Memory Hill Cemetery
More Information
More Information
David Brydie Mitchell
Inscription and Notes:
b.near Muthil, Perthshire Scotland d.Milledgeville.
Stone erected by the vote of the legislature of Ga.
Government Service.
Senator from County of Baldwin, former Governor of Georgia (1809-1817).
Born in 1760 (or 1766 according to some sources) in Perthshire, Scotland, David Brydie Mitchell migrated to America to claim a large inheritance willed to him by his Uncle, Dr. David Brydie of Savannah.
During his Savannah years, he served in the lower house of the Georgia Legislature and in the Georgia Senate.
He served as governor from 1809-1813 and 1815-1817. When he was sworn in as governor, he pledged his efforts to improve river and road transportation, banking policies, and a strong state militia.
In 1811, he was re-elected over Irwin. When war with Great Britain and her Indian allies threatened in 1812, he seized seventeen British vessels in Saint Mary's River.
For his time, Mitchell was a progressive governor. The criminal code was revised. A new digest of Georgia laws was compiled and printed in 1812. He passed an act to prevent dueling. The Agricultural Society of Georgia was incorporated. He set up a system at the penitentiary that proved to be more than simple imprisonment - teaching prisoners to work and learn a trade. Twenty-two different trades were carried on in prison. The prison became an industrial center in Milledgeville.
He declined re-election for the 1813-1815 term but agreed to serve another term from 1815-1817. While serving in 1815 to 1817, the Georgia penitentiary was built in Milledgeville. Funds were appropriated for schools and for the first time the University of Georgia was guaranteed annual appropriations.
President Madison appointed Mitchell as Indian Agent to the Creeks. Mitchell negotiated a treaty in 1818, which secured a million and a half acres of Creek lands and helped prepare the Treaty of Indian Springs.
In 1836, he was elected by Baldwin County to the Georgia Legislature. The Legislature honored him by giving his name to a newly organized county - Mitchell County in southwest Georgia.
He died on April 22, 1837.
