MATTHEW W. MITCHELL. – This representative man of Eastern Oregon was born in Missouri in 1843, and with his parents crossed the plains to the Pacific Northwest in 1852. The first winter was passed by the family at Portland; and the year following a Donation claim was selected and a home made at Looking Glass, in Douglas county. Our subject was there raised, and at Roseburg received his education. In 1866 he was so far equipped as to begin school-teaching, and for some years followed that as a profession. In 1870 he was united in marriage with Miss Josephine Stevens, of Looking Glass, and the same year removed to the Grande Ronde. He there engaged in stock-raising and farming. He became prominent in the political circles of that region, being elected in 1876 as representative from Union county to the Oregon legislature.
His first wife having died in 1871, he was married secondly in 1882 to Miss Jessie Ritchie, of Multnomah county, who is also deceased.
Mr. Mitchell is still engaged in farming at The Cove, Oregon, owning two hundred acres of excellent land, and also devotes much attention to the rearing of graded stock. He is a man of recognized worth, and of wide influence.