Powel, Samuel, 1738-1793

Samuel Powel was a Philadelphia, Pa. merchant and a member of a prominent Philadelphia family.

Samuel Powel was born in 1738 and grew up in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. After graduating from the College of Philadelphia (now the University of Pennsylvania) in 1759, Powel spent several years in Europe. In 1769, he married Elizabeth Willing, and the couple traveled in elite social circles. During the Revolution, Powel served as mayor of Philadelphia. Samuel Powel died of yellow fever on September 29, 1793.

Samuel Powel, the last mayor of colonial Philadelphia, was the third child and only son of Samuel Powel (1704/05-1759) and Mary Morris Powel (1713-1759). He graduated from the college of Philadelphia in 1759 and in the following year left for a tour of Europe, having inherited the estates of his grandfather (d.1756) and father (d. 1759). He remained abroad for six years, returning to Philadelphia in 1766 to manage his estate and his properties. He began his life of public service soon after, being elected commom councilman in 1770, justice of the courts of common pleas in 1772, and an alderman of Philadelphia in 1774. His tenure as the last mayor of colonial Philadelphia began in October 1775: he was elected again in 1789. Later a member of the state senate, Powel also served as a trustee at the University of Pennsylvania from 1773 to his death, a manager of the Pennsylvania Hospital from 1778-1780, and first president of the Philadelphia Society for Promoting Agriculture. He was elected to membership in the American Philosophical Society in 1760.

In 1769 Powel married Elizabeth Willing (1742/43-1830), daughter of Charles and Anne Shippen Willing. Their two sons, both named Samuel, died in infancy. Samuel Powel died on 29 September 1793, during one of Philadelphia's most devastating yellow fever epidemic.