William was described as a man of character and worth, a gentleman ofg reat name and fortune, a trusted friend of John Smith, one of thelarge st planters in the colony.
He was said to have made several merchant trips to Barbados andJamaica .
Residences & events:
Wales/England
12/19/1606 Blackwell, Eng. William sailed aboard ship with Capt.John S mith either on the Godspeed, Discovery, or the Sarah Constant,there wa s a William Powell on each of them.
4/20/1607 Chesapeake, VA, just below Jamestown. The ship arrived inA merica.
Another source states: "Capt Powell and his first wife, ElizabethWell es, came to America aboard the ill-fated "Sea Venture" which wasshipwr ecked in Bermuda in 1609. The ship became wedged between tworocks tha t kept it from sinking. From the wreckage and from timberfrom the isl and, they were able to construct two smaller ships andcontinue on to V irginia in 1610." It is difficult to say whatactually took place cons idering the next item.
1611 William crisscrossed the ocean often, returning to America withS ir Thomas Gates on the Sea Venture.
10/20/1617 From the records of the Virginia Company of London:"Appoin tment of Wiilliam Powell, captain of guards belonging to thegovernor a nd lieutenant-governor and commander of James Town."
1618 William's name appeared in a listing by the above company of"Adv enturers to Virginia" with the Several Amounts of their Holding.He had p roperty worth 25 (pounds).
He owned a "200 acre tract in the Territory of Tappahannock(Rappahanno ck?) over against James City, VA," and another 550-600acres in the sam e vicinity. His plantation across the river fromJamestown was called C hipokes and is now a state park with some
original buildings still standing.
From history is the following:
"Captaine William Powell prefented to the Affembly a petition toh ave juftice againft a lewde and trecherous servante of his who byfalfe a ccufation given up in writing to the Governor fought not onlyto gett h im depofed from his government of James citty and utterly(according to t he Proclamation) to be degraded from the place andtitle of a Captaine, b ut to take his life from him alfo. And fo outof the faid Petition fpr ang this order following: 'Captaine WilliamPowell prefented a Petitio n to the generall Affembly againft oneThomas Garnett, a servant of his , not only for extreame neglect ofhis bufineff to the great loft and p rejudice of the laid Captaine,and for openly and impudently abufing hi s house, in fight both ofMafter and Miftreffe, through wantonnes with a w oman fervant oftheirs, a widdowe, but alfo for falfely accufing him to t he Governorboth of Drunkenes & Thefte, and betiides for bringing all h is fellowfervants to teftifie on his side, wherein they juftly failled h im.It was thought fitt by the general affembly (the Governor himfelfe giving fentence), that he should ftand fower dayes with his earesnayled t o the Pillory, viz: Wednesday, Aug. 4th, and fo likewifeThurfday, fry day, and Satturday next following, and every of thofelower dayes shoul d be publiquely whipped. Now, as touching timneglecte of his worke, w hat fatisfaction ought to be made to his Mrfor that is referred to the G overnour and Counfell of Eftate.'"
And again:
"This day alfo did the Inhabitants of Pafpaheigh, alias Argall'stowne, p refent a petition to the general affembly to give them anabfo-lute dif chardge from certaine bondes wherin they ftand boung toCaptina Samuell A rgall for the paymt of 600G, and to Captin Williampowell, at Captaine A rgall's appointment, for the paymt of 50G more.To Captaine Argall for 1 5 fkore acres of wooddy ground, called by thename of Argal's towne or P afpaheigh; to Captaine Powell in respect ofhis paines in clearing the g rounde and building the houfes, for wchCaptaine Argal ought to have gi ven him fatisfaction. Nowe, thegeneral affembly being coubtful whethe r they have any power andauthority to difchardge the Faid bondes, doe b y there prefents (attime Inftance of the laid Inhabitants of Pafpaheig hs, alias Martin'shundred people) become molt humble futours to the Tr efurer, Confelland Company in England that they wilbe pleafed to gett t he faidbondes for 600G to be cancelled; forasmuche as in their great comiffion they have expreffly and by name appointed that place ofPafpah eigh for parle of the Governor's lande. And wheas CaptainWilliam Powe ll is payde this 50G wch Captain Argall enjoined thefaide In-habitante s to prefente him with, as parte of the bargaine,the general affembly, a t their intreaty, do become futours on theirbehalfe, that Captaine Arg all, by the Counfell & Company in England,may be compelled either to r eftore tim laid 50G from thence, or elfethat reftitu-tion therof be ma de here out of the goods of the laidCaptaine Argall."
From the Court Bk - 4/28/1619-5/8/1622
"The Petition of Cap' Powell and m' John Smith beinge presented bythei r brother Prouest Marshall of Middlesex to have graunt of theCompany 4 00 Acres of Land for fiftie pounds Adventure betwixt themvizd, One hun dreth lyinge in one pcell between the Sunken Marsh onethe other side t he River against James Citty Land, and ChoapooksCreek, and one pcell o f Marsh Land conteyninge 200 Acres called HoggIland, The Court held it t inconvenyent to graunt Land in that kinde,pickt out by the Plante" t hemselves not knowinge who all-redie maylay clayme thervato or othersi we how necessary itt may be for thepublique; Butt m' Treasurer in rega rd of the good affection declaredby their brother to the Companies ser vice hath promised to write tothe Governor that the said 400 Acres sha llbe well sett out for themand to their Content wth reason."
4/26/1619 There was a letter written to Sandys concerning needing"cou nsellors" for the court in which it stated: " Capt Powell and MrMacok d welling at Charles Hundred 40 miles fro(m) James towne it is avery gre at troble for them vpon all ocations to come away fro(m)theire p(ri)va te workes to attend herevpon the publike, yett in truthI find the(m) b oth willing to spare what tyme they can for thepublike...."
7/30-8/4/30/1619 He sat in the first House of Burgess Assemby as arep resentive of James City Co, VA,
It was then that he learned of the Indian's plot to massacre thecoloni sts.
5/9/1621 Again from records of the Virginia Company of London: "Geo.T harp and Mr. John Pory: A letter to Sir E Sandys. Complaintsagainst P owell and Madison." Tharp and Pory sent a series of lettersto Sandys a bout various things concerning VA including the Indians,commodities, a nd "perplexities of government."
6/12/1621 He wrote a long letter to Sandys concerning a differencebet ween himself and Gov Yeardly, even quoted some Latin and signed it"Wil P owell." But shortly after the above Tharp and Prory wrote inone of the ir letters that Powell and Yeardley had reconciled, hadSacrement, and w anted the matter buried.
1/20/1623 Severel men were sent out on expeditions to revenge themass acre of Gov Powell and the rest. William was sent to theChocohominy t ribe.
At the time he himself was killed, he was acting administrator ofNatha niel Powell's estate, leaving settlement to others.
William was killed by Indians between 1/20-23/1624.
Upon his death a younger brother, also named William, filed a petitionfrom England to claim the Capt's estate but it wasn't until 1650 whenCapt William's son, George, died that the younger William inheritedanything. (The younger William's last name was Powerr in the originalpetition.)
As late as 6/24/1625 the Virginia Company of London had references toW illiam in their records On this date there were questionsconcerning one Capt Jones who had arrived in a leaky Spanish frigatefrom the west indies with depleted supplies stating "there are rumorsrisen contrairie to theire first examinations, of mutynies anddisorders committed by Joanes and some of his company against Capt.Powell, of wch we may have more light from England...."
