Powers Centennial,
Dedication, and Reunion
On the 8th of July, 1837, the Powers brothers and their
families
completed their journey from New York State to establish their homes in
York
Township, Steuben County, IN. On July 11, 1937, their descendants
observed
the centennial by the dedication of a memorial boulder erected on the
site
of the original log shanty.
The occasion was also the 53rd annual reunion. Nearly two
hundred
members of the family assembled before noon in the grove back of the
Powers
Church and the usual bountiful dinner was spread on tables under the
tent.
An enjoyable feature was an informal musical program before and after
the
dinner which included singing by Gloria Aldrich and Phyllis Creel, and
several
numbers by an orchestra composed mostly of members of the family.
The
large attendance and unusually large number of cousins present from a
distance
added to the enthusiasm of the visiting.
Emry Powers rang the old bell to call the family into the
church
for the afternoon program. Dr. Raymond J. Luse presided.
The
business session included financial reports by committees in charge of
the
erection of the boulder, and of improvements on the church
grounds.
Four trustees of the memorial boulder were chosen, representing the
four
lines of the family: descendant of Stephen - Stephen Powers of
Montpelier,
Ohio; of Clark - Weir Wood, of Rudolph, Ohio; of Winn - Elmo
Powers
of Angola; and of Calvin - Theodore T. Wood, of Angola. Officers
for
the ensuing year were elected: President, Will E. Rose,
Chicago;
Vice President, Powers Luse, Columbia City, Ind.; Secretary, Mrs.
Rose
Carver, Angola.
A family history begun years ago by Mrs. Viola Posers
Amidon
and her husband, the late Lee E. Amidon, was another project which was
virtually
complete, to mark the centennial anniversary. They did much
painstaking
research into old records in Massachusetts and assembled data from the
time
of Walter Power, the first American ancestor, who was born in England
in
1639, down to and including the families of the four Powers brothers of
Steuben
County. During the past year Mr. Will Rose has given almost his
entire
time to bringing this record down to date, and has completed a
manuscript
which covers almost every descendant. Plans for the publication
of
this manuscript were discussed, and it is hoped it may soon be in book
form.
The program of the afternoon featured especially the
reading
of some of the old letters which are a treasured possession of the
family.
Mrs. Viola Amidon, read a letter written by her grandfather, Stephen,
to
his mother, Mrs. Joanna Jenks, in Farmington, New York. It was
written
only a few days after arrival in Steuben County, and recounted events
of
the journey, and expressed his great satisfaction with the new
location.
Clark Powers was represented by a letter which he wrote to his mother,
while
he was in Indianapolis as a member of the state legislature. This
letter
was read by Powers Luse. Mrs. Winifred Waugh read two letters:
one
from Josiah Powers, the bachelor brother of the family, a dentist, who
started
to the west at the time of the California gold rush. This letter
was
the last positive news of him, and was written from Joliet, Ill, in
1850.
The other letter was one written by her grandfather, Calvin, October 8,
1837,
to his brother, Clark. He reported that they were well satisfied
with
the prospects in the new home.
A highlight of the program was the reading of Riley’s
“Back to Griggsby’s Station,” by Mrs. Lydia Powers
Hamer, of Montpelier, Ohio. Mrs. Hamer, in her 90’s is the only
living member of the family of her generation. She is a daughter
of
Stephen. Her sympathetic rendition of this tenderly beautiful
poem
is something the family has come to feel is a necessary part of the
annual
reunion. She also contributed an unexpected feature to the
program.
She had heard that Ellen, little daughter of Ora and Emily Waugh
Harman,
is having made for her a collection of dolls, and she brought to add to
this
collection a pair of dolls of her own making. Mrs. Hamer has won
a
reputation, especially around Ray, her former home, for the charm of
her
originally designed and hand made cotton wadding dolls. This
particular
couple she introduced as “The Jenkinses of Griggsby’s Station.”
They are a gentile old couple who sit in their easy chairs, she
knitting
and he reading his newspaper, Mrs. Harman acknowledged the gift in
behalf
of her daughter.
Two births were reported: to Powers and Willodene Luse, a
son,
David. To Victor and Pauline Brooks Julian, June 28, a son.
There were two deaths; Mrs. Willa Wood Spilman, and
Emily
Ruth Carver.
A cablegram of greeting from Clyde and Oliver Powers in
the
Philippine Islands was read by their sister, Viola Amidon.
The church program was concluded with the singing of the
doxology.
The company reassembled later around the memorial boulder. The
dedicatory
service was impressive in its simplicity and dignity. Walter E.
Frazee,
of Long Beach California, husband of Margaret Mitchell Frazee, great
granddaughter
of Winn, spoke briefly, and a prayer was offered by J. O. Rose,
grandson
of Winn. The stone is a large one of red granite, triangular in
shape.
It stands on what was formerly the grounds of the Powers school, a few
rods
north of road 20, and very close to the site of the shanty that was the
first
shelter of the Powers families. There is no question of the exact
location,
for the stones of the original chimney lie in a heap where they
fell.
The bronze tablet bears the following inscription; “Powers Memorial
in honor of the Powers Brothers, Stephen, Clark, Winn, Josiah, Calvin
and
their families, marking the site of the first Powers home in the
wilderness,
July 8, 1837. Placed by Descendants, July 8, 1937.”
Powers Reunion Notes
From the new history of the family it was learned that the
Powers Church was erected in 1875 and 1876 by the combined efforts of
Winn
and Calvin Powers. There were 102 subscriptions, which together
with
contributions of labor and material amounted to $1827. The M. E.
Class
of York supplied the furniture.
Mr. V. Courtney, present owner of the land on which the
boulder
is erected, is to be thanked for the flowers that are growing among the
stones
of the old chimney. He says he expects to continue to give it
this
attention.
Photographs of the boulder are available. Inquires
may
be made of Mrs. Edna Wood Creel.
Persons present from a distance were too numerous for
individual
mention. There were more than fifty, from the Atlantic to the
Pacific,
and the Philippine Islands.
Source: Steuben Republican Newspaper 21 Jul 1937
Submitted by Kay Lash