A Beloved Father: William Mitchell

William and Lydia Mitchell were the parents to ten children-nine of whom survived through adulthood. Even for such a large family, they were all very close.   Lydia tended to be the

enforcer-making up for the perhaps too gentle ways of William. He and his third child, Maria, became close through their love of astronomy and mathematics and it was William who encouraged Maria at many steps. She once said it was a sympathy for her father that led her to astronomy-a sympathy hinged on the fact that even if it was 0F and clear at night, William still needed to observe. And, Maria joined him.

In the 1890s, Phebe Mitchell Kendall published Maria's journals in Maria Mitchell: Life, Letters, and Journals. (Phebe was something of the family historian-she had asked William to write a short autobiography which he did.) Phebe made her own comments throughout Maria Mitchell and here is a small sampling of what she said about their father.

Mr. Mitchell was a man of great suavity and gentleness; if left to himself he would never have denied a single request made to him by one of his children. His first impulse was to gratify every desire of their hearts . . . . he was the sympathetic friend and counselor of many in trouble who came to him for help or advice . . . little children would run up to him to be patted on the head. He treated animals in the same way . . . . There was everything in the home which could amuse and instruct children.

Other generations of children and young adults came to know and love him as well as he became a grandfather-figure for many of Maria's students at Vassar College where he lived with her. An astronomer, teacher, natural scientist, surveyor, the bank cashier at Pacific National-William touched the lives of many-not just his family.

-JNLF 

All Facilities are Open!

 Here is a list of our days and hours:

Aquarium: 10am-4pm Mon-Sat.

Natural Science Museum: 10am-4pm Mon-Sat.

Mitchell House: Guided Tours 10am-4pm Mon-Sat.

Vestal Street Observatory: 2pm Mon-Fri.

Loines Observatory: 9pm - 10:30pm MWF