Traced the Powell side back to a grandfather born in Va 1740s, that's as far as I could get on my own googling. The real stories with meat are from the late 1700s and 1800s when they lived in Pendleton District, South Carolina, two brothers intermarried with mixed Cherokee brides, I came from one of those brothers. They moved to Ga 1840s with their parents.
1863 my ancestor grandfather and the oldest child Mary died of tuberculosis. Elvira moved the rest of the kids away from the remaining family, for whatever reason, some say to get her son who was 13 away from conscription into the confederate army. 8 kids, moved to Old Parker KS, near Coffeyville, took the ferry across and settled on the west side of the river, one of the first settlers in the area. Farmed, ran a boarding house, and cobbled, blacksmithed.
Her oldest son my gggrandfater, was in his late teens, story is he and some twins were caught by a posse from Coffeyville and accused of stealing horses, they were hanging them by the river and one twin was hung, John and the other twin escape and hid in the river. The next morning they sent word to Elvira through a friend, she loaded her rifle on the wagon and road through Coffeyville and picked them up, riding back through daring anyone to try and take her son. Some time latter John was approached in another town by some in that posse, an argument broke out, shots fired and some of them were killed. John eventually moved to Oklahoma next to the Cherokee nation and lived a long life.
Kent
