David T. Mitchell was born on April 8, 1832 in Maxon County, Kentucky. He became a student of the law and emigrated to Kansas Territory in the 1850s. In December 1856, he settled in Douglas County's community of Lecompton, where he was a practicing attorney and land agent. In 1861, Mitchell and civil engineer O. B. Gunn published Gunn & Mitchell's New Map of Kansas and the Gold Mines, first produced by Gunn in 1859, but issued jointly with Mitchell in all succeeding editions. Mitchell later served as Douglas County Attorney and was a member of the Kansas House of Representatives in 1862 and 1863. For many years, he resided at Lawrence, Kansas, where he was an owner of The Standard, a weekly Democratic newspaper, from 1870 to 1875.
From the guide to the Letter to Richard H. Collins, September 11, 1855, (University of Kansas Kenneth Spencer Research Library Kansas Collection)
