Shadeland is situated in Spring township, Crawford county, Pa., one mile north of Springboro, and is the home and birthplace of the Powell Brothers, the celebrated stockmen. Howell Powell, father of the stockmen, originally owned and occupied from 300 to 400 acres of this Shadeland property, which now comprises about 3,000 acres of excellent land, and beautifully situated in and along both sides of the Conneaut Creek Valley, and there is no finer estate in Western Pennsylvania.
The Powell Brothers embarked in the nursery stock business in 1860 to 1865, and, according to their native characteristics and ability, they pushed the business to a successful termination. Forty men and horses were brought into requisition and great sales with good profits was the result.
During the war they had an extensive business that they could not well drop. Though loyal to the core, they were among the first to put up the necessary to fill the call.
Finally, in 1864, they went into the live stock business with their motto "Excelsior;" and time after time they have crossed the stormy seas and throughout Europe they have sought to obtain the best stock. Their unflinching tenacity of purpose, their untiring perseverance, justly entitle them to the fame and the national reputation that they now possess - the peer of any stockmen on this continent. Too great a tribute can scarcely be paid the Powell Brothers for their vast undertakings, great outlays and extensive improvements, approximating the perfection of stock raising.
'Tis said that blood will always tell
In man, likewise in stock as well
Their fine stock comprises Clydesdale horses, Percheron Norman or French draft horses, Englishshire horses, Suffolk punch horses, Standard bred trotters, French coachers, Cleveland bays, saddle horses, Welsh ponies, Iceland ponies, Shetland ponies, Holstein Fressian cattle and Devon cattle.
To all those who want to buy fine stock you can obtain it of the Powell
Brothers, the celebrated stockmen, who will at all times extend to you fair
dealing and courteous entertainment, which is a characteristic of these
gentlemen, and on the of attributes to their wonderful success in the stock
business.
From Pioneer Sketches: Scenes and Incidents of Former
Days by M.P. Sargent
Published by Herald Printing & Publishing Co., Ltd., Erie, PA 1891