Wapello County IA Archives Biographies.....Winter, Peter Sr. 1824 - 
************************************************
Copyright.  All rights reserved.
http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm
http://www.usgwarchives.net/ia/iafiles.htm
************************************************

File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Joy Fisher http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00001.html#0000031 July 4, 2013, 11:42 pm

Source: See Below
Author: S. J. Clarke, Publisher

PETER WINTER, SR.

The writer of this biography called upon Peter Winter, Sr., the day after he had
celebrated the ninetieth anniversary of his birth, finding him a most
interesting and entertaining old gentleman, well known in Ottumwa and in this
county. He was born in Lorraine, Germany, March 29, 1824 and a son of John and
Katharine (Hovener) Winter. The father's birth occurred in Lorraine, France, in
1785, and the mother was born in the same province in 1793, the former being
thirty years of age when the province of Lorraine was ceded to Germany by France
He was a recruit of the French army and was on the way to join the Napoleonic
troops when the battle of Waterloo was fought. On the 18th of May, 1841, the
family landed at New Orleans, having crossed the Atlantic in the sailing ship
Marengo, which was forty-five days in completing that voyage. In the party were
father and mother and six children, who made their way up the Mississippi river
and on to Cincinnati, Ohio, where they arrived on the 28th of May. There they
continued until July 3, when they went to a farm in Rush county, Indiana. The
father there died of fever in 1845, while the mother, who long survived him,
passed away in Ottumwa, December 31, 1877, being then almost eighty-five years
of age. He had made farming his life work and thus provided for the support of
his family, which numbered six children: Nicholas, who died in Madison, Indiana,
about 1890; Peter; John, who passed away in Cincinnati in 1851; Catherine, who
became the wife of John Hirschauer and died in Shelby county, Indiana; Annie,
who is the widow of John Bauer, of Ottumwa, and was eighty-two years of age in
January, 1914; and Jacob, who died in Pueblo, Colorado, in 1897.

Peter Winter spent much of his youth in his native land and then accompanied his
parents to the new world. Six years after his arrival, or on the 3d of May,
1847, he was married in Rush county, Indiana, to Catherine Hirschauer, who was
born April 17, 1822, in Lorraine, Germany, and was a schoolmate of her husband
in their childhood days. They came to America on the same ship and for
thirty-five years they traveled life's journey together as husband and wife, but
Mrs. Winter passed away on the 16th of October, 1882.

Following his marriage Mr. Winter went to Cincinnati, Ohio, where he learned the
trade of boiler making. He displayed energy and adaptability in his work and
after two years he was made foreman of the factory. He spent seven and a half
years in Cincinnati, remaining for more than five years in the employ of one
man. In 1856 Mr. Winter came to Ottumwa, arriving on the 26th of April. The
journey was made by boat to Keokuk, covering eleven days, and thence by prairie
schooner to his destination. For forty-five years he resided on one farm on
Sugar Creek, two miles east of Ottumwa, and still owns that property, which now
comprises two hundred and ten acres of rich and arable land. When he retired
from farming, however, he was the owner of seven hundred acres, but has since
disposed of much of this, not wishing to be burdened with the care of so large a
property. When he went to Cincinnati he had a wife and baby and seven dollars in
money, together with a small amount of household furniture. At that time cholera
was prevalent in the city. Mr. Winter went to work for a dollar per day and for
a year was employed at that wage. He was busy every day and some times worked at
night. Industry has ever been one of his salient characteristics and has
constituted the foundation of his splendid success. He carefully saved his
earnings and when he left Ohio for Iowa he had saved twenty-two hundred dollars,
or enough to enable him to purchase one hundred and sixteen acres of land. He
was making thirty-five dollars per week when he gave up his position in the
boiler factory, but he was there compelled to work Sundays and often at night
and he felt that he preferred to get into some district in which he might see
the sun and not spend all of his life in the grime and smoke of the shop.
Accordingly he came to Iowa, and here he has lived the life of the Iowa farmer,
finding the soil rich and productive, responding readily to the care and labor
he has bestowed upon it. As time passed on he added to his holdings until his
landed possessions aggregated seven hundred acres and from his property he
derived a gratifying annual income. At the present time his investments give him
a good living, supplying him with all of the comforts and many of the luxuries
of life.

To Mr. and Mrs. Winter were born the following children: Peter, who is now
living at Pine Bluff, Arkansas; two daughters who died in infancy ere the family
left Cincinnati; John, who died in this county at the age of seven years;
Nicholas, a resident farmer of Center township; Mary, at home; Catherine, the
wife of David Kelly, of Center township; Rosa, who is with her father; and
Elizabeth, who died in 1884, at the age of twenty years; Mr. and Mrs. Winter
also reared an adopted son, Frank, who is now in Seattle, Washington.

Mr. Winter donated labor and money for the building of all three Catholic
churches here. He has been a life long member of the Catholic church and his
family are also members. He was in Cincinnati at the time that the Know-Nothing
movement was at its height and says that made a democrat of him. He has held
some road and school offices, but has never been a politician in the sense of
office seeking. Honesty has been one of his outstanding characteristics and
although at one time in his life he was obliged to practice very strict economy
he has never failed to scrupulously meet all of his financial obligations and he
has only given two notes, which were fully paid. He is a remarkably well
preserved man both physically and mentally for one of his years. His eyesight
and hearing are but slightly impaired, and he has splendid command of all of his
faculties. He has never regretted his determination to come to Iowa and leave
the city, for here he found good business opportunities and gradually worked his
way upward until he had won most gratifying success.


Additional Comments:
Extracted from:
HISTORY OF WAPELLO COUNTY IOWA
ILLUSTRATED
VOLUME II
CHICAGO
THE S. J. CLARKE PUBLISHING COMPANY 1914


Photo: http://www.usgwarchives.net/ia/wapello/photos/bios/winter736gbs.jpg

File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/ia/wapello/bios/winter736gbs.txt

This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/iafiles/

File size: 6.9 Kb