Melvin Whitson Mills

Who was Melvin Whitson Mills?

Melvin Whitson Mills was a descendant of the Mills and Chase families, who were quakers that immigrated during early part of 18th Century from Canada to The United States. They formed a part of a colony and established themselves on the north shore of Lake Erie. The parents of Melvin W. Mills after a brief residence in Canada, moved to Michigan, United States. In 1860 his father immigrated to the west and nine years later, his wife and child followed. Mr. Mills graduated from Ann Arbor Law School at University of Michigan, his academic education having been attained through his own unaided efforts. He joined his father at the Moreno Mines, Colfax County, New Mexico, and there began the practice of his perfection and has successfully continued the same ever since. Colfax County, New Mexico, in which spent his later years, had been the seek of many internal insurrections, and hundreds of people had been hung, shot, and killed in various ways over local difficulties. The law could not be enforced at times; the courts could not be held in the civil authorities where often at the mercy of the outlaws and worst types of desperados. It required courage and determination to contend against such characters, and M. W. Mills was among the very few who attempted to preserve peace, law, and order. In so doing, he fell into the hands of the mob several times, but was rescued by good citizens and government soldiers. The soldiers being obtained through his efforts. While in Cimarron, New Mexico he was twice elected to the territorial legislature, and has held various other offices such as county and city attorney for Elizabethtown, and was District Attorney for a number of counties, and during his twenty years residence he had been in office most of the time. Melvin Mills owned a large ranch in Springer, New Mexico while a cattle owner and was in control of one of the largest Mercantile and Banking Co at the time.