Direct descendant is highlighted in red 

Charles Edward Powers
Born: 06 Sep 1879 Louisville, Jefferson Co., KY
Married: 22 Nov 1906 Cincinnati, Hamilton, OH	marriage record as found on familysearch.com Charles E Powers, blacksmith, son of A. J. Powers and Caroline Childers
Died: 05 May 1956 Lexington, Fayette, KY	Death Certificate for Charles Edward Powers
Buried: Evergreen Cemetery, Southgate, KY

FATHER

Andrew J. Powers

MOTHER

Caroline Childers

WIFE

Bertha Wadlinger
b. Abt 1890
d. 25 Mar 1971 Boone, KY

CHILDREN

1. Caroline E Powers
    b. 01 Oct 1908 OH

2. Elsie Lee Powers
    b. 18 Feb 1910 OH
    d. 07 Aug 1910

3. William Edward Powers
     b. 21 Jul 1911  OH

4  Marie Powers
    b. 1914  OH

5. Fred Powers
    b. 29 Apr 1916 Bellevue, Campbell, KY
    d. 08 Jul 1918

6. Minnie Florence Powers
    b. 28 Jun 1922 Bellevue, Campbell, KY

7. James T Powers
    b. 12 May 1925 Bellevue, Campbell, KY
    d. 04 Nov 1927

Biography of Charles E Powers
by Susan Brooke
May 2013

Charles was only four years old when his father died.  Most of the other chidlren dropped out of school about that time and ended up with 3rd, 4th and 6th grade educations.  However Charles somehow stayed in school and got a 7th grade education. 

By age fifteen, however, he was out of school and working.  In the 1894 Louisville City directory he is listed as a laborer; in 1896 he is listed as a box maker and in the 1900 census for Louisville he is listed as a junk peddler.

Sometime after 1900 he moved to Cincinnati.  He married Bertha R. Wadlinger when he was twenty-seven in 1906,, and on the marriage license he is listed as a blacksmith.  The 1910 census for Cincinnati lists his occupation as "blacksmith" - "wagon."

Then the automobile industry came to the area.  When he registered for the draft in 1919 he gave his occupation as "Rubber Tire ?" for the U.S.  Motor Truck Co.  He was living at 213 Isabell in Bellevue, Campbell, KY where he lived for over ten years.  The draft record describes Charles as of medium build, grey eyes and dark brown hair.

Charles remained working in the automobile industry, listed as working as a tire presser for a tire company in the 1920 census and a mechanic for the automobile industry in 1930.  He must have done fairly well.  By 1930 he had rented a home at 313 Foote Ave where he lived for the rest of his life.  The 1940 census says they rent this home for $25 a month and he earned $2,500 a year. 

Charles died in 1956 at the age of seventy-six.  His death certificate lists his occupation as metal mechanic. 

Experience with the Mexican Border War had taught the military that having many different makes and models of trucks meant major headaches when it came to repair and replacement parts. Needing to standardize equipment, they summoned a number of automotive engineers to Washington to design a Class B Liberty truck with standard, interchangeable parts, rated at 6000 pound load capacity. Once the design was completed, the Motor Transport Section of the Office of the Quartermaster General issued specifications, drawings, and parts lists. Many manufacturers — among them, Bethlehem, Brockway, Diamond T, FWD, Garford, Gramm-Bernstein, Indiana, Kelly-Springfield, Packard, Pierce-Arrow, Republic, Selden, Service, Sterling, U.S. Motor Truck Co., Velie, and others — produced the trucks, all of which had "USA" on their radiator tanks. In October 1918, the first of these trucks reached France, and by war's end more than 8000 had reached that destination. The rugged trucks, utilizing available parts and easy to maintain, buttressed the entire war effort. Truck manufacturers in 1918 had produced ten times the number of trucks they'd produced in 1912.

U. S. Motor Truck Company, Covington, Campbell, KY