User:Coffeeandcrumbs/Samuel Powel

Samuel Powel
Samuel Powel
Born	August 28, 1738; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, British America
Died	September 29, 1793 (aged 55); Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Resting place	Christ Church Burial Ground, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Spouse	Elizabeth Willing Powel (m. 1769)

Samuel Powel (October 28, 1738 – September 29, 1793) was a colonial and post-revolutionary mayor of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

He was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and graduated in 1759 from the College of Philadelphia (now the University of Pennsylvania). He served as mayor from 1775–1776 and 1789–1790, the office having been abolished under the Pennsylvania Constitution of 1776. He was a member of the Pennsylvania State Senate from 1790 to 1793.^[1]

Powel was an early member of the American Philosophical Society and a trustee of the College of Philadelphia (now the University of Pennsylvania).

Early life and education

Samuel Powel was born on October 28, 1738, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He was the only son of Samuel and Mary (née Morris) Powel, who also had two daughters, Abigail (born 1735) and Sarah (born 1747).^[2]

Tour of Europe

Marriage and children

On August 7, 1769, he married Elizabeth Willing, the daughter of Philadelphia mayor Charles Willing and Ann Shippen, and a sister of Philadelphia mayor and Continental Congressman Thomas Willing, a business partner of Robert Morris.

American Revolution and first mayorship

Like his father and grandfather before him, Powel was elected the city's Common Council in 1770.^[3] The Council elected him to be mayor of Philadelphia on October 3, 1775.^[4] The Council had not met for the six months prior and, after electing Powel, did not meet again until February 17, 1776. This was the last meeting of the city government before its charter was effectively dissolved when the Declaration of Independence was signed on on July 4, 1776; Powel was the last colonial mayor of Philadelphia.^[5]

Post-American Revolution

Second mayorship and the State Senate

Illness and death

Powel died in the yellow fever epidemic of 1793 on September 29, 1793, in the bare little upper room of a tenant farmer on Powel's farm west of the city, now the site of the Powelton Village section of West Philadelphia.^[6] He is interred at Christ Church Burial Ground.

Powel House

Samuel Powel's house, at 244 South 3rd Street, is a house museum run by the Philadelphia Society for the Preservation of Landmarks. A Georgian city house built by Charles Stedman in 1765, Powel expanded and embellished it around 1770, with carved woodwork and ornate plaster ceilings.

George and Martha Washington were friends of the Powels, and lived next door from November 1781 to March 1782, following the Battle of Yorktown. At the close of Washington's presidency, Mrs. Powel bought some of the furniture from the President's House in Philadelphia. The house museum owns a set of china that was a gift from Martha Washington.

The rear parlor was removed from the house in 1921, and is now at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.^[7] The ballroom was removed from the house in 1925, and is now at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Both rooms have been replicated at the house museum.^[8]

Ancenstry

Ancestors of Coffeeandcrumbs/Samuel Powel^[9]

John Powle (bur. 1618)^[c]

Godrey Powell(bap. 1599)

Elizabeth Savidge

Samuel Powell (bap. 1642)

Samuel Powell (1673–1756)^[b]

Deborah Powle (bap. 1640)

Samuel Powel (1705–1747)^[a]

Barnabas Wilcox

Abigail Wilcox (1679–1713)

Sarah

Samuel Powel

Anthony Morris (c. 1630 – 1655 or 1656)

Anthony Morris (1654–1721)

Elizabeth Senior (died 1660)

Anthony Morris (1682–1763)

Mary Jones

Mary Morris (1713–1759)

John Guest

George Guest (died 1685)

Joane

Phoebe Guest (1685–1768)

William Bailyes

William Bailyes (bap. 1622)

Alice Sommerland

Alice Bailyes (died 1705)

Thomas Chanders

Alice (or Elizabeth) Chanders

Notes

^ Jordan (2004) erroneously states that this Samuel died in 1759. According to historian Tatum (1976), this often repeated error may have originated from Robert C. Moon, the genealogist to the Morris family.^[10]
^ Samuel Powell's birth in 1673 and his ancestry is uncertain according to Tatum (1976).^[11]
^ Likely the grandson of Morgan Powell of Taunton.^[12]

References

^ "Samuel Powel". www.legis.state.pa.us. Retrieved 28 August 2018.
^ Jordan 2004, p. 111; Bell 1997, p. 259.
^ Scharf & Westcott 1884, p. 1708.
^ Scharf & Westcott 1884, p. 1736.
^ Scharf & Westcott 1884, p. 1736; Martin 1883, p. 95.
^ Powell, J.H. Bring Out Your Dead: The Great Plague of Yellow Fever in Philadelphia in 1793, Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press (1949) p. 196
^ Powel House Parlor from Flickr.
^ Replicated Powel House Ballroom from Flickr.
^ Jordan 2004, pp. 49–53, 110–111; Tatum 1976, pp. 6–9, 148; Johnson 1905, p. 1, 55; Maxey 2006, p. 19.
^ Tatum 1976, p. 148n35.
^ Tatum 1976, p. 147n22.
^ Jordan 2004, p. 110.

