Here's a nice piece I just found on his life:
"L. J. W. J. Powell, farmer, Booneville, Ark. One of the men who has contributed much to the development of Logan County is Mr. Powell, a prominent agriculturist of the same. His parents, Isaac and Sarah (Jones) Powell, were both natives of Georgia. They moved to Arkansas in 1844, bought land in Logan County, and there made their home. The father served in the Florida War, and was also in the War of 1812, fighting under Packinham at the battle of New Orleans. The educational advantages of our subject during his boyhood were limited, receiving only about ten months' schooling altogether, and in the spring of 1854 he went to California, where he was engaged in mining and farming for eleven years. He then returned home by way of the Isthmus, after stopping for some time in New York and five months in Illinois. He began work on a mill, and after-ward bought, in partnership with his brother, 120 acres of land, where he remained about six years. He improved about eighty acres, erected a house and other buildings, and made many other important changes. He then sold this land and bought 160 acres of Government land, having at the present time about sixty acres of this cleared. Aside from the large crops of cotton, corn and oats that he raises, he is also engaged in raising a good grade of cattle and hogs. Mr. Powell was married in December, 1868, to Miss Frances T. Lyons, a native of Arkansas, and the daughter of John and Rebecca Lyons. Mrs. Powell died in 1869, leaving one daughter, Rebecca Endora, now the wife of H. H. Ozier. In 1871 Mr. Powell was wedded to Miss Mary Jane Cox, a native of Missouri, born in 1847, and daughter of Joseph and Caroline Cox. The fruits of this union have been ten children, eight of whom are living: Alice May, Oceola Mark, Arthur Lee, Alberta, Louisa Ellen, Rosa Viola, Oscar Randolph and Ernest Lester. Mr. Powell is a member of the A. F. & A. M., Lodge No. 247, at Booneville, and he and his estimable wife are members of the Christian Church, of which he has been deacon."
After the long overland journey there, he made the same choice coming back from California that Mark Twain did: to take the boat.
The sad part of the story is his first wife dying so young. The really pleasing part about his mentioning it here is that, falling as their marriage did between censuses, I had no record of her name.
See Lewis's entry at Randall Powell's Powell Family Pages.
