Justice Joseph A. S. Mitchell
(Thirty-fifth Justice)

Justice Mitchell was born December 21, 1837, near Mercersburg, Pennsylvania, and died December 12, 1890, in Goshen, Indiana.

He was educated in the Pennsylvania public schools. In 1854, he moved to Illinois and attended Blandisville Academy for two years. He returned to Pennsylvania in 1856 and studied law. He was admitted to the Indiana bar in 1859.

He opened a law office in Goshen in 1860. When the Civil War began, he enlisted in the Union Army, serving in the cavalry for two years. He re-entered legal practice at Goshen and formed a partnership with Judge John H. Baker. From 1872 to 1874, he served two terms as mayor of Goshen. He also served on the Board of Trustees of DePauw University.

He was elected to the Indiana Supreme Court in 1884 and re-elected for a second term, but died before his first term was completed. He served on the Indiana Supreme Court from January 6, 1885 to December 12, 1890.⁴⁰⁹

Source: Browning, Minde C., Richard Humphrey, and Bruce Kleinschmidt. "Biographical Sketches of Indiana Supreme Court Justices." Indiana Law Review: Vol. 30, No. 1, 1997. View this source in PDF format.