Individual Notes
Note for: William Powell, ABT. 1609 - 11 Dec 1695
Index
Individual Note: American Biographical Library
The Biographical Cyclopædia of American Women
Volume I
Daughters of America; or Women of the Century
Van Ness, Sarah Bowman
Educational Work
page 367
The genealogy of Sarah (Powel) Gittings is most ancient, being derived from Gwraldeg, King of Garthmadryn (now Brecknock) Wales, who is said to have lived towards the end of the first century.Sir Joseph Russell Baily, Bart.: History of Breckhockshire (revised "Glanusk" edition, 1909), vol. ii, pp. 173, 174, 183, 255.16 The line is continued through his daughter and sole heiress, Morfydd (Morvytha), who married Teithall (Tathall) ap Annwn Dhu (Antonius Niger), about 260 A.D., and whose son, Teithin (Tydheirn), grandson, Irith y blawd, great-grandson, Teidfallt (Teithphaltim or Teithwalch), and great-great-grandson, Tydor (Tudor or Tewdrig), were all kings of Garthmadryn. The latter's daughter and sole heiress, Marchell (Marcella) married Aulach (Aullech, Afalech, or Olave), buried before the church door at Llanspyddid, the son of Cornach McCarbery (Cormac MacEurbre Gwyddel), King of Ireland. Their son, Brychan Brecheiniog (Brychan Yrth), King of Garthmadryn (since called Brecheiniog or Brecknock), began his reign in 400 and died about 450. His daughter, Gwen (Gwenllian) married Llyr Meryny (Molwynen),Son of Myrghion gyl; son of Cornst Galedlon; son of Kenay; son of Ceol, sometime King of Britain. Cf. Miscellanea Genaelogica et Heraldica, vol. iv. 3d series, p. 17.17 lord of Gloucester. Their son, Cradoc Fraich Fra (Caradoc of the Strong Arm), lord of Gloucester, knight of the Dolorous Tower and King Arthur's Round Table, married Tegay Ayruton, daughter and coheiress to King Pelynor. Thence the line is continued through four kings of Ferreg and Brecon, Cawrdaf, Caw ap Cawrdaf, Gloyw, and Hoyw, and thence through Cynvarch ap Hoyw, Cyndeg ap Cynvarch, Teitwalch ap Cyndeg, Tegyd ap Teithwalch, Anharawd ap Tegyd, Gwendy ap Anharawd, Gwungy ap Gwendy, and Hydd Hwgan (Huganus), to Dryffin (Sir Driffin ap Hwgan), who married Crusilla, daughter of Idwal ap Meuric. Their son, Maenarch (Maenyrch), prince of Brecknock, married Elinor (Elen), daughter of Einon ap Selyff, lord of Cwnwd and Cantreffselyn, who was himself fifteenth in descent from Cradoc Fraich Fra above. Their son, Bleddin ap Maenarch, who lived in the time of William Rufus of England, was the last independent sovereign Brecheiniog. He was slain in battle by Bernard Newmarch, who seized the greater part of his lands, and he was buried by his sons in the abbey of Strata Florida in Cardiganshire. Burke: Landed Gentry (1851), vol. ii, p. 1069.18 He married Elinor, daughter of Tewdwr Mawr and sister of [p.366] Rhys ap Tewdwr, prince of South Wales. Their son, Gwgan (Gwrgan), married Gwenllian, daughter and heiress of Phillip ap Gwys, lord of Gwyston (Wiston), Pembrokeshire. Their son, Trahaern, lord of Llangorse, married Joan, daughter of Bleddin, lord of Cilsant. Their son, Howel, married Gwenllian, daughter of Griffith ap Ivor ap Inon, lord of Sanghenith. Their son, Rhys of Aberllynfni, married Catherine, daughter of Griffith Gwyr of Gower. Their son, Einon Sais, married Joan, daughter of Howel ap Mredith, lord of Miscin. Their son, Einon, married Lettice, daughter of Cadwaladr ap Griffith, lord of Upper Gwent. Their son, Howel Fychan, married Malt, daughter of Llewelyn ap Howelhen. Their son, Llewellyn, the last of the princes of Wales, was slain by the troops of Edward I of England, December 10, 1282. He married Malt (Matilda), the daughter of Jeuan ap Rhys ap Ivor of Elvel. Their son, Howel, married Margaret, daughter of Gwilim Philip Thomas ap Elydr, and was the founder of the family of Powel (ap Howel) of Castle Madoc, Brecknock. Their son. Gwilym dew, married Mary, daughter of Jenkin Richard Jenkin of Aberyscir. Their son, Howel dew, married Maud, daughter of Roger Madoc Richard David. Their son, Gwilym, married Catherine, daughter of John Rees Jenkin of Glynnedd. Their