James Power

The earliest members of my Power family that I could find lived in County Offaly (then King's County) in townland Castlewood, later called Broughal. They were tenants of Nicholas Fitzsimon of Broughal Castle. On 13 Aug 1847, my great-great-grandfather James Power and his family left Offaly and departed Liverpool on the Izaak Walton, arriving 13 Sep 1847 in New York. James, his wife Anne Killeen, and seven of their children made the trip. Only their first-born son, Thomas, was not with them. Another Thomas Power who died in 1844 may have been his grandfather, and I wonder if the younger Thomas had also died. Two more children were born after they reached New York and then all 11 members of the family moved to Frostburg, Maryland.

James the father and most of if not all of the boys worked in the coal mines after they got to Frostburg. Life and work in the Georges Creek area was better than in some of the other mining areas, it seems they were paid in real money (not script) and bought their own houses and shopped in the town's stores. My grandfather worked in the mines and he always seemed happy and mischievous, loving to kid us. His boys did not go into the mines, they left Frostburg to go into the military and settled near Washington DC. My great-great-grandfather (James) and my great-grandfather (John) and my grandfather (Clarence) stayed in Frostburg and worked in or around the mines. The mines are long quiet now, leaving the other great draw for Frostburg, which was that it is a beautiful and peaceful respite from the hot humid coast and is still a wonderful place to visit in the summer. It is beautiful in the winter, too, but you might have to stay until the snow melts!