Sources

Bell, Whitfield Jenks (1997). Patriot-Improvers: Biographical Sketches of Members of the American Philosophical Society (1743–1768). Vol. 1. American Philosophical Society. ISBN 978-0-87169-226-9.
Johnson, Robert Winder (1905). The Ancestry of Rosalie Morris Johnson: Daughter of George Calvert Morris and Elizabeth Kuhn, His Wife. Ferris & Leach. ISBN 978-0-598-99967-2.
Jordan, John W. (2004). Colonial and Revolutionary Families of Pennsylvania. Genealogical Publishing. ISBN 978-0-8063-5239-8.
Martin, John Hill (1883). Martin's Bench and Bar of Philadelphia. R. Welsh & Company. OCLC 1097479950.
Maxey, David W. (2006). "A Portrait of Elizabeth Willing Powel (1743–1830)". Transactions of the American Philosophical Society. 96 (4). doi:10.2307/20020407. JSTOR 20020407.
Scharf, John Thomas; Westcott, Thompson (1884). History of Philadelphia, 1609–1884. Vol. 3. L. H. Everts & Company. OCLC 1636436.
Tatum, George (1976). Philadelphia Georgian: The City House of Samuel Powel and Some of its Eighteenth-Century Neighbors. Wesleyan University Press. ISBN 978-0-8195-4095-9. OCLC 1975107.

External links

Samuel Powel biography and links at ushistory.org
Powel House official website
Powel House ballroom at Philadelphia Museum of Art
Coffeeandcrumbs/Samuel Powel at Find a Grave
The Powel Family Papers, 1681–1938 (and here), including correspondence, financial records and other materials belonging to Samuel Powel, are available for research use at the Historical Society of Pennsylvania.
The Powell Family

Political offices
Preceded by Samuel Rhoads	Mayor of Philadelphia 1775–1776	Succeeded by vacant
Preceded by vacant	Mayor of Philadelphia 1789–1790	Succeeded by Samuel Miles

Category:1739 births Category:1793 deaths Category:Mayors of Philadelphia Category:University of Pennsylvania alumni Category:People of colonial Pennsylvania Category:Members of the American Philosophical Society Category:Deaths from yellow fever Category:Burials at Christ Church, Philadelphia

[11] Jordan (2004) erroneously states that this Samuel died in 1759. According to historian Tatum (1976), this often repeated error may have originated from Robert C. Moon, the genealogist to the Morris family.^[10]

[Powell's_parents-13] Samuel Powell's birth in 1673 and his ancestry is uncertain according to Tatum (1976).^[11]

[15] Likely the grandson of Morgan Powell of Taunton.^[12]

[1] "Samuel Powel". www.legis.state.pa.us. Retrieved 28 August 2018.

[FOOTNOTEJordan2004111Bell1997259-2] Jordan 2004, p. 111; Bell 1997, p. 259.

[FOOTNOTEScharfWestcott18841708-3] Scharf & Westcott 1884, p. 1708.

[FOOTNOTEScharfWestcott18841736-4] Scharf & Westcott 1884, p. 1736.

[FOOTNOTEScharfWestcott18841736Martin188395-5] Scharf & Westcott 1884, p. 1736; Martin 1883, p. 95.

[6] Powell, J.H. Bring Out Your Dead: The Great Plague of Yellow Fever in Philadelphia in 1793, Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press (1949) p. 196

[7] Powel House Parlor from Flickr.

[8] Replicated Powel House Ballroom from Flickr.

[FOOTNOTEJordan200449–53,_110–111Tatum19766–9,_148Johnson19051,_55Maxey200619-9] Jordan 2004, pp. 49–53, 110–111; Tatum 1976, pp. 6–9, 148; Johnson 1905, p. 1, 55; Maxey 2006, p. 19.

[FOOTNOTETatum1976148n35-10] Tatum 1976, p. 148n35.

[FOOTNOTETatum1976147n22-12] Tatum 1976, p. 147n22.

[FOOTNOTEJordan2004110-14] Jordan 2004, p. 110.

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v t e Mayors of Philadelphia (chronologically)
Colonial era (1691–1776)	Morrey Shippen (I) Morris (I) G. Jones Willcox Stanbury Masters Hill Carter Preston Dickinson Roch Hill Dickinson Fishbourn Logan C. Plumsted Norris Hudson Charles Read T. Lawrence (I) Griffitts Hasell Griffitts T. Lawrence (I) Allen C. Plumsted Griffitts Morris (II) Roberts Hasell C. Plumsted Till B. Shoemaker Shippen (II) Hamilton Attwood C. Willing T. Lawrence (I) W. Plumsted Strettell B. Shoemaker T. Lawrence (I) C. Willing W. Plumsted Shute T. Lawrence (II) Stamper B. Shoemaker Duché Harrison T. Willing T. Lawrence (II) J. Lawrence I. Jones S. Shoemaker Gibson Fisher Rhoads Powel
Pre-Act of Consolidation (1789–1854)	Powel Miles Barclay Clarkson Baker Wharton Inskeep Lawler Inskeep Wharton J. Barker Wharton Keppele J. Barker Geyer Wharton J. N. Barker Wharton Watson Dallas Richards Milnor Richards Swift Roach Swift Scott McCall Swift J. Jones Gilpin
Post-Consolidation (since 1854)	Conrad Vaux Henry McMichael Fox Stokley King W. Smith Fitler Stuart Warwick Ashbridge Weaver Reyburn Blankenburg T. Smith Moore Kendrick Mackey Moore Wilson Connell Lamberton Samuel Clark Dilworth Tate Rizzo Green Goode Rendell Street Nutter Kenney Parker