Reverend Ernest Chalmers Mitchell and his wife Lena, served as missionaries of the Covenanter (Reformed Presbyterian) Church, North America early last century, in China.
Born in 1877 in Ohio, he graduated from Geneva College in 1904, he went through Theological Seminary and was ordained for mission work in China in 1907.
As the society’s missionary work in Tak Hing (Deqing County), Guangdong, China, flourished, the society sent Rev. Mitchell there along with colleagues Dr Kate McBurney and and Dr Ida Scott.
In 1908 Ernest Mitchell married Lena Wilson, who was also serving in Tak Hing. They married in Tak Hing in May of this year.
Rev Mitchell’s two colleagues purchased a house on Cheung Chau, House #2, which they used for holiday purposes in the summer and retreats when life became troublesome on the mission field. It was just too expensive to return on vacation to America each summer.
During the 1911 Xinhai Revolution, the Mitchells, along with Dr McBurney, took refuge in her villa on Cheung Chau for several weeks. In addition, key members of the South China missionary team also temporarily relocated to Cheung Chau in early 1912. Meetings, intelligence gathering, and planning were carried out there. They also held regional missionary meetings and prepared annual reports for submission to the Society. They returned to the Xijiang River to continue their ministry.
In 1916, Rev. Mitchell began to develop the gospel ministry in nearby Lo Ting.
From 1920-24, the Mitchells were compelled for health reasons to return home for treatment for Lena Mitchell for severe arthritis in the USA. During this time, he pastored a church in Kansas.
On September 18, 1925, the Mitchells became the owners of House #2 on Cheung Chau, using it as a sanctuary for rest, hospitality, and family care for missionaries. Their name (Mr E C Mitchell) appears on the list of European Owners of houses on Cheung Chau in 1938, along with two colleagues, Dr Julius Kempf and Rev Jesse Mitchel.
The outbreak of war with Japan in 1937 brought fresh challenges. As Japanese forces advanced in 1938, the Xijiang region endured relentless bombing. Missionaries were forced to flee, and Mrs. Mitchell and her companion Mrs. Boyle, who had just given birth, retreated to safety on Cheung Chau, while Pastor Mitchell continued working.
That year the Mitchells sold the house on Cheung Chau to a Dr Frank Woodard Scott, a Baptist missionary serving in China, and returned to America, so avoiding the Japanese invasion and war.
In 1940, the Rev. Mitchell was elected Moderator of the Reformed Presbyterian Church General Assembly, the highest position one can hold in that denomination. And he was honoured with the degree of Doctor of Divinity by Geneva College.
Dr Mitchell pastored a church in Winnipeg, Canada until his death in 1945, aged 68.
Lena Mitchell died in 1960 at the Reformed Presbyterian Home in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Source: Bradbury Retreat Centre
Reformed Presbyterian Mission in South China.
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