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Oliver Powers [17 August 2014]
An American Family History: Daniel Powers.
You are correct. This Oliver Powers, is the son of Jerahmeel Powers, son of Daniel Powers and Martha Bates m. 1711. This Oliver died in Cuba while fighting with England against Spain. Known as the French and Indian war in America.--Pat rayburn 00:44, 17 August 2014 (UTC)
- If you are referring to this website, I believe it is NOT listing Oliver as a a son of Jerahmeel. No children of Jerahmeel are given, and in addition, I have found no evidence in my own searching that Jerahmeel had a son named Oliver. Rather I believe, the author of this website was referring, in a very ambiguous and confusing way, to the Oliver Powers mentioned as a son of Daniel and Elizabeth. In other words, he is merely repeating the same myth. Even in the off chance I am wrong about my reading, this website has added no explanation providing how this is known and no details that can be verified. So proves nothing right or wrong.
- The website indicates as its source Historic Homes and Institutions by Ellery Bicknell Crane which as near as I can tell, doesn't actually mention Oliver. Perhaps the author of the website got confused with a similar author, William Richard Cutter who says "Oliver, 1705, died in the Spanish war in Cuba". These encyclopedic sources have very mediocre reputations, as they can be shown to mostly be copied from various existing sources, sometimes even unsourced correspondents, just so they had something to say about everybody. As a result, they contain a significant number of errors. And it seems pretty obvious they have just copied the statement about Oliver since they have no additional details, and very similar wording to the Amos H. Powers book: "Oliver, b. 1705; d. in the Cuban War". The Amos Powers book was published in 1884, about 20 years or more before the rash of encyclopedic books by Cutter, Stearns, Crane, et al., were published. And apparently, now, the above website copies the encyclopedic sources, and so, net-net, nothing new has been added to the discussion beyond what was known in 1884. So basically, we can throw away all those sources, and merely address Amos Powers' book.
- Questions that need to be answered before this statement can have any appearance of being believable:
- What evidence is there that Daniel had a son named Oliver? Not just somebody saying so, as we have seen there are plenty of people willing to copy other people without having any idea if the statements are true, but rather, what primary document (i.e., will, deed giving him land, baptism in church records, etc.)...
- What is this "Cuban War" they are talking about? There is nothing actually called "Cuban War" that I can find, the closest being the Battle of Havana in 1762. In what year did this alleged "Cuban War" happen and what role did Oliver Powers have in it? How did he die?
- How is that Oliver Powers of "Cuban War" fame connected to the alleged son of Daniel, i.e., showing it is not just a coincidence of similar names?
- Based on what year this vague War occurred in, what are the other details of Oliver's life? For example, if it occurred in 1762, he was 57. There was still time to have been married and have a family. There was no standing army, so what would prompt a 57 year old to volunteer for action against Cuba? He would not be some young man lusting after a chance for glory, etc. How can we make sure this is not confusion with one of the Oliver Powers born in the 1740's, whose existence, unlike the alleged son of Daniel's, is a matter or record?
- What is the connection to Timothy, said by Amos Powers "b. 1716; d. in the Cuban War", and all the same questions about Timothy.
- Amos H. Powers lived at a time when it was not considered necessary to prove your statements. However, the result of that leniency is exactly what now makes proof necessary in modern genealogical literature: too many assumptions were given as fact, etc., and many have been shown to be specious. Mr. Powers is obviously not able to defend his work nor provide the sources for his information now. It becomes our job to do this for him. Hopefully he found some real evidence for his assertions. But given how often this is not the case in authors of his time period, his statements cannot be considered fact, or even probability, merely possibility until the proof is reconstructed. What is needed is not another website repeating the same myth, but verifiable answers to all the questions these vague assertions raise. --Jrich 15:51, 17 August 2014 (UTC)
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