1810 > KENTUCKY > WOODFORD > NO TWP LISTED

Series: M252 Roll: 8 Page: 386
William Powell---11-1-1-

BURIED 1.5 MILES NE OF MORTONSVILLE, KY. LIVED IN WEST VA. (WAS PORTION OF
VA.) AND KY. SHOT LAST BUFFALO IN WOODFORD CO. KY.

Will of William Powell 1754-1841




I, William Powell of the county of Woalford and state of Kentucky being of advanced age but sound of mind and memory do make and ordain the following as my last will and testement revoking any will by me here to fore made.

It is my will and desire that all of my just debts be paid.

It is my desire and will that my wife Catherine Powell receive one third part of my estate, that is to say one third part of any land, negroes, and also one third part of my personal estate which is to be sold after paying all my personal debts and expenses as above stated during her life time .

It is my will that the remaining two thirds of my estate be sold on such terms as my executor, here in named, shall deem proper and the proceeds then be divided among my children, or their heirs, except those mentioned, that is to say to my daughter Rachel McAllister the sum of fifty dollars I have advanced her here to fore.

It is my will that when my wife has collected her third of my negro men, Bob and Dick, that one is to be set free and the other one to be set free at the death of my wife, and it is my wish that my executor shall not let the negroes of my wife be taken from the county if they can prevent it. It is my wish however that if my wife is willing to take one third the value of the two slaves in money, she may do so, and if she does so, the negroes are to be set free immediately. My executors for me will secure the county bounty, if any, for my slaves. When freed and bound my estate together. There fore and lastly I here by appoint James McConnell and Benjamin Wilkersham Executors of my last will and testament and witness my hand and seal on this 11th day of November One Thousand eighteen hundred and thirty eight.

William Powell (seal)

Witness John G. Price and Fauntby Johnson

The will was filed in County Court on February, 1841. In March 1841 the court gave his wife her part of the land and buildings. There is a drawing of the land.

Dead Book D-Page 407
This indenture of dead of gifts made this 29th day of Nov. 1838 by me, Willlam Powell of Woodford co. & State of Ken. to my Children here after named - Witnesseth - that where as from consideration of My infirm age & Natural decline in life as well as for the love and affection I have for my children hereafter named. I hereby give by this deed unto them severally the following property & estate as here after distrubuted & Named Viz:

1st I give unto my son, John, a young black mare (John is our line - In another court copy, our John refused his inheretance).

2nd I give unto my three grandchildren, Elizabeth, William & Thomas Mason. One black mare 5yrs. old, one bed & 3 cows & 1 pot.

3rd I give unto my son Wm. Powell five hundred acres of land in Hardin co. on waters of Green River and 1 bed & furniture and 1 brown stud colt.

4th I give unto my son, Philip one negro boy named Ben

5th I give unto my daughter Rachael Gill one cow, two calves, one yearling steer and one bay horse.

6th I give unto my daughter Rosanna Taylor the crop made and growing on my farm -also two negros, Phill & Lean which said Negros and their increase is to here for her life time, and after her death, to be the property of her three children now living. All of which property and estate I give & title to which I do hereby relinquish and transfer to them & their heirs and assigns for ever, as their right "property and to their only use & behoof. In tender consideration where of I have here unto set my hand.



William and Rosannah:Location of their land, east of the Cheat River in what is now Preston County, West Virginia, was given in a book, "History of Ten Baptist Churches," written in 1823 by a longtime itinerant preacher, the Rev. John Taylor. His reminiscent story placed the Powell cabin near Monongahelia Glades, north of Dunkard's Bottom and not far below the Pennsylvania line. The Pennsylvania-Virginia border was for long years in hot dispute, and was not defined until 1779, by an extension westward of the earlier Mason-Dixon line which marked the boundary between Maryland and Pennsylvania. When the quarrel was settled, the Powells were on the south, or Virginia side of the state line. That part called West Augusta District.

Brother Taylor, as he was called, roamed the backwoods on horseback during the late 1770's and early 1780's, preaching in scattered settlements. On one trip he and another minister named Redding held a Sunday meeting at Dunkard's Bottom. Some people who came where importuned them to preach the next day in their community, Monongahelia Glades, ten miles north. There, Taylor wrote long afterwards, they had one, of the greatest meetings in his fifty years of work. It was the first one ever at that place, and it was in the cabin of William and. Rosannah Powell.

Thirty or forty people were present, Taylor wrote, and "Our worship continued about six hours, in prayers, praise, and exhortations among the people. I do not recollect that we took any sustenance before we left the place, for the family where the meeting was, seemed too much affected, to think of anything but the salvation of their souls .. It is a fact, the floor was wet with the tears of the people."

