Margaret Eliot Mitchell was born in Chapel Hill (Orange County), North Carolina, on November 21, 1825. Mitchell relocated to Statesville (Iredell County) in 1875 with her sister, Eliza North Grant, to run the Statesville Female College. The sisters ran the college until Grant's death in 1883. Mitchell died in Statesville on October 26, 1905. She was a daughter of geologist, educator, and explorer Elisha Mitchell.