The venerable Catherine Powell, her life & times

I came across Catherine Powell's obituary --- picked up from The Lucas Ledger and republished on the front page of The Chariton Leader of Jan. 7, 1910 --- while trying to figure out what was going on in Lucas County as another new decade dawned 110 years ago. The photograph of Catherine was taken from what seems to be the most authoritative Powell family database at Ancestry.com.

Here's the obituary:

Mrs. Catherine Powell died in this city (Lucas), Tuesday evening, Dec. 28, 1909, at the home of her daughter, Mrs. R. D. Williams, at 10:40.

She was born at Merthyr Tidvil (Tydfil), South Wales and would have been 85 years of age on Jan 1. 1910. Her maiden name was Thomas. She was married when about the age of twenty-two years to Mr. Powell, who was noted in his country of nativity, and later in this country, as a singing teacher and choir master with exceptional ability and cleverness.

The family came to America about 1858 or 1859 first settling in Virginia and later moving to Illinois. The husband enlisted in the Union Army, but saw no active service, as the war was soon closed after his enlistment. He died at Canton, Illinois, in 1869. Mrs. Powell remained a widow ever afterward. 

She came to Cleveland with her family in 1878, and lived here till her children became grown, and she broke up housekeeping when she moved to Kansas to live with her daughter, Mrs. Gomer T. Davies. She returned to Iowa two years ago and has lived since with her daughters, Mrs. R. D. Williams and Mrs. Parley Batten.

She became converted and identified with Latter Day Saints church when only 16 years of age, and has been a consistent member of that organization throughout the long long years of her life.

Her children living to mourn her death are: L. W. Powell, Willoughby, Ohio; Mrs. R. D. Williams, Lucas; Mrs. Gomer T. Davies, Concordia, Kansas; Mrs. Parley Batten, Hiteman, Iowa; and A. W. Powell, Kansas City, Kansas.

She lived a long life full of strenuous vicissitudes during the early years thereof, suffering many of the privations incident to the times when the family arrived in the steerage of a sailing vessel on the shores of America.

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There seem to be a couple of errors in the obit --- place of birth seems actually have been Lleywell, Breconshire, and census and other records suggest that she was born in 1828 rather than 1822, although the date "1822" is inscribed on her tombstone at Fry Hill Cemetery.

Catherine and her husband, William Powell, married during 1850, were living at Merthyr Tydfil in 1851. William seems to have died in a fire at Canton, Illinois, during March of 1870, rather than during 1869.

But whatever the case, his death left Catherine a coal miner's widow with children ranging in age from 3 to 18. 

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Both Catherine and William belonged to families that had been converted in Wales by Mormon missionaries and brought that faith with them when they moved from Wales to the United States during the late 1850s.

They would have found the situation among American Mormons somewhat confused upon arrival. The larger body, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS), had by this time relocated to Utah under the leadership of Brigham Young.

But there were many, disaffected by Young's leadership and his advocacy of polygamy, scattered in the Midwest and elsewhere, affiliated with smaller restorationist groups.

A majority of these eventually came together in what became the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (RLDS, now Community of Christ). The Powells probably affiliated with the RLDS soon after its organization and development in Illinois, 1860-1870. Church headquarters was moved from Illinois to Lamoni, Iowa, during 1880.

It seems likely that Catherine's eldest son, Lorenzo William Powell, probably working already in the mines when his father died, made it possible for his mother and younger siblings to survive those difficult years after 1870.

He had moved west to work in the mines at Cleveland in Lucas County by 1877, when he was serving as clerk when the Lucas branch of the RLDS was organized during February of 1877.  His mother and siblings joined him there.

On Sept. 4, 1889, Catherine's middle son, David Powell, then 25, was killed by a fall of slate in the Cleveland No. 2 mine.

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Lorenzo W. Powell continued to hold leadership rolls in the Lucas branch and the statewide organization of the RLDS well into the 20th century, eventually moving to Kirtland, Ohio, to serve from the original Mormon Temple located there. He died at Kirtland in 1922 at the age of 69.

David Powell's grave at Fry Hill Cemetery is unmarked. Other Powell family members buried there include Catherine's daughters, Ann (Powell) Williams, who died during 1949, and Elizabeth (Powell) Batten, who died during 1950; and Lorenzo's first wife, Margaret (Watkins) Powell, who died during 1888, age 33, of typhoid fever.