"Portrait and Biographical Record of Portland and Vicinity, Oregon." Authors: "a
compilation of this work....by a number of writers".  Chapman Publishing Co;
Chicago, 1903. p. 808.
 
JOHN POWELL

     There is nothing in life so greatly to be desired as an upright character.
There is nothing that can be left so valuable as an honored name. The wealth
which one leaves behind becomes the property of others, but an untarnished name
and good deeds remain as the monument which keeps his memory alive in the hearts
of his friends. The record of John Powell is one which his descendants have
every reason to be proud of.
     "His life was noble, and the elements so mixed in him that nature might
stand up and say to all the world, `This was a man."'
     John Powell, who died in Portland, April 26, 1899, was born in Pike county,
Ky., May 28, 1823, and came of Welch ancestry. His paternal grandfather, Cader
Powell, was a soldier of the Revolutionary war, while Allen Powell, his father,
belonged to one of the old southern families, being a native of Virginia. Both
the parents of our subject died in Kentucky, and the children were thus early
thrown upon their own resources. There was a family of five sons and a daughter
that came to the northwest. May 10, 1847, the brothers started across the
plains, on that day crossing the boundary line of Missouri and ultimately
arriving at Portland, Ore. Of these children we mention the following: David,
who was married in Missouri, died on his ranch on the Columbia river in 1888,
leaving a family, who still reside upon the home farm; James, who was married in
Missouri, died in East Portland in 1896, leaving a wife and children; Jackson,
who died in 1890, also left a family; William died amid the Blue Mountains while
crossing the plains; John is the next son of the family, and the daughter, Jane,
became the wife of a Mr. Pugh, and died at Mount Tabor. The long journey across
the country over the stretches of hot sand and through the mountain passes was
at length accomplished in safety. The party did not suffer from cholera nor were
they troubled with the Indians, but they were ill of fever and measles, and, as
before stated, one of the brothers died on the trip. The others, however at
length reached The Dalles, where they went into camp and there curt down trees
with which to male a raft. In this they proceeded down the river to Portland.
     John Powell, whose name introduces this review, had pursued his education
in the public schools and had engaged in teaching in Missouri for some time
prior to the emigration westward. He joined his brothers, however, when they
were preparing to start for Oregon, and the little part was among the vanguard
of the great army of emigrants who afterward crossed the plains to this section
of the country. Mr. Powell's first work in Oregon was cutting logs. He soon
afterward, however, purchased a squatter's right of three hundred and twenty
acres, located about six miles from Portland, on the Columbia river. On the
place was a log cabin, and two acres of the land had been cleared and sown to
wheat. In 1848 gold was discovered in California, and Mr. Powell went to the
mines on both the Feather and American rivers, but being taken ill, he returned
to Oregon. The next summer, however, he started again for California, but met
his brothers returning and came back with them. In 1850 they once more made the
trip to the Golden state and spent a year in placer mining, meeting with
moderate success. They then returned to Oregon, where Mr. Powell began
farming, locating a grant of land seven miles from Portland on the Columbia
river. He at once went to work to make a home, and in his farming operations he
prospered.
     December 20, 1852, occurred the marriage of John Powell and Miss Martha
Milliorn, who was born in Virginia, and was a daughter of John Milliorn, who was
a native of Pennsylvania. In early life, however, be removed to the Old
Dominion, where he was married, and afterward became a resident of Missouri,
settling near Independence. He was a wagon-maker by trade, and for some time
followed that pursuit. In 1852 he came with his wife and nine children to
Oregon, arriving after a six months' trip. Cholera broke out in the train with
which the party traveled, and some of the family were carried off by the dread
disease. Mr. Milliorn, however, lived for some time as an active, honored and
respected citizen in this state, and at length died in Junction City, at the age
of seventy-six years. His wife had died two years previously, when about seventy
years of age. Mr. Milliorn was a free-hearted, jovial man of kindly spirit, of
strong purpose and of unfaltering honor. He was never an aspirant for office,
but be assisted in the work of the schools and in support of all measures
calculated to prove of permanent benefit to the community. He held membership in
the Methodist Episcopal Church, and was one of its early organizers in Lane
county. In his business affairs he prospered, becoming well-to-do, and he made a
division of his property before his death. Of the children born to Mr. and Mrs.
Milliorn we mention the following: Thomas A., who was a pioneer of California,
preceded the family to the west, and is now a resident of Junction City. Ore.;
Catherine, who married E. Ray, is now deceased; Sarah, who married a Mr. Myrtle,
is also deceased ; Martha A. is the widow of John Powell; William H. is living
in Crook county, Ore.; John died soon after arriving in Oregon; James is a
resident of Junction City, Ore.; Mary is the deceased wife of William Pickett ;
Eugenia is the wife of J. Hoffman, a resident of Eugene, Ore., and Helen is the
wife of Henry Hoffman, of Eugene, a brother of her sister's husband.
     After their marriage, Mr. and Mrs. Powell remained upon his farm, and there
eight children were born unto them: William Franklin, who still resides on the
old home place, is married and has a family ; Sarah, who is the wife of James
Stott, is living in East Portland; T. Cader, a resident of Portland, is engaged
in the real estate business ; Fannie became the wife of William Gilson and died
in East Portland; S. Douglas makes his home on a farm in the Nehalem valley ;
Rosa is the wife of Carl Brandes, by whom she has two children, and they reside
with her mother ; Irene became the wife of John Sewell, and died in Portland,
leaving one child, Norris, and the other member of the Powell family died in
infancy. For many years Mr. Powell resided upon his home farm, but ultimately
removed to Portland in order to provide his younger children with better
educational privileges. Cader is a graduate of the State University of Eugene,
and Rosa of St. Mary's Academy, while Irene is a graduate of
the east side high school of Portland.
     In 1883 Mr. Powell purchased the home now occupied by his widow. He was
ever devoted to his family, and did everything in his power to promote their
happiness and enhance their welfare. In his business affairs he prospered, and
at the time of his death he was the owner of several hundred acres of valuable
land, which enabled him to leave his wife and children in very comfortable
circumstances. Prior to the war Mr. Powell was a Douglas Democrat, but at the
time of the inauguration of hostilities between the north and the south he
joined the Union party, and was ever afterward a stalwart supporter of
Republican principles. At the time of the war he was very active in support of
the Union cause, doing everything in his power to promote its success. During
the Indian war in Oregon he was a member of the Home Volunteers, organized to
protect the settlers in the valley. In the latter part of the '6os Mr. Powell
was elected a member of the state legislature, and had the pleasure of casting
his vote for the amendment declaring that slavery should not exist in the.
state. He never joined any fraternal organization, but was a consistent, helpful
and generous member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Mr. Powell was, indeed, a
self-made man. He started out in life on his own account when only seven years
of age, being left an orphan at that time. He was also self-educated. He worked
his way to Oregon by driving a team and looking after the stock. He was always
quick to note an opportunity and to improve it, and thus, as the years advanced,
he prospered. His business methods were ever honorable and straightforward, and
he was never known to take advantage of the necessities of those with whom he
had business relations. His last years were spent in honorable retirement in
Portland, where he located in 1883, living there up to the time of his death,
sixteen years later. Both he and his wife were members of the Pioneer
Association of Oregon. In the summary of his life we not his loyalty in
citizenship, his honor in business, his fidelity to friendship and his devotion
to his family. These, perhaps, were the salient traits of his character, and
made him a man honored among men.


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Submitted to the Oregon Bios. Project in June 2008 by Diana Smith.  Submitter
has no additional information about the person(s) or family mentioned above.