When Elisha Powell was born on 20 December 1737, in Westbury, Victory, Cayuga, New York, United States, his father, Thomas Powell 5th, was 44 and his mother, Abigail Hallock, was 32. He married Rachel Ham on 21 July 1766, in New York Colony, British Colonial America. They were the parents of at least 8 sons and 5 daughters. He died on 22 February 1824, in Medway, New Baltimore, Greene, New York, United States, at the age of 86, and was buried in Greene, New York, United States.