John H. Mitchell
| John H. Mitchell | |
|---|---|
 |
|
|
United States Senator from Oregon |
|
|
In office March 4, 1873 – March 4, 1879 November 18, 1885 – March 4, 1897 March 4, 1901 – December 8, 1905 |
|
| Preceded by |
Henry W. Corbett (1873) James H. Slater (1879) George W. McBride (1901) |
| Succeeded by |
James H. Slater (1879) Joseph Simon (1898) John M. Gearin (1905) |
| President of the Oregon State Senate | |
|
In office 1864–1865 |
|
| Preceded by | Wilson Bowlby |
| Succeeded by | Thomas R. Cornelius |
| Constituency | Multnomah County |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
June 22, 1835 Washington County, Pennsylvania |
| Died | December 8, 1905 (aged 70) Portland, Oregon |
| Political party | Republican |
| Profession | Attorney |
John Hipple Mitchell, also known as John Mitchell Hipple, John H. Mitchell, or J. H. Mitchell (June 22, 1835 – December 8, 1905) was a controversial American lawyer and politician, who served as a Republican United States Senator from Oregon on three occasions between 1873 and 1905. He also served as State Senate President, did the initial legal work involved in the dispute that led to the landmark Supreme Court case of Pennoyer v. Neff, and later was involved with the Oregon land fraud scandal, for which he was indicted and convicted while a sitting U.S. Senator, one of only twelve sitting U.S. Senators ever indicted, and one of only five ever convicted.
He was born in Washington County, Pennsylvania, with the name John Mitchell Hipple. He moved with his parents to Butler County, Pennsylvania, at the age of two. He attended public schools during much of his childhood, but also attended some private schools including the Witherspoon Institute. As a young man he was a schoolteacher. He seduced a 15-year-old female student, and, due to the resulting scandal, was forced to marry her.
In 1857, Mitchell stopped teaching and decided to become a lawyer. He built a successful law practice in Pennsylvania. However, in 1860, he decided to leave his community and family, and moved to California with a local schoolteacher with whom he was having an affair. After arriving in California, he abandoned her and moved to Portland, Oregon. It was then that he decided to change his name to John Hipple Mitchell, using his middle name as his last name, and attempted to start a completely new life in Oregon. Almost immediately, he started to become a successful lawyer and build political connections. Mitchell was not an intellectual man, but he was very ambitious and knew how to develop business and political friendships with important people. In 1867, he was hired as a professor at Willamette University School of Medicine to teach medical jurisprudence. Mitchell remained as professor for almost four years.
...
Wikipedia