Direct descendant is highlighted in red

Susan Catherine Powers                  see FAMILY TREE           

Born: 01 June 1862 Sparta, White Co., TN Married: 12 Jun 1879 to James Stephens Married: 03 May 1882 William Garrett Spillman Married: 1898  Aaron "Tex" Holm Died: 19 Sep 1928 Buried:  Riverside Cemetery, Section 12, Block 31 Lot 7, Cody Wyoming     Name on plot: Katherine Holm FATHER Jacob Huff Powers MOTHER

Sarah Fanny Bronson

HUSBAND

1st: James Stevens

2nd William G. Spillman

3rd Tex Holm

CHILDREN with James Stephens 1. Bessie Stephens     b 22 Sep 1879	Bessie Stephens
CHILDREN with  WILLIAM G SPILLMAN 1. Ethel Blanche Spillman     b. 3 Mar 1883	Ethel Spillman
2. Ralph Spillman     b. 31 July 1885     d. 02 April 1887  3. Ray Jacob Spillman      b. 31 July 1885	Ray Spillman

Susan Katherine Powers
by Susan Brooke
Aug 2021

Susan Powers was the youngest child of Jacob Powers and Sarah Bronson.  She was born 1 Jun 1862 in Sparta, White Co., TN during the Civil War. (1) The War was very hard on this area as half the town sided with the South and the other half sided with the Union.  "In 1864, the area was described as bordering on famine.  Many people who had been wealthy were now actually starving.  The people were robbed of their horses, hogs, cattle, chickens and all food.  Families had to try to hide what little they might have.  All normal commerce had stopped." (2)  By 1870 her parents had moved to Johnson County, IN.  Susan was then 8 years old.
After their move to Indiana, Susan's father was listed as a gunsmith in the 1870 census with no monetary value. (3)  Her mother, Sarah Bronson Powers, however, had come into some wealth after the death of her father. (4) And her uncle Silas Bronson had left her $15,000 when he died in 1867. (5) In the 1870 census her mother had $3,500 in real-estate and $6,650 in personal wealth.  So, the family was living well.  Her father, in fact, was gong to business school at the North Western Christian University in Indianapolis. (6)
When she was 17 years old Susan married 20 year old James Stephens on 12 Jun 1879. (7)  He was a railroad hand whose parents had been born in Ireland.  (8) Three months later their daughter Bessie was born on 22 Sep 1879. Two years later on 21 Sep 1881 James Stephens died leaving her with a two year old daughter, Bessie, and a buggy worth about $75.(9)  Two months later on 29 Nov 1881 her father died of typhoid pneumonia and her mother died of the same thing two days later on 1 Dec 1881. (10)  So, Susan had lost her husband and both of her parents within a two month period.  It is also possible she lost an infant about the same time. (11) Susan must have been quite bereaved. She had a two year old daughter, no husband and no parents.  Eight months later, on 2 May 1882, she married William Spillman. (12)
She had been raised in a family which encouraged women's independence. Her grandfather, Elijah Bronson, had specifically stated in his will that his married daughters would have the right to keep their inheritances even though they were married.  William G. Spillman may have felt differently.  Susan's family were Republicans.  The Spillmans were Democrats. Their marriage was short and tumultuous.  They disagreed about everything, including politics. One election day they were arguing about how to vote.  Women did not have the right and I can only assume William G Spillman thought that was just fine. At any rate Susan got so mad that she chopped up the buggy so he could not take it into town to vote.  It was HER buggy. (13)
She and William Spillman had three children: Ethel who was born 3 Mar 1883, 10 months after their marriage, and twin boys in 1885.  One of the twins died at 21 months of age and that finally ended the marriage. She had some money of her own. (14) Susan and William G. Spillman had sung at square dances and Susan liked music, so she filed for divorce, jointed a wild west show, took Bessie, the child from her first marriage who would have been about 8 and left for Wyoming.  Ethel and Ray Spillman were left with their father, W. G. Spillman.

In 1888 Susan Powers was about 25 years old when she took off to the Wild West.  She wrote to her two children, Ethel and Ray, that she had left back with their father in Indiana of knowing Buffalo Bill. She had a beautiful voice and must have been doing fairly well.   Possibly the Wild West Shows took them back to Indiana at times for her daughter Bessie met and married Charles Forbes on 8 Jul 1897 in Indianapolis and there is a photo taken about that time of Susan with her three children and the new son-in-law, Charles Forbes.

Susan is pictured above with her family.  Susan is seated on the left.  Bessie is standing behind her. Her first husband, Charles Forbes, is front center. Ethel is standing behind him and Ray is on the far right. More than likely this photo was taken in 1897, the year Bessie married Charles Forbes.

