“ Wisconsin was then a Territory. Milwaukee was a village of five-hundred souls. Forests covered the area where now stands a city of 250,000 inhabitants. Indians with their wigwams occupied the sites now graced by magnificent buildings devoted to religion, education, art and commerce. In 1841 Martha Reed became the wife of Alexander Mitchell, a young Scotchman who had left his fatherland to seek his fortune in the New World. ”

“ In art circles she has been prominent for many years, encouraging a love for it at home by supporting schools and giving exhibits of works imported from Europe entirely at her expense, so that in all the studios of Italy and France, as well as in America, her name is synonymous with all that is grand and ennobling in art. ”

“ Ever sympathetic with the sufferings of others, especially of little children, she, with a few earnest women, early in the forties organized what is now known as the Protestant Orphan Asylum. Mrs. Mitchell was its first treasurer. That institution still stands, a monument to the self-sacrificing women who realized its needs while yet Milwaukee was in its infancy. As the years rolled by, children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Mitchell, and great wealth rewarded their zeal, but neither prosperity nor popularity ever deprived Mrs. ”