First Woman-Minister
She is Rev. Hannah Jewett Powell, now re¬
tired, and she started her religious work in
Haywood County almost a score of years
ago.
THE Rev. James Anderson In¬
man. pioneer missionary in the
mountains of Western North
Carolina, once prophesied to the mem¬
bers of his tloek that some day a
woman would lead them. This was
many years ago at Inman's Chapel
which stands today, not only as a
church but as a monument, at Sun¬
burst in Pigeon River Valley, Hay¬
wood County.
In the words of the Chapel's present
pastor, the Rev. George C. Hoorn,
“it may well lie called a memorial
chapel, a memorial to a saddlebag
preacher who first sowed the seeds
of the larger faith among tin- hills;
to the pioneer men and women who
established the First Universalist
Church of Haywood County, N. C. ;
to Father Inman, who was both a
physical and spiritual builder, who
gave of his means as of his labor to
the chapel, who gave his life to build¬
ing in the souls of men and women a
faith in God's all conquering love.
This is our highland heritage."
When Father Inman made his
prophecy, he had never seen nor heard
of Hannah Jewett Powell, but lie did
know that his own Universalist
Church, founded and fostered in New
England from earliest colonial days,
was training women for missionary
work. It was his belief that one of
the Universalist women eventually
would be sent to carry on with his
work among the mountain folk.
Started 18 Years Ago
It was eighteen years ago that the
Rev. Hannah Jewett Powell, said to
be North Carolina's first ordained
woman minister, went to Inman's
Chapel and fulfilled the prediction
of its founder. Today, the Rev.
Powell is retired, 73 years old, white
haired and motherly, and to use her
own words, “still an old maid."
She loves isolation and solitude, and
to her they are just the same,
whether they lie on the rook bound
const of Maine, whore she was born,
or in the North Carolina moun¬
tains, where she occupied the pulpit
of Inman’s Chapel for fifteen years.
She retired three years ago and now
lives iu Watervillc, Maine.
Bi/ ROBERT A. l inviv
In Washington, D. C., recently for
the United Universalist Convention
at the Mayflower Hotel, the woman
pastor took time out to relate sonic
of the highlights of an interesting,
often adventuresome life.
Growing up in Watervillc and in
Clinton, Maine, Hannah Powell,
daughter of a Maine farmer, learned
to love and appreciate isolation.
“The mountains and the seacoast
are much alike,” she declared, speak¬
ing from seven years’ ex|>ericnco as
interdenominational worker of the
Seacoast Mission, a tour of duty that
preceded her North Carolina
pastorate.
Hannah Powell’s first calling was
that of teacher, and “it was natural,”
she said, “to step over and express
myself as a speaker in the pulpit as
well ns in the classroom.” She be¬
came a full fledged minister of her
old New England Church after her
graduation from the Tufts College
Divinity School.
Men of the ministry did not care
much for the isolation of the moun¬
tains in her own early days in the
church, the Rev. Powell related, so
she herself accepted an offer to be¬
come pastor of Inman's Chapel. She
ariived at Sunburst — on horseback —
18 years ago. This made her. she said,
North Carolina’s first ordained wom¬
an minister.
Given Proper Authority
Before going to Sunburst, she pre¬
sented her ordination papers to the
Attorney General of the State, and
lie ruled she could perform the mar¬
riage ceremony and otherwise servo
as a minister.
“Tho papers were delayed for a
while,” she recalled, “when it was
discovered the applicant, myself, was
a woman. However, the Attorney
General's opinion declared that since
1 was an ordained minister the fact
I was a woman was nothing against
me.”
Then began 15 years of vigorous
activity among the Haywood County
mountaineers. The Rev. Hannah
Powell preached from her chapel pul¬
pit every Sunday, taught night school,
won the friendship of the natives
and gave them counsel. She or¬
ganized the parish Sunday school,
served her community in other ways
and fought for law enforcement in
the county.
Last summer she returned to In¬
man's Chapel after three years in
retirement and served as supply pastor
for her successor, the Rev. Hoorn.
By retirement, she related 'lie lunl
lost her ecclesiastical fellowship in
North Carolina and therefore, Secre¬
tary of State Thud Eure issued again
her authority to perform the marriage
ceremony. The Rev. Powell baptized
children, conducted funerals, married
young couples and preached again.
“Even the sheriff came to see me,”
she said laughingly. “There were
some other law enforcement officers
and county officials, too. We are all
friends.” She pointed to a wrist
watch presented her several years ago
by the sheriff and other officials, on
whom she often had made demands
for enforcement of certain laws.
When the Rev. Hannah Powell
first went into the mountains, she rode
horseback and drove a buggy. She
had learned to ride as a girl in Aroos¬
took County, Maine. Last summer
when she returned to Sunburst, her
old horse, stabled near the chapel,
whinnied in recognition.
Likes the Mountain People
As for the mountain people, she
described them as “pioneer Americans,
progressive and responsive to all that
is being done for them.” Her night
school work lasted until the Federal
Government opened adult education
classes in the area, ami then she
helped the Government get started.
Tho woman minister is not only a
North Carolina-Yankee from “down
east” in Maine, but she is a Maine
Democrat, which is something un¬
usual, and she praises the Works
Progress Administration for the em¬
ployment it is furnishing in Western
North Carolina.
The Rev. Boom and liis wife,
(Continued on page twenty-eight)
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