(Editor's note - For William end Rosannah not to feed their company sounds like a surprising departure from traditional Powell family hospitality, which just assumes that all guests are hungry or ought to be.)


Taylor added that "we made the lonely forest ring with the praise of the Lord, as If there was not an Indian in the world."

But there was, for their guide, James Brian was killed by Indians soon afterwards. Also Taylor noted that, further north in Pennsylvania, the family of Rev. John Corbley wore massacred by Indians while on their way to church. A Preston County history said that at Snowy Creek, Richard Powell's boy was tomahawked. in a raid where Indians found that he had only one eye. The name Richard was fairly common in the family.
Taylor's book recalled a subsequent "little rugged tour" with a pleasant little man by the name of Powell. It was in his house that our great meeting had been. At the time of our travel Powell was a Baptist, and now (1823) lives in Woodford County, Kentucky ."

Their little tour was in the dead of winter, when they stopped overnight in a deserted hunters' cabin. Their horses broke out and disappeared; therefore, Taylor and Powell had. to carry their saddles and other belongings afoot thirty miles in a day and. a half, back to Powell's home. Taylor moved to Kentucky ,in 1783, by then the Powells were there. Their lands adjoined; their families were neighbors and friends for many years. But once William threatened to sue the' minister for digging and. disturbing a spring on Powell land which supplied their drinking water~. And Taylor's book remarked, "it is said he (William) now loves Whiskey a little too much."

It was also said, in the family, that William shot the last buffalo killed in Woodford County.
William served on Juries, helped survey lands. On February 12, 1802, he deeded 1,000 acres of land located in Hardin County on Long Falls' Creek to Robert Morrison of Fleming County. In 1808 he gave his son, William, 500 acres. When old William died in 1841, his estate showed only 139 acres. Records do not show where he got so much land, it may have been a military grant but I have not found it.

In 1808 William had three slaves, the only one of our Powells on record as owning blacks. By deed of gift he gave two of them, "Phill and Leann and. their increase," to his daughter Rosannah for life and then to her three children. The third slave, a boy named Ben, went to son, Philip. Son William got five hundred acres of land, son John a young black mare. Three grandchildren received a black mare age five years, one bed and furniture, three cows and one pot, children of daughter Mary Mason.

Daughter Rosannah Taylor, wife of John Taylor, also received "two head of horses, two beds with furniture., the crop made and, growing on my farm"

Two years later, without explanation, sons John, William and Philip signed a release to the property deeded to them. Earlier one of the granddaughters also released her share.

Old William had mentioned his "infirm age and natural decline in life "in the 1808 instrument. He was then between fifty-five and sixty. He made a will thirty years later, in 1838, which was filed in the February term of court of 1841, after his death. By then he would have been ninety or more.

Rosannah's last appearance in the records was when she signed. a deed in 1827. But for five generations after, there was always a Rosannah or Rose or Rosey in the family; no one knows her maiden name.

After her death, William married Catherine King (?), a widow, who survived him. Her will left her property to a granddaughter, Catherine McMillan, "who has looked after me." It included land in Woodford County, "left to me by my late husband, William Powell." The residence, which they called the Mansion House, was on her land. -

William's 1839 will left one-third of his property to his wife, Catherine, and the rest to his children in equal parts.

He gave particular instructions for the protection and freeing of two slaves, as follows:

"It is my will that when my wife is allotted her third part of my negro men Bob and Dick that the one shall be set free, the other one -to be set free at the death of my wife; and it is my wish that my executors shall not let the negroes allotted, my wife be taken from the county if they can prevent it.

"It is however my wish that if my wife is willing to take one-third the value of the two slaves in money, she may do so and if she does so, the negroes to be freed immediately.

"My executors for me will secure the County Court if required for my slaves when freed and bind my estate therefor.'t

The sale bills of William's personal estate, dated 20 March 1841, listed his livestock and household goods, and the buyers. Gil Powell possibly a grandson, bought a man's saddle for $1.25. The list covers three typed pages, and the total amount realized was $597.75.

William and Rosannah and perhaps Catherine were presumably buried on their land. near the village of Mortonsville. An old. man who lived across the road from it told your Author in 1950 that there was - positively a graveyard back of the Powell barn, but a later owner plowed it up and used the stones in a foundation of a barn. My personal. search of all the area turned up no sign of it. This old man was John Donnellin, grandson of the purchaser of the Powell farm, Zachariah Ford.

• Married: 1771

1. Philip POWELL b: 16 JUL 1770 in PA.
2. JOHN POWELL b: 1 APR 1772 in PA
3. MARY POWELL b: 1773
4. WILLIAM POWELL b: 1773
5. RACHAEL POWELL b: 1784 in VA.
6. ROSANNA POWELL b: 1785

1. Title: 1810 KY Census