Charles H. Powers was born on April 11, 1828, in Newmarket, New Hampshire, to Cyrus and Lucretia Powers. According to an early biographer, he was “left an orphan at the age of six” and “found a home with an uncle” in Dublin, New Hampshire. He moved to East Jaffrey, New Hampshire, around 1847 and worked as a store clerk.

 

He married Eliza A. Bailey on October 26, 1851, and they had at least two children: Frank, born around 1855; and Fred, born around 1859. Their son Frank died in 1857. Powers eventually became a co-owner of the store, and by 1860, he owned $700 of real estate and $2,300 of personal property. He supported the Republican Party, and he served in the state legislature from 1860 until 1861. He also served as a bank commissioner and postmaster in the early 1860s. His name was drawn in the September 1863 draft, but he probably did not serve in the army. As he explained earlier that year, “I shall pay my 300 Dollars rather than leave my business which is very good now.” He added, however, that “Had I no family or business I would not hesitate a moment—in fact should have been in the service long ago.”

 

By 1870, he owned $8,000 of real estate and $19,000 of personal property. He was elected to the state legislature again in 1878. He died of “congestion of [the] brain” in Jaffrey on October 16, 1885.

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