| Notes |
On the 1851 Census of Woodhouse, Norfolk, Canada West are:
I. W. Powell, Merchant, Born Canada, Methodist, Married, Aged 51, Male
Malinda Powell, Born Canada, Methodist, Married, Aged 42, Female
Walker Powell, Merchant, Born Canada, Methodist, Single, Aged 24, Male
Edwin Powell, Clerk, Born Canada, Methodist, Single, Aged 21, Male
Berkeley Powell, Student, Born Canada, Methodist, Single, Aged 19, Male
Israel Powell, Clerk, Born Canada, Methodist, Single, Aged 16, Male
George Powell, Pupil, Born Canada, Methodist, Single, Aged 13, Male
Cicero Powell, Pupil, Born Canada, Methodist, Single, Aged 11, Male
Robt B. Powell, Pupil, Born Canada, Methodist, Single, Aged 8, Male
Mary Powell, Born Canada, Methodist, Single, Aged 3, Female
The Powell family came from Wales, one branch still occupying the ancestral estate at Nanteos, near Aberystwith. One of the forebearers in the long history of the family was Sir Thomas, who was one of the justices who defied the wrath of King James Il in 1688 and liberated the seven bishops who refused to obey the King’s dictates in spiritual affairs. It was one of Sir Thomas' sons who went with his Puritan tutor to America thereby establishing the American branch of the family.
A descendant, Abraham Powell, became a United Empire Loyalist who, after the American Revolutionary War, settled first in New Brunswick and later moved to Upper Canada, establishing a home in the Township of Windham in Norfolk County a little north of the Town of Simcoe. This settlement soon took on the name of Powell’s Plain or Buckwheat Street. Besides farming, Abraham opened a small store.
Israel Wood Powell, Sr., father of Dr. Powell, was born here in 1801, probably on the family farm. He became a clerk in the store of Job Loder in Waterford and later opened his own store in Colbourne, a community which grew up just north of Simcoe. He also became a land surveyor and in 1835 laid out the Town of Port Dover, a few miles south of Simcoe on Lake Erie, on land which he had recently purchased from his brother-in-law, Moses C. Nickerson. He built a large store on the corner of Main and Market Streets and also a splendid dwelling for his family on St. George Street, on the promontory formed by the Lynn River on the east and Lake Erie on the south. The home later became Orchard Beach Hotel and still later was known as Buck’s Hotel.
The senior Powell was a public-spirited man and sat in the Provincial Legislature from 1841 to 1848. He was appointed the first Warden of Talbot District Council in 1842 and was a member of the first municipal council of the County of Norfolk in 1850. The central square of the town, which now bears the name, Powell’s Park, was presented to the village as a market square. He also presented sites for several churches. He died in 1852 at the age of 51.
Israel Wood Powell Sr. married Melinda Boss and to them were born seven sons and a daughter.
The eldest son, Walter, was born in 1828. He first took employment in his father’s store but became interested in military affairs, rising to the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel. He, too, went into politics, representing Norfolk County in the Legislature from 1857 to 1861. He was appointed Adjutant General of Canada and was largely responsible for the establishment of the Royal Military College at Kingston. His death occurred in Ottawa in 1915 at the age of 87.
There is some dispute as to the place of Israel Wood Powell Jr. in the family. Dr. J. A. Bannister, a historian of Norfolk County, claimed he was the second son of the family, born in Colboume, April 7, 1830. He determined this by a reference in the diary of Captain Alex McNeilege, a sea captain who settled in the vicinity of Port Dover and who kept a detailed account of events with a seaman’s accuracy. He tells of attending the funeral of Berkley Powell, supposedly the fourth son, in 1872 and gave his age as 38. This would establish the year of his birth as 1834. Another son, Edwin, was born in 1832. If Israel was the second son, he would have been born in 1830. But B. A. McKelvie, in a paper given before the Victoria section of the British Columbia Historical Association on October 21, 1946, claimed he had access to family records that stated Israel to be the fourth son, who was born on April 27, 1836. This latter record seems the more acceptable as it would make him age 20 when he entered McGill University as a student. If born in 1830, he would have been 26 which is an unlikely age for one to begin university studies.
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Rainham Builders
1801 - 1852 (50 years)