At 10:42 pm -0500 26/01/08, PATRICIA SPRINGER wrote:
Hello,
I am new to this site, and looking for the beginnings of my Powell
Family in Wales or Ireland or even Scotland. Noticed there was a
researcher on this site by the name of Alan Powell, and wondered if
he could help me find information about my Powells.
The last information I have of my Lewis R. Powell born in Virginia
about 1792, was in Hall County, Georgia USA, in the 1820 Census. He
has a brother named Pressly Powell, born 1878 in Virginia USA also.
All records in America have been destroyed by fire, and wars, so we
cannot find their parents.
I would appreciate any help anyone could give, and if anyone has
these 2 first names in their Powell, I would surely appreciate any
info they might have, that might make a connection to my Powell
Line. Let me say again, we do not have any records on these 2 men
till 1820, and how we found out when they were from was in the 1850
Georgia Census.
Thank you,
Pat
Surely you mean 1778?
Without their parents names it will be extremely difficult to obtain
a link to the British Isles.
Whilst your POWELLs most likely originate from Wales or the Welsh
border areas, Pressly is not a Welsh or English forename. The surname
POWELL is derived from the Welsh forename Hywel. See extracts below.
Extract from Welsh Surnames by T J Morgan & P Morgan.
------------------------------------------------------
Hywel
The standard pronunciation of the first syllable is exactly like the
English interrogative 'how'. In Welsh this diphthong, in such words
as 'bywyd', 'cywydd', 'tywydd', 'cywir', has been, at
times, inclined
to change to have the sound of English 'tow', 'flow', and before
spelling became standardised these words were often written - as they
were sounded - 'bowyd', 'cowydd', 'towydd', 'cowir', and
the Welsh
word 'tywyn', meaning 'strand, beach' in place-names was pronounced
and written as 'Towyn'; this '-ow' sound is still heard, in
colloquial speech, e.g. 'yn gowir'. Therefore the change of Hywel to
Howel could take place in Welsh, and need not be regarded as
maltreatment of Welsh. But the use of '-ell' must be regarded as an
'English' spelling, for the 'll' would be misleading in Welsh writing
as it is the Welsh double consonant 'll' or unilateral hiss as in
'Llan'. In medieval records it is very often written Hoel, or Hoell,
or Holl. In certain Welsh dialects, however, Hywel is pronounced
Hiwel, and this may have given rise to the interchangeability of Huw
and Hywel, and thus the interchangeability of Hughes and Howells.
....
As with so many other names, in some families the fixed surname
became Howell or Howells, in others Powell. Both forms are very
common in S. Wales; Breconshire has a concentration of Powell.
Extracts from The Surnames of Wales by J & S Rowlands - a survey of
surnames from 1813-37 marriage registers.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
POWELL
From ap Howell (see HOWELLS).
Only occasionally absent. Although this surname is found throughout
much of Wales (incidence 0.73%) it is particularly prominent in
Breconshire (Defynnog 8.45%; Merthyr 6.09%). In Radnorshire and
Monmouthshire its incidence always exceeds 0.7% and is above 3% in
many hundreds.
Guppy: North Wales, 0.20%; South Wales, 0.95%; Monmouthshire, 1.60%;
Herefordshire, 2.30%; Shropshire, 1.10%.
-------------------------------
HOWELLS
Patronymic, from the Welsh forename Hywel, generally pronounced Howel
(as in 'towel') and written in anglicised form as Howell. In some
areas, Hywel was pronounced 'Hew-el' and this contributed to its
absorption of the Continental Germanic forename Hugh, so that Hugh
and Hywel were considered equivalents. Griffith (1914) 165, has Howel
alias Hugh Nannau. HUGHES and Howells, therefore, have a history in
common. See Welsh Surnames by Morgan & Morgan, for more on the change
from Hywel to Hugh. Hywel was written Hoel/l, Holl, in some areas and
so could be pronounced Hole. (However, Hole entered the Swansea area
separately from the West Country of England.) Welsh Surnames gives an
example of Richard Howell and Richard Hall being the same person. As
with other names beginning with 'H', ap attached itself with ease,
and POWELL forms a large body in itself.
A strong regional presence (i.e. absent from many areas). This is
very much a surname of the south Wales coastal belt from Dinas Powis
in Glamorgan to Cemais in Pembrokeshire. Over this area it covers
more than 1% of the population and has its maximum incidence in
Carmarthenshire (Derllys 2.65%). There are small concentrations in
Montgomeryshire (Cyfeiliog 1.17%) and Cardiganshire (Ilar Upper
0.95%), but the name is virtually non-existent in Anglesey,
Caernarfonshire and Denbighshire.
Guppy: He counts Howell and Howells separately - Howell: North Wales,
0.15%; South Wales, 0.66% (and Norfolk, 0.22%); Howells: South Wales,
0.44%; Monmouthshire, 0.89%; Herefordshire, 0.28%; Shropshire, 0.31%.
N B
1. The non-county placenames are hundreds i.e. old sub-divisions of
counties consisting of several parishes.)
2. Guppy - The Homes of Family Names in Great Britain (1890) by H B Guppy.
For further evidence of distribution of surname see
http://www.nationaltrustnames.org.uk/
Evidence for distribution may also be garnered (at the level of BMD
registration districts) by searching for POWELL births on FreeBMD
from say Sep 1837 to Jun 1837 etc.
Ships register's may be your only hope of discovering a link.
I suggest that you post to the lists which cover the South Wales area.
--
Regards
Dick Jones Leigh-on-Sea Essex UK
rcjones(a)rmplc.co.uk