son, Howel of Argoed, married Margaret, daughter of William John Havard. Their son. Thomas Powel, Esq., married Sibil, daughter of Sir William Vaughan, Knight. Their son, William Powel, Esq., of Castle Madoc, married Matilda, daughter of Griffith Jeffrey of Glyntawe. This William Powel, according to the inscription on a carved stone over the entrance, rebuilt the present castle in 1588. It replaced a castellated mansion with a keep for prisoners, built in 1045 by Madoc ap Manarche. William Powel's son, Hugh, who died in 1624, married Elizabeth, daughter of Thomas Gwyn of Trecastle. Their second son, Hugh Powel, born about 1555, married for his first wife, Ann, who died in Stratford-on-Avon, in July, 1614. Burial Records, Stratford-on-Avon, p. 87. Children by first wife: William, Thomas, and John, born November 4, 1583. (Baptismal Records, Stratford-on-Avon, p. 36).19 For his second wife, he married, July 10, 1615,Marriage Records, Stratford-on-Avon, p. 27.20 Elinor Sadler, who died, aged about eighty years, January 31, 1622. From a memorial tablet above her grave by her pew in Salisbury Cathedral we learn that "This Ellihonor was the wife of Hugh Powell, Esq., High Sheriff Of Breckhock in South Wales, and Principal to Thomas Sadler the Elder Esquire of the Body to the King's most excellent Majesty that now is and one of his Highnesse' Justices of the Peace and Quorum within this country who likewise has been register to six reverend and worthy Bishops of the same. "The first sentence of the tablet preceding the one quoted, reads: "A memorial of the truly righteous and religious Elehonor Sadler late of this dose of Sarum lineally descended from the ancient and worshipful family of the Saint Barbes of Ashington in Somersetshire and cousin German to that thrice worthie Lady Walsingham who was mother of the noble Countess of Essex."21 William Powel, gentleman, the eldest son of Hugh and Ann, was a subscriber to the London Company that financed the settlement of Jamestown, Virginia, in 1607. He arrived in Jamestown in 1611 and represented the town at the first legislative assembly in America, held at Jamestown in July, 1619, under the Presidency of the Royal Governor, George Yeardley, who brought over laws formulated by Parliament for the government of the colony. William Powel was chairman of the committee to examine these laws and select such as were desirable, the Assembly enacting other laws to replace those that were not fitting.Journal of the House of Burgesses, Virginia, 1619-1658-1659, p. 6.22 Later, William Powel was appointed Captain in command of the soldiers and fort at Jamestown, and, after an Indian massacre in 1622, in which his kinsman, Nathaniel Powel (Nathaniel Powel married Joyce, daughter of Sir William Tracy of Toddington Castle, Hayles, England. They had one child. He had been elected by vote of the people as Covernor of Jamestown until arrival of Yeardley, after which he was one of the Governor's counsellors. He was appointed by King James I to draw the map of Virginia and write an account of the country, its people, climate, and production, and all matters of interest concerning' the province. In return, the King granted him a tract of land on the south bank of James River at Powell Creek. The map and history were long ascribed to John Smith until Alexander Brown in his Genesis of the United States recognized their true authorship.23) and family were killed, he pursued the Indians and was himself murdered by them on the Chicahominy River in 1623. L. G. Tyler: Cradle of the Republic, pp. 105, 109, 112.24 As he left no heir in the colony, his property was confiscated by Governor William Berkley at the court held in November, 1643.Virginia State Papers.25 John Powel, Captain William's youngest son, came to Virginia the following year and at different times brought thirty-eight persons to the colony for whom he received many land grants. Virginia State Papers.26 His son, John Powel, settled in North Carolina, and died there, January 13, 1709.Chowan County Records.