She met and married "Tex" Holm probably upon her return to Wyoming after Bessie's marriage in 1897.  In 1900 they were in Bowler, Carbon, Montana where "Tex" was listed as a stagecoach driver.  The census records that they had been married for two years. (15 ) The West was still very rugged but beautiful. In 1902 they were in Cody, Wyoming, sharing a home with the father of Tex Holms and planning on operating a boarding house which she planned to call "The Hoosier." (16) By 1905 they had decided to take guided tours through Yellowstone and Susan started going by her middle name of Katherine.
Easterners flocked to this new experience. "The road over Sylvan Pass opened to the Public in 1903, but it was not until two years later on May 1, 1905, that the road was officially declared open.  Two months later, Charles Heath left Cody with Aron Holm and his wife Katherine for the camping trip of a lifetime.  They were accompanied by an entourage of driver, cooks, horses, mules, three-seated mountain hacks, and supplies to land for the seventeen day and 357 mile excursion.  Upon his return to Cody, Heath exclaimed that this had been the 'greatest trip I ever had in my life.' The local newspaper reported that the whole party was delighted. The cooking and attention given us by Mr. and Mrs. Holm and party were without flaw.' exclaimed Mr. Heath, 'Anyone who goes over with Cody trail will never enter the park any other way and will advise all their friends to take this route.'  This sentiment was echoed by hundreds of satisfied 'Tex' Holm customers from 1901 to 1915." (17)
Katherine Holmes supervised the cooking and after the meal she sang over the evening campfires.  See more photos below. (18)

Holms Lodge was about 7 miles from the east entrance to Yellowstone National Park

Susan is in the middle

Camping parties went out every two to three weeks, with the last one leaving in early October.  Typically fifteen days on the trail would cost $55.00.
By 1912 they had permanent camps at nine locations, each including cabins for dining rooms, kitchens, stables, bunkhouse, and storerooms.  Then disaster struck! In November of 1913 the main building of Holm Lodge was completely destroyed by fire.  They managed to rescue most of the interior furnishings but nothing could be done to save the lodge.  The guest cabins around the lodge survived.  However, the cost of rebuilding the lodge was about $2,500. "Tex" sold the lodge but agreed to keep housing their Yellowstone guests at the rebuilt lodge.  After 1916 the government consolidated the transportation and camping companies shuffling out smaller outfits.  The Holm Transportation Co was bankrupt.  Tex, however, did continue taking folks on camping trips into the backcountry.
In the meantime, her daughter Bessie, was on her way to her eventual nine marriages. By 1915 she was on her 6th husband. (19) Susan "Katherine" may not have gotten back to see her two children in Indiana very often, but she did write to them. But we do know she and her husband were back in Indiana for a Bronson reunion in 1904. (20)  On 12 Mar 1912 her daughter Ethel wrote a poignant postcard to her mother saying, "I expect you think I have forgotten you, but I haven't.  I am living out at 3651 Capital Ave again.  If you can come to see us, we would love to see you.  These are my three youngsters, Elizabeth, Richard and Mary Frances.  Ethel." (21)
In 1917 Susan "Katherine" suffered a paralytic stroke confining her to a wheelchair.  Her daughter Bessie was married to her 6th husband, Gus Kramer, at that point and living in Seattle.  Her children Ray and Ethel were living in Goshen, Indiana.  There is a notice in the Goshen Democrat for 20 Apr 1917 that "R. J. Spillman will leave in a few days for Seattle, Washington to return with his mother." Susan "Katherine" Powers returned with him and stayed for a year with her daughter Ethel Zimmerly getting to know her four grandchildren.  The oldest, Elizabeth (Betty) was 12 years old.
When Susan returned to Wyoming a year later "Tex" worked at various odd jobs.  Eleven years later Susan died with her obituary stating, "she has gone cheerfully about her housework, and with very little help has made a home for her husband even under the most trying circumstances." (22) (23)

(1) Date given to granddaughter and corroborated by 1900 census

(2) White County, 200 years in the Making.

(3) 1870 census, Franklin, Johnson County, IN

(4) Will of Elijah Bronson is posted on page for Elijah Bronson

(5) Will of Silas Bronson is posted on page for Silas Bronson

(6) North Western Christian University Catalogue

(7) Indiana Marriages
James Stephens to Susie E Powers

(8) 1880 census Johnson Co. IN
Marital Status: Married; Relation to Head: Self. works on railroad. Parents born in Ireland.

