The New Student's Reference Work/Powderly, Terence Vincent

Pow′derly, Terence Vincent, an American labor-leader, who came into prominence as General Master-Workman of the Knights of Labor, was born at Carbondale, Pa., Jan. 22, 1849. He entered the employ of a railroad as a switch-tender at 12 and as a machinist at 19. He joined the Knights of Labor in 1874 and was elected mayor of Scranton in 1877 and 1878. He was raised to the chief office in the Knights of Labor at their meeting in Chicago in 1879, remaining master-workman until 1893. He studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1894. He was appointed commissioner of immigration by President McKinley in 1897.