Rapides Parish, Louisiana; Biography: Benjamin B. Powell -p400
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Submitted by Gaytha Carver Thompson
Typed by Trudy Marlow
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Source: Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Northwest Louisiana
The Southern Publishing Company, Chicago & Nashville, 1890
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Benjamin B. Powell is a planter and cotton-
ginner of Ward 7, De Soto Parish, La., and was
born in Monroe County, Ga., in 1846, being a son
of James and Mary (Hill) Powell, whose native
State was Georgia, where they lived until about
1849, when they started to the Lone Star State,
Mr. Powell dying while en route, his burial taking
place in Rapides Parish, La. His widow went to
Texas, and in that State she too, passed from life
in 1854, she as well as her husband having been a
worthy member of the Methodist Church. The
subject of this sketch was the seventh of eight
children, but he and a sister, Mrs. Elizabeth Hart,
are the only ones that survive. He was reared in
Harrison County, Tex., and his youth was devoted
to farm work and to acquiring a common-school
education. In January, 1862, he joined Harrison's
regiment of Texas Cavalry, but in the summer of
1862 he was discharged at Tupelo, Miss., on ac-
count of his age. He then returned home and
served as a courier from Shreveport to Houston
for some months, and later joined Morgan's bat-
talion of Texas troops, with which he served until
the close of the war in Louisiana and Arkansas,
taking part in many skirmishes. His company
was disbanded on the Brazos River, in Texas, after
which he returned home and farmed in Harrison
County one year, his attention being then turned
to the stock business in Kauffman County, Tex.,
till 1869, when he came to De Soto Parish, where.
he has since made his home. He is accounted one
of the leading planters of this section, and is the
owner of 836 acres of land, of which 290 acres
are cleared. He raises about sixty-five bales of
cotton yearly, and all his property has been ac-
quired since coming into this parish, for at that
time his possessions consisted of a horse and $100.
He was married in 1872 to Julia, daughter of
John and Caroline Robinson, Alabamians, who
died in De Soto Parish, whither they had moved
at an early day. Mrs. Powell was born here and
has borne her husband six children, five now liv-
ing. Mr. Powell is a member of the Farmers'
Alliance, and he and his wife are Missionary Bap-
tists.