Izard Co., AR - Biographies - Judge R. H. Powell

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Judge R. H. Powell, Melbourne, Ark., is one of whom it can be said:
 “With an equal scale He weighs the affairs betwixt man and man.”
He is a prominent man of Northern Arkansas, and judge of the district in which
he resides. His birth occurred in Sussex County, Va., on the 8th of April, 1827,
and he is the son of Thomas P. and Jane P. (Roland) Powell, both natives of the
Old Dominion, the former born in 1803 and the latter in 1806. The father was of
Welsh descent, and was reared and married in his native State. He [p.966] moved
to Tennessee in 1832, settling in Bedford County, and was a very successful
tiller of the soil, being the owner of about thirty negroes, and some fifteen or
twenty field hands. He was a Whig, and a very decided partisan, although he
never held office. He split off from the Democratic party in 1834 and joined
with the Clay faction. His first Whig vote was cast for Hugh L. White and Baily
Peyton. He bade a final adieu to this world in 1853, and died as he had lived,
an honored, upright citizen, one universally respected. He was a member of the
Methodist Episcopal Church, South, of which his wife was also a member. She died
in 1840 or 1841. To their marriage, which occurred in 1824, were born nine
children, all of whom lived to maturity, and eight still survive: Dr. R. J.
(resides in Izard County), R. H. (subject), Mary A. (wife of Dan Morten, und
makes her home in Tennessee), Martha H. (wife of J. W. Nailer, resides in
Tennessee), Margaret V. (wife of S. H. Winston, resides in Stone County, Ark.),
Miranda (wife of James McCuistion, resides in Izard County), W. S. (deceased),
Sarah J. (widow of Dr. David Deason, resides in Tennessee), and Harriet T. (wife
of Town Scruggs, resides at Bell Buckle, Tenn.). The paternal grandfather of
these children, Robert Powell, was a native of Virginia, and was a boy at the
surrender of Lord Cornwallis, but was present on that anspicious occusion. The
youth of Judge R. H. Powell was passed in laboring on his father's farm and in
attending the common subscription schools. When twenty-one years of age he
entered the Salem Academy, remained there but three or four months and then
engaged in teaching school, which profession be followed until about
twenty-eight years of age. He then attended law school at Lebanon, Tenn., under
Judge Abram Caruthers and Judge Greene, and after passing a very rigid
examination received his license. He subsequently commenced practicing at
Louisburg, Marshall County, Tenn. (1855), and there remained until 1860, being
first a partner of Gideon B. Black, of Tennessee, and later a partner of James
H. Thomas, of Columbia. In 1860 he came to Batesville, Ark., remained there but
a short time, and then moved to Izard County, in 1861. He was first married to
Miss Jane Temple, in June, 1849, and the fruits of this union were six children,
who lived to be grown: Dr. Dempsey T. (resides at Thayer, Mo., and is an
assistant surgeon of the Kansas & Missouri Railroad), Robert T. (attorney at
Greenwood, Ark.), Nancy J., Mary W. (wife of John W. Woods, who is an attorney
in Melbourne), Henry Lee (wife of Ewing Kennard, who is a druggist at La
Crosse), and William W. (an attorney). In 1862 Judge Powell joined Company B,
Freeman's battalion, Shaler's company, and, although entering the ranks as a
privale, he was afterward elected by his company to the position of first
lieutenant, in which capacity he served until December, 1863. He was taken
prisoner near Batesville, and was sent to Little Rock, Ark. At the time he was
taken prisoner he had been assigned to duty as commissary and quartermaster, by
Gen. Price, and had in his possession some valuable papers and about $1,500. The
United States forces secured the papers but failed to get the money. Mrs.
Montgomery (sister of Capt. James Rutherford of Batesville) managed to slip the
money from the outside pocket of his overshirt, and sent it to Col. Freeman.
After being sent to Little Rock, he was shortly afterward removed to St. Louis
and quartered in the McDowell College, in February, 1864. The following April he
was removed to Johnson's Island, and was there retained until the 9th of
January, 1865. On the 29th of the following month he was exchanged and then came
home on a sixty days' leave of absence, and had started back to rejoin his
command, when he heard of Gen. Lee's surrender. He surrendered at Jacksonport on
the 5th of June, 1865, and after returning home engaged in agricultural
pursuits, which he continued until 1866. He then began practicing his profession
in this and surrounding counties. In 1862 Judge Powell was elected to represent
his county in the legislature, and this was the first legislature that met after
the secession of the State. In 1866 he was elected judge of this, then the
Seventh circuit, and served until after the reconstruction of 1868, when he was
disfranchised. From 1868 to 1874 he was interested [p.967] in mercantile
pursuits, and followed this business in La Crosse, Lunenburg and Newburg, Izard
County, and at Paraquet Bluff, Independence County. He lost his wife in 1870.
She was a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. In 1873 the Judge
wedded Mrs. Harriet Herbert (nes Harris), and two children were the result of
this union, both of whom died while small. Mrs. Powell died in 1876. She was
also a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. Judge Powell was again
married in 1878 to Mrs. Elizabeth Davidson, widow of Dr. Davidson. Her maiden
name was Gardner, and she was a native of Tennessee. Two children were born to
the last union: Guy and Ruth H. In 1874 Judge Powell attended strictly to the
practice of his profession, and for four years remained thus engaged. In 1878 he
was elected judge of the Third circuit, and filled that position until 1887,
when there was a division in the circuit, and he was placed in charge of the
Fourteenth judicial circuit. He has been judge ever since 1878 (now twelve
years) without any intermission, and his term expires in 1890. He is a member of
the Masonic frateruity, Blue Lodge, R. A. C., and Council, and is also a Knight
Templar. He is a straight Democrat in his political views, and he and wife are
members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South.