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An American Family History

Walter Powers
“He depended on strong sinew and sterling good sense to establish a home for himself and family.”

Littleton, Middlesex County, Massachusetts was first settled in 1686 by English settlers and was the the location of the Native American village called Nashoba Plantation

Walter Powers was born about 1639 in England or Ireland.

Henry Swan Dana said

the New England Powers family descended from Thomas and Walter Power, brothers, born in Waterford, Ireland, who came to this country somewhere near the year 1680. In Ireland the name of the family was Power, but these men, on coming to this country, added an s to their name.

Other sources say that Walter Powers emigrated from Essex, England, to Salem, Massachusetts in 1654.

Walter appeared as a witness in a trial in Middlesex County in 1654. He was a boy of fourteen at that time.

He married Trial Shepard in 1660 when he was about 27 years old. Their children and life together are described in detail in the section on Walter and Trial Shepard.

He ran a sawmill in Littleton, Massachusetts and died there on February 22, 1708.
Lady Day Before 1752 the year began on March 25th. Dates between January 1st and March 24th were at the end of the year, not the beginning.
Children of Walter Powers
and Trial Shepard
  • William Powers
  • Mary Powers Wheeler
  • Captain Isaac Powers
  • Thomas Powers
  • Lieutenant Daniel Powers
  • Increase Powers
  • Walter Powers, Jr.
  • Jacob Powers
  • Sarah Powers Barron
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    (from New England Families by William Richard Cutter)
    Walter Powers, the immigrant ancestor, was born in 1639, in England, and died February 22, 1708. in Littleton, Massachusetts. He settled in Concord, in what is now Littleton, and in 1694 bought of Thomas Waban and some Indians a quarter of the town of Nashobe.

    He married. March 11, 1661, Trial, daughter of Deacon Ralph and Thankful Shepard; she was born February 10, 1641. Ralph Shepard came from England in the ship "Abigail," in July, 1635. He gave his age as twenty-nine, his wife's age as twenty-three, and daughter Sarah as two years. Shepard was a tailor by trade, settled at Charlestown, afterward a pioneer at Dedham, removed to Weymouth, of which he was a town officer in 1645, removed to Maiden, and after 1653 to Concord.

    Children of Walter and Trial Powers, recorded at Littleton:
    William, 1661, died March 16, 1710, had the homestead;
    Mary, 1663, married Lieutenant Joseph Wheeler;
    Isaac, 1665;
    Thomas, 1667;
    Daniel, May 10, 1669;
    Increase, July 16, 1671;
    Walter,
    Jacob, December 15, 1679;
    Sarah, February 8, 1683, married Moses Barron.

    		  

     

         

    ©Roberta Tuller 2012
    tuller.roberta@gmail.com