Life History

Other facts

Notes

• James G Winter (Winters) was the brother of Wiley Winter (Winters) whose family has other connections with the Jenkinses and other families in Cass County, Texas.  The name is spelled Winter in censuses and most records, but on occasion it is Winters.  It is found as Winters in several genealogies.  It seems that Winter is the primary form.
  
  The husband of Nell Jenkins, daughter of Joseph Sanford Jenkins, was known in the Jenkins family as Jim Winters, but no details were known.  Wiley's son Nelson married Nell's younger sister, Sarah Catherine.  This connection and the family's location in Cass County led me to James G, brother of Wiley.  The family name is recorded variously as Winter or Winters.  I believe the original family name was Winter, but some family sources as well as censuses use the plural spelling.
  
  James G Winters
  Birth 1835 in Madison, Alabama
  Death 1871 in Titus, Texas
  Parents  Daniel Winters b 1790 in Texas, d 1841 in Titus, Texas
  Lavinia McDaniel b 1802 in Alabama, d 1870 in Cass, Texas
  no spouse reported
  --  Matthews Family, http://trees.ancestry.com/tree/5515797/person/-1438496322
  
  In the 1850 census, an individual who appears to be this James (Jim) Winter(s) is in a mixed household of two families.  There are two households and three families related in the first entries of this Precinct.  James is enumerated as a member of the household and family of William Thomson.
  
  William is next door to of Benjamin Winter, who was also born in Alabama.  Benjamin's wife appears to be a member of the Thomson family, but the configuration is not clear.  Mary J Winter was born in Pennsylvania, as was John B Thomson and two younger Thomsons in their household as Family #2.  The next door household and family are also Thomsons, with the two Wnter children in that household.
  
  1850 Federal Census, Cass County, Texas, 5 November, Precinct 4, page 761, Hse/Fam #1
  ** Benjamin S Winter 25 M Farmer $450 Real Estate Value b Alabama Married within the year [born abt 1825] **
  ** Mary J Winter 17 F Born Penn Married within the year [born abt 1833] **
  - Hse #1, Fam #2 -
  John B Thomson 23 M Merchant No Real Est rptd b Penn [born abt 1827]
  J E Thomson 12 F b Penn [born abt 1843]
  S A Thomson 9 F b Penn [born abt 1845]
  
  - Hse #2, Fam #3 -
  William Thomson 50 M Farmer $640 Real Estate b South Carolina [born abt 1800]
  Davis Thomson 46 F b Alabama [born abt 1838]
  Joseph C Thomson 3 M b Tex [born abt 1847]
  ** James G Winter 15 M Laborer b Ala [born abt 1835] **
  ** Caroline [Winter] 9 F b Tex [born abt 1841] **
  Parker Culberth 19 M Laborer b Ala [born abt 1831]
  M H Riley 52 M b Ohio [born abt 1798]
  
  Caroline has no surname, and no ditto mark to indicate the name was Winter.  Ancestry interprets her surname as Winter.  I had no information form other sources about a Caroline Winter(s).  In August 2019, a descendant of Caroline contacted me about this family, reporting that she was descended form Caroline, the daughter of Lavina Winters.  James and Caroline' mother was Lavinia Elliot McDaniel.
  
  In 1860, James is in the same area, but now in the household of William Millsop.
  
  1860 Federal Census, Cass County, Texas, 17 October, Beat #3, PO Unionville & Cusseta, page 70, Hse #467, Fam #479
  Wm Millsop 60 M Farmer $3500 Real Estate $600 Personal Estate born SC
  L Millsop 58 F born Tenn
  J Millsop 13 F born Tex
  Jas J Winter 25 M $300 Personal Estate born Ala [b abt 1835]
  
  I later found, through Ancestry.com,  James' Confederate army registration card.  This indicates they were still in Cass County in 1862, and he enrolled in the Confederate army as a Private.  This registration does not indicate whether James was married.  I have found no record of his marriage to Nell Jenkins.
  
