Thomas E. Powell
Hon. Thomas E. Powell was born at Delaware, Ohio, on the twentieth day of February, 1842. His father, Thomas W. Powell, was a lawyer and for many years a leader at the Delaware Bar. The mother of Thomas E. Powell was Elizabeth Gordon, a native of Ohio. Thomas E. Powell obtained his early education in the public schools of Delaware. At the early age of thirteen years he entered the Ohio Wesleyan University and graduated in the year 1863 at the age of nineteen years. He then enlisted as a private in Company E. Eighty-fourth Regiment, O. V. I., and served out his time with said regiment. In the month of May, 1864, he again enlisted in Company E, One Hundred and Forty-fifth Regiment, O. N. G. I., and was discharged with the command as a lieutenant of the company.
He at once entered his father's office as a student of the law and was admitted to the Bar in 1865, and during the same year he formed a partnership with William P. Reid, which continued up to the time of the death of Mr. Reid. During the existence of this partnership there were but a few contested cases in the Delaware County courts in which the firm of Reid & Powell were not interested. A few years before the death of Colonel Reid the firm associated with them Henry C. Godman, formerly of Marion, Ohio, and the style of the new firm was Reid, Powell & Godman. After the death of Colonel Reid. Mr. Powell associated with himself, John S. Gill, and the style of the new firm was Powell & Gill. Later their law student, Frank A. Kauffman, was taken into the new firm after his admission to the bar and the style of the new firm was Powell, Gill & Kauffman, which partnership continued up to the time of Mr. Powell's removal to Columbus. Ohio.
Mr. Powell was always interested in the politics of his State and nation. He was a delegate to the Democratic National Convention in 1872, which nominated Horace Greeley for president of the United States and was a candidate for presidential elector on the Greeley ticket. In the year 1875. he received the nomination for attorney general on the Democratic ticket, with Governor William Allen. In the year 1879 he placed General Thomas Ewing in nomination for governor, in the State convention and in the year 1882. he did the same for James W. Newman, when he was nominated for secretary of the State and the same year Mr. Powell was the Democratic nominee for Congress in the old Ninth District and although he was not elected he carried Delaware County by a handsome majority. In the year 1883, Durbin Ward (that faithful Democratic war horse) selected Mr. Powell to present his name to the State convention. In the year 1884, he was a delegate to the Democratic National Convention and at the request of Governor George Hoadly, placed that gentleman's name in nomination for the presidency. During the year 1885 he was chairman of the Democratic State Executive Committee and in the year 1887 he was the Democratic nominee for governor of Ohio, and although defeated at the polls he ran about ten thousand votes ahead of his ticket. Mr. Powell has always taken an interest in educational matters. He has been for a number of years one of the trustees of his alma mater, the Ohio Wesleyan University, in which institution he has always been greatly interested.
He moved to Columbus about the year 1887, where he is still actively engaged in the practice of his profession in partnership with his eldest son, Edward T. Powell, and where he has ever since kept up his active interest in the politics of the State.
Mr. Powell has many friends and acquaintances in Delaware and not a few of his old clients here call on him when they have need of the services of an attorney. Since his removal to Columbus. Mr. Powell has extended his practice as a corporation lawyer. He is the general attorney for the National Cash Register Company of Dayton, Ohio. He has also been the attorney for the Sugar Refining Company of New York and the Standard Oil Company of New York and has been engaged in many of the most important cases in Ohio.
From 20th Century History of Delaware County, Ohio, and Representative Citizens by James R. Lytle, Biographical Publishing Co., Chicago, 1908