Family:M Sonnels and Elnora Powell (3)

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  1. Biography
    of William Sherman Powell.

    WILLIAM SHERMAN POWELL

    Commemorative Biographical Record of the Counties of Huron and Lorain, Ohio pages 847 - 848
    http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~usbios/Ohio/bios/lorain/powellws.txt

    William Sherman Powell was born July 28, 1833, in Charlotte, Chittenden Co., Vt., in which State his parents were also born. Calvin Powell, father of William S., was born August 19, 1799. On January 6, 1819, he was married in Charlotte, Vt., to Maria Gray, who was born September 29, 1801. In Charlotte they resided until 1838, when they sold out and came to Lorain county, Ohio, with their family. The journey from Vermont, a distance of seven hundred miles, was made in a covered wagon with four horses attached, the trip taking four weeks. Here they purchased 134 acres of heavily timbered land. Mr. Powell by hard labor and perseverance cleared up the entire farm, and he resided there until his death. The children born to Mr. and Mrs. Calvin Powell were as follows: Alma M., born February 27, 1821, died March 3, 1880 (wife of J. W. Rockwell); Henry Sherman, born July 25, 1823, died April 25, 1888; Harriet, born September 20, 1826, died May 4, 1893 (wife of C. J. Case); Polly Ann, born November 10, 1828 (Mrs. William Rockwell, residing in St. Louis, Mo.); Elvera, born May 9, 1831, died June 14, 1890 (wife of Albert Eldred); William S. , subject of sketch; Lorenzo C., born June 23, 1837, a resident of Frankfort, Kans.; Amelia, born August 12, 1839 (Mrs. George Hubbard, of Decatur, Mich.); and Mary, born October 9, 1842 (Mrs. M. Tuscott, of Lanark, Ill.) Calvin Powell was a man of prominence, and held various township offices. He was a member of the Baptist Church of Elyria, a constant attendant and earnest supporter. He died January 26, 1860. Mrs. Powell was also a faithful member of the same church. Her death occurred August 17, 1883, at the home of her youngest daughter in Lanark, Illinois.

    W. S. Powell, the subject of this sketch, spent his early life in Amherst township, where he attended the common schools, first in the log schoolhouse, afterward at the select schools, where he obtained a practical education. He remained at home until he was twenty-two years of age. He then, in 1856, went to Illinois, where he remained five months, and then returned to Ohio, where he has since resided. On November 25, 1856, he was married to Miss Betsey M. Bender, daughter of Peter Bender, a resident of Elyria. After his marriage he remained on the home farm two years, then rented a farm on Lake Avenue, where he remained one year. When his father died he again rented the home farm, which he carried on two years. He then purchased a farm in the southwest part of Amherst township, and here resided four years, at the end of which time he sold, and bought a farm of one hundred acres three miles north of Oberlin, where he lived eight years, in the meantime adding fifty-two acres of land. He then sold, and removed to his present farm which contains about 150 acres, and is regarded as one of the finest farms in Lorain county, sixty-two acres being in the corporation of Elyria.

    His children were as follows: Ella M., born June 18, 1861, died June 2, 1863; Orpha E., born October 10, 1864, married March 17, 1886 to John Stang, and now living in Elyria township (they have one child, Herbert Ralph, born June 15, 1890); Elnora T., born November 12, 1866, married March 17, 1891, to M. B. Sonnels, who holds a position as locomotive engineer on the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern Railroad, and they reside in Elyria; Mary May, born November 20, 1871; Edwin Sherman, born August 21, 1873; and Arthur William, born September 7, 1878.

    Mr. Powell is a self-made man, having made his own financial success. He is now carrying on his farm, and although sixty years of age is vigorous and active. For many years he has been prominent in all public affairs relating to both the township and county of his residence. He has always been a pronounced Democrat of the Jacksonian school, ready at all times to express his opinions, but at the same time disposed to be charitable to his opponents. Equipped by nature with strong intellectual endowments and rugged physical powers, possessing a sterling honesty which characterizes his conduct in all the offices of life, he has won a high place in the esteem and confidence of his fellowmen.

    LORAIN COUNTY OHIO
    File contributed for use in the Ohio Biographies Project by
    Email: MennoTy46@aol.com
    Date: July 3, 2003