The first Powel (Powell) to immigrate to America, Samuel Powel (b. 1673), reached Pennsylvania in 1685. A boy at the time of his passage, Samuel eventually established himself as a successful tradesman and civic actor in Philadelphia. The family he started
with wife Abigail Wilcox would go on, in future generations, to produce some of the wealthiest and most prominent citizens of the city. Samuel and Abigail’s only son, a merchant also named Samuel (1704-1759), married Mary Morris, who gave birth to the Samuel Powel (1738-1793) best known as mayor of Philadelphia, serving one term under colonial rule and another after independence. The house that Samuel and his wife Elizabeth Willing shared became one of the new capital’s social hubs; the Powels hosted a number of notable guests, including George and Martha Washington, John Adams, and Benjamin Franklin. Although Samuel Powel died without an heir, the Powel name
survived through Elizabeth’s adoption of nephew John Powel Hare, who later changed his name to John Hare Powel. John, whose pursuits included diplomacy, land agency, cattle husbandry, and a stint in the state senate, had seven children with wife Julia De Veaux Powel, the oldest of whom they named Samuel (1818-1885). Samuel’s wife, Mary
Johnston, came from a long line of West Indies plantation owners. Her father, Robert Johnston, owned a number of plantations in Jamaica, some of which were inherited through Robert’s wife, Catherine Cole Taylor Johnston, from her father, John Taylor.
