Chris & Julie Petersen's Genealogy

William Henry Winters

Male 1831 - 1895  (64 years)


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  • Name William Henry Winters 
    Born 1 Apr 1831  Columbus, Bartholomew, Indiana, United States Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Gender Male 
    Died 13 Apr 1895  , , Idaho, United States Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Person ID I3564  Petersen-de Lanskoy
    Last Modified 27 May 2021 

    Family Helen Louisa Frederick,   b. 19 Jun 1839, , Livingston, Michigan, United States Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. 30 Nov 1918, North Powder, Union, Oregon, United States Find all individuals with events at this location  (Age 79 years) 
    Married 18 Jul 1857  , , Utah, United States Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Divorced Yes, date unknown 
    Last Modified 28 May 2021 
    Family ID F1802  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  • Notes 
    • RESEARCH_NOTES:
      1. Various recent individual submitted temple work in 2001/2002 inOrdinance Index notes the following which may or may not be correct since it is undocumented:
      a. William Henry Winters, b. 1 Apr 1831 in Bartholomew Co, Indiana, d.13 Apr 1895, m. Helen Louise Fredricks 18 Jul 1857 in Utah. It also notes Helen Louise Fredricks as b. 19 Jun 1839 in Michigan and d. 30 Nov 1918. A variant on birth is 4 Jan 1831 in Columbus, Bartholomew, IN (note dates are transposition of 1/4/1831 or 4/1/1831.
      b. Parents: David Winter and Sarah Elizabeth Spurgeon/Spurgin.
      c. Marriage to Helen 18 Jul 1857 in UT; marriage to Matilda Ann Duncan 9 Apr 1877 at Bountiful, Davis, Utah with her birth noted at 1840 in Missouri.

      2. US Censuses:
      1860: Jack's Valley, Carson, Utah Territory, p. 156, dwelling #1874,family #1874 (on this same page was Jacob N. Winter & family):
      Wm. H. Winter, age 30, male, occupation Stock raiser, born Indiana.
      Eliza age 20, female, born Michigan.
      Anne Jane age 2, female, born Utah
      M. Snider, 30, male, born Indiana [William's Aunt Jane Spurgeon married Daniel Snider; perhaps M. Snider is a cousin or other relative.]
      Elias Williams, 21, male
      Susan Maria 25, female, servant "Piute Indian"

      1880: Good Hope, Elko, Nevada, NA film T9-0758, p. 64D:
      Wm. Winters, 48, ranchman, IL VA IN.
      Matilda, wife, 40, MO MO MO.
      Lida, dau., 16, UT MO MO.
      Josie F., dau., 11, NV MO MO.
      Frank, son, 9, NV IL MO.
      Alice, dau., 7, NV IL MO.
      Clara, dau., 5, NV IL MO.
      George, son, herder, 16, NV IL MO.
      James Stoddard, SSon, ranchman, 18, UT NY MO.
      Susie Stoddard, SDau, keeping house, 17 UT NY MO.