27 His eldest son, George Powel, died March 24, 1735.Chowan County Records.28 George's third son, Lewis Powel, moved to [p.367] Georgia, Georgia Records.29 and his third son, Thompson Powel, married Charlotte Hardy Bridges, a daughter of two of Virginia's earliest and most influential families, originating in Stratford-on-Avon, England. They were the parents of Sarah (Powel) Gittings. American Biographical Library
The Biographical Cyclopædia of American Women
Volume I
Daughters of America; or Women of the Century
Van Ness, Sarah Bowman
Educational Work
page 367
Colonial families of the United States of America: Volume 1
Lineage
The Powells of Loudoun County, Virginia, are descended from the family of that name in the County of Brecknock or Brecon in Wales. The name of Powell was ap Howell until the time of William ap Howell, of Bevalt, A. D., 1550, who was called William Powell. The first appearance of the name of Powell in Virginia is found in Smith's “History of Virginia.” Captain William Powell sailed with Captain John Smith from Blackwell, 19th December, 1606, and entered Chesapeake Bay, 20th April, 1607. He is always spoken of as a man of character and worth, “a gentleman of great name and fortune,” and one of Smith's “trusted friends.” He was one of the largest planters in the Colony and represented James City in the First House of Burgesses of Virginia, which assembled at Jamestown on the 30th July, 1619.
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According to HISTORY AND GENEALOGIES OF THE POWELLS IN AMERICA (compiled by Charles S. Powell and published in 1935), William POWELL age 15 came over from London on the ship "Truelove" on June 10, 1635 (p. 6). I think you said your William Powell was b in 1620 (do you know on which side of the ocean he was born?). The compiler also states that in 1623, a Thomas Powell and his wife Gody were living in VA "on the eastern shore" (p. 6), and that "there was a Thomas Powell in VA in 1660" (p. 10). The latter Thomas Powell had a son Seymore Powell who was there in 1694. Seymore had a son Thomas Powell who was there in 1735 and the latter Thoams had a son Seymore who was there in 1776.
(Compiler) Charles S. Powell also states that in 1626, Thomas Powell (the elder brother of Captain Nathaniel Powell), then living in England, petitioned the Government in regard to his estate. They stated that William Powell, who had gotten possession of all of Nathaniel Powell's estate in VA, was no relative of Nathaniel Powell. How the matter was decided there is no record, but in 1653, George Powell, Richard Powell and Mary Powell, supposed to have been the niece and nephews of Nathaniel Powell, made petition for the property, which would indicate that Nathaniel Powell and William Powell left no lineal descendants in VA or elsewhere" (p. 10).
On April 24, 1635, a Mary Powell age 23 came over from London on the ship "Ann and Elizabeth" (p. 6).
I do not know if the following references are all to the same Nathaniel Powell or to more than one person by that name, but I thought I would provide you this information as well (from Powell's book):
Nathaniel Powell, kinsman of Captain William Powell, had been elected by vote of the people in 1619, until the arrival of YEARDLEY (p. 10). Captains William and Nathaniel Powell had large grants of land from the Crown (p. 10). Captain Nathaniel Powell, who came to Jamestown, VA in 1607, wrote much of John SMITH's "History of Virginia," and it was he who made the first Map of Virginia, and sent it back to England,where it is now preserved in the British Museum (p. 9). In 1618 Captain Nathaniel Powell was Governor of Virginia for a short time. He was appointed a member of the Council in 1621. He married a Miss TRACY, daughter of William Tracy, who brought a Colony to Virginia in 1620; she was the granddaughter of Sir John Tracy (p. 9). "Captain Nathaniel Powell and all his family were massacred by OPECHANOUGH (spelled OPECHANCANOUGH in William & Mary Quarterly), at Powell's Brook, March 22, 1622; twelve in all were murdered. No person was better known among the Indians; yet they slew him and his family, haggled their bodies and cut off his head to express their utmost scorn and cruelty" (p. 9).
