SIMON TITUS POWELL was a native of Eastern Indiana and lived for many years at Newcastle, where he is remembered as a banker, financier, property owner, and it man of wisely directed influence in public affairs.
He was born at Cambridge City, Wayne County, Indiana, August 21, 1821, son of John and Margaret (Huff) Powell. His parents came to Indiana from Kentucky, settling in Wayne County in 1816, the year that Indiana was admitted to the Union. In 1826 the family moved to Illinois, settling near Danville, and Simon Titus Powell received some of his first schooling at Danville and at Champaign. He attended St. Gabriel's College at Vincennes, Indiana. His early career was school work, and he taught in Cambridge City until 1841, then became a teacher in the old seminary at Newcastle and had charge of the seminary for three years. He left school work to become deputy clerk of Henry County and in 1850 was elected county clerk, an office he held for thirteen years. Having lost the use of his left leg, he was physically incapacitated for duty as a soldier in the Civil war, but gave his influence and in many ways supported the Government and helped in local patriotic campaigns.
When, in January, 1865, the First National Bank of Newcastle was organized, Mr. Powell became one of its original stockholders and one of the first directors. For several years he was vice president of the bank. He sold his stock in this bank in 1877 and was then made president of the Bundy National Bank. Mr. Powell after retiring from active business life gave his attention to his investments, represented in a thousand acres of farming land in Henry County and in various parcels of city property. He was eighty years of age when he passed away on October 5, 1901.
Mr. Powell for years had been a prominent worker in the Republican party of Indiana. He was a delegate to the Republican national convention at Chicago in 1868, was also a delegate to the convention at Philadelphia in 1876 and at Chicago in 1880. In the latter convention he was one of the 306 who voted to secure the nomination for Grant for a third term. On December 14, 1872, President Grant appointed him supervisor of internal revenue for the districts of Ohio and Indiana, with headquarters at Indianapolis, and he filled this office for five years.
On October 4, 1883, Mr. Powell married Miss Malvina Conway. Mrs. Powell, who survives him and resides at 538 South Main Street, Newcastle, was born near Hagerstown, Indiana, daughter of William and Eliza (Robertson) Conway. She is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. By a former marriage Mr. Powell had four children: Henry L., Orlistes W., Catherine (Mrs. William H. Elliott) and Elizabeth.