      3. From Leslie Wood 18 Jul 2003 :
      a. Excerpts from the "P G & E" newsletter, San Francisco, California,Aug 1967, Gateways to California, Pit River Route: "Sometime prior to1871 a man named James Ballard built a toll road down the Pit River canyon from what is now Fall River Mills and this road was purchased by Capt. William H. Winter. Winter improved the road, which soon had acompeting road, built by H. H. Baker from Burney Valley to Fall River Valley... In Fall River Valley, emigrant roads from Oregon and from the east met."
      b. Excerpts about William Winter from the story by his daughter, Clara Winters Ross:
      "I came to Portland Business College, where I took short hand and other business subjects but not bookkeeping. So by a whim was the course of a life changed. That is how it happened I was not at home with the rest of the family when Pa was murdered. His horse (some said a mule) thrown over a cliff into the whirling Snake and his body concealed high on a lonely,rocky mountain. The day after he had supposedly been drowned his horse came up in a whirlpool, there, a year later, a skeleton as my father.The coroner could not certify to it on the evidence. I wrote to him [an attorney in LaGrand] that my father's skeleton never was taken from the Snake, that it was my brother George who found it high on the slope of a mountain out from Ontario where some sheepherders had discovered it,dragged and mauled by coyottes, with the beard turned up over the face.Pa's barlow knife close at hand. All was lost to us when my father was so cruelly murdered and a trap laid to put the blame on Frank. According tothe record, this year and day of infamy was April 13, 1895."
      "Trees and flowers began to appear, and the 'new' part of the graveyard was a blanket of green. But the 'old' part, where Tom Burns, Anna's husband and Bob Haines, Alice's husband, and ma were all buried was dry and se-e. Kathie's little baby that Lida had attempted to raise, was buried in the old graveyard on the Kemball place and so far as I know was never removed from there. That box of bones, alleged to be the skeleton of my father but unidentifiable as such, was finaly buried in that older part of the grave yard, I think. Some unknown tragedy ends there for some man - and perhaps for some family."
      c. Occupation was a rancher and he raised horses. He was once captain of a wagon train.
      d. Affidavit of William Henry Winter found in court house records by Wayne & Thelma Mikesell Winters in 1988 and transcribed from photocopy of original handwritten record by Leslie Mikesell Wood and Della Mikesell Binder. (Handwriting was very hard to decipher.]: "The Circuit Court for Wallowa County, State of Oregon. Helen L. Winter, Plaintiff vs. W.H. Winter, Defendant. I W.H. Winter being first duly sworn say, that I am the defendant above-named, and have a good sufficient, valid existing defense to the complaint filed in the above entitled action and each allegation contained in said complaint, as I am informed by my counsel to whom I have made a full and detailed statement of all the facts I am able to make in all my relations with the plaintiff above named. That on orabout February 1857, I first met the plaintiff in Utah Territory, and that at that time plaintiff was the wife of one [blank space] Owen, and possessed of no property, but serving as a domestic doing general housework in the house of my brother. That at that time I was the owner and possessed of, as the result of my own labor, property of the value of not less than $2000. That the plaintiff's husband, the said [blank space]Owen, was a Mormon in religion and the community in which he and plaintiff lived, was settled by people of that religious faith, and any gentile who in any manner opposed or interfered with Mormon affairs orfamilies was in actual and imminent danger of being mysteriously murdered and his property stolen or confiscated by the church. That myself and brother and his family were all gentiles and religious sentiment in said community was so violent against all gentile people at this time that we were in constant danger and we were compelled to secretly leave said community and flee across the mountains, intending to go to the state of California, taking with us our property, consisting principally of livestock. That plaintiff repeatedly begged me to take her from the rule,control and oppression of her said husband, who cruelly and inhumanly mistreated her to my actual knowledge. That I took plaintiff, at the riskof my own life and property, and at my personal expense, as she had no means of her own, and escaped from said Mormon settlement with her, my brother and his family, through the mountainous wilds of Utah and what is now Nevada, then inhabited by only wild animals and hostile tribes of Indians, traveling about 1000 miles and finally settling in Carson Valley near the foot and on the east side of Sierra Nevada Mountains. That the valley at that time was almost wholly unsettled and not less than 80miles from the nearest established settlement. That myself and plaintiff settled in said Carson Valley, where I obtained land and entered extensively into the stock business for the California market, and lived in said valley for 17 years. That during said time I accumulated property to the value of about $10,000. That during the year 1866, plaintiff left my home sometime in the Spring, and as soon as I found out where she was I provided her suitable board and lodging at a respectable hotel at Carson City for the summer, thinking a summer's rest might do her good. In the same year, while so absent she commenced a suit against me for divorce in Orsby Co. Nevada, and upon the evidence that she was the wife of said, [blank space] 0wen and had never been married to me and had notdivorced him, said suit was dismissed. That sometime during the fall of the same year 1866, plaintiff returned to my home and continued to live there until some time in the fall of 1875 when she wanted to visit her people in Utah, and asked to take her children with her. I furnished her the means to travel with and she took all the children but my son George who followed sometime about Christmas the same year. She remained in Utahon this visit until sometime in the early part of 1877 when she returned to Winnemucca, Nevada, some 75 miles from my place. During all her stay in Utah I supported her and the children, who were going to school. I repeatedly wrote her while she was away this time, asking her to return, but she refused, wanting to live in Utah. When I first met her at Winnemucca on her return, I had not had an answer to any of my letters for many months, and was surprised to meet her. I asked her when she wanted to come home. I had taken my son George to that place to send him away to school and she said she would not come home at all, but wanted her share of the property to take the children to California to school. I offered to send all the children then old enough to attend school, but she flatly refused to return to my home, and demanded a share of my property. Finally plaintiff and defendant entered into a written agreement at this time agreeing that plaintiff and defendant would live separate and apart during the remainder of their natural lives. And plaintiff therein, in consideration of the conditions of said agreement in writing covenanted to and with me that she would not in any manner or under any pretenses whatever sue or prosecute me for any of my property I have had or might after that time acquire, that plaintiff released me in said agreement from any liability for her support and agreed to care for, educate and raise with a parents care all her daughters then with her, being Catherine Helen, Josephine M., Alice and