Donald Grant Mitchell (April 12, 1822 - December 15, 1908) was an American essayist and novelist.
Mitchell, the grandson of politician and jurist Stephen Mix Mitchell

Stephen Mix Mitchell

Stephen Mix Mitchell was an American lawyer, jurist, and statesman from Wethersfield, Connecticut. He represented Connecticut in the Continental Congress and the U.S. Senate and was chief justice of the state's Supreme Court.When Roger Sherman died in 1793, Governor Huntington appointed him to the...

, was born in Norwich, Connecticut

Norwich, Connecticut

Regular steamship service between New York and Boston helped Norwich to prosper as a shipping center through the early part of the 20th century. During the Civil War, Norwich once again rallied and saw the growth of its textile, armaments, and specialty item manufacturing...

. He graduated from Yale College

Yale University

Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...

 in 1841, where he was a member of Skull and Bones

Skull and Bones

Skull and Bones is an undergraduate senior or secret society at Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut. It is a traditional peer society to Scroll and Key and Wolf's Head, as the three senior class 'landed societies' at Yale....

 and studied law, but he soon took up literature. Throughout his life he showed a particular interest in agriculture

Agriculture

Agriculture is the cultivation of animals, plants, fungi and other life forms for food, fiber, and other products used to sustain life. Agriculture was the key implement in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that nurtured the...

 and landscape gardening, which he followed at first in pursuit of health.