Of all the Mitchell children of this family, James and Bartley are the only ones who moved on from the Ireland to Illinois to Iowa migration. While Bartley moved on to California, James took his family and settled in South Dakota (hence, the title of this post).
It is recorded in at least 2 Federal Census records that James arrived in the U.S. in or around 1866. He married Mary Carroll ( daughter of John Carroll and Nellie Finan) 10 Mar 1867 in St. Louis, Missouri. They resided in Whiteside County in Illinois for at least 13 years before moving on to Crawford County in Iowa.
James and Mary had 11 known children. They were: John, Bernard (known as Beck), Ellen, William, Anna, Michael, James (who died at about 1 year old), Mary, Alice, James Vincent, and Lucille.
I'm not sure how long James and Mary stayed in Crawford County, but it wasn't as long as they had resided in Whiteside County. The 1880 Census still has them in Whiteside, while the 1885 Iowa State Census has them in Crawford County, as well as the 1900 U.S. Federal Census. But by 1910, the were in Bryan, Charles Mix County in South Dakota. They later moved to Wagner in the same county where they lived until their deaths in 1923 and 1925, respectively.
I don't have much on the eldest child (and eldest son) of James and Mary. John was born in Illinois and died at about 18 years of age in Crawford County.
Their second child, a boy they named Bernard whose nickname was Beck, married Mary Ellen O'Connell and they had 7 children. The family removed to Charles Mix County (probably at the same time as James and Mary).
The third child, a daughter by the name of Ellen, married Peter O'Connell. Peter and Ellen had 6 children and removed to South Dakota also, but eventually ended up in Michigan.
William, the fourth child and third son, married Marie (or Mary) McCarthy. They had 6 children and settled in Crawford County.
James and Mary's next child was Anna. She married Hugh Costello. They moved to South Dakota and raised 7 children.
Michael was their six child and 4th son. I still have much to research on Mickey (as he was known). I do know that he married a woman named Evelyn. They had 4 daughters and resided in South Dakota.
Their next child, James, was born in Crawford County and, also, died there at the age of 1 year and 4 months.
Mary (8th child, 3rd daughter) appears to have remained single and died in Maryland. This fact I may change with a bit more research into her timeline. The last record I have for her is 1910 Federal Census in the home of her parents at the age of 25 years.
Their next daughter, Alice, married Francis Gorman. The couple eventually ended up in Minnesota (after Iowa and South Dakota), raising 5 children.
James Vincent was the youngest son. He moved to South Dakota with his parents and married a woman named Pauline, having two children together.
The youngest daughter was Lucille. Lucille married Charles Harrington in 1919. The couple had at least one son.
The James Mitchell Family
Front, sitting, from the left -Ellen, James, Lucille, Mary and Alice
Back, Standing, from the left - James Vincent, Anna, William, Beck, Michael, and Mary
Cousins - from left to right: Tommy Giblin, Johnnie Carroll, brothers Will and Beck Mitchell