Frank Hubbard Powers

{{short description|American politician and lawyer (1864–1920)}} {{Infobox officeholder |name =Frank Powers |image = Frank H. Powers, 1910.jpg |caption = Frank H. Powers, ca. 1910. |birth_name = Frank Hubbard Powers |order = 26th |state_assembly = California |district = 41st |term = January 7, 1895 - January 4, 1897 |preceded1 = John M. Curtis |succeeded1 = Henry C. Dibble |birth_date = {{birth date|1864|09|25}} |birth_place = Campo Seco, California, US |death_date = {{death date and age|1920|11|15|1864|09|25}} |death_place = San Francisco, California, US |party = {{ubl|Republican (before 1895-1920)}} |spouse = Jane Maria Gallatin |children = 4 |profession = {{hlist|Attorney|politician}} |signature = }} '''Frank Hubbard Powers''' (September 25, 1864 – November 15, 1920), served in the California State Assembly for the 41st district from 1895 to 1897.<ref name="Joincalifornia">{{cite web|url=http://www.joincalifornia.com/candidate/11377|title=Join California - Frank H. Powers|website=joincalifornia.com|access-date=2022-03-07}}</ref>

== Early life == thumb|Frank Powers and family (1905).

Powers was born in Campo Seco, Calaveras County, California, on September 25, 1864. He was the son of Aaron Huubard Powers (1829-1907) and Emma Louisa Sweasey (1883-1902), pioneers of the 1849 gold rush. He was educated at the public schools in Sacramento, California and the University of California, Berkeley.<ref name="Obituary"/><ref name="Carmel">{{cite book|last=Dramov|first=Alissandra |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GtRzAgAAQBAJ&q=Frank%20Powers |work=AuthorHouse|title=Carmel-by-the-Sea, the Early Years (1903-1913)|place=Bloomington, IN|date=2013 |pages=98–100, 208, 221|isbn= 9781491824146 |access-date=2022-01-19}}</ref>

On May 29, 1884, at the University of California, Berkeley, Colonel, Frank H. Powers was in the National Guard of California (N.G.C.) military commission as a member of the graduating class.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/97146960/univeristy-of-california/|title=The University. Commencement Exercises at Berkeley Yesterday.|work=The San Francisco Examiner|place=San Francisco, California|date=29 May 1884|page=1|access-date=2022-03-07}}</ref>

On October 15, 1891, Powers married Jane Maria Gallatin (1869-1944) in Manhattan, New York City. She was the daughter of a Sacramento financier, Albert Gallatin (1835-1905). The Victorian house where she grew up in Sacramento was later owned by the father of journalist Lincoln Steffens, and it became the California Governor's Mansion in 1903.<ref>{{cite book|title=The Autobiography of Lincoln Steffens|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Arsc2H9-_KwC|isbn=9781597140164|last1=Steffens|first1=Lincoln|year=1931| publisher=Heyday Books }}</ref>

They were at the Thorndike Hotel in Boston, Massachusetts before they returned to San Francisco by way of Cuba and the Southern Pacific railroad.<ref name="Obituary"/><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/97167202/thorndike/|title=Local Lines.|work=The Boston Globe|place=Boston, Massachusetts|date=18 Oct 1891|page=6|access-date=2022-03-07}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Powers|first=Frank H |title=I Swear|work=Vires Pub. Co.|place= New York |date=1891 |page=|oclc=9244709 }}</ref> He was brother-in-law of novelist and explorer Ernest Thompson Seton.<ref name="Death">{{cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/97169648/1920-frank-powers/ |title=Frank Powers, Lawyer, Dies|work=The San Francisco Examiner|place=San Francisco, California|date=16 Nov 1920|page=13|access-date=2022-03-07}}</ref>

In 1891, Powers was the author of the novel ''I Swear,'' a story of a Stockton, California girl in Boston, published by "Vires Publishing Company."<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/97167912/i-sear/|title=A Stockton Writer.|work=Stockton Daily Republican|place=Stockton, California|date=11 Jun 1891|page=2|access-date=2022-03-07}}</ref>

==Professional background== ===Attorney===

While he was a law student he held the rank of Colonel in the N.G.C through his commission as a student of the University of California.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/97166165/colonel-in-the-ngc/|title=New Military Tactics. Colonel F. H. Powers of this City Engaged in a Work on Fancy Drills.|work=The Mail|place=Stockton, California|date=16 Aug 1887|page=3|access-date=2022-03-07}}</ref> In 1886, he was admitted to the bar in Sacramento. After practicing law in Sacramento and Stockton, California for several years he went to San Francisco and formed a law partnership with J. H. Young called Young & Powers. He then went into the law firm of Heller & Powers in 1896. When Sidney M. Ehrman, joined the firm in 1905, the firm changed to Heller Powers & Ehrman.<ref>{{cite book|last=Hicke|first= Carole|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JVwQGwAACAAJ |title=Heller Ehrman White & McAuliffe: A Century of Service to Clients and Community|date=1991|publisher= Heller, Ehrman, White & McAuliffe}}</ref><ref name="Obituary"/>

