Isabelle Olcott Mitchell
Isabelle Olcott Mitchell (1835-1896) was the younger sister of Henry Steel Olcott and a friend of Helena Petrovna Blavatsky.
Personal life
Isabelle Buloid Olcott, often called "Isabella" or "Bella," was born on February 12, 1835 in New York City to Henry Wyckoff Olcott and Emily Steel Olcott. She was the second child, just three years younger than her brother Henry. They were baptized in the Presbyterian Church. The family had two younger sisters and two brothers – Anna, Emily, Emmet, and George.
In June, 1860, Bella married William Hinckley Mitchell[1], who worked in real estate and stock trading. For some years they shared a house in Orange, New Jersey with her father, younger brother George, and sister Emily. The Mitchells had four sons and two daughters: Henry Wyckoff, Mary Sturart, Louise Dupree, William Hinckley, Arthur Mouton, and Robert Emmet.[2]
William Mitchell died in 1882 and was buried in Rosedale Cemetery in Orange, New Jersey, near their home. Mrs. Mitchell died on June 1, 1896, Orange, New Jersey, and was laid to rest with her husband.
Involvement with Theosophical Society
When H. P. Blavatsky and Henry Steel Olcott lived in New York, Mrs. Mitchell and her husband frequently visited them. The Mitchells took an apartment in the same building as Madame Blavatsky so that Bella could be near at hand during the preparation of Isis Unveiled for publication during 1876 and 1877. Mrs. Mitchell witnessed various phenomena during those years. On one occasion, Madame Blavatsky showed her a collection of jewels that did not exist in physical reality, inducing a visual illusion. another time,when Mrs. Mitchell was holding a plain gold band called the "Rose Ring," HPB had her close her fingers around the ring, and a few moments later three small diamonds had been set into it.[3]
After Colonel Olcott and Madame Blavatsky moved to India and in 1879 established The Theosophist, Mrs. Mitchell subscribed to the magazine from its very first issue. Theosophist Laura Carter Holloway asked her friend Bella to contribute to The Home Library Magazine in 1887.
Mrs. Mitchell is recorded as becoming a member of the Theosophical Society on December 24, 1890, although she was clearly active in the Society from its inception.[4] During the 1890s she visited her brother Henry in London, and they traveled together to Paris and Berlin, attending a séance at the palace of the the Countess of Caithness.
Notes
- ↑ Henry Steel Olcott, The Descendants of Thomas Olcott (Albany, New York: J. Munsell, 1874), 106.
- ↑ United States Federal Census records for 1850, 1860, 1870, 1880.
- ↑ Radha Burnier, "HPB's Signet Ring" The Theosophist 122 (June 2001), 367-369.
- ↑ Theosophical Society General Membership Register, 1875-1942 at http://tsmembers.org/. See book 1, entry 6412 (website file: 1C/12).