My Genealogy Hound

Judge R. H. Powell, Melbourne, Ark., is one of whom it can be said:

“With an equal scale
He weighs the affairs betwixt man and man.”

He is a prominent man of Northern Arkansas, and judge of the district in which he resides. His birth occurred in Sussex County, Va., on the 8th of April, 1827, and he is the son of Thomas P. and Jane P. (Roland) Powell, both natives of the Old Dominion, the former born in 1803 and the latter in 1806. The father was of Welsh descent, and was reared and married in his native State. He moved to Tennessee in 1832, settling in Bedford County, and was a very successful tiller of the soil, being the owner of about thirty negroes, and some fifteen or twenty field hands. He was a Whig, and a very decided partisan, although he never held office. He split off from the Democratic party in 1834 and joined with the Clay faction. His first Whig vote was cast for Hugh L. White and Baily Peyton. He bade a final adieu to this world in 1853, and died as he had lived, an honored, upright citizen, one universally respected. He was a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, of which his wife was also a member. She died in 1840 or 1841. To their marriage, which occurred in 1824, were born nine children, all of whom lived to maturity, and eight still survive: Dr. R. J. (resides in Izard County), R. H. (subject), Mary A. (wife of Dan Morten, and makes her home in Tennessee), Martha H. (wife of J. W. Nailer, resides in Tennessee), Margaret V. (wife of S. H. Winston, resides in Stone County, Ark.), Miranda (wife of James McCuistion, resides in Izard County), W. S. (deceased), Sarah J. (widow of Dr. David Deason, resides in Tennessee), and Harriet T. (wife of Town Scruggs, resides at Bell Buckle, Tenn.). The paternal grandfather of these children, Robert Powell, was a native of Virginia, and was a boy at the surrender of Lord Cornwallis, but was present on that auspicious occasion. The youth of Judge R. H. Powell was passed in laboring on his father’s farm and in attending the common subscription schools. When twenty-one years of age he entered the Salem Academy, remained there but three or four months and then engaged in teaching school, which profession he followed until about twenty-eight years of age. He then attended law school at Lebanon, Tenn., under Judge Abram Caruthers and Judge Greene, and after passing a very rigid examination received his license. He subsequently commenced practicing at Louisburg, Marshall County, Tenn. (1855), and there remained until 1860, being first a partner of Gideon B. Black, of Tennessee, and later a partner of James H. Thomas, of Columbia. In 1860 he came to Batesville, Ark., remained there but a short time, and then moved to Izard County, in 1861. He was first married to Miss Jane Temple, in June, 1849, and the fruits of this union were six children, who lived to be grown: Dr. Dempsey T. (resides at Thayer, Mo., and is an assistant surgeon of the Kansas & Missouri Railroad), Robert T. (attorney at Greenwood, Ark.), Nancy J., Mary W. (wife of John W. Woods, who is an attorney in Melbourne), Henry Lee (wife of Ewing Kennard, who is a druggist at LaCrosse), and William W. (an attorney). In 1862 Judge Powell joined Company B, Freeman’s battalion, Shaler’s company, and, although entering the ranks as a private, he was afterward elected by his company to the position of first lieutenant, in which capacity he served until December, 1863. He was taken prisoner near Batesville, and was sent to Little Rock, Ark. At the time he was taken prisoner he had been assigned to duty as commissary and quartermaster, by Gen. Price, and had in his possession some valuable papers and about $1,500. The United States forces secured the papers but failed to get the money. Mrs. Montgomery (sister of Capt. James Rutherford, of Batesville) managed to slip the money from the outside pocket of his overshirt, and sent it to Col. Freeman. After being sent to Little Rock, he was shortly afterward removed to St. Louis and quartered in the McDowell College, in February, 1864. The following April he was removed to Johnson’s Island, and was there retained until the 9th of January, 1865. On the 29th of the following month he was exchanged and then came home on a sixty days’ leave of absence, and had started back to rejoin his command, when he heard of Gen. Lee’s surrender. He surrendered at Jacksonport on the 5th of June, 1865, and after returning home engaged in agricultural pursuits, which he continued until 1866. He then began practicing his profession in this and surrounding counties. In 1862 Judge Powell was elected to represent his county in the legislature, and this was the first legislature that met after the secession of the State. In 1866 he was elected judge of this, then the Seventh circuit, and served until after the reconstruction of 1868, when he was disfranchised. From 1868 to 1874 he was interested in mercantile pursuits, and followed this business in La Crosse, Lunenburg and Newburg, Izard County, and at Paraquet Bluff, Independence County. He lost his wife in 1870. She was a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. In 1873 the Judge wedded Mrs. Harriet Herbert (nee Harris), and two children were the result of this union, both of whom died while small. Mrs. Powell died in 1876. She was also a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. Judge Powell was again married in 1878 to Mrs. Elizabeth Davidson, widow of Dr. Davidson. Her maiden name was Gardner, and she was a native of Tennessee. Two children were born to the last union: Guy and Ruth H. In 1874 Judge Powell attended strictly to the practice of his profession, and for four years remained thus engaged. In 1878 he was elected judge of the Third circuit, and filled that position until 1887, when there was a division in the circuit, and he was placed in charge of the Fourteenth judicial circuit. He has been judge ever since 1878 (now twelve years) without any intermission, and his term expires in 1890. He is a member of the Masonic fraternity, Blue Lodge, R. A. C., and Council, and is also a Knight Templar. He is a straight Democrat in his political views, and he and wife are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South.