(9) Affidavit of Susan Stephens
Johnson County Circuit Court April 1881

Susan Stephens being duly sworn -- that she is the bonafide resident of the county of Johnson. -- Than on the 12 day of June 1879 she intermarried with one James Stephens  -- And that on the 21st day of September 1881 said James Stephens departed this life intestate. -- That the only property of which the said decedent owned is one top buggy of the probably value of seventy five dollars. --  (asking for) right title and ownership.  --Submitted 5 Apr 1882

(10) Obit Jacob and Sarah Powers
The Democrat, Franklin, Indiana, Friday Dec 2, 1881

(11) 1900 census states that she was the mother of 5 children, of which only three were still living.

(12) Marriage of William Spillman to Sudie C Stevens

(13) Oral History from grandchildren
Women Suffrage
1880: New York state grants school suffrage to women. 1882: The U.S. House and Senate both appoint committees on women's suffrage, which both report favorably. 1883: Women in the Washington territory are granted full voting rights. ... 1886: The suffrage amendment is defeated two to one in the U.S. Senate.

(14) In addition to the money from her uncle Silas Bronson, she inherited $2,898.23 from her mother's estate in 1882. 

(15) 1900 census Reno, Bowler, Carbon, Montana
Aaron Holmes born Aug 1871 Sweden, immigrated 1885
Susan C. Holmes born June 1862 Tennessee

(16) In 1902 there is a reference to her as the daughter-in-law of John Holm.  She was planning on running a boarding house in the home of her father-in-law.  "Mr. Holmes will have a fine residence when it is fully completed.  The rooms are conveniently arranged and will make one of the finest homes in the city.  His daughter-in-law, Mrs. Aaron Holms, expects to shar the place with him and conduct a boarding house which she has named the 'Hoosier.' "

From Francis Hayden scrapbook as found in the Park County, Wyoming Archives in Cody, Wyoming http://www.parkcounty.us/histarchives.htm

(17) Annals of Wyoming by Bob Goss

Mr. and Mrs. Holm   Photo courtesy of Geyer Bob's Yellowstone Park Historical Service.  Bob Goss [email protected]

Carl Buckingham, Katherine and Tex in Wyoming.  Photo courtesy of Park County, Wyoming Archives in Cody, Wyoming http://www.parkcounty.us/histarchives.htm

Susan "Katherine" Powers Holmes on her horse in Wyoming

(20) The postcard is from Ethel in Indiana to her mother, Susan, out in Wyoming.  

(21) Bronson Family Reunion as found on Findagrave

The Franklin Republican, Friday, 4 November 1904, pg 8
FAMILY REUNION.
The first annual reunion of the Bronson family was held at the Idlewood Hotel, the home of Geo. Shryock, one of the cousins, in Greenwood, yesterday. Those who gathered to celebrate the event were Mrs. Hester Edmonds, the only surviving child, the grandchildren, great-grandchildren and great-great-grandchildren of Elijah and Fannie Molethrope [sic-Moulthrop] Bronson and about one hundred persons were present.
The day and place for holding the reunion were almost ideal and so successful was the first gathering that it was decided to make the reunion an annual occurrence but the meeting will be held hereafter in August…..
Mr. and Mrs. Elijah Bronson the progenitors of those who gathered to do honor to their names moved from Conn. to Ohio later to Mountain, Tenn. and, after the death of Mrs. Bronson moved to Franklin where he lived until his death.
One remarkable thing about yesterday’s gathering was that Mrs. Hester Edmonds, the only surviving child, together with all of her children and grandchildren, to the number of about thirty were present.
Among those who attended were George Ransdell and wife; J. E. Edmonds and family; Mrs. Hester Edmonds and daughter; Dr. J. Williams and wife; Wm. McClain and family; B. M. Vaught and family; Charles Donnell and wife; and Robert Gritten and family, of Franklin; Ray Spillman; Dr. B. H. Sellers and family; Bennett Jacobs and family; William Powers and family; and Fred Dousche and family, of Indianapolis; Benjamin Tucker and family of Needham; C. E. Delaney and family, Nineveh; Aaron Holm and wife, Cody, Wyoming; Fred Tucker, Hartford City; Carry Barnes and wife, Marion; and Miss Byrl Bronson, of Bloomington; Charles Ferrill and wife, Indianapolis; and Gilbert Bronson and wife of Shelbyville.

(22) Katherine and "Tex" Holm in Wyoming
Photo courtesy of Park County, Wyoming Archives in Cody, Wyoming http://www.parkcounty.us/histarchives.htm

(23)  Obituary of Mrs. Katherine Holm.  The Cody Enterprise 28 Sep 1928

Photo courtesy of Geyer Bob's Yellowstone Park Historical Service.  Bob Goss [email protected]