William Imla Powers

NJGenWeb ~ Morris County, New Jersey

William Imla Powers

Source: History Morris County New Jersey, Volume II, Lewis Publishing Co., 1914

William Imla POWERS, one of the most prominent citizens of Boonton, Morris county, New Jersey, ex-mayor of the city and ex-freeholder of the county, comes of a family for many years identified with the western part of New Jersey and which from long residence has become one with its life and traditions. His father was Ilma POWERS, who for many years dwelt in the region about Hackettstown, New Jersey, a man of strong character and prominent in his neighborhood, a trader in business, whose death occurred November 23, 1845, in his home at Hackettstown, when his son, William Imla POWERS, was but eighteen months of age. Imla POWERS was married January 24, 1824, to Miss Elizabeth VANATTA, a native of Warren county, New Jersey, where she was bon June 24, 1803, daughter of Mr. VANATTA, of that place. Mrs. Imla POWERS survived her husband until December 6, 1864, when her death occurred. Mr. and Mrs. Imla POWERS were the parents of seven children: Margaret, born September, 1828, died in 1844; Matilda, born March 8, 1829, deceased, became the wife of Rosenberg VANATTA; Mary Jane, deceased, born April 11, 1833, and became Mrs. Amos WOLVERTON; Frances, born August 3, 1837, now Mrs. Charles GIBSON, a resident of Washington, New Jersey; Louis, born June 20, 1839, now a resident of Newark, New Jersey; Archibald A., born May 5, 1842, now a resident of Kansas City, Kansas; William Imla, the subject of this sketch; and James, born February 5, 1846.

William Imla POWERS, sixth child of Imla and Elizabeth (VANATTA) POWERS, was born May 26, 1844, near the town of Hackettstown, Warren county, New Jersey. His father died when he was eighteen months old, and the child grew up in the place of his birth, attending the local schools, his bright alert mind gaining for him an excellent education. After completing his studies at these institutions he secured work on a farm, and continued so employed until he was eighteen years of age. In 1862, when still in his eighteenth year, Mr. POWERS enlisted in Company B, Thirty-first Regiment New Jersey Volunteer Infantry. He served for some time in the Union army, and then returned to New Jersey, and entered the service of the Morris Canal, where he has remained up to the present time. This was in 1863, and by 1879 he was foreman and engineer of a dredging machine. In April of the same year he removed to Boonton, Morris county, and there made his home. He served for a number of years as a supervisor, and in 1888 was appointed superintendent of the canal, a position which he retains to this day. In point of service, Mr. POWERS is the oldest superintendent and a prominent figure in the community which counts him as a member. He is one whose interests and sympathies are of a very broad character, and he is a keen observer of the conduct of public affairs, and has more than once demonstrated his ability to direct their course intelligently. He is a Republican in politics, and his voice is influential in the local councils of his party. He has served his fellow citizens in a number of important public offices, and is very popular among the rank and file of voters. Among the offices he has held are a membership in the common council, the presidency of the same council, and for eleven years membership on the board of education. Three time he has been elected mayor of Boonton, and for two years was a member of the board of freeholders of Morris county. At present he is one of the sewerage board of Boonton. It is not merely in politics however, that Mr. POWERS is active. He is a prominent figure in the social life of Boonton, and a well known fraternity man. He ranks very high in the Masonic order, in which he is a member of the Mansfield Lodge, No. 36, F. and A. M.; Chapter, No. 12, R. A. M.; Washington Council, No. 7, R. and S. M.; De Molay Commandery, No. 6, K. T., Washington, New Jersey; and Mecca Temple, Mystic Shrine, New York City.

William Imla POWERS was married in February, 1868, to Miss Elizabeth W. ALLEN, a native of Morris county, where she was born November 12, 1848, daughter of Joseph King and Euphemia (BENNETT) ALLEN, of that place. To Mr. and Mrs. POWERS has been born one child, a daughter, Miss Florence E. POWERS, who resides at home with her parents.

Through the many years during which he has been a resident of Boonton, Mr. POWERS has gradually won for himself a place of respect and affection of his fellow citizens. Public-spirited and of unusually high ideals, he has ever been found on the side of the city’s development and reform, and has given generously of both time and effort to all schemes and plans for its advancement which met with approval by his clear and generous judgement. He is a man of substance, and owns considerable valuable property in Boonton, including his attractive residence, bearing about it the unmistakable evidences of culture and refinement, and situated at No. 121 Myrtle avenue. Mr. POWERS personality is an extremely attractive one. Tall and straight, he is unusually well preserved for his years, and of a splendid address and bearing which cannot fail to attract attention. He is a man if excellent education and well informed in that happy manner which enables a man to make quick and easy use of his knowledge, and like his home bears about him the marks of culture and a cosmopolitan standpoint. He is devotedly fond of books and possesses a fine library of his own housed in a special room in his home. His many good qualities have done more than secure him an enviable reputation in the community, or even than give him the admiration and respect of his fellow citizens, they have done for him what is well nigh the final test of virtue and good character, they have won him a host of devoted friends. Mr. POWERS is a member of the Presbyterian church, as are his wife and daughter likewise. He has served for a considerable time on the board of trustees of the Presbyterian church of Boonton. Here as elsewhere, Mr. POWERS is active and gives generously of his time and effort tot he work of the church and supports materially the many benevolences in connection therewith.

Transcribed by John Cresseveur (1949-2003)