Sam W. Mitchell Building - Helena, MT - People-Named Places on Waymarking.com

Waymark Code: WMWGBH

Location: Montana, United States

Date Posted: 09/01/2017

Published By: Outspoken1

Views: 0

After Lengthy Illness Sam W. Mitchell, Montana's 83 year-old secretary of state, died Saturday in a Helena hospital following an extended illness. Mr. Mitchell, a Democrat, was in his 23rd year as secretary of state. He had served in that capacity continuously since Jan. 1, 1933. An attending physician said principal cause of death was old age. He had been a hospital patient numerous times during the last four years suffering from a liver ailment and diabetes. He was readmitted Thursday. The doctor said Mr. Mitchell lapsed into unconsciousness Friday night. Death came at 9:35 a. m. "His recovery powers often astounded us," the attending doctor said. "But old age was against him."

He was born Feb. 9, 1872, in Leeds, Yorkshire, England. He served as a grocer's apprentice in the English seaport town of Hull until he was 19. Then he answered the call of [the] wild west and migrated to Canada where he managed the grocery department of a Winnipeg store. In 1900 Mr. Mitchell joined his brother William, a stationary engineer in Butte.

Became Citizen
He started out as a clerk in a Butte grocery store and took out citizenship papers in 1906. Three years later he went to Great Falls to help organize its AFL clerks' union. Then he headed north, homesteading near Sweetgrass. He helped his neighbors form Toole county from part of what was then Teton county. He organized the Sunburst Farm Loan Association, and for two years was a Toole county justice of the peace. In 1913 Mr. Mitchell married Anna Faaberg, who owned a homestead near Dutton. He improved upon the homestead and signed a petition to incorporate the town of Shelby. In 1918 Mr. Mitchell returned to Butte and rejoined the grocery firm which had first employed him in Montana.

Ran in 1932
He became business manager of the Butte Clerks' union in 1920, a position he held until his election as secretary of state in 1932. Mr. Mitchell was 60 when he first ran for secretary of state. But his age didn't hold the small but sturdy Democrat from defeating 13 men in his five successful bids to remain in office. The state honored him in 1950 when it named a new office building in his honor--the Mitchell building in the capitol group. As secretary of state, Mr. Mitchell has been custodian of all state buildings. His death will change the complexion of two important state boards as Montana law provides that in case of death, the office will be filled through appointment by the governor. These boards are the state board of examiners and the state land board. Illness had kept Mr. Mitchell away from his office with increasing frequency in the past several years. The first indication of the seriousness of his condition came in 1953 when he underwent surgery for a liver ailment. In Hospital He had been hospitalized several times--the last time Thursday. Mr. Mitchell was the second oldest man on the state pay roll and apparently the state's oldest major office holder. The oldest state employee is Edgar M. Hall, state supreme court marshal. Hall was 84 Jan. 1