Biography of A. S. Powers, pages 944/945.  History of 
DeKalb County, Indiana; B. F. Bowen & Company, Inc., 
Indianapolis, 1914.



The subject of this sketch need no introduction to the 
readers of this volume, for he has for many years been a 
potent factor in the development and progress of DeKalb 
county, and as the proprietor of the DeKalb County Herald 
he is deserving of the high esteem in which he is held by 
all classes owing to his public spirit, integrity and 
fidelity to duty. By dint of industry and marked innate 
ability he has forged to the front among his contemporaries 
and made his influence felt throughout this portion of the 
state. He is popular among the laboring classes and the 
common people because he has been associated from youth 
with the men who have had to strive for what they have 
secured of wealth and fame, and in their struggles he still 
take a lively interest. The DeKalb County Herald wields a 
powerful influence in molding public opinion and it holds 
high rank with the clean, trenchant, wide-awake, modern 
journals of the present day, ably managed in every 
department and a success from the financial standpoint.  A. 
S. Powers was born in Clay county, Kansas, on April 17, 
1876, and is the son of Charles Henry and Nancy (Diamond) 
Powers, the former a native of New York state and the 
latter of Pennsylvania. Charles H. Powers moved from his 
native state to Kansas, where he remained for some time and 
then returned east, locating in Allen county, Indiana, 
where he followed farming, which was his life’s vocation 
and in which he was quite successful, so that he is now 
retired from active business pursuits.  To him and his wife 
were born three children, George A., A. S., the immediate 
subject of this sketch, and Dale.  A. S. Powers received 
his education in the common schools of Allen county, and in 
young manhood he entered a printing office, where he 
learned the “art preservative” and of which he has been a 
devoted follower since that time. He has for a number of 
years been the publisher and editor of the DeKalb County 
Herald at Butler and, as before stated, has wielded a 
potent influence for the development and welfare of the 
community with which he has identified himself. Personally, 
Mr. Powers is a man of strong character and genial 
disposition and he has, since becoming a citizen of DeKalb 
county, formed a wide acquaintances and gained a host of 
warm personal friends.  On May 17, 1900, Mr. Powers married 
Bessie Stewart, the daughter of Daniel and Sylvia (Curtiss) 
Stewart. Mrs. Powers’ father was an old railroad man, being 
one of the first engineers on the Wabash railroad. He was a 
man of steady habits and good character. To Mr. and Mrs. 
Powers have been born three children: Elois, born in 1903, 
Burdetta, born in 1907, and Marcella, born in 1913.  
Politically, Mr. Powers has been a life-long supporter of 
the Democratic party, in the success of which he has been 
deeply interested, but he has never been an aspirant for 
public office, preferring to devote his time and attention 
to the advancement of his business interest. Fraternally, 
he is an appreciative member of the Knights of Pythias, in 
which order he takes an intelligent interest.

Submitted by:

Arlene Goodwin

Auburn, Indiana

Agoodwin@ctlnet.com