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Main Page I Photo Gallery I Web Links I The Search for John Powell I Powell & Related Databases
The quest to identify the birth place of one of our most illusive ancestors, John Powell, has almost literally been like trying to find a needle in a haystack - at least it has felt that way. Apparent discrepancies among a variety of primary and secondary sources, as well as seeming inconsistencies from John himself in various records raise a wealth of questions, yet provide very few answers. Furthermore, the common given and family names with which our progenitor was blessed make the quest to track down his movements no less challenging.
The Colac Hospital Outpatients Register sums up the challenges associated with the search for the birthplace of the illusive John Powell, born 11 August 1811. If the John Powell who frequented the hospital on numerous occasions during later years is indeed the husband of Charlotte Vincent, then John would have originated from either "Hollyhead, Wales"1 or "Liverpool, England".2 One can only speculate as to the reasons for such discrepancies, however the inconstancies may well be the result of informants providing inaccurate information, even if the informant was a deteriorating John himself.
These inaccuracies are accentuated by the precise manner in which some unidentified Powell family members kept exact birth dates for John, his children and many of his grandchildren. Birth days, months and years have been passed on to successive generations with a degree of accuracy that is uncommon among contemporary sources. Yet, despite the meticulous nature of family date-keeping, the precise birthplace of John Powell and the means by which he came to arrive in Australia still remains a baffling mystery. One such hand-written Powell family source concurs with the majority of Colac hospital entries, stating emphatically that John Powell was born in England.
But was John Powell born in "England," let alone in "Liverpool, England"? The man himself had something to say about that during his lifetime. On at least two occasions John Powell registered the birth of his children and in both instances reported to the registrar that he was born, not in "England" and certainly not in "Liverpool", but in "Dublin, Ireland".3 Furthermore, after John's death on 9 January 1894 and following an inquiry held at Colac four days later, the informant revealed that John Powell was indeed an Irishman, born in "Dublin, Ireland." Although a person's native accent may be influenced (some may say corrupted) by another tongue over time, it is difficult to envisage John losing his Irish accent to the degree that his family and associates could not have easily determined his Irish heritage. This would be particularly true during his early years in the colonies.
In any case, the means by which registration details are gathered seems to be somewhat conjectural due to the apparent discrepancies in the birth registration information for John and Charlotte at the births of two of their children. At the time of the birth of Catherine Powell in 1857, her registration entry states that John was 52 years of age, making his birth date approximately 1814 or 1815, and not 1811! Yet again, at the birth of Daniel in 1865 his age is given as 56 years, suggesting that he was born between 1808 and 1809. The clear disparity of approximately 6 years between John's reported age at these two births is difficult to fathom, but the conflicting calculated birth dates may well suggest a number of things. Firstly, although unlikely, John may have intentionally misreported Charlotte's and his ages, or he either did not bother to remember exact birth dates or that such dates were not important to him. Furthermore, it is also feasible that the Registrar, perhaps knowing John, took an educated guess at his approximate age, resulting in the large variation in the approximate birth dates.
But one thing is certain from the two births: on each occasion John Powell reported his place of birth as Dublin, Ireland. Similarly, the birthplace of his wife, Charlotte Vincent, is reported as Norfolk, England at each registration. Juanita Margaret Steffensen (nee Thomas), daughter of Alice Powell and second great-granddaughter of John Powell, reported that her mother use to say that "one [ancestor] was from Ireland, the rest were from England". In keeping with this family "rumour", to this point the origin of all ancestors of Juanita's mother, Alice Powell, have been identified and confirmed as England, except for one: namely John Powell, who claimed that his place of birth was in fact Dublin, in Ireland!
Therefore, in essence, weight of primary evidence tends to lean towards John's own assertions about his place of birth as Dublin, Ireland. At this point in our search, the Colac Hospital Outpatients Registers appear to be a mere distraction, although they do yield other valuable information about our progenitor. Ultimately, I believe that at some point a Dublin Parish register - if it has not been destroyed by one of the many Dublin fires - will disclose the name "John Powell", born to Irish parents on "11 August 1811."
Yet, despite all of the arguments surrounding his native country, what is certain is that John immigrated to Australia and married Charlotte Vincent in 1849 at St. Mary's Church, Geelong, Victoria, Australia. Charlotte was a native of Lopham, Norfolk, England, who had emigrated to Australia to find a spouse and escape the dreaded hardships of a Workhouse existence. The couple, who spent their married lives in and about the town of Colac, Victoria, were to produce no less than eleven children, eight of whom were to marry and have children themselves. As such, there descendants throughout Victoria, Australia are quite numerous.
John was a labourer by profession, and at one point in his life probably worked for a baker in Colac. After losing his wife of thirty-five years to an inflammation of the left lung (a form of pneumonia) on 1 September 1885, John himself passed away by senile decay at the ripe old age of 82 years on 9 January 1894. The Colac Outpatients Register reports that he had been in and out of the Colac Hospital a number of times before his death. After an inquest into his death (which was standard procedure when a person died at home), John was laid to rest with his son Charles William Powell at the Colac Cemetery on 11 January 1894.
Today, John Powell is survived by numerous living descendants, many of whom are perhaps not aware of their heritage, or of living relatives. Ultimately, this web site is dedicated to the memory of our kindred dead, whose memory provides us with a greater understanding of who we are and enriches our understanding of a world long since past.
by Steven Steffensen, updated 3 January 2002
Endnotes:
1. Colac Outpatients Register entry. Date of admission 7 March 1893 (less than a year before his death). On this occasion, John was 82 years of age, was a labourer by profession and resided at Colac. Although the outpatients register states that John originated from "Hollyhead, Wales", his death from "senile decay" eleven months following may well suggest that John was suffering conditions consistent with this debilitating disease. As such, he may have unwittingly uttered an inaccurate birthplace, if in fact he was the informant in this instance. Interestingly, this hospital outpatients entry also reports that John arrived at Australia in the state of Tasmania, the only evidence unearthed thus far suggesting as such.
2. Three Colac Outpatients Register entries spanning a six year period concur that John Powell was born in England, with two of the three entries identifying "Liverpool" as his place of origin. The first such entry, dated 2 November 1886, reveals that a 76 years old labourer of Roman Catholic Faith was living at Elliminyt in the shire of Colac at that time. His "native place" was reported to be "Liverpool, England". Strangely, John is listed as married, even though his wife Charlotte passed away 1 September 1885. It is possible that this anomaly is the result of a typographical error on the part of the person who transcribed the register, or a mistake on the part of an informant not familiar with the family. Certainly, it would be unusual for John himself to deliberately make such an error. The second consultation, dated 18 March 1890, is almost identical to the pervious entry, except that John (who is now 79 years old) is listed as a "Wesleyan" by faith - a far cry from the orthodoxy of Roman Catholicism. Significantly, John is "widowed" in this case and originated from "England". Finally, on 14 February 1892, John again visited the Colac hospital at the age of 81 years. One can imagine that the journey was an arduous one for an ailing old man, particularly when "horse-and-cart" were still the primary means of transportation. As previously noted, in this instance John's native place was reported to be "Liverpool, England".
3. When registering the births of Catherine Powell on 18 November 1859 and of Daniel [Vincent] Powell six years later on 23 November 1865, John reported that his birth place was "Dublin, Ireland."
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