Welsh Journals

RADNORSHIRE POWELLS IN AMERICA By A. D. POWELL In Vol. XII (1942), p. 22, of this Society's Transactions occurs the following list of Radnorshire indentures, then on loan from the late Mr. Aaron Moseley to the National Library of Wales. Names not immediately relevant have been omitted here. (1) 1796. Acquisition of Maeslan in Llananno by William Powell, of Broadheath, Presteigne Thomas Powell, of Presteigne, being a party. (2) 1806. Thomas Powell, of Presteigne, inn-holder, trustee of the late William Powell, confirms earlier indentures with the Earl of Oxford. (3) 1816. Thomas Powell, of Leominster, makes further dispositions for lands in Llananno and Llanbister, together with Bryncoch in Llan- vihangel Nantmelan. (4) 1831. Thomas Powell, late of Leominster, mercer, disposes of these properties, having gone to live at White Eyes Creek, Coshocton, Ohio, USA. It will be clearest to state at once that William Powell of Broadheath, named above, was brother of Thomas Powell of Presteigne, inn-holder, and father of Thomas (Joseph) Powell of Leominster, mercer. William Powell was steward to the 4th and 5th Earls of Oxford, of the Harley creation. I had often wondered whether this William Powell was the same as he of that name (son of another William Powell, officer of excise, and his wife Elizabeth) baptised at Clyro, 31 Jan. 1741/2. Recent information shows he was. It also develops the statement above that his son Thomas went to Ohio. This new material was made available by Mrs. Pauline Kimball Skinner (widow of Professor Glenn S. Skinner), of 74 Amstel Avenue, Newark, Delaware, whose grandmother, Louisa Kimball (nee Powell) was grand-daughter of William Powell, Lord Oxford's steward. Mrs. Skinner marked down the relationship, sent me the Hi8tory and Genealogy of the Thomas J. and Henrietta (HoweUs) PoweU Families (Ledger Printing House, Fairfield, Iowa, 1918) by W. D. Shirk (another descen- dant), and herself contributed information here recorded. Before touching on the American side, a word should be said about Radnorshire foundations. William Powell (1715-62), one of the Powell family (descended from Uywelyn Crugeryr) stemming from the branch of The Travely, Llowes, was, 7 Dec. 1734, appointed to be Super- numerary in the motion of Mr. Eyre the latter a commissioner of excise (1727-53). The method of obtaining employment-keenly sought-in that service was to obtain a certificate from the minister of the parish proving the applicant to be not less than 21, nor more than 30, together with a recommendation signed by as many of the neighbouring gentle- men as he can.' Unfortunately these records have not survived, nor the letter announcing William Powell the excise officer's death in his forties. He was serving at Hay (where on an earlier tour of duty he had instituted a prosecution for illicit soap boiling in 1752.1) and was buried there instead of his then resident parish, Llanigon or at Clyro, where he and many other Powells, had been baptised. Perhaps his death was sudden. In the light of later connexions with the Harleys, it is permisible to wonder whether the most influential of the local gentry to recommend