Nancy "Nannie" Powell and Josh Bradshaw were my mother Louise Moody's grandparents on her mother's side. Mama Louise's records have "Grandma Nannie's" birth date as April 1, 1856, but the records do not include Nannie's parents' names. The records are in a family bible that Louise left to the youngest child, Carol Norwood. She believed from Nannie's tales that she was born in Henry County, Tennessee.
I am indebted to the staff and volunteers at Henry County genealogical library in Paris, Tennesse, for making records of births, marriages, censuses, and many other records from Henry County and several surrounding counties and for allowing me to search through those records. These records are a treasure trove for genealogical researchers. Much of this data came from there.
I could not find our Nancy Powell on the 1860 census in Henry County, but I looked at later censuses and finally found a female N. Powell of the correct age on the 1870 census in Henry County (1870 HN, p. 270A, 3 2/34, in Civil District 6). The family included parents A. Powel, 65, born in North Carolina, and wife M., 59, born in Tennessee, and also R. Powel, female and 23, J. Powel, male and 21, N. Powel, female and 14 (Nancy?), M. Powel, female and 5, and M. Lancener(?), female and 2. All children were born in Tennessee except M. Lancener, who was born in Illinois. If the listed age is correct, wife M. was too old to be the mother of 5-year-old M. Powell and 2-year-old M. Lancener.
I wasn't certain this Powell family was Nannie's family, but I decided to follow up. If they weren't in Henry County in 1860, I decided that they were perhaps in next-door Benton County or Stewart County. I got lucky immediately in Benton County in 1860, where I found Alenson Powell, 54, born in North Carolina, Margarett, 43, born in Tennessee, Emely, 16, born in Tennessee, Rebecca 13, born in Tennessee, James, 11, born in Tennessee, Margarett, 9, born in Tennessee, and Nancy, 4, born in Tennessee. (Family #1280 in the 10th Civil District, Benton County, p. 181),There was almost perfect congruence with the 1870 census except for 1870, daughters Emely's and Margaret's having not been in the family in 1870 (married? died?) and a 5-year-old M.Powell was added.
I looked back and found a transcribed record of the 1850 census in Benton County. It had: Alenson, 46, North Carolina, Margarett, 34, Tennessee, Mexico, 16, Mariah 14, Mary, 12, Malvina, 8, Martha, 6, Rebecca, 3, and James 1. (I haven't yet checked the original census record.) It appears that Martha and Emily were likely the same, Martha Emily or Emily Martha.
I remembered that I had seen a record of an Alenson Powell in Henry County in 1840 and decided to check again. It turned out that the name I had seen was Alison Powel, but it appears that they were the same person. In 1840 in Henry County, the data on that census for Alison Powel was: 010001/21001 (1 male 5-9 and Alison 30-39; 2 females under 5, 1 female 5-9, and wife 20-39). For 1830, it was 00001/101 (Alison 20-29; 1 female under 5 and wife 10-14,). Note how young Margarett was; one hopes very close to 15! From the 1870 census, I had wondered if Nancy might be a grandchild instead of a child, but most of the other censuses show Margarett a few years younger than the 1870 one which would have had her born in 1810 or 1811, and the one in 1830 which shows her a child would mean she was born about 1815 or 1816.
I checked somecourt records and found the same Powells in Henry County as early as 1828. Court minutes, page 526 for Tuesday, March 4, 1828, show entry and registry for a deed from Allanson Powel, Sr., to Allanson Powell, Jr., for 150 acres and a negro man named Jacob. The same page also showed deeds of gift from Allanson Powell, Sr., to Eliza Cole and Martha Ann Maria Marshall.
In 1830 and 1831, there were inventories and estate sales for Allanson Sr., deceased, with Allanson Jr. as executor. At one of the sales, Elizabeth Powell purchased several items. Although she was not identified as the widow, I assumed it likely. The final mention of Allanson Sr.'s estate was December 3, 1832, when it was cloed out. Some of the transcriptions of records for Allenson list the first names as Allison, Alison, and even Alexander.
I believe that we can say with confidence that Nancy was the daughter of Allenson Powell Jr. and Margarett and the granddaughter of Allenson Sr. and probably Elizabeth. A descendant of Mexico Powell, who married a Dortch, states without showing evidence that Margarett was a Culpepper. Several documents that I have found support this name,but are not totally acceptable as evidence. My mother's family, either her grandmother or her aunt, told her she was related to the Culpeppers.
Records of the family of Allenson Powell and the family of the Culpeppers can be found in Edgecombe County, North Carolina, and some families can be reconstucted from records of marriages, deeds, and wills.