POWER, D.D., Rev. James, was born in Nottingham, Chester Co., Pa., in the year 1746, the child of parents who had emigrated from the north of Ireland.  He received his preparatory education at the school of the eminent Dr. Samuel Finley, and graduated at Princeton in 1766.  Among his classmates in college were Hezekiah J. Balch, Oliver Ellsworth, Luther Martin, and Nathaniel Niles.  He was licensed by the Presbytery of New Castle, June 24, 1772, and ordained at Octorara on the 23d of May, 1776.

In the fall of that hear he removed to Western Pennsylvania, and took up his residence in Fayette County.  He supplied the destitute congregations over an extensive district for a time, and in 1779 became pastor of the Sewickly and Mount Pleasant congregations.  He was the first settled Presbyterian minister in Western Pennsylvania.  He lived to the age of eighty-five years, greatly venerated and beloved for his piety, fidelity, and usefulness.  He was a graceful speaker and of polished manners, and his enunciation was so perfect that when he spoke in the open air, as he frequently did, he could be heard at a great distance.

The degree of Doctor of Divinity was conferred on Mr. Power by Jefferson College in 1808.  He died Aug. 5, 1830.