This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Author: joypatwardhan Surnames: Classification: queries Message Board URL: http://boards.rootsweb.com/surnames.powell/3444.3476/mb.ashx Message Board Post: Hello. I am a descendant of Clara Elizabeth Bell, whose maternal grandmother was Mary Mourning Powell, dtr. of Benjamin Powell, son of Caswell, son of Dempsey Powell. Mary Mourning Powell was always called 'Pollie'.Her sisters were Eliza Jimmie and Lydia Caswell Powell. I have a handwritten document written by Lydia Caroline Powell (m. Elisha Ray of Texas)which she titles "Geneology of the Powells". I allowed the Oklahoma Historical Society to copy this document, which unfortunately has fragments torn out of it. It starts with "The ancestors came from Wales, settled in Va. and moved to Halifax Co. N.C. before the Revolution." She then lists all of the sons and dtrs and who they married, where they moved (Tenn., Ms., Texas, Ind. Territory. If anyone wants it, I have a photograph of Lydia Caroline Powell and her husband, Mr. Ray with his two children, also another tintype of Mary Mourning and Eliza Jimmie dressed in their finery, and a professional photograph of Lydia Caro! line, who had no issue, being self-described as a "barren woman, of as much use as a barren field". She whiled her time away in taking a trip to Wales to aquire furniture, painting in oils wherever she traveled. I have two of her paintings, one of a scene in Fla., one in Wales on "My grand tour of the old country". She was a newpaper columnist, a forerunner of Ann Landers, with a column called "Ask Aunt Pollie". She regularly took the waters in Eureka Springs, Ak. She said of her sister, Mary Mourning who married ____Bell that "she married beneath her". Why? Money? family? My sister has two large portraits of Mr. Bell and Mary Mourning (Pollie) and he is extremely handsome. Lydia was a member of Colonial Dames, as was her cousin in Texas. The Okla. Hist. Society has a book entitled 'The Annals of the Fowlers' by Mrs. James Joyce Arthur which contains letters from Lydia C. Powell to her cousin, Eliza Fowler. Important Note: The author of this message may not be subscribed to this list. If you would like to reply to them, please click on the Message Board URL link above and respond on the board.

I am curious about these books since I am descended from both Powells and Fowlers. Incidentally, the "married beneath" could mean even just one of a myriad of things - the Powells seem to have felt themselves quite high and mighty. Did an ancestor lose money in the Civil War? Perhaps one ws involved in a fight at a tavern, or was brought in for not having filled the responsibility of road-maintaining. Maybe, even, someone married a Cherokee without approval. All kinds of things - I'm not sure what people felt about merchants in those days, but the English aristocracy certainly did not approve. Mary-Gene Page Califoria ----- Original Message ----- From: <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Wednesday, August 26, 2009 3:37 PM Subject: Re: [POWELL] Caswell & Dempsey POWELL NC/TN > This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. > > Author: joypatwardhan > Surnames: > Classification: queries > > Message Board URL: > > http://boards.rootsweb.com/surnames.powell/3444.3476/mb.ashx > > Message Board Post: > > Hello. I am a descendant of Clara Elizabeth Bell, whose maternal > grandmother was Mary Mourning Powell, dtr. of Benjamin Powell, son of > Caswell, son of Dempsey Powell. Mary Mourning Powell was always called > 'Pollie'.Her sisters were Eliza Jimmie and Lydia Caswell Powell. I have a > handwritten document written by Lydia Caroline Powell (m. Elisha Ray of > Texas)which she titles "Geneology of the Powells". I allowed the Oklahoma > Historical Society to copy this document, which unfortunately has > fragments torn out of it. It starts with "The ancestors came from Wales, > settled in Va. and moved to Halifax Co. N.C. before the Revolution." She > then lists all of the sons and dtrs and who they married, where they moved > (Tenn., Ms., Texas, Ind. Territory. If anyone wants it, I have a > photograph of Lydia Caroline Powell and her husband, Mr. Ray with his two > children, also another tintype of Mary Mourning and Eliza Jimmie dressed > in their finery, and a professional photograph of Lydia Caro! > line, who had no issue, being self-described as a "barren woman, of as > much use as a barren field". She whiled her time away in taking a trip to > Wales to aquire furniture, painting in oils wherever she traveled. I have > two of her paintings, one of a scene in Fla., one in Wales on "My grand > tour of the old country". She was a newpaper columnist, a forerunner of > Ann Landers, with a column called "Ask Aunt Pollie". She regularly took > the waters in Eureka Springs, Ak. She said of her sister, Mary Mourning > who married ____Bell that "she married beneath her". Why? Money? family? > My sister has two large portraits of Mr. Bell and Mary Mourning (Pollie) > and he is extremely handsome. Lydia was a member of Colonial Dames, as > was her cousin in Texas. The Okla. Hist. Society has a book entitled 'The > Annals of the Fowlers' by Mrs. James Joyce Arthur which contains letters > from Lydia C. Powell to her cousin, Eliza Fowler. > > Important Note: > The author of this message may not be subscribed to this list. If you > would like to reply to them, please click on the Message Board URL link > above and respond on the board. > > > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes > in the subject and the body of the message