Thomas E. Powell
Hon. Thomas E. Powell, for many years numbered among Delaware's most prominent citizens, has been a resident of Columbus, Ohio, since 1887. A lawyer by profession, his successes have been such as to gain for him a prestige not only throughout the State of Ohio, but in the industrial and financial centers of the country as well, and it has been his fortune to represent many of the largest corporate interests of the United States in a legal capacity. He comes of a distinguished family of Delaware county, the name of Thomas W. Powell, his father, being inseparably linked with the history of the city of Delaware and institutions, as its guiding genius during its constructive period.
Thomas E. Powell was born, February 20, 1842, in the old family home located on what is now the campus of Ohio Wesleyan University in Delaware, a building which subsequently served as the residence of the incumbent presidents of the University for many years. He is a son of Thomas Watkins and Elizabeth (Gordon) Powell, and paternally is descended from the Ancient Britons, the Powells and Watkins, the latter being the family name of his grandmother, tracing their lineage back to ancestors who were in the Saxon invasion of Great Britain, in the Fifth Century of the Christian Era. These names are contained in the earliest year-books and literature of the Saxons, adorning the pages of the history of their country and race.
Thomas Watkins Powell was born near Cowbridge, Montgomeryshire, in South Wales, in November, 1707, and was four years of age when brought to America by his parents. He was reared at Utica. New York, in the beautiful Mohawk Valley, where he attended the Academy, availing himself of the limited advantages at hand for the procurement of an education. An insatiable thirst for knowledge could not be denied, and through self instruction and individual research he in time became one of the most scholarly of men. Upon leaving school he read law at Utica until 1819, then went to Canton, Ohio, where his preparation for the legal profession was continued under the preceptorship of Hon. James W. Lathrop. In 1820 he was admitted to the bar at Wooster, Ohio, and duly licensed to practice by the Supreme Court of the Circuit. He immediately after located at Perrysburg, Ohio, where he engaged in practice about 10 years, and while there served as prosecuting attorney, auditor and clerk of courts of Wood County, discharging the duties of these various offices at the same time. He moved to Delaware, Ohio, about 1830, and soon after purchased the land surrounding Sulphur Springs, now a part of the Ohio Wesleyan University campus, and erected the Mansion House, which is now used as Elliott Hall, one of the University buildings. He built, also, cottages, bath houses and bowling alleys, this being for some years a fashionable resort patronized by those in search of health and pleasure. Numbered among his guests at different times were men who occupied high stations in life, notably William Henry Harrison, President of the United States. Judge Campbell of the United States Court died there in 1832. Mr. Powell erected a cottage on the ground, in which he and his family resided, and in which our subject and his wife were both born. He finally disposed of this property to the University. He was in the active practice of his profession in Delaware during this time, and for a period of 15 years was Probate Judge of the county. He refused such offices as were not in line with his professional work, and twice refused the nomination for Congress, in 1840 and in 1846, at a time when the nomination of his party meant almost certain election, He was originally a Whig, in politics, then a Republican during the Civil War and until 1872, when he withdrew his support from that party because of its reconstruction policies.
Mr. Powell was ever foremost in the public enterprises of Delaware. He was influential in bringing the first railroads into the city; built the old flax-mill, now in use as the chair factory; and assisted in establishing the foundry on East William Street. A man of intellectual attainments and literary ability, with a masterly grasp of the subjects at hand, as the author of "Powell's Analysis of American Law," a work on "Appellate Jurisdiction" and "'The History of the Ancient Britons and their Descendants," he erected a monument to his name which will endure. As to Mr. Powell's career, his ability and achievements, and the attributes which went to make his character, a more comprehensive account is given elsewhere in this volume.
Thomas E. Powell was reared in Delaware and attended Ohio Wesleyan University, from which he was graduated in 1863. He then read law under the direction of his father and was admitted to the bar in 1866. Immediately thereafter he formed a partnership with Mr. W. P. Reid, an association of legal talent which continued under the firm name of Reid & Powell, until the senior partner's death in 1879. During this time they had erected the Reid & Powell Block, a three-story brick building situated on the southwest corner of Sandusky Street and Central Avenue. Our subject continued in practice in Delaware until 1887, a greater part of the time as senior member of the firm of Powell, Gill & Kauffman, his partners being Judge J. S. Gill and Frank Kauffman. The latter subsequently withdrew from the firm, but Powell & Gill continued until 1887. At that time Mr. Powell moved to Columbus, and the firm of Powell, Owen, Ricketts & Black was formed. Hon. S. N. Owen had but recently retired as Judge of the Supreme Court, and was the first to sever his connection with the firm, retiring from practice some eight or ten years later. Upon the elevation of Mr. Black to the bench as Probate Judge, the partnership was dissolved and Mr. Powell has since continued alone in practice. He has had connection with some of the must important litigation in the Ohio Courts, a notable case, in which he represented the plaintiff, being the Deshler Will Case, involving more than a half million of dollars. The successful prosecution of this case, which was before the courts for nearly 12 years, brought him a fee of $60,000. He has been attorney for the American Sugar Refining Company of New York, The Standard Oil Company, the Ohio and Western Coal Company, The National Cash Registei Company, and many other large corporations of New York and Ohio. During his practice in Columbus, his fees from New York have exceeded those from Ohio, notwithstanding the fact he has tried cases in nearly every county in the State. He has tried cases in nearly one-half the states of the Union, and appeared in all the courts, from the Common Pleas to the United States Supreme Court. He has, without doubt, tried more cases than any other lawyer in Ohio now living. The extent of his practice bespeaks his ability, his comprehensive knowledge of the law, his forensic ability, and his rank among the foremost of his profession.
