John Wendell Mitchell (April 1, 1882–October 18, 1951) was a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

writer, best known for his work ''The Yellow Briar: A Story of the Irish on the Canadian Countryside''.

Early life

Mitchell was born in 1882, in Mono Township, Ontario, in what is now part of Town of Mono. The area is occasionally figuratively referred to as the Caledon Hills, a reference to nearby

Caledon Township, Ontario Caledon Township, Ontario was a historic incorporated township and is a present-day geographic township in the modern Region of Peel, Ontario, Canada. The township forms the northwest section of Caledon, Ontario. Caledon Township was likely named b ...

, now Caledon, Ontario. He lived on his grandfather's farm in Mono until 1894 when he moved with his mother to Toronto. He studied at Victoria College, before enrolling in

Osgoode Hall Law School Osgoode Hall Law School, commonly shortened to Osgoode, is the law school of York University in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The law school is home to the Law Commission of Ontario, the Journal of Law and Social Policy, and the ''Osgoode Hall La ...

in 1902. He was called to the bar in 1907. He went on to practice law in Toronto for 28 years.

Writing career and ''The Yellow Briar'' deception

Mitchell's first published work was ''The Kingdom of America'' (1930), an essay about Canada. In 1933 he published his first novel ''The Yellow Briar'' under the

pen name A pen name, also called a ''nom de plume'' or a literary double, is a pseudonym (or, in some cases, a variant form of a real name) adopted by an author and printed on the title page or by-line of their works in place of their real name. A pen na ...

Patrick Slater, about the experience of a poor Irish immigrant in

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. When it was originally published it was presented as an

autobiography An autobiography, sometimes informally called an autobio, is a self-written account of one's own life. It is a form of biography. Definition The word "autobiography" was first used deprecatingly by William Taylor in 1797 in the English peri ...

by the publisher. It was very popular, it was reprinted four times in 1934, eventually selling 10,000 copies at the height of the

Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...

. Even through it was eventually revealed, by The Globe, that Patrick Slater was a hoax and the work was entirely fictional it did not seem to effect the sales of the book. Mitchell would go on to write two other novels ''The Water-Drinker'' (1937) and ''Robert Harding'' (1938), but was never able to match the success he had with ''The Yellow Briar''. ''The Yellow Briar'' was republished in 1970 by

Macmillan Publishers Macmillan Publishers (occasionally known as the Macmillan Group; formally Macmillan Publishers Ltd and Macmillan Publishing Group, LLC) is a British publishing company traditionally considered to be one of the 'Big Five' English language publi ...

, and again in 1990 by

Dundurn Press Dundurn Press is one of the largest Canadian-owned book publishing companies of adult and children's fiction and non-fiction. The company publishes Canadian literature, history, biography, politics and arts. Dundurn has about 2500 books in print, ...

, and it is currently in print.

Works

* ''The Kingdom Of America, The Canadian Creed'', (1930) * ''The Yellow Briar'', (1933) ritten as: Patrick Slater* ''The Water-Drinker'', (1937) ritten as: Patrick Slater* ''Robert Harding'', (1938) ritten as: Patrick Slater* ''The Settlement Of York County'', (1952) Source:

Fraud and disbarment

In 1935, Mitchell confessed to police that he had fallen into debt and used his clients' money to rescue himself, in the amount of $20,000. He made a public confession and insisted that he be charged. He was given a sentence of six months and served it at Langstaff jail farm, he was also disbarred. As a consequence printings of ''The Yellow Briar'' were discontinued.

Death

Mitchell died in

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

in poverty and relative obscurity. When his financial situation became public, after his death, a fund was set up to cover the cost of his grave marker. His last book, ''The Settlement Of York County'' was published posthumously.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Mitchell, John Wendell 1882 births 1951 deaths 20th-century Canadian lawyers 20th-century Canadian novelists 20th-century Canadian writers Canadian male novelists Disbarred lawyers Osgoode Hall Law School alumni People from Caledon, Ontario