Power, George

Born: 1798-02-18 Fayette County, Kentucky

Died: 1886-08-05

Power married Nancy Wilcockson on February 10, 1820, in Bath County, Kentucky. The couple had one child there before moving in the fall of 1821 to Sangamon County, Illinois, where a second child was born. The family made their home in Cantrall, and Power held a variety of civil and military offices. In 1827, he received a commission as a major in the Illinois State Militia. The militia was reorganized in 1829, and Power's commission expired. During the Black Hawk War, he gained a commission as 2nd lieutenant of a volunteer regiment. Power built the first frame house in Sangamon County, was a justice of the peace for nineteen years, and was a businessman and farmer. In 1850, he owned $1,800 in real estate. By 1860, Power had amassed $53,500 in real estate, with a personal estate of $22,500.

Gravestone, Power Farm Cemetery, Cantrall, IL; John Carroll Power and S. A. Power, History of the Early Settlers of Sangamon County, Illinois (Springfield, IL: Edwin A. Wilson, 1876), 578-79; U.S. Census Office, Seventh Census of the United States (1850), Sangamon County, IL, 253; U.S. Census Office, Eighth Census of the United States (1860), Sangamon County, IL, 314.