Joel Dyer Mitchell was the second son of
William Chrisman Mitchell and Nancy
Isabella Dunlap, born 7 December 1833 in Missouri. He was named for his
paternal uncle, Joel Dyer Mitchell, the Dyer name coming from his paternal
grandmother, Nancy Tabitha (Dyer) Mitchell. Together, Joel D. Mitchell and
his older brother Charles Roark Mitchell (with his wife Sarah C. (Baker)
Mitchell and their infant son John), comprised "The Mitchell Train"
segment that departed from Sugar Loaf Township, Marion County, Arkansas in
April 1857 in conjunction with "The Dunlap Train". The brothers planned to
start a cattle ranch in California. Their father's 1860 deposition stated
that the Mitchell brothers had between them $275 in cash, 13 yoke of oxen,
a large ox wagon, log chains, 1 horse with saddle and bridle, wearing
apparel, beds, and bedding, cooking utensils, guns, pistols and Bowie
knives, and somewhere between 74 to 100 head of cattle. Three single young
men, who may have acted as drovers, with the Mitchell Train were
Lawson A. McEntire, and brothers
John Prewit, and
William Prewit. Joel Dyer Mitchell was 23, and single when he died in
the Mountain Meadows Massacre.
His brother
Charles Roark Mitchell, sister-in-law
Sarah C. (Baker) Mitchell, and his nephew
John Mitchell died in the
Massacre. His maternal uncles, Jesse Dunlap, Sr. and
Lorenzo Dow Dunlap,
with "The Dunlap train" from Marion County, Arkansas, also died in the
Massacre. Joel Dyer Mitchell's father, William C. Mitchell, had been a
County Clerk, Postmaster and State Senator. In 1859, he was appointed as a
Special Agent and traveled to Ft. Leavenworth, Kansas to receive the
surviving children of the Mountain Meadows Massacre, who were
brought to Kansas by the Army, under the leadership of Capt. James Lynch.
He returned the surviving children to the Carrollton Court House in
Carrollton, Carroll County, Arkansas to be reunited with their families in
September of that year.
© 2008 A.C. Wallner for the
Mountain Meadows Association. All rights reserved
Inscription:
IN MEMORIAM
IN THE VALLEY BELOW BETWEEN SEPTEMBER 7 AND 11, 1857, A
COMPANY OF MORE THAN 120 ARKANSAS EMIGRANTS LED BY
CAPT. JOHN T. BAKER AND CAPT. ALEXANDER FANCHER WAS
ATTACKED WHILE EN ROUTE TO CALIFORNIA. THIS EVENT IS
KNOWN IN HISTORY AS THE MOUNTAIN MEADOWS MASSACRE
JOEL
D. MITCHELL, 23
*Please note
that the names of the victims of the 1857 Mountain Meadows Massacre that
appear here are those who we have personally researched and verified as
actual victims. In some cases this list will differ from the names that
were inscribed on the 1990 Monument on Dan Sill Hill.
Leave
virtual flowers - MMA FIND A GRAVE
MEMORIAL
FOR
JOEL DYER MITCHELL