Mr. Powell was a Republican in politics until 1872. since which time he has been most active in the affairs of the Democratic party, being a prominent figure at county, State and national conventions. He served as presidential elector from his district in 1872, and two years later was nominated for Congress in that district, which was strongly Republican. Although he met with defeat there was much glory in the fact that he was the first Democrat to carry Delaware County in a Congressional race. In 1873 he was the party nominee for attorney-general of Ohio, and in 1878 was presidential elector at large for Ohio; in 1887, he was nominated for governor of Ohio against Senator Foraker; he was delagate-at-large to the Chicago convention which nominated Cleveland for President, and placed in nomination the name of Governor Hoadley. Of commanding presence and pleasing voice, employing the choicest diction in his speech and appealing to the better judgment and reason of man, he is gifted beyond measure with the power to sway an audience, and has many times been called upon to place the name of a friend before a convention. He presented the name of Allen C. Thurman at the St. Louis Convention in 1888; the name of General Thomas Ewing for governor in 1878; and the name of Durbin Warren for governor in 1885. Fraternally. Mr. Powell is a member of Hiram Lodge, No. 18, F. & A. M., at Delaware. He helped to organize the Delaware Chair Company in 1870, and has been a director of it ever since.
Our subject was joined in marriage with Miss Eliza Thomson, a daughter of Bishop Edward Thomson, first president of Ohio Wesleyan University, a sketch of whom appears in connection with the history of the University. Six children were born of this union: Edward T., a graduate of Ohio Wesleyan University and an attorney at law, who has offices with his father; Maria, wife of Rev. Charles W. Watson, D. D., secretary of the Presbyterian Board of Missions of Philadelphia; Cornelia, who lives at home; Raymond, of Tucson, Arizona; Warren T., who graduated from Ohio State University with the class of 1907, spent one year in Japan as teacher of English in the University of Tokio; and Harold is a member of the class of 1909, Ohio State University. Religiously. Mr. Powell is a member of the Broad Street M. E. Church, to the support of which he has contributed liberally.
From 20th Century History of Delaware County, Ohio, and Representative Citizens, Edited and compiled by James R. Lytle, Delaware, Ohio, Biographical Publishing Co., Chicago, 1908
Hon. Thomas E. Powell was born at Delaware, Ohio, on the twentieth day of February, 1842. His father, Thomas W. Powell, was a lawyer and for many years a leader at the Delaware Bar. The mother of Thomas E. Powell was Elizabeth Gordon, a native of Ohio. Thomas E. Powell obtained his early education in the public schools of Delaware. At the early age of thirteen years he entered the Ohio Wesleyan University and graduated in the year 1863 at the age of nineteen years. He then enlisted as a private in Company E. Eighty-fourth Regiment, O. V. I., and served out his time with said regiment. In the month of May, 1864, he again enlisted in Company E, One Hundred and Forty-fifth Regiment, O. N. G. I., and was discharged with the command as a lieutenant of the company.
He at once entered his father's office as a student of the law and was admitted to the Bar in 1865, and during the same year he formed a partnership with William P. Reid, which continued up to the time of the death of Mr. Reid. During the existence of this partnership there were but a few contested cases in the Delaware County courts in which the firm of Reid & Powell were not interested. A few years before the death of Colonel Reid the firm associated with them Henry C. Godman, formerly of Marion, Ohio, and the style of the new firm was Reid, Powell & Godman. After the death of Colonel Reid. Mr. Powell associated with himself, John S. Gill, and the style of the new firm was Powell & Gill. Later their law student, Frank A. Kauffman, was taken into the new firm after his admission to the bar and the style of the new firm was Powell. Gill & Kauffman, which partnership continued up to the time of Mr. Powell's removal to Columbus. Ohio.
Mr. Powell was always interested in the politics of his State and nation. He was a delegate to the Democratic National Convention in 1872, which nominated Horace Greeley for president of the United States and was a candidate for presidential elector on the Greeley ticket. In the year 1875. he received the nomination for attorney general on the Democratic ticket, with Governor William Allen. In the year 1879 he placed General Thomas Ewing in nomination for governor, in the State convention and in the year 1882. he did the same for James W. Newman, when he was nominated for secretary of the State and the same year Mr. Powell was the Democratic nominee for Congress in the old Ninth District and although he was not elected he carried Delaware County by a handsome majority. In the year 1883, Durbin Ward (that faithful Democratic war horse) selected Mr. Powell to present his name to the State convention. In the year 1884, he was a delegate to the Democratic National Convention and at the request of Governor George Hoadly, placed that gentleman's name in nomination for the presidency. During the year 1885 he was chairman of the Democratic State Executive Committee and in the year 1887 he was the Democratic nominee for governor of Ohio, and although defeated at the polls he ran about ten thousand votes ahead of his ticket. Mr. Powell has always taken an interest in educational matters. He has been for a number of years one of the trustees of his alma mater, the Ohio Wesleyan University, in which institution he has always been greatly interested.
He moved to Columbus about the year 1887, where he is still actively engaged in the practice of his profession in partnership with his eldest son, Edward T. Powell, and where he has ever since kept up his active interest in the politics of the State.
Mr. Powell has many friends and acquaintances in Delaware and not a few of his old clients here call on him when they have need of the services of an attorney. Since his removal to Columbus. Mr. Powell has extended his practice as a corporation lawyer. He is the general attorney for the National Cash Register Company of Dayton, Ohio. He has also been the attorney for the Sugar Refining Company of New York and the Standard Oil Company of New York and has been engaged in many of the most important cases in Ohio.
From 20th Century History of Delaware County, Ohio, and Representative Citizens, Edited and compiled by James R. Lytle, Delaware, Ohio, Biographical Publishing Co., Chicago, 1908