Remembering Suwannee: Lewis Thornton Powell

Eric Musgrove Contributor As a historian, I have always believed we should discuss not only the good people and events in our history, but also the bad. As I have told many people, "History is what it is; we can't change it." Or, as someone else once said, "Those who don't know the past are doomed to repeat its mistakes." With those thoughts in mind, today's article is about a young man and an incident many people would rather not associate with Suwannee County. Lewis Thornton Powell was born in Randolph County, Ala., in 1844, the youngest of eight children of George C. Powell, a Baptist minister, farmer, blacksmith and schoolteacher. When he was three-years-old, Lewis's father move