William POWELL

                   REFN2646 William was an early Jamestown emmigrant. The record isn't clear whether WILLIAM POWELL's fir st emigration trip was in 1607 or 1608. In one account,the first appearance of the name POWE LL in Virginia is found in Smith's History of Virginia. Captain William sailed from Blackwell , England (one of 105 menand boys) with his "trusted friend" John Smith on 19 Dec 1606 wit h the threeCaptain Christopher Newport ships, "Susan Constant," "Godspeed," and "Discovery" which entered Chesapeake Bay on 20 Apr 1607 and arrived at the location of future Jamestow n site on 13 May 1607, or possibly on the "Sea-Venture" or "Maryand Margaret", arriving as t he first wave of colonists in the new American continent in 1607, the year of the founding o f Jamestown in what later would become the United States of America. Both he and his wife, El izabeth Welles werealso in the 3rd supply of 23 May 1610 after the ill-fated "Sea Venture" s hip wrecked on a Bermuda offshore reef.  Most accounts allude to Captain Nathaniel,William's brother, being beheaded by the Indians i n the Great Massacre of March 22, 1622 (where 350 were killed and the population dropped to 1 050). Then the ship "Abigail" docked on 12 Dec 1622 with infected passengers and dropped the colony to 500.  There are accounts that say when Captain William Powell killed the three In dians, and, out of remorse for his brother's death and that of his family, he beheaded them . Then when he was ambushed in late January or early February of 1623, almost a year later, h e was beheaded by the Chickahomonies. By whatever version of Captain William's death, it is p resumed to be in early 1623, either in January or February.  Captain Powell led an expedition against the Chickahomonies Indians and was killed by them so metime between January 20 and January 24, 1623.