Gabriel Powell of Bladen County
Hi this is Allen Omega once again. I am a direct descendant of Gabriel (Gabe)
Powell. My maternal grandmother was Sophie Jane Powell-Thomas
and Gabriel was her father. Besides my grandmother who was his youngest, Gabriel
fathered many children in the Colly
township of Bladen County. This is only a beginning! A journey from 2004 back
to 1840 and beyond.
Gabriel who was born sometime around 1840 was a
farmer and blacksmith by trade. I have heard from the elders that he was a slave
and that his last slave owner was Isaac Powell of the Cypress
Creek township in Bladen County. His age is surely in accordance with one
of the three slaves that Isaac Powell owned in 1860.
Gabes First Marriage -
There are many questions to be answered
about Gabriels mysterious past. Who was his first wife Julia? What happened to
Julia and three of her children between 1870 and 1872? Who were his parents or
brothers and sisters? And what was his relationship to Phyllis Herring who was
my paternal great grandfather's (Ned Edmund Autry) grandmother? These are some
of the questions about Gabe that has really consumed most of my past time lately.
I have lately found out what the relationship between and Gabe and Phyllis Herring
was but it will not be updated to this site. It will be included in another project
that I am currently working on.
I first found Gabriel in 1870 living
in the Colly township of Bladen County with Phyllis Herring being one of his closest
neighbors. He was found with his first wife whose name was Julia and five children.
1 Gabriel Powell 1840 - 1925
*1st Wife of Gabriel Powell:
.. +Julia
..... 2 George Powell 1860 -
..... 2 Dick Powell 1863 -
..... 2 Dallas Powell 1865 -
..... 2 Sarah Powell 1867 -
......... +Toney
Troy Johnson
............. 3 William Johnson 1888 -
............. 3
Mattie Johnson 1892 -
............. 3 Mary C Johnson 1894 -
.............
3 Lillie Johnson 1898 -
..... 2 Adeline Powell 1870 -
......... +Dawson
Glover
............. 3 Anna Julia Glover
................. +Anderson
Jones
Julia was born in 1842. Something happened to Julia and her sons
George, Dick and Dallas sometime between 1870 and 1872. They are not to be found
in any information anywhere from 1872 on. It seems to me that if Gabe and Julia
had parted Julia would have at least took her two daughters especially the one
that was close to two years old when Gabe married again. What a mystery!
Gabes Second Marriage -
I found Gabriel
again in 1880 strangely married to Sophia Herring-Hayes. Gabe and Sophia's marriage
records show that they were married in 1872. During this time I could not find
any sign of Julia, George, Dick or Dallas. I could not even find Sarah who should
have been listed somewhere because shortly after 1880 she would get married to
Toney Troy Johnson. Troy Johnson was my paternal great grandmother's (Mary Carlton
Johnson-Autry) brother. Either Julia and her sons met an early death or they moved
on because Gabe and Sophia were living in the same home that Julia and Gabe lived
in in 1870.
Even my aunt Virginia was shocked when I told her that Sophia
Herring Hayes-Powell was Gabes second wife. She knows more about this family as
a group than anyone presently living.
Sophia Herring-Hayes-Powell was
born in 1850 in an area of Sampson County that was and still is called Longview
and Clear Run. Although Sophia was born a slave and her mother Esther Herring-Hayes
was a slave, her father was a descendant of the freedman Isaac
Hays. Isaac was a mulatto that was born sometime around 1730 and and was taxed
in Bladen County in the 1770's. How he obtained his freedom is unknown but as
a result, all of his descendants (Sophia's Hayes relatives) were born free
African Americans and can be found in information many years prior to the
end of slavery. There were many Hayes families found living in Bladen, Sampson,
New Hanover (town of Wilmington) and Cumberland counties in 1850 and 1860. For
some reason ( probably black
codes or actions from racist ancestors of the architects of the Wilmington
White Declaration of Independence) there was a mass migration of the Hayes
families of New Hanover County to all surrounding counties sometime between 1850-1870.
I found most of these families in 1870 and 1880 living in Ivanhoe and Newton Cross
roads (Franklin township), Garland, Long View, Clear Run and Delway (Lisbon township)
in Sampson County and the townships of Colly, Lake Creek, French's Creek, Carvers
Creek, Whites Creek and Beaverdam of Bladen County. These people were closely
related to Sophia (aunts, uncles and cousins etc.). Sophia had many sisters and
brothers living in Bladen and Sampson County.
