Wesley J. Powers

Wesley J. Powers (1845-1902), born in Orono, Durham County, Canada, was the son of James Powers (1818-1903) and Lucinda Manly Powers (1829-1882) and therefore the grandson of Nathaniel Hart Powers and Rebecca LaRue.   (To push this a little further, the cousin of Helen Thornton).

• James Powers (1818-1903) married Lucinda Manly Powers (1829-1882)
  • Wesley J. Powers (1845-1902) married Jennie Marsden (1849-1906)
    • Mabelle Powers (1869-1922) married Dewitt Thatcher (1862-1918)
      • Dewitt Wesley Thatcher (1892-1953) married Ethel X (1888-).   [I don't believe they had children.]

Wesley moved to Illinois (in 1849) and at the age of approximately 17 ran away from home (to Wisconsin) to enlist in the army to participate in the Civil War.  For his service he was one of a very few Canadians to receive the Medal of Honor, receiving it in the mail on his 50th birthday.  His citation reads:  “Corporal, Company F, 147th Illinois Infantry.  Place and date: At Oostanaula, Ga., 3 April 1865. Entered service at: Virgil, Ill. Birth: Canada. Date of issue: 24 October 1895. Citation: Voluntarily swam the river under heavy fire and secured a ferryboat, by means of which the command crossed.”  The photo below may have been taken on the day he received the medal.   For a photo of Wesley and his wife see the post for “James Powers”.

Wesley and his father continued to live in Illinois, James being a farmer and Wesley a moulder and during his last years was in the ice business.  Wesley married Jenny Marsden (1849-1906) in 1867 and they had at least one daughter, Mabelle Powers (1869-1922), who  married Dewitt Thatcher (1862-1918) in 1889, son of Edmund W. Thatcher, and had a son named Dewitt Wesley Thatcher (1892-1953) as well as a baby that died at birth in 1889.   Note:  Jenny’s and Wesley’s name appear on the grave stone for his father, although one cannot read Wesley’s name.  James Powers.  See also the post titled Funeral of Wesley J. Powers.

On reverse in handwriting:  To cousin Helen (Thornton) from Wesley.

The plaque below, which sits beside the grave stone of Wesley and another for his father and mother, was probably placed sometime after 1976.   The symbol is the same as the medal Wesley is wearing in above photo.

Stone below is  unreadable but is part of the POWERS plot in North Cemetery, St. Charles.  The two stones are near one another along with a third naming Wesley, his wife and his parents.  See the post for James Powers.

I also include here a grave stone for Dewitt Wesley Thatcher, Wesley’s grandson.

Dewitt Thatcher grave stone from Camp Butler National Cemetery.