J. A. POWELL, Webster County, was born in Henderson County, Ky., May 8, 1835, son of Thomas W. and Elizabeth (Dorsey) Powell. He is the eldest in a family of twelve children, and is of English descent. His paternal grandfather, Harrison Powell, emigrated from the Carolinas to Kentucky in a very early day. The Powells have been long and extensively known in Kentucky, and have held the first official positions in the State. When J. A. attained his majority he engaged in the mercantile business in Corydon, Henderson Co., Ky., remained there four years, and then for eleven years followed farming. In 1879 he came to Sebree, and engaged in merchandising and dealing in tobacco. In the store he does a business of $30,000, annually, and in 1884 he did a tobacco business of $41,000, handling 565,000 pounds of tobacco. In this article he has traded extensively for fourteen years. In 1879 Mr. Powell erected his present residence, one of the finest in Sebree. He was married, in 1858, to Miss Paulina D. Williams, of Jefferson County, Ky. They have three children, viz.: Florence, Samuel F. and Henry. Mr. Powell has been successful and is worth about $50,000. He is a Democrat; he and wife are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church South.
Source: J. H. Battle, W. H. Perrin, & G. C. Kniffin. Kentucky. A History of the State. Louisville, KY, Chicago, IL: Battey, 1885. Page 1045.