By Muriel Bristol |March 7, 2021
Charles Powers was born in Greenwich, Hampshire County, MA, February 1, 1762, son of Capt. Jeremiah and Elizabeth “Betty” (Cooley) Powers.
Charles Powers was a Revolutionary soldier. He served in Capt. Moses Montague’s Company, of Col. Israel Chapin’s Regiment of Hampshire County, MA, militia, in October-November 1779. He served also in Capt. Oliver Coney’s Company, in Col. Sears’ Regiment of MA militia, in 1781.
Charles Powers married, probably in Greenwich, MA, in 1786, Silence Rogers. She was born in 1761, daughter of William and Silence (Wright) Rogers.
The children of Charles and Silence (Wright) Rogers were: Lois M. Powers, born Pomfret, VT, January 18, 1788; Lucius Powers, born Greenwich, MA, November 18, 1791; Silence Powers, born Acton, ME, May 25, 1793; and Eliza Powers, born Lebanon, ME, March 19, 1795.
The first Physician that settled in [Acton, ME] town was Dr. Charles Powers, who commenced about the year 1791. For many years he did a good business. He continued until about 1825, but practiced occasionally in town afterwards (Fullonton, 1847).
One must be aware of several anachronisms present in accounts of Dr. Powers. What would later be the Acton village of Shapleigh was first settled in 1779, the whole being first called Hubbardstown Plantation. Maine was then a province of Massachusetts. Shapleigh – including what would later be Acton – was incorporated in 1785. Dr. Powers is said to have settled there in or shortly after 1791. (His son Lucius was said to have been born in Greenwich, MA, November 18, 1791, and, if that is accurate, it seems unlikely that he and his family would have moved so late in the year). The Province of Maine was set off from Massachusetts as its own U.S. State in 1820, and Acton was set off from Shapleigh as its own town on March 6, 1830.
Chapter 64. RESOLVE ON THE PETITION OF CHARLES POWERS AUTHORIZING THE PARISH IN SHAPLEIGH TO CONVEY THE LAND MENTIONED. On the Petition of Charles Powers, agent for and in behalf of the First Parish in the Town of Shapleigh, in the County of York, praying that said Parish may be authorised to sell to the Revd. Joseph Brown, the present minister thereof, twenty acres of the Parsonage belonging thereto. Resolved, for reasons set forth in said Petition that the prayer thereof be granted, and that the said Parish be and hereby are authorised and impowered to sell and convey to the said Joseph B[r]own, twenty acres of land situate in the southwest corner of the parsonage lot in said Parish, said lot being numbered five, in the seventh range in the first division of lots in said Town; and to make and execute a good and sufficient deed of conveyance of said twenty acres to said Brown accordingly. January 16, 1800 (MA General Court, 1897).
Charles Powers headed a Shapleigh, ME, household at the time of the Second (1800) Federal Census. His household included one male aged 26-44 years [Charles Powers], one female aged 26-44 years [Silence (Rogers) Powers], one female aged 10-15 years [Lois M. Powers], one male aged 10-15 years [Lucius Powers?], and two females aged under-10 years [Eliza Powers and Silence Powers]. His household appeared in the enumeration between those of Daniel Cook and Jeremiah Gilman.
Daughter Lois M. “Mercy” Powers married in Shapleigh, ME, October 26, 1806, Major Aaron Hubbard.
Charles Powers was a surgeon’s mate in the York County militia in 1807 (Emery, 1901).
Doctr. Charles Powers headed a Shapleigh, ME, household at the time of the Third (1810) Federal Census. His household included one male aged 45-plus years [himself], one female aged 26-44 years [Silence (Rogers) Powers], one female aged 16-25 years, and one female aged 10-15 years. His household appeared in the enumeration between those of Jotham Brackett and Joseph Door, Jr.
Daughter Silence Powers married, circa 1812, Zebulon Gilman. Son Lucius Powers married, in 1813, Martha Hubbard.
Daughter Eliza Powers married in Lebanon, ME, in 1818, Deacon John Moody.
PHYSICIANS. Dr. Charles Powers, of Greenwich, Mass., established himself at the western border near Milton Mills, as early as 1791, and practiced with good success till 1825. He then removed to New Hampshire and finally died in Shapleigh in 1847 [1844] (Loring, 1854).
Son Lucius Powers headed a New Durham, NH, household at the the of the Fifth (1830) Federal Census. His household included one male aged 30-39 years [himself], one female aged 30-39 years [Martha (Hubbard) Powers], one female aged 10-14 years, one male aged 5-9 years, one female aged 5-9 years, two males aged under-5 years, two females aged under-5 years, and one female aged 60-69 years.
Silence (Rogers) Powers died September 25, 1839, aged seventy-three years, eight months.
Samuel Gilman headed a New Durham, NH, household at the the of the Sixth (1840) Federal Census. His household included one male aged 50-60 years, one female aged 40-49 years, one male aged 16-19 years, one female aged under-5 years, and one male aged 70-79 years. The male aged 70-79 years was identified as Revolutionary pensioner Charles Powers, aged 78 years. One member of the household was engaged in a learned profession, i.e., Dr. Charles Powers, while a second was engaged in manufacture and the trades, and the third in agriculture.
Charles Powers died at Shapleigh, ME, January 12, 1844, aged eighty-one years.
Dr. Charles Powers, the first Physician of this [Acton, ME] town, was a native of Greenwich, Ms. [Mass.]. He came here in 1791, and practiced most of the time more than 30 years. He died at Shapleigh, early in 1844, aged 81 (Fullonton, 1847).
References:
Emery, Edwin. (1901). The History of Sanford, Maine, 1661-1900. Retrieved from books.google.com/books?id=0nUUAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA206
Find a Grave. (2017, July 1). Silence Powers Gilman. Retrieved from www.findagrave.com/memorial/180911307/silence-gilman
Find a Grave. (2013, November 7). Marcia Powers Hubbard. Retrieved from www.findagrave.com/memorial/119939563/marcia-hubbard
Find a Grave. (2013, November 9). Dr. Charles Powers. Retrieved from www.findagrave.com/memorial/120047214/charles-powers
Loring, Amasa. (1854). History of Shapleigh. Retrieved from books.google.com/books?id=tlzZdV2wqR0C&pg=PA39
MA General Court. (1897). Acts and Resolves Passed by the General Court. Retrieved from books.google.com/books?id=FmCxAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA555
Milton Observer 