I would like to add my great great grandfather to the list of burials at Old Rock Hill Cemetery. He would be in an unmarked grave. Family members have passed down the information that he is buried there, and I have no reason to doubt their word. Cousins say that the name Powell used to be legible on rocks there.

William R. POWELL moved to Henderson County, Texas from the part of Upshur County that became Gregg County, Texas between 1870 and 1880.

His daughter, my great grandmother, Sarah Elizabeth Powell GRIER, said he died when she was a young girl. She was born in 1870.

In the Athens Review 6 March 1903, William R. Powell's son, Andrew Jackson Powell stated that he came to Henderson County with his father and settled in the vicinity of Brownsboro. Since Powell was enumerated on the 1870 Census of Rusk Co. Texas, this information tells us that he moved to Henderson County before his death between 1875-1880.

A deed executed by Susan Powell, widow of William R. POWELL, was filed for recording in Henderson County, Texas on October 10, 1881. It states "To certify which I hereunto sign my name and affix my official seal at office in Rock Hill Texas this the 17 day of February AD 1880. R. J. (Gore? Can't read writing) N.P. Henderson County Texas. So the family was living near Rock Hill in 1880.

Susan Powell has a small flat marker in the "new" Rock Hill Cemetery. She was buried there in 1908. Many of her descendants are also buried there.

William R. Powell came to Texas with his parents, James and Elizabeth Powell before December 10, 1834, from Tennessee .( Ref. Papers Concerning Robertson's Colony in Texas Vol. IX pg. 180, 181.) It states he was 5 years old in 1834.
William R. Powell was in the Confederate Army as a Private, (2nd) Co. H, 15 Reg't. Texas Infantry.
I believe his name needs to be added to the list of burials in the Old Rock Hill Cemetery.

Submitted by Betty Terrell Owens

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Old Rock Hill Cemetery

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