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Note: NI681 Bill was previously married at least once prior to his marriage to Margaret Drugan. As I recall from some earlier conversations, he and his previous wife(s) lived in Southern Illinois near Cairo, Illinois and he had at least one daughter named Shirley Jean whom he visited somewhat often during the 1970s and 1980s. Unfortunately I no longer remember the married name of Shirley Jean or where she lives.
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An Internet records search during 2014 revealed the following possible other children of William E. Mitchell that died in infancy. I'm not 100% sure that this is the same William E. Mitchell but the age and location of Alexander County, Illinois both match.
The first record is for an infant daughter, Betty Jean Mitchell, who apparently died shortly after birth. The next two records are for the mother, Virginia Temple Cook, who died at childbirth. The third record reflects that child, Carol Joyce Mitchell, who died approximately 6 months later.
Name: Betty Jean Mitchell
Event Date: 11 Jan 1936
Event Place: Alexander Co., Illinois
Gender: Female
Age: 0
Father's Name: William Mitchell
Mother's Name: Virginia Cook
Digital Folder Number: 4008407
Image Number: 704
GS Film number: 1765826
Reference ID: Registered #2
Citing this Record:
"Illinois Deaths and Stillbirths, 1916-1947," index, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/N32C-ZMY : accessed 16 Sep 2014), William Mitchell in entry for Betty Jean Mitchell, 11 Jan 1936; citing Public Board of Health, Archives, Springfield; FHL microfilm 1765826.
Name: Virginia Temple Mitchell
Event Date: 14 Jun 1938
Event Place: Cairo, Alexander, Illinois
Gender: Female
Age: 17
Birth Date: 17 May 1921
Birthplace: Villa Ridge, Ill.
Father's Name: Fred F. Cook
Father's Birthplace: Lawrenceville, Ill.
Occupation: Housewife
Residence Place: Tamms, Alex., Ill.
Spouse's Name: William Mitchell
Burial Date: 16 Jun 1938
Burial Place: Alex., Ill.
Digital Folder Number: 4008481
Image Number: 602
GS Film number: 1818801
Reference ID: cn 21477 rn 115
Citing this Record:
"Illinois Deaths and Stillbirths, 1916-1947," index, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/N3JB-YX9 : accessed 16 Sep 2014), William Mitchell in entry for Virginia Temple Mitchell, 14 Jun 1938; citing Public Board of Health, Archives, Springfield; FHL microfilm 1818801.
Name: Carrol Joyce Mitchell
Event Date: 9 Jan 1939
Event Place: Cairo, Alexander, Illinois
Gender: Female
Age: 0
Birth Date: 14 Jun 1938
Birthplace: Cairo, Ill
Father's Name: William Mitchell
Father's Birthplace: Sandusky, Ill
Mother's Name: Virginia Temple Cook
Mother's Birthplace: Villa Ridge, Ill
Occupation: child
Residence Place: Sandusky, Alexander, Ills
Burial Date: 10 Jan 1939
Burial Place: Alexander, Ill
Cemetery: McCrite
Digital Folder Number: 4008494
Image Number: 1286
GS Film number: 1819559
Reference ID: cn 89
Citing this Record:
"Illinois Deaths and Stillbirths, 1916-1947," index, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/NQCH-F45 : accessed 16 Sep 2014), William Mitchell in entry for Carrol Joyce Mitchell, 09 Jan 1939; citing Public Board of Health, Archives, Springfield; FHL microfilm 1819559.
Another Internet search reveals a Shirley Irene Mitchell, born about 1937, was being raised by her step-grandfather, Joseph Liers and grandmother, Bessie M. Parker, who had remarried. I seem to recall that William's daughter's name was Shirley Jean but perhaps the census form has it wrong as Shirley Irene. If this is his daughter, then it sounds as if she was born from the same mother, Virginia Temple Cook, as the other two daughters that died in their infancy.