Ned Edmund Autry fathered
a child for one of her sisters (Tempie). The child was named Joe Hayes. As I stated
above Sophia and Gabe's marriage certificate shows that they were married in 1872.
Together they had many children that were born right here in the Colly township
of Bladen County not far from where my aunt Ada's present day home is located.
Gabe and Sophia lived there for the remainder of their natural lives.
Gabe, Sophia, a host of their children and other descendants are buried in the
Colly cemetery located on 701 between Edward Autry and his daughter Elizabeth
Autry-Brown's home.
1 Gabriel Powell 1840 - 1925
*2nd Wife of
Gabriel Powell:
.. +Sophia Herring Hayes 1858 - 1921
..... 2 Sophie
Jane Powell 1900 - 1980
......... +Willie R. Douglas Thomas 1892 - 1976
............. 3 Catherine Marlene Thomas
................. +Cleophus Autry
............. 3 Jelene Thomas
................. +JC Melvin
.............
3 Virginia Thomas
................. +Odell Autry
............. 3 Johnny
Elbert Thomas
............. 3 Willie Mae Thomas
.................
+Leroy Autry
..... 2 George Powell 1875 -
..... 2 Idella Powell 1876
-
......... +William Richardson 1882 -
............. 3 Robert Richardson
1911 -
............. 3 Annie M. Richardson 1913 -
............. 3 Mary
Richardson 1914 -
............. 3 William Dennis Richardson 1919 -
.................
+Mattie
..... 2 Mitchell Powell 1880 -
..... 2 Ann Powell 1884 -
......... +Franklin McDuffie
............. 3 Wash D. McDuffie 1916 -
............. 3 Daniel McDuffie 1919 -
............. 3 Jessie McDuffie 1922
-
............. 3 Elsie McDuffie
................. +Alex Caviness
..... 2 Isiah Powell 1882 - 1910
..... 2 Rachel Powell 1885 -
.....
2 Sandy Powell 1886 -
......... +Prisillia 1894 -
............. 3 Daisy
Powell 1913 -
............. 3 Sudie Powell 1915 -
............. 3 Ubert
James Powell 1919 -
............. 3 Dewitt Powell 1922 -
.............
3 Dancy Powell
............. 3 Elizabeth Powell
..... 2 Jefferson
Powell 1892 -
..... 2 Gabriel Jr. Powell 1896 -
..... 2 June S. Powell
1899 -
Click here
for information from 1870 Bladen County that shows Gabe's and his neighbors Phyllis
Herring and Edith Herring-Johnson's families of 1870.
I continued
to find Gabriel and Sophia Still living in the Colly township of Bladen County
from 1900-1920. They were still living in the same home that they had resided
in back in 1880. Ned Edmund Autry was one of their closest neighbors from 1900-1920.
Click here
to view Gabe's family from 1870-1920. To have such a large family of children
it is truly a shame that less than half of them and their descendants can be accounted
for today.
If there is anyone that can give me insight on any member
of this Powell family that originated in the Colly township of northern Bladen
County, please do so. Contact will be made best via guestbook
because of junk mail. Your help will be gladly appreciated. Thanks in advance
and Peace!
Gabriel who was born sometime around 1840 was a farmer and blacksmith
by trade. I have heard from the elders that he was a slave and that his last slave
owner was Isaac Powell of the Cypress Creek township in Bladen County. His age
is surely in accordance with one of the three slaves that Isaac Powell owned in
1860.
I am now seeing that two slaves, male and female could have different
slave owners in different areas and still cohabitant (a state of marriage for
slaves) and have a family with children. I have been seeing a lot of this lately
in my slave research and from what I can gather, the offspring's of these unions
were claimed by the female's slave owner. Here is some individual information
that I came across on Sarah Louise Agustus, Tempie
Herndon Durham and Betty
Cofer exslaves that were from the Fayetteville, Durham and an unknown area
of NC whose parents or mates were also owned by different slave owners. I wonder!
Why was I never taught this in all those years of school?
Click
here to view the details about Gabe's children.
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