POWELL, Thomas III

1641 - 1721  (80 years)  Submit Photo / Document

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• Name	POWELL, Thomas
  Suffix	III
  Birth	21 Aug 1641	New Haven, New Haven, Connecticut, United States
  Gender	Male
  Death	28 Dec 1721	Westbury, Nassau, New York, United States
  Burial	Jan 1722
  WAC	19 Apr 1933	ARIZO
  _TAG	Reviewed on FS
  Headstones	Submit Headstone Photo
  Person ID	I30048	Joseph Smith Sr and Lucy Mack Smith
  Last Modified	19 Aug 2021

  
  

  Father	POWELL, Thomas II ,   b. May 1616, Suffolk, England Suffolk, Englandd. 3 Oct 1681, New Haven, New Haven, Connecticut, United States (Age 65 years)
  Mother	WHITSON, Priscilla ,   b. 1620, England Englandd. 29 Sep 1681, New Haven, New Haven, Connecticut, United States (Age 61 years)
  Marriage	1639	New Haven, New Haven, Connecticut, United States
  Family ID	F16924	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

  Family	WOOD, Abigail Strickland ,   b. 22 Mar 1646, Westbury, Nassau, New York, United States Westbury, Nassau, New York, United Statesd. 1688, Huntington, Suffolk, New York, United States (Age 41 years)
  Marriage	1664	New York, United States
  Family ID	F16937	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
  Last Modified	24 Jan 2022

  
  

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• Notes

  Thomas Powell Sr was a son of a rum dealer who made frequent trips between Barbados, West Indies and New York. Young Thomas would travel with his father on his trips. On one of these ventures, his father stopped in Huntington Harbor, NY to visit a friend, Captain Thomas Matthews, a merchant and cordwainer (a shoemaker who makes new shoes from new leather). He decided to leave Thomas there to become an apprentice with him. Thomas was 12 years old. Thomas grew up and became a successful businessman who bought land and became a respected member in his community. Thomas served as the town recorder for almost twenty years from 1663 - 1683. He also served as a constable/justice of the peace from 1667-1678. He married Abigail Woods in 1664 and they had 8 children. She died in 1681 and Thomas married Elizabeth Townsend in 1690 and they had 7 more children. Thomas Powell, originally owned land in Huntington, NY. He was also the constable there. But around the 1685 he became a devout Quaker, who did not believe in paying taxes to England. He therefore could not continue to swear allegiance to England, and so resigned his positions in the community. In 1687 he bought about 15 square miles (about 10,000 acres) of land from the Massapequa, Secatog and Matinecock people. He paid 140 sterling pounds. Powell called his land Bethpage (which means "house of figs") because it was in between Jericho and Jerusalem, just like in Israel. Jerusalem is now called Wantagh and Island Trees. Because most pioneers were not very good spellers, Bethphage was spelled Bethpage, leaving out the second "H" and established the spelling we use today. Powell originally built himself a house on a street now known as Hempstead Turnpike. After his fifteen children grew up, Thomas built himself a new house on Merritt Road and gave his original house to his son and his new wife. Unfortunately, that house was destroyed in 1931. Thomas Powell, Sr. explored more and more of his land. In time he found the area called "Rim of the Woods" . This land is where most of modern day Bethpage is today. Powell divided up this land between his children. He also gave one third of all his Bethpage lands to an apprentice he once had, named Whitson. This started the break-up of the family ownership of Bethpage, especially after Powell died on December 28, 1721.