Mr. William Mitchelhill

William Mitchelhill Second Cabin Passenger Lost
[No Picture Provided]
Born	27 August 1870 United Kingdom
Died	7 May 1915 (age 44) At sea
Age on Lusitania	44
Traveling with	none
Memorial	Section F, Mount Mora Cemetery, St. Joseph, Missouri, United States
Citizenship	British
Residence	St. Joseph, Missouri, United States
Other name(s)	Mitchell Hill (error on passenger list)
Spouse(s)	Jeannette Ambrose (1907 – 1915, his death)

William Mitchelhill (1870 – 1915), 44, was a British subject living in St. Joseph, Missouri, traveling aboard Lusitania. The Cunard Company had erroneously listed him on the passenger list as Mr. Mitchell Hill. William Mitchelhill was lost in the Lusitania disaster. His body was either never recovered or never identified.

William was originally from the United Kingdom, where he was born on 27 August 1870. He moved to St. Joseph, Missouri, where he and his brother started up the wholesale seed business of the firm of Mitchelhill Brothers.

On 11 December 1907, William married Jeannette Ambrose in Kansas City, Missouri. She was two years his junior. Even though Jeannette effectively became a British national upon her marriage, the Mitchelhills continued to live in St. Joseph, Missouri and never lived abroad. They had one son, James Moffat Mitchelhill, born in St. Joseph on 11 August 1912.

William was described as a man of good character and habits, physically sound, active, and industrious. He made around $4,000 to $5,000 every year, about one-half of which he withdrew from the business for the living expenses of his family. The rest he reinvested into his business.

Jeannette and James continued to live in St. Joseph after William’s death, when Jeannette resumed her American citizenship. Jeannette dedicated a memorial to him at Mount Mora Cemetery in St. Joseph, where it is in Section F.

On 19 March 1925, the Mixed Claims Commission awarded Jeannette $20,000.00 for the loss of her husband and awarded James Mitchelhill $10,000.00 for the loss of his father.

Jeannette never remarried and is buried under William’s memorial.

James became a well-traveled civil engineer. He was married twice and died on 13 July 2006 at age 93 in Albuquerque, New Mexico, United States. He and his wife Alicia are also buried at the family memorial in St. Joseph.

The following are pictures of the Mitchelhill Memorial in St. Joseph, Missouri. Photos by R.J. Jackson.