Cousin Benja › Hymnals

Benja R. Mitchell, born in Kingston, Mass., March 21, 1827. He died of consumption April 23, 1865, aged 37 years. He was never married, but was devoted to his parents and sister and friends to the suffering and poor. He contributed his poetry to various secular journals between 1855 and 1865. Most of these are published posthumously in Poems and Letters,compiled by his sister, Julia. He believed in the presence of spirits and communed with them daily, receiving instruction and constant enjoyment. He made rustic furniture, picture frames, and other ornaments from moss and shells. He loved flowers, tress, woods, and nature.

Dianne Shapiro, from Introduction by A. B. Child to "Poems and Letters" Memorial and book Press (Plymouth: 1866)