Memorial Record of Western Kentucky, Lewis Publishing Company, 1904,
pp 738-741 [Henderson]

     JAMES HENRY POWELL, orator, lecturer and lawyer, and son of
Lazarus W. Powell, was born in Henderson county, Kentucky, on the
8th of April, 1839.  He was provided with excellent educational
privileges, attending the best private schools of his native county,
after which he continued his studies in the Sayre Institute at
Frankfort, where he remained for five years.  His collegiate course
was obtained in the University of Virginia, where he remained three
years, being graduated with honor in the class of 1859.  He seemed
instinctively to turn to the profession of law, and surely he was
intended by nature for this calling, his splendid oratorical gifts
and strong, analytical and comprehensive mind ably fitting him for
law practice.  He began study in his father's office and after six
months was admitted to the bar.
     From the beginning of his career as a legal practitioner his
efforts have been attended with success.  He has mastered the
science of jurisprudence, and his deep research and thorough
preparation of every case committed to his care enables him to meet
at once any contingency that may arise.  His cause is fenced about
with unanswerable logic and his arguments are strong, clear, decided
and follow each other in natural sequence, forming a chain of
reasoning that his opponent finds very difficult to overthrow.  His
delivery is graceful, his voice clear and ringing, and his eloquence
carries all before it; it is not the adornment of words or flowery
phrases, which often obscure the thought, but the eloquence born of
the occasion and inspired by a sense of true justice of human rights
and liberties.
     On the 21st of October, 1862, Mr. Powell was united in marriage
to Miss Mary Ann Alves, second daughter of Robert A. and Mary
(Gayle) Alves, a lady of culture and refinement, and they have had
seven children, namely: Robert A., Lazarus W., Henry J., John W.
Stevenson, Johnston Alves, Harriett Jennings and William Gayle.
     For several years after his marriage Mr. Powell gave his
attention exclusively to his law business, and then entered the
lecture field, where for some time he labored in the interests of
temperance alone.  His logic, his earnest, impassioned utterances
and his convincing arguments made him an able champion and he was
recognized as one of the strongest advocates of that noble cause
among those who are devoting their lives to its advancement.  Later
he prepared and delivered other lectures of high literary merit on
various subjects, traveling throughout the greater part of the
United States and Canada and receiving high encomiums from the
people wherever he went.  Humor and pathos, with and drollery have
attracted his hearers, swaying them with the emotions which he
portrays until tears of one moment are chased away by the smiles of
the next.  He is a master of the art of rhetoric and his broadly
cultured mind is a vast storehouse upon which he draws without
seeming exhaustion of its contents.  He closed his career on the
lecture platform with his work in behalf of the Lee Monument
Association, under the authority of the governor of Virginia, and
upon his return home once more took up the practice of law.
    Mr. Powell served for two years as prosecuting attorney for the
city and was then elected county attorney, also serving in that
capacity for two terms.  In 1880 he was elected commonwealth's
attorney for the third judicial district of Kentucky; on the
expiration of his six year's term was re-elected, and again in 1892
was the choice of the people for a third term in that office.  What
higher testimonial of his fidelity to duty could be given than this
second re-election, whereby he will have been retained in office for 
eighteen years?  With a keen appreciation of the dignity of the law,
and with the knowledge that justice is largely in his hands, making
him the protector of the lives and liberties of his fellowmen, he
defends the right with an earnestness and courage that challenges
the admiration of all.  Though he meets in forensic combat the
ablest members of the bar of the district, he has won their highest
respect and confidence by his extreme fairness.  He cares not for
the laurels , if they must be won by debasing himself, debauching
public morality of degrading the dignity of his profession, but
stands as the defender of the weak against the strong, the right
against the wrong, the just against the unjust.  Connected with many
important cases, he has gained a reputation as a brilliant and
learned lawyer which ranks him among the best in the state.  Among
the most prominent addresses in the court perhaps none attracted
more attention than that in which he conducted the prosecution of
the murderer of Abbie Olliver.  The courtroom was crowded to its
utmost capacity, until by order of the judge the doors were closed. 
A local paper, in writing of the event, said: "His clear, silvery
voice filled the auditorium with a flood of eloquence, and in the
packed courtroom every ear hung upon his words as they came rushing
like a torrent from his gifted tongue.  His invective was scathing
in the extreme, and he handled the evidence as only a master can,
while his reference to the poor murdered girl was such a commingling
of beauty and pathos that stout-hearted, brave men shed tears.  Such
was the effect of the speech that it was impossible to suppress the
applause, which shook the building."
     Although not an active politician in the sense of office-seeking,
Mr. Powell has done effective service in the interests of
the Democracy and warmly defends its principles.  He has been
frequently urged to become the candidate of his party in the second
congressional district, but prefers to serve his fellow-townsmen at
home in the line of his chosen profession.  He is an esteemed member
of the Masonic, Odd Fellows and Knights of Pythias fraternities, and
has delivered lectures throughout the country in behalf of the last
named organization.  Mr. Powell is a very popular citizen, his
honorable life and commendable characteristics, combined with a
genial, kindly manner having won him a host of warm friends.  He has
won a national reputation as an orator, yet in manner is
unostentatious and easily approached by the humblest of the land.
     Of James H. Powell's family the only on following the law is
John Stevenson Powell, who was born in Henderson county, Kentucky,
on the 5th of June, 1868.  He was named in honor of John W.
Stevenson, of Covington, a warm personal friend of his grandfather,
Lazarus W. Powell.  He was educated in the public and private
schools of Henderson and entered upon his business career as deputy
in the office of the clerk of the county court, where he remained
for three years.  He afterward served for two years as deputy
sheriff, and then took up the study of law, which was the chosen
profession of his family for several generations.  In politics he is
a Democrat.  He is a charter member of Henderson Lodge, No. 206,
B. P. O. E., and attends St. Paul's Episcopal church.

Powell Alves Gayle
=
none
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