Llewellyn Powers
Llewellyn, eldest child of Arba and Naomi (Mathews) Powers, was born in West Pittsfield, Somerset county, Maine, December, 1836. He received his preparatory school training at the Corinna Academy. He then matriculated at Waterville College and passed through his freshman and sophomore year when he left to take a course in law at the Albany Law School, where he was graduated LL. B., 1860. He was admitted to the bar of the state of New York the same year, and in January, 1861, was admitted to the bar of Maine and began the practice of his profession in Houlton, that state. He was at once recognized as a coming lawyer, and was elected prosecuting attorney for the county of Aroostook in 1865, retaining the position for six years, 1865-71. He was collector of United States customs for Aroostook district, 1868- 72. In 1868 he was admitted to practice in the United States district and circuit courts, and in 1888 to the Suffolk bar in order to practice in Boston, Massachusetts. His brothers, Don Arba Horace and Frederick Alton, became his law partners in Houlton. He represented the fourth congressional district of Maine in the forty-fifth congress, 1877-79, having previously represented his district in the Maine legislature in 1874-75-76. He was again a representative in the state legislature 1881-92-95, serving as speaker of the house in 1895. He was elected governor of Maine in 1896 by a majority of 48,696 and re-elected in 1898 by a majority of 28,000, the former being the largest majority ever given a candidate for governor. He served as governor of Maine, 1897-1901, and in April, 1901, was elected representative from the fourth congressional district of Maine to the fifty-seventh congress to complete the term of C. A. Boutelle, who had resigned his seat in that congress by reason of ill health. He was returned to the fifty-eighth, fifty-ninth and sixtieth congress, serving on the committees of banking and currency, on elections and on territories. He died in 1908 before the close of the sixtieth congress. Governor Powers received the honorary degree of A. M. from Colby University (Waterville) in 1870, and later that of LL. D. He early affiliated with the Masonic fraternity and received the chapter degrees, and was a member of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. His large holdings of timber and other lands in Aroostook county brought him in relationship with the banks and other financial and manufacturing corporations of Maine, and he served as president of the Farmers' National Bank of Houlton and as a director in various other banking institutions. He was married in 1863 to Jennie, daughter of Benjamin Hewes, of Levant, Maine, by whom there was no issue. He married (second) December 25, 1886, Martha G., daughter of Luther E. and Eliza L. (Garvin) Averill, of Lincoln, Maine. Children: Walter A., Martha Pauline, Doris Virginia, Ralph A. and Margaret L. Mr. Powers died July 28, 1908.
[Genealogical and family history of the state of Maine; By George Thomas Little, Henry Sweetser Burrage, Albert Roscoe Stubbs, 1909 - Submitted by K. Torp]

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