SOWELL.
Thomas Sowell made one of the earliest entries of land
within the bounds of Albemarle. In 1734 he obtained a grant
of five hundred and fifty acres west of the southern end of
Carter's Mountain. His name still distinguishes Sowell's
Branch, a stream which passes through the land into the
north fork of Hardware. He died in 1763. His wife's name
was Martha, and his children were John, William, Joseph
and Thomas. Thomas died unmarried three years after his
father. The name of John's wife was also Martha, and his
children were Thomas, Benjamin, Edmund, Elijah, Elisha,
and Keziah, the wife of William Perry. Elisha Sowell married
Elizabeth Gilliam in 1808. In 1834 Lewis and Nimrod,
sons of one of the brothers above mentioned, purchased from
William Garland the lot on University Street east of R. F.
Harris's Warehouse, where for many years they conducted
the wheelwright business. Lewis married Mary Ann, daughter
of William Dunkum, and his children were William, Mary,
the wife of Albert Gentry, and Benjamin. Pleasant, another
descendant of the family, married Sarah, daughter of Edward
Garland.
