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ALEXANDER MITCHELL,
FINANCIER
(Florida)
Mr. Mitchell was contacted after
banking hours in his office in the bond department of the Barnett National
Bank. He is a small man, about five feet four inches tall, rather stockily
built, with blond hair and quick-moving gray eyes, and is thirty-five
years of age.
He was energetically busy with a list of statistics, his desk arrayed with
numerous reference sheets, and evidently in the midst of compiling a
monthly report of the activities of his department. A warm afternoon had
induced him to remove his coat, which was carefully arranged over the back
of a nearby office chair. He quickly transferred his coat to the top of
the railing which fenced off his department from the lobby of the older
section of the bank, and invited the writer to come in and be seated.
"I have been in this position five years, and before that was connected
with the office of Smith-Richardson and Conroy, caterers to the hotel
supply trade.
"I am sorry to say I knew very little of my great-grandfather, my
namesake, who was a financial power in the late 1860's in his home state
of Wisconsin," said young Alexander Mitchell III. "He and also my
great-grandmother were of English descent and Episcopalians. All family
papers have been lost by one means or another and I have nothing to
authenticate their arrival and settlement in Milwaukee. However, his
financial activities are a matter of record." Producing a small
paper-bound volume from the top left-hand drawer of his desk - an
alphabetical list of early national organizations - he turned quickly to
the A's and read:
"Alexander Mitchell, organizer and first president of the American
Bankers' Association; organizer and stockholder of the Chicago, Milwaukee
and St. Paul Railroad; and organizer and first president (1869) of the
Northwestern National Insurance Company.
"I can give no first hand information regarding Villa Alexandria. For a
long time I kept a newspaper clipping of a writeup of the Villa by Harriet
Beecher Stowe, but that, too, has been misplaced and I do not know where I
could now lay hands on it.
"Naturally, I feel reluctant in going into any personal history of my
immediate family. My father and mother separated many years ago; I have
always made my home with my mother and her people, and know practically
nothing of the Mitchell family history.
"My father David Mitchell, I have not
seen for considerably over a year. I do not know if he is at present in
Jacksonville. However, Mr. Bainbridge Richardson, Mr. Francis P. Fleming,
Mr. J. Y. Wilson, may be able to give some clue as to his whereabouts."
His hands played nervously with a pencil, and he was evidently anxious to
get back to the compilation of his report.
"No, I do not know if I will ever attain to any such reputation as my
famous ancestor enjoyed in the financial world, but I am glad to have
become associated with the oldest banking institution in Jacksonville, and
I am earnestly trying to make good - just as if I were the first Mitchell
in the country, with no ancestral background or achievements to live up
to.
"A banker's life is not a bed of roses - it means long hours and hard
work, just the same as any other vocation, with the added burden of
responsibility for other people's finances. When the slides go down at the
tellers' windows at 2 p.m. and noon on Saturday, and the doors are closed,
working hours are not over for the employees; sometimes it means all
afternoon like today, with me, and often far into the night during special
rushes or busy seasons.
"I could not discuss my work, that would have to come from the head of my
department," he said, clipping his sentences with the finality of
dismissal.
"Always work? Well, I have a little recreation. I am very fond of swimming
and I have just taken up golf - but I don't think I'll ever become a 'bug'
about that. Not so much time to loaf.
"My early teachers were in a private school, then I attended the Duval
County public schools, later graduating from the University of Florida.
Now, I am studying a special course in finance by the American Institute
of Banking, and other things in relation to my work, that takes up a great
many of my off hours.
"Vote? Yes I vote, as a matter of course, but I am afraid I would never
make a ward politician," he laughed -"too many crooks and turns.
Nationally, I like President Roosevelt's ideals, and believe in time he
will get finances, labor, and living conditions of the American people on
the up-and-up."
March 7, 1939.
Alexander Mitchell III
Bond Department
Barnett National Bank
Jacksonville, Florida.
Rose Shepherd, Writer.
ALEXANDER MITCHELL, FINANCIER.
Mr. Bainbridge Richardson was interviewed in his office, Room 15 Blum
Building, 214 West Forsyth-st.
"I can confirm the fact that Mr. Alexander Mitchell, of Milwaukee,
Wisconsin, was the organizer and first president of the American Bankers'
Association.
"As to David Mitchell, his grandson and the father of Alexander Mitchell
III, of Jacksonville, I have not seen him for three or four months. I do
not know just where he may be, but when he returns, I'll be glad to let
you know.
"You have heard about under-privileged children? Well, David Mitchell was
over -privileged. He was the "apple of his grandmother's eye," so to
speak, and had everything under the sun lavished upon him that money could
buy or influence secure - education, travel, and all possible advantages.
"It is reported that in his early manhood he had a fall from a polo pony
on the grounds of Villa Alexandria, suffering severe injuries, including a
fractured skull. At any rate, he developed into an unreliable, erratic
individual, sometimes unaccountable, and at other times rational."
March 7, 1939.
Bainbridge Richardson
Realtor
15 Blum Bldg.,
Jacksonville, Florida.
Rose Shepherd, Writer
Text from: Library of
Congress, Manuscript Division, WPA Federal Writers' Project Collection
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