Old Photograph Muthill Perthshire Scotland

Old photograph of cottages, houses and people in Muthill, Perthshire, Scotland. This ancient village was once an important religious centre and the site of a Celí Dé monastery. The church here also served for a time as a seat of the Bishops of Strathearn before the building of the cathedral at Dunblane in the 13th century. The village was largely destroyed in the 1715 – 1716 Jacobite rising, by Jacobite troops retiring after their defeat at the Battle of Sheriffmuir, being rebuilt in the 1740s as it lay on the route of General Wade's military road through Strathearn. David Brydie Mitchell was born in Muthill, on October 22, 1766. As a young man, he inherited land in Georgia from his late uncle. He moved to Georgia in 1782 after the American Revolutionary War to Savannah, Georgia, to claim it. Enthusiastic about the new country, Mitchell read the law with established attorneys and passed the bar. He was elected as mayor of Savannah in 1801 and made connections statewide. Mitchell was appointed as Attorney General of Georgia. He moved to Mount Nebo Plantation, near the state capital of Milledgeville. He served three terms in the Georgia General Assembly, two as a representative and one in the Senate. Mitchell married Jane Mills in 1792, and according to family records the couple had six children: William, John, Sara, Edward, Mary, and David. He resigned from his third term as governor to accept appointment by President James Monroe as the U.S. agent to the Creek Indians. One of Mitchell's responsibilities was the negotiation of the Treaty of the Creek Agency in 1818, by which the Creek ceded land to the United States. He was accused in the American Importation Case of 1820 of smuggling slaves into Creek and US territory, in violation of the 1808 law against the American slave trade. While his direct responsibility remains controversial, Mitchell allowed those engaged in this illegal activity to seek refuge for their captives at the agency he supervised along the Flint River. The incident resulted in a major inquiry and his dismissal by President James Monroe in 1821.Beginning in 1828, Mitchell was appointed to serve as the inferior court judge of Baldwin County, Georgia. He was elected as Baldwin County's State Senator in 1836. He died on April 22, 1837.

All photographs are copyright of Sandy Stevenson, Tour Scotland, and may not be used without permission.

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