My Genealogy Hound

W. H. Powers, M. D., is a native of Monroe County, W. Va., and was born May 16, 1823. He was the second in a family of five children, and received his education in the common schools of his native county. When seventeen years of age he moved to Prince Edward County, Va., and in the fall of 1849 located near Gray’s Summit, Franklin Co., Mo., making his home with Dr. John A. Powers, with whom he studied medicine. In 1852 he settled in the neighborhood of Catawissa, practiced medicine a short time, and in the winter of 1852-53 attended a course of lectures at the Eclectic Medical Institute of Cincinnati, Ohio. He then returned to Franklin County, Mo., resumed practice near Catawissa until the winter of 1858-59, when he attended another course of lectures at the same school. He has met with unusual success in his chosen profession, and enjoys a large and lucrative practice, from which he is retiring. He owns 640 acres of cultivated land, well stocked. In 1859 he married Miss JuliaAnn Colbern, a native of Miller County, Mo., and a daughter of James and Jane (Templin) Colbern, natives of Tennessee, and of French and Pennsylvania-German descent. Dr. and Mrs. Powers are the parents of six children: Cora (now Mrs. George H. Kempker), Fannie, James R. (deceased), Julia (deceased), Virona and William A. Mr. and Mrs. Powers are members of the Christian Church. In politics the Doctor is a Democrat. He is a son of Richard and Elizabeth (Francis) Powers, natives, respectively, of Hanover and Monroe Counties, Va., and of Irish and German descent. Richard Powers, a shoemaker and farmer, and soldier of the War of 1812, was a son of Michael Powers, a native of Ireland; the latter was a tanner by trade. Mrs. Elizabeth Powers was a daughter of John and Isabelle (Erskin) Francis.