard to the statement that many of the ])oor do not appreciate a bath-tub, but use it as a receptacle for various articles, she says: "None of my tenants neglect their bath-tubs. In the first place, I would not allow it; and, in the second, the tenants show a desire for cleanliness when encouraged in it."
The sanitary condition of her houses is unusually good, as she makes every effort to promote the cleanliness and good health
of the tenants, ami allows none who are intoxicated to remain.
By making the comfort of her tenants her chief object Mrs. Mitchell believes that every other purpose of her business is best served. Then she feels a conscientious obligation to the good whenever the occasion offers in the course of her business relations with her tenants. Among the laboring people she has frequent occasion to give a word of advice in season. Gaudy furniture bought on the instalment plan in the home of a poor family quickly arouses her indignation. She discourages such purchases when she can do so without giving offence. She is also opposed to the practice among many poor families of insuring its members, as constituting a deplorable leak of their slender rescouces.
Besides caring for dwellings as described, she buys, .sells, and leases estates, and transacts insurance business. In former years her business was carried on under the name of E. A. Williams: it is now conducted under that of E. W. Mitchell. -She was married to William Frederick Mitchell, October 15, 1902, in Boston, by the Rev. Henry Martin Saville, of St. Mark's Church, Dorchester. Mr. Mitchell was born in Auburn, Me., September 2, 1876, son of Almon and Clara (Henderson) Mitchell. His mother was English - born. His father, born in Webster, Me., was son of Hiram Mitchell, who was a land-owner and a man of importance in the district. At the Mitchell homestead were preserved sundry ancestral relics, including a bayonet that saw service in the Revolution. Mr. Mitchell was brought up in Sabattus, Me., receiving his early education in the schools, grammar and high, of the district. In April, 1890, he obtained employment in the printing department of the Hollingsworth & Whitney Company, paper manufacturers. Subsequently he had charge of their stereotyping department for four years. In the fall and winter seasons of this period he attended evening school. When the late war with Spain began, he enlisted in June, 1898, in the Ignited States Hospital Corps, and went to Fort Myer, Va., arriving there July 5, 1898, and serving in the general hospital for about six months. Then he accompanied the corps upon the United States transport "Sheridan," by way of the Mediterranean Sea and the Suez Canal, to Manila, in (he Philippines, where he arrived April 7, 1899, soon after the breaking out of the insurrection of the natives against American control. While there he saw the bombardment of Paranuque and the skirmish known as the battle of Quinguia. He aided in removing the wounded from the field to the "Sheridan" after the last-named action, and subsequently shared in attending to their needs; and he went back to Manila with the body of Colonel Stoutenburg, of a Nebraska regiment.
From what he saw of the natives Mr. Mitchell acquired a high opinion of their intelligence and of their fitness for self-government. He saw none of the cruelties alleged to have been inflicted on them by our soldiers, whereas he was a witness to the general good treatment of Filioino prisoners, especially of the wounded at our soldiers' hands. Returning to Boston in the fall of 1901, he spent the ensuing year in the capacity of nurse at the City Hospital. He also became a law student of the Boston University Class of 1903.
He is a member of the following University organizations: the Class Senate, the Quiz Club, the Bigelow Club, and the William E. Russell Club. Since his marriage he has been engaged in the real estate business, it having no connection with that of Mrs. Mitchell. He makes a specialty of looking up titles to real estate. He is a member of the Y. M. C. A. and of the Harvard Improvement Association of Dorchester; and he is Prelate in the Cross and Crown Commandery of the Knights of Malta.
In religion Mrs. Mitchell is an Episcopalian. She was a member of the Girls' Friendly Society of Boston and of the Athene Club of Dorchester.