  Winter, J G, Pvt
  Commanding Officer:  Loving, Wm C, Capt
  Co in Regt of TV, Col R Waterhouse, Jr, commdg, CSA
  May 1-62 in Cass Co for 3 yrs or war
  Age 30
  R&F 112;  En Off Wm C Loving;  Mus Off Col R Waterhouse, Jr;  Co sta at Camp Waterhouse, Marion Co, Mar 30-62; 1 MR dtd Mar 30-62
  
  Marion County, where the card says the company was initially stationed, is the county south of Cass, bordering Louisiana.
  
  "Essie (Christian) Walkup is reported as believing that Nell Jenkins married a Jim Winters (probably of Cass County, Texas), one of several brothers including Troy Winters."
  --  Harold Christian, "Jenkins Family History," http://objgenealogy.com/articles/josephsanfordjenkinshistory.pdf, p 3
  
  I found a listing in the 1870 census in a nearby county, which matches our James G Winters, under the name James G WInter.  Several genealogies cnosider this the same james G Winter/s who was the son on Daniel c Winter/s and Lavinia  McDaniel.  There is no marriage information, and these genealogies do not report Nell Jenkins as a first wife.  The Jenkins family informaiion knows of onlty Nell Jenkins as the wife but has no information on marriage date or Nell's death.  No further infromation has been found on Nell Jenkins.  similarly, no further informatoin has been found on a brother of James G (Jim) Winter/s named Troy.
  
  1870 Federal Census, Titus County, Texas, 8 July, PO Mount Pleasant, page 5, Hse/Fam #31
  Winter, James G 35 M W Farmer $500 Real Estate $500 Personal born Alabama [b abt 1835]
  Winter, Mary 34 F W Keeping House b Alabama Father and Mother of foreign birth [b abt 1836]
  Winter, James W 10 M W At Home born Texas Cannot Read or Write
  Winter, Mary E 8 F W born Texas Attended School this year
  Winter, Melvey 1 F W born Texas
  
  This could be the same person as the Jim Winter(s) who married Nell Jenkins.  But the wife reported here is named Mary.  Some genealogies report her name as Mary Elizabeth Griffin.
  
  The Morris-VanNoy genealogy reports James as James G Winters and has the same birth place, Madison County, Alabama.  This tree reports the wife as Mary Elizabeth Richter, but has no documentation or comment on the marriage fact.  But another Ancestry genealogy shown as a source for the Morris-VanNoy tree does have parents of James G WInters who married Elizabeth Richter as our Daniel and Lavinia McDaniel Winters.
  
  James G Winter
  Mary Elizabeth Richter (1836-1930)
  20 Oct 1860 Henderson, Texas, USA
  --  Morris-VanNoy Genealogy, Ancestry, https://www.ancestry.com/family-tree/person/tree/49799421/person/392108403904/facts?_phsrc=UDo2077&_phstart=successSource
  
  Like the trees that report the wife as Mary Elizabeth Griffin, the Morris-Van Noy tree has only this one wife, so there may be two similar Jim WInters.  Morris-VanNoy has no parents for James G Winters.  In rt he 1870 census, Mary is 10 years older than Nell, who is reported by Jenkins family sources as born in 1846.  If this is the same James G Winter(s), then Nell must have died before 1870.  They could not have been married very long.
  
  We have no details or death date for Nell, so at this point we cannot say if she died early, of if her husband Jim was married again.  I am including this census entry here for reference, with these clues as reference points for confirming if this is the same James/Jim Winter.

Sources

• 1. 1850 Federal Census, Cass County, Texas
  • 5 November, Precinct 4, page 761, Hse #2, Fam #3
• 2. 1860 Federal Census, Cass County, Texas
  • 17 October, Beat #3, PO Unionville & Cusseta, page 70, Hse #467, Fam #479
• 3. 1870 Federal Census, Titus County, Texas
  • 8 July, PO Mount Pleasant, page 5, Hse/Fam #31
• 4. Ancestry Trees
  • Matthews Family, http://trees.ancestry.com/tree/5515797/person/-1438496322
• 5. Confederate Army Registration Card
• 6. Jenkins Family History by Harold Keith Christian
• 7. Epperson Genealogy
  • Name: Jimmy Epperson;
  • Jim Winters, Nell Jenkins
• 8. 1860 Federal Census, Cass County, Texas
  • 17 October, Beat #3, Post Office Unionville & Cusseta, Page 73, Hse #483, Fam #495