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Luke Winthrop Powell (1837 - 1895)

Luke Winthrop Powell
Born in Massachusetts, United Statesmap
Son of and
Brother of , , , , , , and
Husband of — married 16 Feb 1860 (to about 1862) in Green, Wisconsin, United Statesmap
Died at about age 58 in Chicago, Illinois, United Statesmap
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Profile last modified | Created 18 Oct 2021
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Biography

State Agent Luke Powell served in the United States Civil War.
Enlisted: September 2, 1861
Mustered out: 1862
Side: USA
Regiment(s): 7th Regiment, Wisconsin Volunteers
This profile is part of the Powell Name Study.

Luke was born in 1837 in Massachusetts to Edmund and Lydia Powell.[1]

From 1858 to 1859, he worked as a principal in a school in Green County, Wisconsin,[2] the county where he would meet and court Edgar Burnham, who was named "Ellen" at the time.[3] He also founded the Brodhead Reporter.[4]

Luke and Edgar married on 16 February, 1860, in Green County.[5]

He went with the 7th Wisconsin Volunteers as a State Agent.[2] Sometime during the journey to and from Washington DC in October 1861, Edgar (who was accompanying Luke) was arrested, assumed to be a Confederate spy and man disguised as a woman.[3] Once released, Luke and Edgar returned to Wisconsin.

The couple did not stay in Wisconsin long. Both moved to Chicago, where Luke bought Edgar clothes to help him transition to a man.[3] By 1862, his marriage with Edgar was over, and he had ceased editing and writing for the Reporter.

By 1867, Luke was a correspondent with the Chicago Republican,[6] his primary subjects Minnesota and Wisconsin.[7] In 1869, Luke became the publisher of the Republican,[8] establishing a weekly edition in 1870.[9]

In August 1871, Luke resigned from the Republican and became editor in chief at the Minneapolis Tribune.[10][11] The first libel suit raised against the Tribune was raised in November 1871.[12] The second was raised January 1872, leading to Luke's arrest.[13]

Luke was a Minneapolis socialite during his tenure at the Tribune.[14][15] However, on May 14, 1872, three days after a judge did not indict Luke for libel,[16] Luke resigned from the Tribune.[17]

In the years afterward, Luke worked as a freelance journalist,[18][19][20][21] where he frequently came under scrutiny for misreported statistics[22] and missed deadlines.[23] Around the publication of his last article, a biography of Minnesota for Harper's Magazine, Luke pretended to be a staff writer for the Chicago Tribune and was caught extorting interviewees for money.[24]

His credibility tarnished, Luke's journalism over the next 20 years was largely ignored. He was arrested for public drunkenness in Chicago January 1889.[25]

Luke passed away in 1895.[26] He was described as a widower and a journalist.

