THOMAS POWELL, Supervisor of the Town of
Babylon, 1896-1899
In the boardroom of Babylon
Town Hall, at 200 E. Sunrise Highway, Lindenhurst, hang portraits of the thirty
gentlemen who have served as Supervisor of the Town of Babylon.
Several years ago, I made a
visit to Amityville Cemetery. Surveying the headstones, I identified five
former Town Supervisors. Among that group was Thomas Powell, the 8th
person to serve as Supervisor of the Town of Babylon. Having been elected to serve
from April 1896 to April 1899, he was the last Town Supervisor of the 19th
Century.
An obituary for Mr. Powell, published
in the Amityville Record, March 8, 1907, began, “One of the best-known
figures in the history of East Amityville, now Copiague, passed away
suddenly in the person of Thomas Powell.”
I must admit that I was quite
surprised. Until the mid-20th Century, most Town officials appear to
have been residents of one of the three populous villages, Amityville, Babylon
and Lindenhurst; many of them business owners or large landholders. Of the men
that preceded Mr. Powell as Supervisor, five were residents of Babylon village
and two resided in Amityville. In fact, after Mr. Powell, the 14 men elected
Supervisor through 1967 were all residents of Babylon village, Amityville or
Lindenhurst, with the exception of Henry A. Brown, who was a resident of
Wyandanch. However, Brown was not elected to that position, having been appointed
after the death of Edward Daily, in 1912.
The name Powell is well known
in local history. It has been reported that Copiague was once known as “Powell’s,”
suggesting that Powell family members once owned much of the area.
Supervisor Powell was born on
April 3, 1838, to George and Maria (née Mitchell) Powell, on their farm located
on the north side of South Country Road, now Montauk Highway, just east of the
Amityville village limits. In 1860, he married Martha A. Post, of Jerusalem (now
Wantagh), and they had three sons – Irving, Frederick and Thomas. He lived on
that same family farm until a few months before his death when he moved to
Amityville to be closer to his children’s homes. Mr. Powell was nearly 70 years
old when he passed away. His fatal illness was “the grip,” another name for influenza
or the flu.
The Amityville Record
article continued with a discussion of Powell’s education at the local school
and his diligent work as a farmer.
“He was educated only in the district school there, and at the death of his father, when young Thomas was 16, he took charge of the large farm. From that time, until last Spring, he devoted almost his entire time to that vocation. He was a very successful farmer and made money out of the business, a thing which it has been decided again and again by wise-acres [old-time slang for a ‘smart aleck’] could not be done on the South Side of Long Island. His method was thoroughness. He believed that a crop that was worth planting was worth attending to with thoroughness and his crops seldom or never failed. Years ago, before the railroad was built, he carted nearly all of his produce, including hay, to the New York market.”
He therefore carted his hay
via horse and wagon, since the line now known as the Babylon Branch of the Long
Island Rail Road first came through the Copiague community in 1867, when Mr.
Powell was about 29-years-old. The Copiague station was established around 1901.
Highlighting Powell’s active
community service, not only to the Copiague-Amityville community, but the
larger Town of Babylon area as well, the selection detailed that Mr. Powell –
- was Tax Assessor for the Town of Babylon for nine years – back when the job was an elected position;
- “was always Republican”;
- was elected to two terms as Town Supervisor (after Mr. Powell’s first term, the position changed from a one-year term to a two-year term);
- “was in turn a school trustee in East Amityville [now the Copiague School District], clerk of that school district and trustee of the First M.E. Church of Amityville, which he attended since he was a comparatively young man”;
- and, at the time of his death, was one of the directors of the Bank of Amityville.
Memorializing his character
and substance, the obituary concluded,
“The suddenness of Mr. Powell’s death has caused great grief to his family. Although nearly seventy years old he was a young man. Of springy step and active mind he took a lively interest in everything around him and would hardly be taken for a man of his years. His life had been one of activity and he looked forward to the coming years in his new home here with great pleasure. … Mr. Powell was a pleasant, kindly person, always ready with a cheerful greeting. He will be missed by a large circle of acquaintances who mourn his unexpected departure.”
Thomas Powell was a farmer,
family man, school trustee, bank director, tax assessor and town supervisor; an
impressive list of accomplishments for someone whose formal education extended
only until his 16th year of age.
Mr. Powell was the last Supervisor
of the 19th Century, beginning his tenure in 1896, when the Town of
Babylon was merely 24-years-old. At that time, the Town of Babylon did not have
a Town Hall. Most Town officials had offices in their homes or in the nearest
village to their residence. His service to the community, and that of all other
Town officials, contributed to the development of our community, is an
important part of Town of Babylon history.