My Genealogy Hound

Below is a family biography included in The History of Dent County, Missouri published by Goodspeed Publishing Company in 1889.  These biographies are valuable for genealogy research in discovering missing ancestors or filling in the details of a family tree. Family biographies often include far more information than can be found in a census record or obituary.  Details will vary with each biography but will often include the date and place of birth, parent names including mothers' maiden name, name of wife including maiden name, her parents' names, name of children (including spouses if married), former places of residence, occupation details, military service, church and social organization affiliations, and more.  There are often ancestry details included that cannot be found in any other type of genealogical record.

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George W. Powell, manager of the Midland Blast Furnace Company’s store, at Hawkins, since August 27, 1881, and son of Joseph E. and Cynthia A. (Elliott) Powell, was born in Crawford County, Mo., in 1852. The parents were born in North Carolina and Tennessee, respectively, were married in Tennessee, moved to Central Illinois, where they remained until about 1844, and then came to Crawford County, Mo. Here the father died in 1872, at the age of sixty-five, and the mother died in 1880, at the age of sixty-four or sixty-five. The father was a successful tiller of the soil, and improved a good farm in Steelville Valley. He and wife were members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, for many years. Of their twelve children, nine sons and three daughters, George W. Powell was the tenth. He attained his growth on the farm, and received his education in the common schools and in Steelville Academy. At the age of nineteen he began teaching, and followed this occupation for nine or ten years in Crawford, Washington, Phelps, Texas and Gasconade Counties, meeting with good success. The last two years he was principal of Cuba School, and during vacation he clerked, etc., until he came to his present position. He and his brother, Benjamin F., recently established a store at Cook Station, which is now in charge of the latter. Mr. Powell has a farm of 200 acres in Norman Township, nearly all the result of his own industry and hard work. He was married May 9, 1882, to Miss Mary A., daughter of David and Lucinda Bressie. The father died in Tennessee, while in the Union army, but the mother is still living in Dent County. To Mr. and Mrs. Powell were born three children. Mr. Powell is a Democrat in politics, his first presidential vote being for Greeley in 1872, and his wife is a member of the Baptist Church. Mr. Powell had two brothers in the Confederate Army: Henry E., who was captured at Big Blue, and died in the St. Louis Hospital, and German H., who died in Little Rock, Ark., while in service. He was a chaplain, and died soon after the battle of Prairie Grove, in which he participated. Mr. Powell is postmaster at Condray post-office.

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This family biography is one of 82 biographies included in The History of Dent County, Missouri published in 1889.  For the complete description, click here: Dent County, Missouri History, Genealogy, and Maps

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