Sources

  1. ↑ "United States Census, 1850," database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MD96-W73 : 22 December 2020), Luke W Powell in household of Edmond R Powell, Hancock, Berkshire, Massachusetts, United States; citing family , NARA microfilm publication (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.).
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 "He, She, or It." Freeborn County Standard, 20 Feb 1868. Minnesota Digital Newspaper Hub, https://www.mnhs.org/newspapers/lccn/sn85025442/1868-02-20/ed-1/seq-1
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 "The Female Husband and Male Wife" (news article about his former "wife"). New Republic, 21 March 1868. Digital Transgender Archive ID tq57nr12c. https://www.digitaltransgenderarchive.net/files/tq57nr12c
  4. ↑ "Brodhead Weekly Reporter (Brodhead, Green Co., Wis.) 1859-1861." Chronicling America, https://www.loc.gov/item/sn85041131/
  5. ↑ "Wisconsin Marriages, 1836-1930", database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XRP8-VJT : 30 January 2020), L. W. Powell, 1860.
  6. ↑ "St. Cloud, Minn.: Its Location Local History, and Growth." St. Cloud Journal, 22 August 1867. https://newspapers.mnhs.org/jsp/PsImageViewer.jsp?doc_id=8e00a33f-33f0-476b-86c7-5eda97c88682%2Fmnhi0031%2F1EMKAE56%2F67082201
  7. ↑ "Sketch of Rochester." The Rochester Post, 6 Jun 1868. https://newspapers.mnhs.org/jsp/PsImageViewer.jsp?doc_id=f8b14a45-84e8-4111-aa54-ec2fa88a91ce%2Fmnhi0031%2F1EME5F56%2F68060601
  8. ↑ "L. W. Powell." The Rochester Post, 25 September 1869. https://newspapers.mnhs.org/jsp/PsImageViewer.jsp?doc_id=f8b14a45-84e8-4111-aa54-ec2fa88a91ce%2Fmnhi0031%2F1EME5F56%2F69092501
  9. ↑ "Messrs. L. W. Powell and W. R. Steele." Minneapolis Daily Tribune, 16 December, 1870. https://newspapers.mnhs.org/jsp/PsImageViewer.jsp?doc_id=e5cc789a-0864-47b2-887e-008c5eeb70dc%2Fmnhi0005%2F1DFC5657%2F70121601
  10. ↑ "We learn that Mr. L. W. Powell..." Goodhue County Republican, 27 July, 1871. https://newspapers.mnhs.org/jsp/PsImageViewer.jsp?doc_id=8d737bc5-02b5-460f-9a00-7407263f57a4%2Fmnhi0031%2F1E137A57%2F71072701
  11. ↑ "Sale of the Minneapolis Tribune." Rochester Semi-Weekly Central Record, 5 August, 1871. https://newspapers.mnhs.org/jsp/PsImageViewer.jsp?doc_id=52192e0f-f2b1-4cf9-9558-e09e7d88fa2a%2Fmnhi0031%2F1HMAZC57%2F71080501
  12. ↑ "Henry Dean Thompson." Willmar Republican, 14 November, 1871. https://newspapers.mnhs.org/jsp/PsImageViewer.jsp?doc_id=bb94412c-5748-47cd-902b-ce1a3d0d2a73%2Fmnhi0031%2F1DFC7M57%2F71111401
  13. ↑ "Police News." Minneapolis Daily Tribune, 25 January, 1872. https://newspapers.mnhs.org/jsp/PsImageViewer.jsp?doc_id=e5cc789a-0864-47b2-887e-008c5eeb70dc%2Fmnhi0005%2F1DFC5657%2F72012501
  14. ↑ "St. Paul, Minn., Jun. 22." Minneapolis Daily Tribune, 23 January, 1872. https://newspapers.mnhs.org/jsp/PsImageViewer.jsp?doc_id=e5cc789a-0864-47b2-887e-008c5eeb70dc%2Fmnhi0005%2F1DFC5657%2F72012301
  15. ↑ "The Sporting Club." Minneapolis Daily Tribune, 8 May, 1872. https://newspapers.mnhs.org/jsp/PsImageViewer.jsp?doc_id=e5cc789a-0864-47b2-887e-008c5eeb70dc%2Fmnhi0005%2F1DFC5657%2F72050801
  16. ↑ "Failed to Indict." Minneapolis Daily Tribune, 11 May 1872, https://newspapers.mnhs.org/jsp/PsImageViewer.jsp?doc_id=e5cc789a-0864-47b2-887e-008c5eeb70dc%2Fmnhi0005%2F1DFC5657%2F72051101
  17. ↑ "Valedictory." Minneapolis Daily Tribune, 14 May, 1872. https://newspapers.mnhs.org/jsp/PsImageViewer.jsp?doc_id=e5cc789a-0864-47b2-887e-008c5eeb70dc%2Fmnhi0005%2F1DFC5657%2F72051401
  18. ↑ "Annual Exhibit of Manufacturing and Commercial Industry." Minneapolis Daily Tribune, 1 April, 1873. https://newspapers.mnhs.org/jsp/PsImageViewer.jsp?doc_id=e5cc789a-0864-47b2-887e-008c5eeb70dc%2Fmnhi0005%2F1DFC5657%2F73040101
  19. ↑ "The Milwaukee & St. Paul Railroad..." Mantorville Express, 22 August, 1873. https://newspapers.mnhs.org/jsp/PsImageViewer.jsp?doc_id=e181357a-19b2-456d-9f0f-aa393c2edc79%2Fmnhi0031%2F1E16G457%2F73082201
  20. ↑ "L. W. Powell." Lake City Leader, 16 October, 1873. https://newspapers.mnhs.org/jsp/PsImageViewer.jsp?doc_id=bbed5ba4-d9f2-4101-aa31-f215d01d7b54%2Fmnhi0031%2F1EME3L57%2F73101601
  21. ↑ "Progress in Minnesota Since 1850." St. Cloud Journal, 16 September 1875. https://newspapers.mnhs.org/jsp/PsImageViewer.jsp?doc_id=8e00a33f-33f0-476b-86c7-5eda97c88682%2Fmnhi0031%2F1EMKAE57%2F75091601
  22. ↑ "A Brass Face." Minneapolis Daily Tribune, 24 June, 1874. https://newspapers.mnhs.org/jsp/PsImageViewer.jsp?doc_id=e5cc789a-0864-47b2-887e-008c5eeb70dc%2Fmnhi0005%2F1DFC5657%2F74062401
  23. ↑ "More than a year ago Mr. L. W. Powell..." St. Cloud Journal, 19 August, 1875. https://newspapers.mnhs.org/jsp/PsImageViewer.jsp?doc_id=8e00a33f-33f0-476b-86c7-5eda97c88682%2Fmnhi0031%2F1EMKAE57%2F75081901
  24. ↑ "L. W. Powell: This Individual Published as a Confidence Man by the Chicago Tribune." Minneapolis Daily Tribune, 19 September, 1875. https://newspapers.mnhs.org/jsp/PsImageViewer.jsp?doc_id=e5cc789a-0864-47b2-887e-008c5eeb70dc%2Fmnhi0005%2F1DFC5657%2F75091901
  25. ↑ "A Victim of Fate: A Former Brilliant Minneapolitan Becomes a Total Wreck." Minneapolis Tribune, 15 January, 1889. https://newspapers.mnhs.org/jsp/PsImageViewer.jsp?doc_id=4a0c6900-28ec-40e6-bafa-8705a70f68f8%2Fmnhi0005%2F1DFC5F58%2F89011501
  26. ↑ "Illinois, Cook County Deaths, 1871-1998," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:N72P-FJH : 8 March 2018), L. W. Powell, 11 Dec 1895; citing , Cook, Illinois, United States, source reference cn 15399, record number 31, Cook County Courthouse, Chicago; FHL microfilm 1,033,021.




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Rejected matches › William Lucas Powell (1839-)

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Categories: Brodhead, Wisconsin | Chicago, Illinois | Minneapolis, Minnesota | Illinois, Journalists | United States, Journalists | Newspaper Editors | 7th Regiment, Wisconsin Infantry, United States Civil War | Powell Name Study