MITCHELL

WILLIAM WHITTIER MITCHELL

JUNE 3, 1854 – NOVEMBER 8, 1915

ELLA YOST MITCHELL

JULY 2, 1855 – JUNE 11, 1945

A MAN SHALL BE AS THE SHADOW OF A

GREAT ROCK IN A WEARY LAND

William Whittier Mitchell was a successful businessman—who took over his uncle’s sawmill upon his death and expanded the operations. He and his wife, Ella Yost Mitchell, are buried in the Maple Hill Cemetery in Cadillac, Michigan. 

The couple has an impressive monument—the exedra on each side of the sculpture is made of polished granite.  The centerpiece of the monument, however, is the bronze statue of a goddess-like woman, described by the Smithsonian Art Survey as a “heroic-sized female figure dressed in a long, flowing garment and coat stand[ing] on a pedestal.  Here hair is in a bun and her arms are partially outstretched.  The pedestal is flanked by exedras which slope downward towards large urn which stand at each end.” 

The bronze cast by the Florentine Brotherhood Foundry of Chicago, Illinois, was sculpted by Iowa artist Nellie Verne Walker (1874-1973).