Person:Abraham Mitchell (17)

This Abraham's professional life seems "coal-fired". His father was a clerk for a number of reailroads so it may have been through his or his mother's Adams relatives' influence that he found himself dealing coal in Burlington, IA where he me his wife. His fortunes were intimately connected with his brother-in-law Charles K Spalding, with whom he founded the Spalding-Mitchell Steam company in Burlington which piped steam for heat and power to residential and commercial clients until being superceded by gas and electricity. Both men moved to Chicago for their Mitchell Spalding Coal company, a wholesale venture in anthracite coal distribution.
Spalding became imbroiled the the failure of Globe Savings Bank in the 1890's depression, and became a target of prosecutors when it was discovered that assets he administered for the bank were comingled with those of the University of Illinois for whom he was appointed Treasurer by Governor Altgeld. Abraham, who had signed as bondholder for that appointment, became bankrupt because of that obligation. It was during that trial that Spalding's marriage to Mitchell's sister fell apart, largely due to Spalding's relationship with his protege whom he eventually married. Spalding recovered his fortune in Montana real estate and Mitchell retained the coal business by taking on a partner, Dillon, which supported his family after his death until 1930.

1. ↑ Children of Catherine Johnson (1813), in Adams, Andrew N. A Genealogical History of Henry Adams, of Braintree, Mass., and His Descendants: Also John Adams, of Cambridge, Mass., 1632-1897. (Rutland, Vt: A Adams (printed by the Tuttle Co), 1898)
   vol 1/ p 682.

   v. Abraham Mitchell, b. Aug. 19, 1849

2.   Sources for personal history include articles from the Chicago Tribune about the trial of Charles Spalding to be provided later.