Week 19 – Bald

 

Male baldness is genetically said to come from the X chromosome, namely from the mother.  Most of the men on my mother’s side of the family, while not being totally bald, suffered from “Ring Around the Head” – the nickname of male pattern baldness as dubbed by my daughter. I still don’t consider this bald, and if I were to write about just those with “Ring Around the Head,” I would have to write a novel because there are way too many. I have had to struggle with a few of the 52 Ancestors topics deciding who or what from my family tree fits. This one is by far the toughest, until I decided to write about the opposite of bald.

While only a few photos remain, the men on my father’s side of the family had hair. It did thin out as they aged for a few of them, but for the majority of their adult lives, they had to use a comb. I decided to write about my ancestor with what appears to be the MOST hair. He was my great-grandfather. The photo below is from a charcoal portrait made sometime around the turn of the twentieth century. It was found among my Aunt Dorothy’s things in an oval tigerwood frame. A tear across the convex portrait prompted my dad to have it professionally photographed, as the original was unrepairable. New flat glass replaced the missing rounded one and the photo was placed in the original frame.  I don’t know about you, but just by looking at this fellow, my first impression of him was as a mean, gruff, sort.  I set out to discover what I could about him. 

Francis Newland Powers was born 10 September 1856 in Chariton Township, Randolph County, Missouri. He was sixth child of John Craft Powers and Rebecca Elizabeth Campbell who had come to Missouri between 1840 and 1850, most recently from Greene County, Illinois. His father died when he was a teenager, so his first job was helping his mother on the family farm near Darksville, just south of the Macon County line.

On 2 January 1881, Frank married Lucy Margaret Dale, the daughter of a local farmer whose family had come to the area from Kentucky, a few years before the Powers.  Their first son, Willard Loyal was born in March 1882, followed in September 1884 by son Lonnie May. A little less than two years later, son Robert Earl was born on 1 July 1886, and son Ernest William, on 9 January 1890. It was almost six years later when the youngest of their five sons was born on 15 October 1895 who they named Irvia Marion. While Willard and Robert’s birth records indicates they were born in College Mound in Randolph County, Lonnie, Ernie and Irvia’s state they were born in LaPlata. Based on the birthdates of the five boys, it’s unclear when the family moved to LaPlata indefinitely.

By 1900, Frank and his son, Willard were working as draymen. The family was still in LaPlata.  In ten short years, the family was spread to the four winds. Willard and Robert headed to Fresno, California, where they worked for an oil company; Ernie was a machinist, living in Joplin, Missouri; and Lonnie had joined the US Army and was stationed in Treadwell, Alaska Territory.  This left fifteen-year-old, Irvia, as the only child at home.  Frank and Lucy never owned their own home and chances are their life was hard. Rumor among some of their descendants indicated there was some sort of trouble within the family, but attributed it to Lucy (who they had known personally), and that she was the reason the sons left home and got as far away as possible, at such an early age. Going back to the photo, I might be inclined to rebuke that idea, based solely on his appearance. 

Francis Newland Powers died on 22 January 1916, at the age of 59 years old. My father never knew him. My grandmother who regaled me of all the family tales never knew him. My dad’s cousin who did much research on the family never knew him.  I have no written stories about this man. Nothing to tell me what type of man he was. His death certificate gave his occupation as a hack driver. That immediately brought to mind Ernie the cab driver from It’s a Wonderful Life (my all-time favorite movie). This softened my impression. Then I located his obituary. From the Moberly Weekly Monitor, 25 January 1916: “Francis N. Powers, one of the most highly esteemed residents of this city, died at the family home…”

In all my research, I try to find out about the person. Not just the names, dates and places, but the life stories. Based on things I’ve learned, I look at the photo now and I see a most highly esteemed gentleman.  One who didn’t smile, because that’s not something you did when your portrait was being drawn, more than 120 years ago. A man who likely struggled to provide for his family, and that perhaps was what drove him to an early grave. I see a man who was the father to five remarkable men, all of whom were hard-working, honest and loyal. I see a man who I would have liked to have known and one that I’m proud to share what little I know of him.