Escambia County AlArchives Photo person.....Charles L. Sowell 1893
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File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Ann Anderson alabammygrammy@aol.com May 23, 2004, 12:31 am

Source: Brant & Fuller (1893)
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   CHARLES L. S0WELL.-Among the substantial and successful business men whose
names have added luster to the fame of Escambia county, few are as widely and
favorably known as the popular banker, Charles L. Sowell. Mr. Sowell was born
November 12, 1835, in Monroe county, Ala., and is the son of James and Nancy
(Coleman) Sowell, natives, respectively, of South Carolina and Georgia. James
Sowell was a wealthy planter and owned, at one time, over 800 acres of finely
cultivated land, and from forty to sixty slaves. He was married three times,
first, in his native state, to Anne Brown, who bore him four children. After her
death, he removed to Alabama, where his second marriage was consummated with
Mrs. Bradford, who was accidently killed about two years later, being thrown
from a horse, while on her way to church. The third marriage took place in
Monroe county, Ala., in. the year 1830, with Nancy Coleman, who bore her husband
the following children: Andrew J., deceased; Sarah, widow of Eranda Bethea;
Charles L.; Samuel; Thomas, deceased; Douglas S.; Anne; Caroline, wife of
William Crook, and John L. Of the above sons, five served through the late war,
and earned the reputation of brave and gallant soldiers. The father died in
1849, after which Mrs. Sowell resided on the old homestead for some time, but
subsequently moved to the village of Monroeville, where she maintained a
homestead until the war gave freedom to her slaves. Since then she has made her
home with her children in Brewton, where she still lives at the ripe old age of
eighty, retaining in a remarkable degree her faculties, physical and mental.
Charles L. Lowell spent the first eighteen years of his life in Monroe county,
and then left the parental roof, going to Milton, Fla., where, until the
breaking out of the Civil war, he was employed in the milling and lumbering
business. On the 5th of April, 1859, he entered into the marriage relation with
Annie, daughter of Silas Jernigan, and in April, 1862, responded to the call of
his state for volunteers, enlisting that year in Capt. Jack Deloach's company of
volunteers, from Monroe county. This company became a part of the Thirty-sixth
Alabama infantry. Col. Bob Smith commanding; but on the commencement of the
Georgia campaign of 1863, it was transferred to the First Florida regiment, and
designated as company G, J. D. Lee captain, and such it remained until the final
surrender in 1865. Mr. Sowell's military record, of which he feels deservedly
proud, is replete with a long series of valorous deeds. He was with his command
in the bloody battles of Murfreesboro. Mission Ridge, Lookout Mountain,
Chickamauga, took part in the Atlanta campaign from Resaca to its close, and
then went with Hood to Tennessee and participated in the battles of Franklin and
Nashville. He passed through the greater part of the war without receiving the
slightest injury, but at Nashville he received a wound which deprived him of his
left arm, and lift him maimed for life. During the progress of that terrible
battle, the two armies had driven each other backward and forward, for two days,
and on the second day, Mr. Sowell, with others, was detailed as a sharp-shooter,
and ordered to a position far in advance of the Confederate lines. Finding, as
he supposed, a secure position in a hole in the-ground, he opened fire on a
Yankee sharpshooter, partially secreted in a tree, but the blue coat returned
the fire with such effect that Mr. Sowell's left arm was shattered by a ball
which passed entirely through the member and killed a comrade sitting a few feet
in the rear. After receiving the wound he walked to the rear of the lines, and
that night the mangled arm was amputated, close to the shouider. The next day he
was made prisoner, but was not able to leave the hospital for over ninety days.
Subsequently, he was sent to Camp Chase, where he had a severe attack of small
pox, and upon his recovery therefrom, he was started with others to Richmond for
exchange, but for some reason did not get any farther than Point Lookout, where
he was detained with others until after the surrender at Appomattox. At the
close of the war he started home, and on landing at Mobile his clothing was in
shreds and not a penny graced his pocket. In this dilemma, a comrade presented
him with a new Confederate uniform, and on reaching home his wife made him a
couple of shirts out of a linen dress which she had kept secreted during the
gloomy period of the war, and this raiment, with a few articles of household
furniture, saved from the general destruction, represented the sum total of his
earthly possessions. Within a brief period he was fortunate in securing the
appointment of station agent for the L. & N. railroad at Brewton, which position
he held till 1869, when he resigned and engaged in buying and selling timber.
This proved very remunerative, and he continued it successfully for about eight
years, during which time he realized a comfortable fortune. He built a large
saw-mill, employed a large force of workmen, and followed lumbering very
extensively until 1888, at which time he disposed of his mills and engaged in
the banking business, which he carried on alone until the fall of 1891. At that
time the bank was reorganized and chartered under the state law, with Mr. Sowell
as president, a position he still retains. The same year he again embarked in
the timber business in partnership with S. J. Foshee, under the name of Sowell,
Foshee & Co., a firm which now owns 16,000 acres of timber land in Escambia
county, upon which are mills with a capacity of 50,000 feet of lumber per day,
and dry kilns and planing machinery sufficient to take care of the same. The
plant represents a capital of $100,000, and the yearly business of the firm
aggregates in the neighborhood of $150,000. In addition to the business
enterprise referred to, Mr. Sowell owns a large amount of valuable real estate
throughout southern Alabama, possesses fine property in Brewton and other towns,
and is, perhaps, the most extensive capitalist in Escambia county. He is public
spirited in all the term implies, enjoys almost unbounded popularity, and, while
always foremost in every laudable enterprise, has never sought official
preferment at the hands of his fellow citizens. Notwithstanding his inclination
in this respect, however, he was elected tax assessor in 1872, which position he
resigned at the end of one year, and in 1882 was chosen commissioner of Escambia
county, in which capacity he served one term. Since the war he has raised a
large family of children, and in their education has expended over $9,000. The
names of his children are as follows: Charles L., foreman of Sullivan Lumber
company, Wallace, Ala.; James, general manager of Sowell, Foshee & Co.'s mills
at Hammac Station; John L., telegraph operator, Dothen, Ala.; Mary L.; Preston
B., merchant at Hammac Station; Annie; Julia, wife of Richard Parks, of Pollard;
Samuel; Daisy; William W., deceased, and Sanford.



Additional Comments:
from "Memorial Record of Alabama", Vol. I, p. 998, 999-1001
Published by
Brant & Fuller (1893)
Madison, WI

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