Samuel Powel

Samuel Powel (1738 – September 29, 1793) was a colonial and post-colonial mayor of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

He was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and graduated in 1759 from the College of Philadelphia (now the University of Pennsylvania). He served as mayor from 1775–1776 and 1789–1790, the office having lain vacant in the interim. He was a member of the Pennsylvania State Senate from 1790 to 1793.^[1]

Powel was an early member of the American Philosophical Society and a trustee of the College of Philadelphia (now the University of Pennsylvania).

Personal life

On August 7, 1769, he married Elizabeth Willing, was the daughter of Philadelphia mayor Charles Willing and Ann Shippen, and a sister of Philadelphia mayor and Continental Congressman Thomas Willing, the business partner of Robert Morris.

Powel died in the Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1793 on September 29, 1793, in Philadelphia, where he is interred at Christ Church Burial Ground.

Powel House

Powel House.

Samuel Powel's house, at 244 South 3rd Street, is a house museum run by the Philadelphia Society for the Preservation of Landmarks. A Georgian city house built by Charles Stedman in 1765, Powel expanded and embellished it around 1770, with carved woodwork and ornate plaster ceilings.

George and Martha Washington were friends of the Powels, and lived next door from November 1781 to March 1782, following the Battle of Yorktown. At the close of Washington's presidency, Mrs. Powel bought some of the furniture from the President's House in Philadelphia. The house museum owns a set of china that was a gift from Martha Washington.

The rear parlor was removed from the house in 1921, and is now at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.^[2] The ballroom was removed from the house in 1925, and is now at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Both rooms have been replicated at the house museum.^[3]

References

External links

• Biography and portrait at the University of Pennsylvania
• Samuel Powel biography and links at ushistory.org
• Powel House official website
• Powel House ballroom at Philadelphia Museum of Art
• Samuel Powel at Find a Grave
• The Powel Family Papers, 1681-1938 (and here), including correspondence, financial records and other materials belonging to Samuel Powel, are available for research use at the Historical Society of Pennsylvania.
• The Powell Family

v t e Mayors of Philadelphia (chronologically) Morrey Shippen (I) Morris (I) G. Jones Willcox Stanbury Masters Hill Carter Preston Dickinson Roch Hill Dickinson Fishbourn Logan C. Plumsted Norris Hudson Read T. Lawrence (I) Griffitts Hasell Griffitts T. Lawrence (I) Allen C. Plumsted Griffitts Morris (II) Roberts Hasell C. Plumsted Till B. Shoemaker Shippen (II) Hamilton Attwood C. Willing T. Lawrence (I) W. Plumsted Strettell B. Shoemaker T. Lawrence (I) C. Willing W. Plumsted Shute T. Lawrence (II) Stamper B. Shoemaker Duché Harrison T. Willing T. Lawrence (II) J. Lawrence I. Jones S. Shoemaker Gibson Fisher Rhoads Powel vacant Powel Miles Barclay Clarkson Baker Wharton Inskeep Lawler Inskeep Wharton J. Barker Wharton Keppele J. Barker Geyer Wharton J. N. Barker Wharton Watson Dallas Richards Milnor Richards Swift Roach Swift Scott McCall Swift J. Jones Gilpin Conrad Vaux Henry McMichael Fox Stokley King Smith Fitler Stuart Warwick Ashbridge Weaver Reyburn Blankenburg Smith Moore Kendrick Mackey Moore Wilson Connell Lamberton Samuel Clark Dilworth Tate Rizzo Green Goode Rendell Street Nutter