===Politician===

Powers was a member of the California State Assembly for the 41st district from January 7, 1895, to January 4, 1897. He ran on the Republican ticket and was a Republican for most of his life.<ref name="Obituary"/><ref name="Joincalifornia"/> He was nominated by Republicans who wanted to secure the adoption of some needed amendments to the Mechanic's lien law.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/97168435/frank-powers/|title=Frank Powers' Ambition.|work=The Record-Union|place=Sacramento, California|date=20 Oct 1894|page=3|access-date=2022-03-07}}</ref>

===Carmel Development Company=== {{Main| Carmel Development Company}} thumb|Carmel's Ocean Avenue (1908).

Powers was interested in the preservation of the California missions and made efforts to the conservation of the Carmel Mission by representing the US government at the centenary celebration of Padre Junípero Serra on the Island of Mallorca, Spain in 1913.<ref name="Vision">{{cite book|last1=Gilliam|first1= Harold |last2=Gilliam |first2=Ann|publisher=Peregrine Smith Books|place=Salt Lake City|title=Creating Carmel: The Enduring Vision|date=1992|url=https://archive.org/details/creatingcarmelen00gill/page/62/mode/2up?q=%22Frank+Powers%22|pages=62–63|access-date=2022-03-10}}</ref><ref name="Obituary"/><ref name="Tribute">{{cite book|last1=Hale|first1=Sharron Lee |url=https://archive.org/details/tributetoyesterd0000hale/page/8/mode/2up?q=Powers |title=A Tribute to Yesterday: The history of Carmel, Carmel Valley, Big Sur, Point Lobos, Carmelite Monastery, and Los Burros|publisher=Valley Publishers|place= Santa Cruz, Calif.|date=1941|page=8|isbn=9780913548738 |access-date=2022-03-07}}</ref>{{rp|p9}} In April 1903, Powers wrote a letter to the editor of the ''San Francisco Examiner'' saying that he, along with William Randolph Hearst, was willing to contribute to the Fund for the Preservation of California's Landmarks. He said: "I think that all the old missions and other buildings should be restored and preserved as monuments to the founders. I am ready to furnish the adobe and the tiling for restoration of that mission in proper form, and for $3,000 ({{Inflation|US|3000|1903|fmt=eq}}), I believe that all the adobe and all the tiling for the mission buildings coul be furnished. I am going to do my little towards preserving a relic of early days in this State by preserving an old style farm house in Monterey."<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/102159437/californias-landmarks/|title=Place Your Name on The Subscription Roll|work=The San Francisco Examiner|place=San Francisco, California|date=29 Apr 1903|page=3|access-date=2022-05-19}}</ref>

=== Murphey's barn/studio=== thumb|Murphey farmhouse, Carmle's first art studio

Powers was a member of the Zeta Psi fraternity, the San Francisco Bohemian Club, University Club, Commonwealth Club of California, the Society of California, and the Masonic fraternity.<ref name="Obituary"/>

==Death==

Powers died on November 15, 1920, at the age of 56, at his home in San Francisco. He was still a member of the Heller & Powers at the time of his death.<ref name="Obituary">{{cite web |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/97144036/obituary/|title=Frank H. Powers, A Former Stockton Attorney, Is Dead|work=Stockton Daily Evening Record|place=Stockton, California|date=19 Nov 1920|page=1|access-date=2022-03-07}}</ref> Funeral service were held in N. Gray and Company funeral home. Cremation was at the Cypress Lawn Memorial Park in Colma, California.<ref name="Death"/>

==References== {{Reflist}}

==External links== {{commons category}} * [https://www.carmelheritage.org/historic-walking-tour.htm Carmel Heritage website] * [http://www.tfaoi.com/aa/5aa/5aa300.htm The Carmel Monterey Peninsula Art Colony: A History] * [https://ci.carmel.ca.us/post/historic-preservation Carmel Historic Preservation] * [https://californiarevealed.org/islandora/object/cavpp%3A131654 Audio recording of about Jane Gallatin Powers]

{{DEFAULTSORT:Powers, Frank Hubbard}} Category:1864 births Category:1920 deaths Category:Politicians from Carmel-by-the-Sea, California Category:People from Calaveras County, California Category:Republican Party members of the California State Assembly Category:19th-century members of the California State Legislature