Port of Powele-Brooke, VA. According to the passenger list hearrived w ith his wife and daughter, destination "to Mr Tracey,"apparently joining the in-laws.
They settled on 600 acres on the south side of the James River knownas P owell Brook and later Merchant's Hope.
Capt. Nathaniel was among the most prominent of the early settlers,rising to governor of VA, serving until his death. The following wastaken from a plaque in Burton Parish, Williamsburg, VA:
"TO THE GLORY OF GOD
and
COMMORATIVE OF THE FIRST
REPRESENATIVE LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY
HELD IN AMERICA WHICH MET IN THIS COUNTY
IN THE CHURCH AT JAMESTOWN ON JULY 30,1619.
'Where Sir George Yeardley the Governor being sett downe in hisaccustomed place in the quire have of the counsel of the Estate satenexte him on both handes but foreasmuch as mens affairs doe littleprosper where Gods service is neglected, all the Burgess tooke their
places in the quire till a prayer was said by Mr Burke, the minister,that it would please God to guide and sanctify all our prodeecings tohi s own glory and the good of this plantation.
and in Special memoryof
CAPTAIN NATHANIEL POWELL
Senior counselor and acting GovernorApril 1 619, and
CAPTAIN WILLIAM POWELL
Burgess from James CityCount y
This endowment tablet has been erected by one of thed escendants of
CAPTAIN WILLIAM POWELL
in the year of our Lord nineteen hundredand s even
The Virginia Company of London recorded the account of the 1622Massacr e by the Powhattan Indian: "....besides Master George Thorpe,before m entioned, Master John Berkeley, Captaine Nathanael Powel, andhis wife, ( daughter of Master William Tracy, and great with childe)and Captaine M aycock, all Gentlemen of birth, vertue, and industry,and of the Counce ll there, suffered under this their cruelty andtreason." A total of 1 2 in all.
The administrator of Nathaniel's estate was Capt. William Powell(relat ionship not established) who was sent to avenge the massacreand was hi mself killed in 1623 before the estate was settled.
William's widow remarried and her new husband tried to seized theestat e but was prevented from doing so by the following petition sentfrom E ngland:
"The petition of Thos. Powell in behalf of himself and his poorbrother s and sisters to the Privy Council, that whereas Capt.Nathaniel Powell d ied about three years since seized of lands inVirginia to a good value , whereupon petitioner being the elderbrother took out letters of admi nistration in London, that theGovernor and Council of Virginia have ce rtified that one WilliamPowell no way kin to the deceased had before a dministered to saidestate, that said William Powell being since dead a nd said estatecome to the hands of one Mr. Blaney that married the rel ict ofWilliam Powell the late Commissioners for Virginia by letter of 3 november 1624 desired the Governor and Council there to examine thecaus e, but the ships for Virginia having departed hence before saidletter w as obtained and the sickness immediately after spreading throthe City o f London, petitioners had no means of sending it. SaidCommissioners b eing dissolved pray their Lordships to renew the likeletter in petitio ner's behalf."
Apparently the commissioners did act in the petitioner's behalf asshow n by the next item: "Thos Powell of Powellton, Suffolk County,England h is brother and heir, sold the estate to John Taylor 'citizenand girdle r' of Longon."
Record of the Virginia Company of London, Court proceedings 1622-1624a lso carried the following:
"The Brothers and Sisters of Captaine Nath: Powell peticoninge fororde r that their said Brothers estate might be inquired out andcertified, a nd the Proceed thereof returned vnto the Companie herefor their vse an d benifitt, It was ordered that it should berecomended to the Counsell o f Virginia to haue an espeaciall care ofthis bussiness, both because i t is of great consequence, as also forthat Capt: Nath: Powell was a ma n of extraordinary merritt, and thePeticoners poore men, wherefore the y desired that Justice and rightmay be donn them (therein), and that s o speedily as the Peticonersmay receeaue the benifitt thereof by the f irst returne of Shipps, andnot onely an Account, but also the good the mselves or the proceed ofthem beings sold to the value be returned to t he Treaurer andCompanie."
Virginia Land, Marriage, and Probate Records, 1639-1850
Name: Nathaniel Powell
Location: Isle of Wight
Notes: This probate record was extracted from microfilmed copies ofthe original Will Book.
Remarks: Nathaniel Powell. Appraisal by John Moore, Francis Hutchins,Jeremiah Exum, William Smelley. Presented by Lucretia the relict andnow wife of John Corbit.
Description: Testator
Book_Date: 2-172
Prove Date: 10 Mar 1678
He predeceased his father and so his wife was mentioned in hisfather's will, again with the name of Corbitt. His inheritance wassplit among his 4 sons.
