Menu
The memorable 'Honest John' Powers
But for a quirk of fate, plus a bit of skullduggery by big city politicians, Trenton would have been able to claim one of its own as Governor of Nebraska in 1890.
John Holbrook Powers was born in Collinsville, Illinois (near St. Louis, Mo.) in 1831. During his lifetime, until his death in 1918, the United States went through a time of great change. John Powers was an astute observer of the times, and the changes that took place during his lifetime. He took the trouble to write of his life and times in a short, but very interesting autobiographical sketch, which has been preserved by the Hitchcock Co. Historical Museum in Trenton.
Before his birth an event occurred that shaped John's future and set him and his family on a path of sobriety and up righteousness. John's parents had emigrated from Massachusetts in 1789, as part of a colony of relatives and friends, led by a man by the name of Deacon Collins (who gave his name to the settlement, Collinsville).
Deacon Collins immediately built a large distillery, which he ran successfully for a number of years. But when his eldest son died of Delirium Tremens, the good Deacon was so affected that he destroyed his distilling equipment and started a Temperance Society. From John Powers' autobiography, "My parents both joined the Temperance Society and always adhered to its principles, which were followed by all their children."
Powers was eager for an education, but schoolteachers were scarce in that part of Illinois in the period before the Civil War. From the age of 6 to 12 young John was able to attend school only now and then during the winter months. Some of his teachers were good, but some were very bad.
At the age of 12, John's formal schooling came to an end. Yet he never gave up on his dream of getting an education. On his own he mastered Adams' new Arithmetic, Kirkham and Murray's Grammars, Webster's Spelling Book, and Mitchell's Geography. He could write plainly and could make and mend a quill pen. At age 20 he began to think of teaching school. He took the examinations from the county superintendent (who was also a physician), and was given a temporary certificate to teach.
He was a good teacher, and went on to teach for a number of years -- some 20 terms of three (winter) months each. He had no trouble in his classrooms, even though the sizes of his classes were large. He had 40 students in his first school, and over 70 in each of his last three schools.
During these 20 years Powers began to farm as well as teach. He married his wife, Helen R., a schoolteacher. They had 5 children. They bought their own land -- an 80- acre farm, (at $5 per acre) -- taught school in the winter, farmed in the summer.
In 1859, Powers' leadership abilities first became apparent, when he became active in the county Grange (a farmers' organization). He was elected to the office of Lecturer in the Grange, and made speeches to area groups, showing farmers the power of combining their efforts toward a common goal.
In 1862, the second year of the Civil War, John Powers enlisted in the Infantry unit of the 104th Illinois Volunteers. But his war experience proved to be short lived when he was stricken with reoccurring bouts of pneumonia and was finally honorably discharged from the service without ever going into combat.
In 1867 Powers' wife, Helen R. died. A year later he married Ellen, the widow of a Civil War soldier. To this union were born five sons and two daughters). In 1873 Powers sold his 80-acre farm and headed for the new state of Nebraska (1867). He settled in Hall County, where he entered a Homestead and timber claim, and also bought 320 acres of land. His organizational ability quickly surfaced in Nebraska and Powers was instrumental in organizing his county's officers. He was elected to the office Chairman of the County Board of Supervisors. At the same time he acted as Justice of the Peace. He acted in this dual role for a number of years.
The trust that people had in Mr. Powers was shown in other ways. In addition to his political duties Powers served as an Elder at Presbyterian Churches in Hastings, Hansen, Dyke, Lincoln, and Grand Island. He was also licensed as a Lay Evangelist to preach the Gospel within the bounds of the Presbytery.
In the 1880s, Powers and his family took up residence on land in Hitchcock County, near Cornell (South of Trenton). About this time Milton George, of Des Moines, Iowa, a publisher of a farmers' paper, started a society called the National Farmers' Alliance, which pledged to support truth and righteousness among all people. When the Grange-like organization spread to Nebraska, Powers became a staunch member of the group. He quickly was entrusted with important duties within the organization. He was responsible for publishing a booklet called Alliance Manual Notes, designed to help lead discussions on important topics at Alliance meetings. He was appointed State Organizer for the National Farmers' Alliance and organized the first Alliance in his own neighborhood.
By 1890 he had risen to the office of Alliance State President. A convention that fall nominated John Powers as the gubernatorial candidate of the People's Party (the political arm of the National Farmers' Alliance). Powers' work with the Alliance and his work with the Presbyterian Churches had demonstrated that he was a man whose word could be relied upon, thus the nickname of "Honest" John during the campaign.
The campaign in the fall proved to be hard fought, and very trying on Powers. When the returns were counted it was apparent that Powers had received the plurality of the votes, but by falsifying some returns in Omaha, and by the probable bribing of the Alliance's own lawyers, Powers was defrauded of the office, and James Boyd, the Democratic candidate was declared Governor of Nebraska.
Though Powers' allies saw the election as a great crime, Powers himself claimed no personal injury, and kept active in his various pursuits, farming, church work and the Alliance. But he never was out of the public eye, and four years later, when Governor Holcomb was elected to office, "Honest" John Powers was appointed to the office of State Labor Commissioner. In the two years he held this office he made a thorough examination of the state in regard to its agricultural and natural resources as well as the conditions and prospects of the laborers of the state, both in the towns and on the farms.
Upon leaving state government, Powers served as Adjutant at the Soldiers' and Sailors' Home in Grand Island until 1901, when he retired from public life. It was not until this time that he ceased his affiliation with the Presbyterian Church and united with the Congregational Church of Trenton.
John Powers died at his farm home south of Trenton in 1918. He was buried in the Trenton Cemetery, beside his second wife, Ellen, who died in 1909. (Descendants of Mr. Powers living in Trenton in 1993 were the Lester Powers and the Wendell Wertz families).
If "Honest" John was bitter about being denied the office of Governor he did not express that feeling. But it is perhaps fitting that his great grandson, Robert Crosby fulfilled the ambition of his ancestor when he become Governor of Nebraska in 1952.