In THE VIRGINIA MAGAZINE OF HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHY vol. III for the year ending June, 1896 (whatever that means), mention is made on p. 404 (#253) of Captain Powell's land adjoining the "Pyne Poynt" over against (whatever that means) James Town Island in 1635. In vol. 5 (1897) under Additions and Corrections regarding James Powell COCKE, "we note that in 1635 Henry HARTE patented 350 acres 'on the south side of the main river over against James Town island adjoining Captain Powell's land.' This was in what is now Surry County [VA; there is also a Surry Co. NC]...In 1619 Capt. William Powell was a member of the first House of Burgesses, and represented James City. He was the 'Capt. Powell' of 1635, as we know from the fact that in the allotments of land in the year 1620, in the 'Territory of Tappahannock, over against James City,' 200 acres, planted, were allotted to Capt. William Powell" (p. 85).
The following is from a different source, but it seems to relate to the massacre of Nathaniel in 1622, don't you think? Recall that Nathaniel above was called a kinsman of Capt. William Powell, and that Thomas Powell who lived in England in 1626 was the elder brother of Captain Nathaniel Powell. (Correct me if I'm making "bad" connections.) The following is from WILLIAM AND MARY QUARTERLY Vol. XVI (4): APRIL, 1908 "Some Old Surry Families."
"The southern shore of James River from Upper Chippokes Creek to Swann Point is divided into a number of old plantations, which in great measure still preserve their ancient name and identity.... This region, in 1607, was situated in the territory of the Quioughcohannock Indians...Nearby, in 1607, was the chief town of the Quioughcohannock Indians....Mount Pleasant [one of the old plantations] appears to have been a part of Four Mile Tree, and is interesting for the obelisk which stands near the house cut with the names of the Cocke family pedigree. [We are told in VA HISTORICAL MAGAZINE vol. 5 1897 (mentioned above) that "In regard to the marraige of James Powell Cocke, with Martha HERBERT, we find on going over our notes, that in the Henrico Clerk's office there is a record of the Inventory of Herbert Powell in 1690. His mother must have been a Herbert, and his father one of the Powells of 1620 and thereabouts. The children of Thoams Cocke were not by his second wife Margaret JONES, but by his first wife, and she was probably a Powell" (pp.84-85).] 'Four Mile Tree' has many associations. It obtained its name from a tree, distant four miles from Jamestown, which marked, in 1619, the western limit, on the south side of James River, of the corporation of James City, as defined by Governor ARGALL. Here, according to a patent given to George PACE, in 1628, his father, Richard Pace, obtained a grant of 400 acres from Sir George Yeardley, the governor, dated December 5, 1620. Among the sttlers at 'Pace's Pains' (as the place was called) at the time of the Massacre, in 1622, were Richard Pace, Isabella, his wife, Francis CHAPMAN, and William PERRY. They had among their servants two Indian brothers, who had embraced the Christian religion, one in the employ of Mr. Pace and the other in the employ of Mr. Perry. On the night of March 22, 1622, appointed by Opechancanough for the general slaughter of the whites, the two Indians discussed the plan of murdering their masters in conjunction with the massacreing party which was to arrive the following morning. As soon, however, as his brother was asleep, the Indian in the employ of Mr. Pace, named CHANCO, arose and repairing to his master, informed him of the entire murdering plan. Mr. Pace was not slow in heeding the warning, and at once placing Pace's Pains in a state of defence, hastily rowed across the river down to Jamestown and warned William Powell, Captain of the fort, who sent off boats in all directions to the settlements within striking distance of Jamestown. In the morning four boats full of Indians hove in sight, but as soon as the muskets opened upon them they retreated in a cowardly manner. By means, therefore, of the noble act of Chanco and the energetic measures of Richard Pace and Captain Powell, the design of Opechancanough for the entire extinction of the English was frustrated. As it was, 346 of the settlers out of a total of 1,240 fell in the course of a few hours under the tomahowk of the savages" (p. 222).