Clara, and I was to educate, raise and care for all her sons, being George S. and Henry F. That in said agreement I bound myself to pay plaintiff out of my property the full sum of $3000 all of which I fully paid to or for plaintiff at or before the maturity of said obligation, which said $3000 plaintiff time and time accepted in full of all claims against me or my property.Sometime in the spring of said year she took all her said children and went to Petaluma, California where I purchased for her a nine acre farm planted orchard and vineyard for which I paid $150 per acre. She moved onto this farm with her children to send them to the graded or highschools of Petaluma. I lived all this time in Elko County, Nevada,engaged in the business of ranching and raising stock. I sent my son George to plow and farm her land at her request and to go to school. Sometime in 1879, I think, George wrote me that his mother, the plaintiff, had spent all the money, was greatly in debt and had been sent to the asylum as insane. He said his sisters were without homes or any place to stay. I sent him word at once to get them cared for and I would come down and fix things up as soon as possible, and sent him money to come home that he might help me care for the stock, as he had no home where he was. Inside of a month or two I went to California where plaintiff had lived with her children, settled in full all outstanding debts of plaintiff and her children and brought the children all back with me to Nevada, first having obtained the consent of my wife, Matilda, mentioned in plaintiffs complaint, to bring said children to my home and care for them. As I now remember it cost me about $800 in money to make said trip and settle said outstanding debts. While in California at this time I went to the asylum at Napa City, to see the plaintiff who was both sick and insane, and the authorities would not allow her removal or in any manner interfered with and I was compelled to return to my home without her, and unable to do anything for her. Sometime in the spring of 1880, I think it was, I again went from my home in Nevada to the asylum at Napa, California to see plaintiff, and get permission from the physicians to remove her to the home of her married daughter at Petaluma thinking the change might help her. She seemed to improve and I was again compelled to return to Nevada, leaving her at the home of her daughter, the doctors having ordered that if she did not improve to have her returned. In about six months from this time plaintiff sent me word that she was much better, and wanted to come to see and be with her children. I immediately sent the money to pay her expenses and she came at once to my home in said Elko County, Nevada. That in April 1877, after said separation between me and plaintiff I was lawfully and regularly married to one Matilda Stoddard in Davis County, Utah Territory, and ever since have been and now am the lawful husband of the said Matilda. That when plaintiff returned to my home after said confinement in the asylum for the insane she seemed much more feeble in mind than ever before, and was very wilful, not wanting my wife to have any control over plaintiff'sChildren, and my wife, having become attached to the children, wished exclusive control of them. The house was not large enough for us all, and I was extremely embarrassed by my surroundings. I fully realized that my wife should be mistress of my household, and that plaintiff was the natural mother to the children in controversy, and I wanted to avoid anything that might further affect her mind. After carefully considering the matter I sold out my lands and my wife Matilda said if I would buy her a farm in Utah, she would like to return there and live near her children. I wanted to come to Oregon and she would not come with me. I bought her a farm as she desired and she went to Utah to live where she remained until sometime in the summer of 1888, when she came to Wallowa County, Oregon where she has ever since lived and now lives with me as my wife. That I sent the plaintiff and her children when I sold out in Nevada, to Oregon, while I went to Wyoming Territory with a band of horses to sell. After selling said band of horses, I came to Oregon, and sometime in March 1882, I brought plaintiff and her children to Wallowa County, Oregon, where plaintiff has continuously resided at my home in said county, until about July 1888, plaintiff, at her own request, was moved from my house to a house I had built on a quarter section of land ajoining my place, that I had cleared and improved at about $1000 expense to myself and had deeded to plaintiff. When my wife wanted to come from Utah to my home in Oregon, I made the fact known to plaintiff and her children, and all of them expressed a willingness to have her come, and at their own insistence were moved onto the farm of plaintiff, a distance of about 300 yards from the house I then lived in and still occupy as ahome. That I supported plaintiff and her children at my own expense while they remained on said farm of plaintiff and have at all times when permitted so to do, provided for, supported and cared for plaintiff and any of her children. I am possessed of and own certain personal and real property in Wallowa County, Oregon of the value of about $11,000, and that I owe, over and above any and all amount due me, between five andsix thousand dollars. I have about 200 head of cattle, not of a marketable class, and about 500 tons of hay which, unless fed by me to steers for the spring market of 1892 will result in great loss to myself and cause me to lose not less than $4,000, including the loss to me of 140 acres of grain. That all of said hay and grain was grown by me with the intention of feeding all the same to beef cattle for the market of 1892, and unless allowed to use the same for that purpose, I will suffer great and irreplaceable loss in both means and credit. That the restraining order in this suit has so impaired my credit in the business circles of Wallowa County, Oregon, that I have so far been unable to secure money to pay the hired help I was compelled to have in harvesting my said crop of hay, and grain, and unless said order is removed from my property, it will be sacrificed by my creditors, as I can not then sell it to get the money to pay them, or use it for a basis for credit. That Plaintiff owns in her own name and unencumbered the following described real estate in Wallowa County, state of Oregon to wit: - N.W. 1/4 sec. 6Tp. 3N., R. 46 E. W.M. and that said track of land in its present state of improvement is worth not less than $800.00 as a basis for business or money credit. That plaintiff is not obliged to work for her own support,and that said tract of land, properly managed will support plaintiff as well she is now supported by her own efforts. That plaintiff left said tract of land sometime in the spring of 1890, unknown to me, and has remained absent ever since, and I have simply kept up repairs and cultivation of said land and paid all taxes thereon to keep intact for plaintiff. That I have at all times used my effort and means at my command to prevent my wife from abusing in any manner the feelings of plaintiff and her children, and that Matilda, my wife, or anyone else, has never been either permitted or allowed by me to, in any manner, abuse, mistreat or insult the feelings of plaintiff and any such conduct on her part was without my knowledge or consent. That I have not now and never had an unkind feeling for the plaintiff, but always had and always will render plaintiff and her children any assistance they may need that I can.
      W. H. Winter. Subscribed and sworn to before me this 29th day of September 1891. D. W. Sheahan. Notary Public for Oregon."

