George Powell (1789 - 1875)

Born 26 Feb 1789 in Lenoir, North Carolina, United States

Ancestors

Husband of Lucinda (Rowe) Powell — married 1815 in Lenoir, North Carolina, United States

Descendants

Died 21 Dec 1875 at age 86 in Lenoir, North Carolina, United States

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Biography

George was born in 1789. He was the son of Elias Powell and Anna Barbara Albright. His birth date was documented in their family bible.

George's first wife was Mary Smith, who was said to be Native American, though this theory was recently proven incorrect by another researcher. George and Mary had two children: Elias and Smith. Mary died in 1814.

George's second wife was Lucinda Rowe. George and Lucinda had nine children:

1. Nelson Albright
2. Avery McDuffin
3. Mary H., b 20 Dec 1820, d 10 Nov 1905, m Allen Laxton^[1]
4. Eveline Delia
5. John Bowman
6. Barbara Louisa
7. Joseph Tucker
8. Sophia Margaret
9. Jones Edmund.

The 1850 US Census^[2] shows George and Lucinda living in Caldwell County with their children:

Joseph, aged 20

Louisa, aged 22

Sophia, aged 18

Jones, aged 14

The Powells were prosperous and owned most of the land in the present-day Lower Creek section of Lenoir.

George was the owner of the "Keyhole House", which was said to be the second brick home in Caldwell County. The original house on this site was a log cabin which burned, and George said, "The next house I build will not be so apt to burn down." The superstitions of the times, and the ideas of the Welsh people, from which George descended, led him to design the "keyhole" into the house to allow spirits to move freely in and out of the house. He believed the spirits "collected" in his former house caused it to burn.

The Keyhole House was built with slave labor sometime between 1814 and 1820. Portholes were built into the walls on all sides of the house to allow rifles access to shoot at possible Indian attackers. A tunnel of app. 75 yards was dug from the cellar to the outside to allow escape if the house was set fire by attackers.

George operated a store near this home, and it was at this store in 1841 that Caldwell County was organized, the first officials sworn in, and the first courts were held. Until a court house was constructed for Caldwell County, court was held at George's store.

The Keyhole House was lived in by several generations of Powells. It became rental property by the early 1900s and was torn down in the 1970s. The Keyhole brick design was preserved and is now part of the marker for the Trinity United Methodist Church, which is located where the Keyhole House stood.

"...Elias Powell (d. 1832), whose land was located along Lower Creek east of present day downtown Lenoir, built mills for grinding wheat and corn. The Powell family played a key role in the early history of Lenoir. In 1841, when Lenoir was established as the seat of the newly formed Caldwell County, the first meeting of the county court took place in a storehouse owned by George Powell (1789-1875), whose landholdings by that date totaled 874 acres. These lands became known as Powellton, which developed as an African American neighborhood after the Civil War and was largely populated by people once enslaved by the Powell family.^[3]

As listed on the 1850 US Slave Schedule^[4], in 1850 George held the following persons in slavery:

a woman, aged 45

a man, aged 27

a man, aged 26

a woman, aged 24

a boy, aged 18

a girl, aged 15

a boy, aged 11

a girl, aged 10

a boy, aged 8

a girl, aged 7

a boy, aged 5

a boy, aged 5

a boy, aged 3

As listed on the 1860 US Slave Schedule,^[5] in 1860 George held the following persons in slavery:

a woman, aged 48

a man, aged 40

a woman, aged 30

a woman, aged 28

a man, aged 25

a man, aged 20

a boy, aged 17

a boy, aged 16

a boy, aged 15

a girl, aged 11

a girl, aged 8

a boy, aged 7

a boy, aged 2

On the 1860 US Census^[6], he stated the value of his real property as $2300 and that of his personal property as $11250. Grim. Sometime between 1826 and 1847, George donated a one-room log building for the Lower Creek Baptist Church to use for worship and business meetings. Enslaved persons were included in worship services, the first being named "Harry". In 1847, a frame building was erected to replace the original log structure. In June 1872, a motion was approved to allow African American members to select a preacher and meet in the church on the first Sunday of every month. On June 13, 1896, the church voted to collect funds to aid the "black brothers of Lenoir" to build a church.^[7] A whopping sum of $1.46 was collected.^[8] What name did this "new" segregated congregation take on?

On 18 May 1868, George filed his last will and testament in Caldwell County and named his son, John B. Powell, as Executor.

In September of 1870, George and Lucinda were still alive in Caldwell County, counted on the US Census^[9] in the Lower Creek Township. Louisa, aged 42, and Washington, aged 16, are living with them. George, Lucinda, and Louisa are listed with "no occupation" with no valued property and Washington is a farm laborer. They are listed next to George's son, John B. Powell, who, along with two sons in his household, reported a combined real property estate valuing $11,000 and personal property of $2000.

George died five years later, 21 December 1875, at the age of 86. He was buried at the Lower Creek Baptist Church Cemetery in Lenoir, Caldwell County, North Carolina.

Sources

1. ↑ Burial at Kings Creek Baptist Church Cemetery in Caldwell County, NC.
2. ↑ "United States Census, 1850," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M4BW-NS7 : 12 April 2016), George Powell, Caldwell county, Caldwell, North Carolina, United States; citing family 857, NARA microfilm publication M432 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.).
3. ↑ Robinson & Associates: FINAL REPORT, Comprehensive Architectural Survey of the City of Lenoir, March 2018, p. 5.
4. ↑ "United States Census (Slave Schedule), 1850 ", database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:HRWQ-QHT2 : 28 November 2020), George Powell in entry for MM9.1.1/MVCK-3F4:, 1850.
5. ↑ "United States Census (Slave Schedule), 1860", database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:WKPR-N6W2 : 16 October 2019), George Powell, 1860.
6. ↑ "United States Census, 1860", database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MDDP-R7J : 11 November 2020), George Powell, 1860.
7. ↑ FB & c. Ltd, 2016: Forgotten Books: Laborers Together With God: The History of the Caldwell Baptist Association, p. 152.
8. ↑ 150th Anniversary of Lower Creek Baptist Church, p. 10., accessed [online http://divinityarchive.com/bitstream/handle/11258/10482/onehundredfiftie00unse.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y.] 01/21/2021.
9. ↑ "United States Census, 1870", database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MW8H-X5L : 3 January 2021), George Powell, 1870.

See Also:

• Hardy, Michael C.: Caldwell County, Arcadia Publishing, 2006, p. 17.
• Caldwell County Genealogical Society Newsletter, 2005.
• Letter written by Nelson Albright Powell on 12/20/1889 filed at Caldwell County Library in Lenoir, NC.
• "North Carolina, Historical Records Survey, Cemetery Inscription Card Index", database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QPTC-FY6B : 16 October 2019), George Powell, 1875.