I don't know if William remarried following the death of his first wife and 2 daughters then had the grandmother raise Shirley but both myself and my wife seem to recall William mentioning that his mother raised Shirley. At some point following these deaths that William experienced, he soon enlisted in the US Navy but I'm not sure about any of those dates.
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Note: DI681 Given Name: William
Middle Name: E
Surname: Mitchell
Birth Date: 19 September 1915
Social Security Number: 356-09-7065
State: Illinois
Last Place of Residence: Adams, Illinois
Previous Residence Postal Code: 62301
Event Date: 7 July 1994
Age: 79
Citing this Record:
"United States Social Security Death Index," index, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/J214-QTY : accessed 20 Dec 2013), William E Mitchell, 7 July 1994; citing U.S. Social Security Administration, Death Master File, database (Alexandria, Virginia: National Technical Information Service, ongoing).
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Note: NF22 Following her divorce from Franklin Lightfoot, Margaret and her son, Brian, first lived with her sister, Ruth Drugan Gilpin, for several months in a mobile home on their property in Springfield, Illinois. When Margaret was financially enough capable, she rented a 3rd floor apartment at 427 West Jefferson Street in Springfield owned by "Mr. Rockwell". Margaret worked in the hosiery department of Myers Brothers department store in downtown Springfield.
Around 1960, Margaret had applied for and received a job with the State of Illinois, Department of Unemployment Compensation in Rockford, Illinois. Margaret, Brian and Lee who had returned from working in California, moved to Rockford with Lee driving a 1957 Plymouth and a U-Haul trailer. At first they lived in a second floor "studio" apartment, 105 Forest Avenue, at the corner of West State Street near the Martin Oil gas station. By this time, Lee was drafted into the Army and Margaret eventually met and married William E. Mitchell who also worked at the State Unemployment Office.
Margaret and William met in the Unemployment Compensation office in Rockford where they both worked. Both were very poor and Brian was still living with his mother, Margaret, and attending school in Rockford. They were married at the county court house on August 13, 1962 probably to pool their resources and save on rent expenses. Their wedding announcement was a blank piece of paper upon which Margaret used a typewriter to enter their names and dates on the fold-out note. She saved a copy in an envelope upon which she wrote "Bill and my wedding announcement 1962 (Well, we were poor)."
Their first home was a rented apartment in Rockford above the "Honey Boy Pizza Bakery" at 1532 West State Street. That entire area was torn down in the 1990s for community redevelopment. They later moved farther out to 2115 West State Street in the second floor of a larger house.
After a few more years, they moved into a new two story apartment building at 718 North Court Street in Rockford in which they were the building managers. Margaret had quit her work with the Unemployment Compensation office probably due to the oncoming illness of amyloidosis and her duties at the apartment building were mostly clerical, collection of rent, and assistance in the rental of vacant units. Bill was promoted to Deputy Claims Examiner of the Freeport Unemployment office and he commuted the 30 miles every day. They later moved to a second floor apartment at 1331 Evelyn Street just off Auburn Street in Rockford. By that time, Brian was out of school and was married a few years later leaving just Bill and Margaret by themselves.
Bill was given a promotion to the Office Manager of the Quincy, Illinois Unemployment Office and they moved there and bought a house at 1507 Jackson Street in Quincy. It was the first time in the lives of either one that they owned their house and Margaret was so happy about that as well as the fact that she no longer had to live on the 2nd or 3rd floor. Margaret was continuing with her illness and eventually diagnosed at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. She took some experimental medicine from Mayo's for a number of years with the side effect that she swelled up and looked all bloated. It also gave her breath an extreme garlic smell.
After Margaret died in 1975, Bill continued to work at the Quincy office until his retirement. His eyesight declined over the years and was nearly blind when he died in 1994. His favorite pastime was to drink beer and watch the Saint Louis Cardinals baseball team.
Both are buried next to each other in Greenmont Cemetery in Quincy, Illinois.
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