Benjamin B. Powell, Rapides Parish Louisiana
Submitted by Trudy Marlow

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Source: Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Northwest Louisiana
The Southern Publishing Company, Chicago & Nashville, 1890
                                                                 
         Benjamin B. Powell is a planter and cotton-
         ginner of Ward 7, De Soto Parish, La., and was
         born in Monroe County, Ga., in 1846, being a son
         of James and Mary (Hill) Powell, whose native
         State was Georgia, where they lived until about
         1849, when they started to the Lone Star State,
         Mr. Powell dying while  en route, his burial taking
         place in Rapides Parish, La.  His widow went to
         Texas, and in that State she too, passed from life
         in 1854, she as well as her husband having been a
         worthy member of the Methodist Church.  The
         subject of this sketch was the seventh of eight
         children, but he and a sister, Mrs. Elizabeth Hart,
         are the only ones that survive.  He was reared in
         Harrison County, Tex., and his youth was devoted
         to farm work and to acquiring a common-school
         education.  In January, 1862, he joined Harrison's
         regiment of Texas Cavalry, but in the summer of
         1862 he was discharged at Tupelo, Miss., on ac-
         count of his age.  He then returned home and
         served as a courier from Shreveport to Houston
         for some months, and later joined Morgan's bat-
         talion of Texas troops, with which he served until
         the close of the war in Louisiana and Arkansas,
         taking part in many skirmishes.  His company
         was disbanded on the Brazos River, in Texas, after
         which he returned home and farmed in Harrison
         County one year, his attention being then turned
         to the stock business in Kauffman County, Tex.,
         till 1869, when he came to De Soto Parish, where.
         he has since made his home.  He is accounted one
         of the leading planters of this section, and is the
         owner of 836 acres of land, of which 290 acres
         are cleared.  He raises about sixty-five bales of
         cotton yearly, and all his property has been ac-
         quired since coming into this parish, for at that
         time his possessions consisted of a horse and $100.
         He was married in 1872 to Julia, daughter of
         John and Caroline Robinson, Alabamians, who
         died in De Soto Parish, whither they had moved
         at an early day.  Mrs. Powell was born here and
         has borne her husband six children, five now liv-
         ing.  Mr. Powell is a member of the Farmers'
         Alliance, and he and his wife are Missionary Bap-
         tists.