      BIRTH:
      1. Annie Conley uses variant birth of 1 Apr 1831 at Bartholomew Co., IN.

      MARRIAGE:
      1. William Winter stated in court that he and Helen were never married.1892 judgment in Oregon marital case states 18 Jul 1857 (see citation with Helen's notes). Same case indicates Matilda Anne Stoddard or Duncan married William 9 Apr 1877 in Davis Co., Utah. Alternate marriage date Jun 1858 is date that was in Helen's adopted father Orin Jefferd's journal.

      2. From testimony given by Matilda at divorce trial of William and Helen Winter: Certificate of Marriage. Territory of Utah, County of Davis. Know All Men By These Presents. That the undersigned, a Justice of the Peace within and for the County of Davis, Town of Bountiful, Territory aforesaid, did on the ninth day of April in the Year of Our Lord OneThousand Eight Hundred and Seventy Seven, Join in Lawful Wedlock. William H. Winter and Matilda Anna Duncan with their mutual consent in presence of: John Johnson. Jane Fisher. Witnesses. Thomas F. Fisher. Justice of the Peace.

      3. Divorce
      18 September 1892
      Circuit Court for Wallowa County, State of Oregon
      Reason This Information Is Correct
      Information extracted from divorce proceedings dated 16 September 1892. Record of divorce proceedings in possession of Michael Lubeck (kindly provided by Diane Janis in email dated 9/20/02).

      DEATH:
      1. Drowned in the Snake River in Idaho 13 Apr 1895.

      SOURCES_MISC:
      1. Per copy of email from Annie Conley to Mary dated 6 Feb 2001. Annie is a descendant through Helen Louisa Frederick. Her address is Annie Conley, 802 Fitch View Lane, Healdsburg, CA 95448.