William Warlow Powell
William Warlow Powell, a retired butcher of Lima, resides on a farm in section 13, Bath township, where he is engaged in general farming and stock-raising. He was born in Montgomeryshire, North Wales, May 20, 1830, and is a son of James and Mary Harriet (Cowdal) Powell. His mother was related to Nelson and Warlow and both parents were natives of Wales, as were their ancestors as far back as can be traced. 'Squire Thomas Powell, the grandfather of our subject, was a magistrate of Wales and an earnest follower of John Wesley, taking an active part in the religious strife of that age. One of his sons, Matthew Powell, led the Welsh guerrillas at the famous battle of Waterloo. The families were remarkable for their longevity, the grandparents passing their 80th milestone and the father being past 90 at death. James Powell was a leather dresser, having learned that trade with his father.
William Warlow Powell was one of eight children five sisters and three brothers, and was the only one of the family to leave Wales. He lived on a farm until he was about 22 years of age when he learned the trade of a butcher, working at the business both in Wales and England. After mastering the trade in Shropshire, he opened a shop for himself in Newtown, where he did a good business for that country. Having made the acquaintance of a butcher in London, who catered to the wants of the royal family, Mr. Powell supplied him with Welsh mutton for the royal table for three years. In the fall of 1865 he came to America and proceeded from New York to Dayton, Ohio, where he remained a short time before coming to Lima. Here he opened a butcher shop which he conducted for 20 years, and soon worked up a lucrative patronage, which continued with him until his retirement form the business. He then turned his attention to agriculture, moving on the farm with his wife's father. Mr. Powell has been equally successful in his farming operations and now owns three adjoining farms in Bath Township one of 40 acres, one of 54 acres and the homestead on which he lives, which consists of 80 acres.
Mr. Powell was married in 1868, to Martha Jane Cobean, who was born in Logan County, Ohio, February 9, 1840, but has been a resident here since early girlhood, her father, Samuel Cobean, having brought his family to this locality when it was little more than a wilderness. Their family consists of the following children, viz: Mary H., wife of C. H. Palsor, of Lima; Emma R.;Ida Bell, wife of Joseph I. Thayer, of Perrysburg, Ohio; Susan; Sarah; and Thomas E., a farmer of Bath Township, who married Dona Stinson; whose father lives in Bath township. Mr. Powell is a devout Methodist, having joined that church in Wales when a lad of 17 years.