Thomas B. Powe, Sr.

Burial record:

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/31281862/thomas-powe

Thomas Powe Sr was born May 17, 1747 in Spotsylvania County, Virginia, son of Marsom [Manson?] Powe ( -1782), and his wife Mary Powe. His grandfather was Samuel Powe [Poe] ( -1725).

Thomas Powe was married three times. His first wife was Rachel Streshley Allen, born 1743 in Virginia, daughter of Erasmus Withers Allen (1712-1787), and Sarah Streshley (1716-1805) and granddaughter of William Allen, Sr. (1617-1740) and Margaret Waggoner Allen (1675-1741) - and John Waggoner (1647-1715) and Rachel Ward Waggoner (1660-1717).

His second wife was Mary Withers Allen Chapman (1739-1799) widow of John Chapman, and his first wife Rachel's older sister.

His third wife was Rebecca Ford Spencer (ca 1762-1843), widow of Col. Calvin Spencer (1754-1801)

Children:

• William Powe (1766-1817, whose wife was Harriet Pegues
• Erasmus Powe (1768-1831), whose wife was Esther Ellerbee
• Mary Lavinia Powe (c 1770-1873) wife of William Falconer Sr., 2nd. James Howze
• Alexander Powe (1771-1825) whose wife was Eliza Spencer
• Rachel Powe (1773-1807) wife of Allen Chapman
• Nancy Powe (1779-1860) wife of John De Witt
• Thomas Powe (1793-1866) who married Martha Ellerbee

Thomas Powe, Sr. left the old Virginia district and came to the Old Cheraw district about 1760. He settled first near Society Hill, and later settled on Cedar Creek, just above Cheraw Hill, where he lived until he died. He became involved in civil affairs in Colonial times, and part of the American Revolution. His is listed with the rank of colonel and as Quartermaster in charge of the Commissary Department of Col. Hick's Regiment, South Carolina Line, at the fall of Charleston, in 1780.

After the Revolution, Thomas Powe, Sr, is shown in "The History of the Old Cheraws" as an early legislator, in 1783 and 1784, soon after the creation of the Nation, for St. David's Parish, before St. David's was divided into the three counties of Chesterfield, Marlborough, and Darlington, in 1785.

In the organization of the counties, a justice system was created, and Thomas Powe, Sr, was appointed as one of the judges. He is shown in 1791, as a Justice of the Quorum and Peace for Chesterfield County.

Thomas Powe, Sr, was elected treasurer of the reorganized St. David's Academy, in 1785, which had been suspended during the American Revolution. It was a noted learning institute in its time.

Thomas Powe, Sr. died in 1817 and is buried with his third wife Rebecca Spencer Powe and her first husband Col. Calvin Spencer, in the Evans Family Cemetery, Evans Mill, South Carolina.

Bio. by R. B. Van Devender, 4-greats grandson of Thomas Powe, Sr, from notes taken from "The History of the Old Cheraws", by Rev. Alexander Gregg, and from notes compiled by Kathy Strickland, Waco, Texas. Nov. 17, 2014.

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A Patriot of the American Revolution for SOUTH CAROLINA with the rank of LIEUTENANT. DAR Ancestor # A091898