Abraham Powell CSA (1830 - 1888)

Born 16 Sep 1830 in Macon, Georgia, United States [uncertain]

Husband of Henrietta Eloisa Mitchell — married 5 Apr 1858 in Edgefield Co., South Carolina, USA

Died 20 Jul 1888 at age 57 in Vicksburg, Warren, Mississippi, United States

The following is from " Just Folk: The Crowell Family of Louisiana," by Joyce Parker Hervey,1984, privately printed, page 282: PART 1 Family tradition is that Abraham's family owned land and were well off, and that Abraham was one of the youngest children. He is said to have left home when he was a young boy. Tradition also holds that in his later years, Abraham's mother wrote to him and tried to persuade him to bring his family home to visit her and to claim his inheritance. His wife encouraged him to go and to take some of the older children with him, but, since the whole family could not go, Abraham refused. He never saw his mother again and did not receive his inheritance. Abraham Powell is on the 1850 Census of Edgefield County South Carolina. He was a young man of 20, enumerated in the household of J. R. and Caroline Eidson, whose relationship to Abe, if any, are unknown. [Caroline was the sister of Reuben Bouknight, who administered the estate of Daniel A. Mitchell, Abraham Powell's future father-in-law.]! On the 5th of April in 1858, Abraham, who was then 27 years old, married 16 year old Henrietta Louisa Mitchell, who was born in Edgefield South Carolina on July 21, 1841. Henrietta was the youngest of the nine children of Daniel Anderson Mitchell and Edna Temperance Mitchell. The Mitchell family had been a prominent family in upper South Carolina for over 70 years. Henrietta's father had died when she was less than a year old, and she was raised by her mother with help from her older brother and sisters. Henrietta and Abraham Powell probably listened to tales that their neighbors in Edgefield County told about the flourishing town of Mount Lebanon, Louisiana, which had been established twenty years earlier by emigrants from Edgefield. They would have heard that it was famous for its healthy climate, the wealth of its inhabitants, and its fine educational institutions. Perhaps it was the thought of these finer things that enticed the newlywed couple to move to Louisiana. The move may also have been prompted by a spirit of adventure and by the prospect of finding good land at a reasonable price. Arriving in 1859 with his new wife and his mother-in-law, Temperance Mitchell, and perhaps other relatives and friends, Abraham apparently found Mount Lebanon to his liking - it was the cultural center of Bienville Parish. The town had a population of three or four-hundred people, mostly of "good" South Carolina stock. Records of the area indicate that some of the people were related to Abe and Henrietta Powell. There was a flourishing Baptist Church; two colleges: Mount Lebanon University and Mount Lebanon Female Institute. There were three stores operating and a printing office which published a newspaper. The homes were well-built and some were fine ante-bellum plantation homes. Abraham and his mother-in-law each bought land in Bienville Parish. In December of 1859, Abraham bought an 80 acre plot with his wife's inheritance that she received from her father's estate. The following October, in 1860, Abraham Powell and Temperance Mitchell each purchased 330 acres from the Federal Government. Then War broke out between the North and the South, and Abraham opted to join the Confederate Army. Leaving his family, which by this time included two young sons, Elbert D., born May 1, 1859, and John J. L., born May 2, 1861, Abraham enlisted as a private in Gray's 28th Louisiana Infantry. His induction papers, signed in his own hand on the 8th of May in 1862 at Monroe, Louisiana, described him as 31 years old, with hazel eyes, black hair, dark complexion, and 5 feet 7 1/2 inches tall. He was paid $50 bounty and was enlisted for three years or the duration of the War. For the rest of the story, see this link http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~joycehervey/Joyces_Web/Biographies_files/AbePowellHistory.pages.pdf