Bio of WINSTON, Fendall Gregory (b.1849), Hennepin Co., MN ========================================================================= USGENWEB NOTICE: In keeping with our policy of providing free information on the Internet, material may be freely used by non-commercial entities, as long as this message remains on all copied material, AND permission is obtained from the contributor of the file. These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by other organizations. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material for non-commercial purposes, MUST obtain the written consent of the contributor, OR the legal representative of the submitter, and contact the listed USGenWeb archivist with proof of this consent. If you have found this file through a source other than the MNArchives Table Of Contents you can find other Minnesota related Archives at: http://www.usgwarchives.net/mn/mnfiles.htm Please note the county and type of file at the top of this page to find the submitter information or other files for this county. FileFormat by Terri--MNArchives Made available to The USGenWeb Archives by: Laura Pruden Submitted: June 2003 ========================================================================= Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm ======================================================== submitted by Laura Pruden, email Raisndustbunys@aol.com ======================================================== EXTRACTED FROM: History of Minneapolis, Gateway to the Northwest; Chicago-Minneapolis, The S J Clarke Publishing Co, 1923; Edited by: Rev. Marion Daniel Shutter, D.D., LL.D.; Volume I - Shutter (Historical); volume II - Biographical; volume III - Biographical Vol III, pg 306-309 FENDALL G. WINSTON (Fendall Gregory Winston) Many lines of activity have received stimulus from the efforts and profited by the keen business sagacity of Fendall G. Winston, whose operations have covered a broad field, and he has aided largely in pushing forward the wheels of progress in Minneapolis, with whose development and growth he has been prominently identified from pioneer times to the present. A native of Virginia, he was born in 1849 and his parents were William Overton and Sarah Anne (Gregory) Winston, both of whom were also born in the Old Dominion and were descendants of the early colonists who came over from England in the seventeenth century. His great-grandfather was a patriot in the War of the Revolution, while his grandfather was a soldier in the War of 1812. William O. Winston held the office of county clerk of Hanover county, Virginia, which his father had also held before him, for many years. The Gregory family was also prominent in the history of the state of Virginia. The boyhood days of Fendall G. Winston were spent at Courtland, the plantation of his father, who was a farmer by occupation, and there he attended the public schools. In 1872 he came to Minnesota and joined one of the engineering parties engaged in laying out the Northern Pacific Railroad. During the winters of 1873, 1874 and 1875 he engaged in government surveying in northern Minnesota with his brother, P. B. Winston. In the spring of the latter year he returned to Minneapolis and associated with his brother, P. B. Winston, under the firm name of Winston Brothers, for the business of railroad contracting. The next year William O. Wins-ton, another brother, was taken into partnership. The firm of Winston Brothers started out in a small way, but in a short time was able to establish quite a reputa­tion, and is now one of the largest railroad contracting firms in the country. One thousand miles of track for the Northern Pacific Railroad was the first large contract received by them. Most of the track and bridge work of this road, west of Bismarck, was built by this firm. The Winston Brothers have also completed a great many other large contracts for railroad corporations in the Northwest. In 1887 and 1888, in association with D. C. Shepherd & Company of St. Paul, Minnesota, the firm built over twenty-three hundred miles of railroad and they have at different times operated in the states of Idaho, Washington, Minnesota, Michigan, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Missouri, Kansas, Iowa, New Mexico, Ohio, Nebraska, Virginia, Kentucky, Texas, Louisiana, North Dakota and South Dakota, indicating something of the extent and scope of their activities. They had no labor troubles at any time; their work was finished as specified by contracts and their reputation consequently was main­tained at a high standard. What Winston Brothers undertook to do was considered as good as done. Opportunity has ever been to Fendall G. Winston the call to action and he has extended his efforts in many directions, never failing to accomplish what he undertakes. In 1893 he became interested in the old wholesale grocery house of Harrison, Farrington & Company, which has since been reorganized and is now conducted under the style of the Winston-Harper-Fisher Company, of which Mr. Winston is serving as president. He was elected as director of the Security Bank in 1891 and served on its board of directors until the institution was consolidated with the First National Bank. He is now a director of the First National Bank and of the Minneapolis Trust Company. He has given proof of his faith in the future of the city by making extensive investments in real estate and throughout his business career he has been a persistent, resolute and energetic worker, keeping his hand steadily upon the helm of his affairs and manifesting at all times strong executive power. In 1876 Mr. Winston was married to Miss Alice L. Olmstead of Minneapolis, who passed away in 1881. Three years later he wedded Miss Lillian Jones of Virginia, who is also deceased, her demise occurring in 1903. Three children were born to each marriage, two daughters and one son. Mr. Winston was for years a democrat in his political views and his opinion car­ried weight in the councils of the party. In 1904 he was a candidate for lieutenant governor, but failed of election, as Minnesota is a strong republican state. He acted as chairman of delegates at the Denver convention in 1908 but since 1912 has voted the republican ticket, not believing in the transgressions made by the democratic party and its tendency toward insecure labor legislation. Mr. Winston is farseeing and his advice is sought on many important affairs of city and state. His social nature finds expression in his membership with the Minikahda Club and the Minne­apolis Club. He deserves classification with the real upbuilders and promoters of Minneapolis, to whose progress and development he has contributed for the past fifty years, and his life has ever been an upright and honorable one, guided by high ideals and characterized by the successful accomplishment of valuable results.