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Nathaniel Powell (1587 – March 22, 1622) was an English-born early American colonist, cartographer, military leader, and politician who served briefly as the acting governor of the colony of Virginia for a ten-day period in 1619. Powell's additional service in colonial Virginia included as president of the Virginia Governor's Council and as a delegate to the first session of the Virginia General Assembly. He contributed to John Smith's sixth chapter of The Generall Historie of Virginia and helped make the first map of Virginia.
Powell was born in 1587, in Surrey, England and spent much of his early life as a planter. He served as an officer in the British Army, where he attained the rank of captain.[1] He departed England aboard the Susan Constant on December 19, 1606 and arrived to Jamestown, Virginia in 1607.[2][3]
After arriving in Virginia in April 1607 as one of the original settlers, Powell joined Captain Smith and Christopher Newport in their explorations of the York River and Chesapeake Bay, including meeting with Powhatan in February 1608.[2][4][5] During this period, Powell mapped the bay and surrounding rivers.[2][6][7]
Powell was highly active in the political and military affairs of the colony. In 1608, he was an investor in the Virginia Company.[8] He contributed to John Smith's History of Virginia and helped make the first map of Virginia.[2][9][10] In 1609-1610, Powell remained in Jamestown during the Starving Time, one of the deadliest periods in the colony’s history.[11] In 1609, Powell and Anas Todkill took part in an unsuccessful expedition to locate surviving colonists of the Roanoke Colony, at the personal request of governor Thomas Gates.[12]
In October 1617, Governor Samuel Argall commissioned Powell as Sergeant-Major General to Francis West, which was the highest military office in the colony at the time, akin to a modern-day general. Shortly thereafter, Powell served as deputy governor of Virginia. From April 9 to April 19, 1619,[10] Powell succeeded departing governor Argall to serve as acting governor of Virginia Colony before the arrival of George Yeardley.[14][15][16] Powell resided in Charles City during this period.[8]
During his ten day tenure as acting governor,[17] Powell oversaw the arrival of fifty emigrants, including Captain John Warde, and Reverend Thomas Bargrave, who would form a settlement known as Ward's Creek.[18][19]
From 1619 until 1622, Powell served as a member of the Virginia Governor's Council, including as president due to his tenure.[2][5][20]
In July 1619, Powell served as a delegate to the first session of the House of Burgesses - the first representative legislative body in British America.[21][11][22] In January 1620, Powell was among the signatories of a letter to Virginia Company officials about the importance of tobacco in the economy of the Virginia Colony.[8][23][24]
Powell was a prominent landowner, owning a 600-acre estate known as the Powellbrooke Plantation.[14]
After his murder, John Smith wrote of Powell that he was "one of the first planters, a valiant soldier, and not any in the country better known amongst them".[27][3]
Powell is included as a character in Marilyn Clay's 2013 historical fiction novel, Deceptions.[31] His map of Virginia is in the permanent collection of the British Museum in London.[32] "Nathaniel Powell Road" in Williamsburg is named for Powell.[33]
^James P. C. Southall. “Captain John Martin of Brandon on the James.” The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, vol. 54, no. 1, 1946, pp. 21–67. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/4245382. Accessed 8 Jan. 2025.