Now I'm going to repeat a previous statement from Charles S. Powell's book: "Captain Nathaniel Powell and all his family, were massacred by Opechanough, at Powell's Brook, March 22, 1622" (p. 9).
Can someone pinpoint the location of Powell's Brook?
Could Thomas Powell (elder brother of Captain Nathaniel Powell) who lived in England in 1626, be the father of your Thomas Powell b 1600? Do you think he was the same Thomas Powell who lived in VA in 1660? The latter Thomas Powell is the one who had a son Seymore who had a son Thoams who had a son Seymore.
Do you have any Seymores? Do you connect with the Cocke line of Surry Co. VA?
I guess I saved the best for last, but there's bad news and good news. The good news: Charles S. Powell included in his HISTORY AND GENEALOGIES OF THE POWELLS IN AMERICA (1935) biographies of Thomas Powell and William Powell. The bad news: I don't have that in my files. Charles included a map in the front of his book of "Bethpage (L. I.? or L. D.?) purchased by Thomas Powell from the Marsopeque (I'm reading script and I may not have gotten the spelling right) Indians 1695...Indians reserved the privilege of hunting, etc. Thomas Powell had possession of a part of the Purchase in 1688. In 1700 he reseved 40 acres for his homestead and deeded one third of all the remaining to Thomas WHITSON." The map shows the location of a house of Thomas Powell, first erected in 1700, still standing and occupied in 1935, a Village of Farmingdale, a BETHPAGE STATE PARK located in present-day Nassau Co. very near the Suffolk Co. line, an Oyster Bay Tonwship, and a Manneth Hill Road. THE map shows some land owned by Thomas Whitson and Thomas Davis. If you happen to figure out who this Thomas Davis was (parents, siblings, wife, or children), please let me know.
My mother was a Powell. I'm looking for an Abraham Powell from VA who had a wife named Mary (there were several Abraham-Mary Powell couples) and a son Hezekiah born in TN in the 1820's. Hezekiah fought in the Civil War and afterward walked back to Tuscaloosa Co. AL from the Mobile area. He married Caroline STAPLETON in 1865 and worked as a constable and bailiff in Northport, AL where my grandfather was born in 1869. Any help with my line GREATLY appreciated. Mary in TX
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My message "William Powell b 1620" (posted 4-1-00) was
meant to be a response to "Thomas Powell of England"
(posted 9-12-99). The surname list for this posting
is the surname list I meant to post with "William
Powell b 1620."
I want to add that Charles S. Powell in HISTORY AND
GENEALOGIES OF THE POWELLS IN AMERICA (1935) lists
another Nathaniel Powell in addition to Captain
Nathaniel Powell:
"Sir Stephen Powell, who was a brother of Captain
Nathaniel Powell, had a son, William Powell, who came
to America as a young man in 1620; this William
married in this country and had chidlren,among them a
Thomas. William died and his chidlren were scattered
among friends.
"Powell of Mindenhall, England, married Agnes Webb
(daughjter of John Webb, Esq.). From the above union
came the descendants of the American family of
Powells. The representative of the family in England
was Nathaniel Powell, Esq., of Buckhurst Hall, Essex
County.
"Nathaniel Powell, Esq., of Buckhurst Hall, Essex,
England, was born October 15, 1813; died 1906, leaving
two daughters, now living (1935) at Southfleet,
England" (p. 10).
Note to Mr. or Mrs. Cardenas who posted the query
"Thomas Powell of England" on September 12, 1999:
Sir Stephen Powell was a brother of Captain Nathaniel
Powell, so that means that Thoams Powell, the elder
brother of Captian Nathaniel Powell, the one who lived
in England in 1626, had a brother Sir Stephen Powell.
I left that out in my prior message. I hope all this
gives you enough clues to last a lifetime.