- Powell, Ernest
Malapert
- Ozona,
not yet placed, not sure of final location
- A native of
Illinois, E. M. Powell was a surveyor and railroad engineer in
Kentucky before moving to Texas in 1874. He worked as a
surveyor during the railroad construction boom in Texas in the
1870s, taking parcels of land in payment for his services. By
1878 Powell and a partner, E. L. Gage, opened a real estate
and land surveying company in Dallas. Powell soon began
promoting his land holdings in West Texas and placed newspaper
advertisements to encourage settlement in this area. To the
first families who purchased homesteads out of his
185,000-acre tract of land in present Crockett County, he
offered forty acres of free land as well as reduced prices for
additional acreage. The city of Ozona was founded on Powell's
property. He provided a public well and windmill, as well as
lots for public buildings, churches, and a school. As a result
of his settlement efforts, the county of Crockett was
organized in 1891 with Ozona as the county seat. Married to
the former Mary Almyra Durrell, Powell was the father of one
son, Durrell, who died at age seven. Powell was a major
contributor to the Dallas Congregational Church and to other
charities.
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