Powell--Cookstown

[cwood91262]

I'm hopeful someone in the Cookstown area can help out this United States person! 

In Sept. 1896, Dr. George Henry Powell died in Nenagh, Co. Tipperary, leaving his wife Susan McCutcheon Powell and 4 children, Charlotte, George Henry, James and Frances, to survive him.  The children were between the ages of 7 and 14.  By January 1897, we had totally lost Susan and the surviving children.  Two months ago, we stumbled upon a WW 1 death notice for the son, George Henry Powell, identifying him positively as the son of the late Dr. GH Powell of Nenagh.  The notice also identified him as being survived by his mother, Mrs. Powell of Cookstown, Co. Tyrone.  This is absolutely the first indication of this family following the death of Dr. GH.  We are desperate to know how they wound up in Cookstown, and what happened to the rest of the family.  Susan McCutcheon Powell was born in 1854.  Her parents were deceased by the time her husband died and we do not think she had surviving siblings in the Nenagh area. 

Any assistance in solving this mystery will be very greatly appreciated.

Cindy Wood
(*)

(*) Moderator Comment: e-mail removed in accordance with RootsChat policy,
to avoid spamming and other abuses.
Please use the Personal Message (PM) system for exchanging personal data.

[aghadowey]

Welcome to Rootschat. 1912 Ulster Covenant shows a Susan Powell at Burn Road (Cookstown). See www.proni.gov.uk - follow link upper right side of page for Covenant search (you can view the actual signature).

[cwood91262]

Thank you so much for the link.  I was somewhat surprised to see Richard Eyre Powells name in there, as by that time, most of his family was pro home rule!   

I'm pretty sure this is my Susan, as the signature strongly resembles the signature on the marriage cert for Susan and Dr. GH.  Now all we need to do is find out what happened to her and the rest of the family!

Cindy Wood

[aghadowey]

It's possible that if Susan stayed in Northern Ireland there might be a copy of a will or administration of her estate at PRONI (Public Records Office of Northern Ireland) but unfortunately the will extracts online aren't recent enough.

P.S.- email addresses shouldn't be displayed online so if you go back to the other posts where you posted it click 'modify', remove the address, and then click 'save.'

[eddiekelso]

Hi Cindy,

I found a short entry for George Henry Powell in a book Cookstown's War Dead 1914-18 & 1939-45, published by Cookstown District Council, in co-operation with the Mid Ulster Branch of Friends of the Somme. The entry reads:

Second Lieutenant George Henry Powell
Machine Gun Corps, 5th Company
Killed in Action: 29th April 1917
Age: 27
Arras Memorial, France, Bay 10

George Powell was a son of Mr G H Powell M.D., of Nenagh, Co. Tipperary & of Mrs Powell, who, after the death of her husband, moved to live in Cookstown. George Henry Powell joined the 5th  Company Machine Gun Corps & was killed in action on 29th April 1917. He has no known grave & is commemorated on the Arras Memorial, Bay 10.


If you check the Commonwealth War Graves Commission website (http://www.cwgc.org) you can search for G Powell - the entry is similar to that above, but also gives info about Arras.

There may be an obituary in the local newspaper, the Mid-Ulster Mail, which is available on microfilm in a library about 20 miles from me. I will check this for you if you wish, but won't be able to go until January.

I hope this helps.

Eddie Kelso,
Antrim, Northern Ireland.

[cwood91262]

Hi Eddie:

It was the Commonwealth War Graves site that lead us to Cookstown, a friend of mine was trolling through it, and popped in a surname that I was interested in, and up pops George.  It was the first lead we'd had on the family in years and years.  So, now I have to figure out how to research in Cookstown and see if I can find more on the family.  Interestingly enough, I don't find Susan in the 1901 census for Tyrone, nor do I find any of the other children in the family.  So, for the most, they remain a large puzzle. 

Thanks for the info from the Cookstown book, we've added it to our file on the family.

Cindy Wood

[eddiekelso]

Hi Cindy,

I was going over some of my posts and came across this - you may already have seen the 1911 Irish Census, but this is the link for Susan Powell living at 17 Burn Road, Cookstown:

 http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/reels/nai003423243/

Best wishes,

Eddie