Lawrence Powers

POWERS, WHALEN, ODONNELL, DEGROAT

Posted By: Ken Wright (email)
Date: 5/8/2010 at 18:26:13

History of Jackson County, Iowa, James W. Ellis, 1910

LAWRENCE POWERS.

Lawrence Powers is one of the prosperous farmers and stock raisers of Van Buren township, deriving an excellent annual income from a farm of two hundred acres, while through the raising and feeding of stock he yearly augments his capital. His birth occurred in County Kilkenny, Ireland, on the 11th of October. 1849. His parents being Richard and Mary (Whalen) Powers, who were natives of England and Ireland respectively. The father brought his family to the United States in 1850, settling in Chicago, Illinois, where he was engaged in the cattle business for two years. On the expiration of that period he took up his abode in Rockford. Illinois, there residing until 1854, when he came to Iowa and located on a farm in Clinton county near the Jackson county line, purchasing the land from the government for a dollar and a quarter an acre. The journey from Illinois to this state had been made with an ox team. Richard Powers was actively engaged in the cultivation and improvement of his farm until called to his final rest in 1861, his labors proving an element in the early development and upbuilding of his community along agricultural lines.
Lawrence Powers obtained his education in the schools of Clinton county and remained at home with his mother until he had attained the age of twenty-five years. During the following four years he was engaged in business as a stockman, buying horses in Iowa and then driving them across the country to South Dakota, where he traded them for cattle. This was prior to the era of railroad transportation and he was obliged to drive his stock between this state and South Dakota as well as back again. In 1878 he purchased a farm of two hundred acres in Fairfield township, Jackson county, and made his home thereon until 1882. He likewise bought other farms in that township and is still in possession of a tract of land there. In 1882 he purchased his present home place of two hundred acres in Van Buren township and has since continued to reside thereon, devoting his time and energies to the cultivation of cereals and the raising of shorthorn cattle. He is practical and progressive in his methods and carries forward to successful completion whatever he undertakes.
On the 8th of February, 1875, Mr. Powers was united in marriage to Miss Hanora O'Donnell, a daughter of John O'Donnell, of Jackson township, Jackson county. They now have seven children, as follows: Mary, the wife of George DeGroat, of Elk City, Oklahoma; Anna and Jettie, both of whom are at home; Leo, who is engaged in the stock business in Canada; and John, Robert and Raymond, who are still under the parental roof.
In politics Mr. Powers is an independent democrat, usually voting for the men and measures of the democracy, yet not considering himself bound by party ties at local elections. He and his family are faithful communicants of the Catholic church. Practically his entire life has been spent in this part of the state and he enjoys in large measure the confidence and respect of his fellowmen.