Dr. John Waite Mitchell

Dr. John Waite Mitchell

Find A Grave Memorial ID # 169377143

Norwich Sun, March 5, 1919

Dr. John Waite Mitchell for nearly 50 years one of the leading physicians of this city [Providence, RI], known both for his work as a practitioner and at various hospitals, died of pneumonia Thursday morning. February 27, 227 Benefit Street after an illness of about three days. He was 70 years old, but until a few days ago had been active in his profession.

Surviving Dr. Mitchell are his wife Mrs. Lydia Pearce Mitchell and one son, John Pearce Mitchell, who is a professor of chemistry in Leland Stanford university, California. Mrs. Mitchell was visiting her son in California when the news of the doctor's death reached her. She and Professor Mitchell left immediately for Providence. Dr. John Waite Mitchell was born on April 6, 1848 in Norwich, Chenango County, New York, of a family which came originally from Scotland and settled in Connecticut.

A maternal ancestor was Isaac Foote, who was one of Washington's officers at Valley Forge. Having received a fundamental education in the public schools of his home village, he attended Williston Academy at East Hampton, Massachusetts where he was graduated in 1868. He then chose medicine for his profession and entered the Bellevue Hospital Medical College in New York City, where he received a diploma in 1871.

At Bellevue Hospital he came under the instruction of Dr. James H. Wood, Dr. John J. Crane and other noted surgeons and physicians. It was one of these men who advised him to start active practice in Providence. He arrived in this city in October 1872, with letters of introduction.

Speedily Dr. Mitchell won friends through his skill and character. For some time he was associated with Dr. George E. Mason. During his first three years here he was an attending physician at the Rhode Island hospital; from 1875 until 1902 he was a visiting surgeon at that institution; and from 1903 until the present he was on the consulting staff. In addition to his affiliations with the Rhode Island hospital, Dr. Mitchell was also consulting surgeon to the Catholic Orphan Asylum, St. Joseph's hospital and St. Elizabeth's home.

He was one of the founders and incorporators of the Providence lying in hospital and was for 16 years its president. Having become a member of the Providence medical association, in 1873, soon after his arrival here, he became its president in 1886, and held the office for three years. He was also a member of the Rhode Island medical society and president of that body from 1879 to 1894. In national work he was associated with the American Medical Association and the American Social Science Association and at various times throughout his career he contributed papers and articles on matters of scientific interest which received wide recognition.

Among the social organizations to which Dr. Mitchell belonged were the Friday Night club, the Squantum Association, the University Club, and the Hope Club. He is remembered equally for high standards in private and professional life.

Dr. Mitchell was married on April 15, 1875 to Miss Frances F. Mason who died in 1876. In 1878 he married Miss Lydia Pearce, a daughter of the late Edward Douglass Pearce. They had one son Professor John Pearce Mitchell of Leland Stanford University.

Professor Mitchell married Miss Helen Waldo of Jamaica Plain, Boston---Providence Evening Bulletin, February 27th.
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The report of the Committee on a Memorial to Dr. John W. Mitchell was read. It was moved and seconded that the report be accepted, spread upon the records, and a copy sent to the nearest relative. Motion passed.

Memorial to John W. Mitchell, M. D.

The Providence Medical Association desires to place on record an expression of the profound sense of the great loss the Society and the Community has sustained through the death of Dr. John Waite Mitchell, which occurred February 27, 1919.

Dr. Mitchell was born in Norwich, New York, April 6, 1848. He attended Williston Academy, East Hampton, Massachusetts, and was given his degree in medicine at the Bellevue Hospital Medical College in 1870.

He then served as intern in Bellevue Hospital until 1872, where he came in contact with many of the noted medical men of the period, among whom may be mentioned Valentine Mott, James R. Wood, Crane, Flint, and Alonzo Clark.

Dr. Joseph D. Bryant was a fellow classmate and townsman, and a beloved life long friend of Dr. Mitchell.

In 1872 Dr. Mitchell entered upon the practice of medicine in Providence, and by his honesty, steadfastness, application, and marked ability, placed himself at the head of the profession in this State.

He possessed in a large degree that essential attribute of the successful physician, a love for suffering humanity, and a willingness to sacrifice his own comfort to succor the poor and the sick.

Dr. Mitchell was family physician to the President of Brown University, and Dr. Faunce in his inimitable rhetoric has the following to say of our beloved friend and Fellow:

“The death of Dr. John Waite Mitchell means much to thousands of our citizens. He did not strive, nor cry, nor lift up his voice in the streets. Yet for fifty years he passed quietly, swiftly, from house to house, from office to
hospital, leaving behind him everywhere gladness and gratitude.

“What were his politics? We can not tell. What was his religious denomination? We may not know. But there is no finer patriotism, and no more truly religious devotion than in such a life of self-forgetful beneficence.

“Scores of the leading men and women in our State were either brought into the world by his aid or carried through dark and perilous days by his tireless devotion. Many of us know that our children are his gift, and our parents are still with us, because of his skill. How eagerly he climbed the stairs of the tenement house and how lavishly he poured out his strength for unknown sufferers in our hospital. In the home of the sick and poor, learned and ignorant, he was a calming and healing presence, and our faith in him was deeper than our faith in medicine.

“He did not know how to rest. His only recreation was late at night to sit down with a medical journal under his office lamp, and while his patients were sleeping, to read of the triumphs of other workers in over-coming
human pain. Himself he could not save. But while life lasts, many of us will find each day brighter because we remember his radiant smile, his feminine delicacy, his soldier-like courage, his rare union of science and sympathy, in the service of his fellow men.”

Resolved that this memorial be spread upon the minutes.

George L. Collins
Frank L. Day
John W. Keefe

Rhode Island Medical Journal

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Name: John Waite Mitchell
Birth Date: 1849
Death Date: Feb 27, 1919
Death Place: Providence, Rhode Island
Type Practice: Allopath
Practice Specialities: Harrisburg, IL, Oct 16, 1911, Alamogordo, NM, Feb 14, 1912
Licenses: IL, 1887
Practice Dates Places: Harrisburg, IL, Oct 16, 1911, Alamogordo, NM, Feb 14, 1912
Hospital: Rhode Island Hospital, Providence, 1883, St. Elizabeth's Home, Providence Lying-In Hospital, Rhode Island Catholic Hospital, Providence
Medical School: Bellevue Hospital Medical College, New York, 1871, (G)
JAMA Citation: 72:814
Cause of Death: Pneumonia

Directory of Deceased American Physicians, 1804-1929