Mary Deone Daniells Winegar, 1910-2003

Mary Daniells Winegar

Mary Deone Daniells was born on her parents’ ranch near Mercedes, Texas.  Her grandmother, Dora Bliss helped with her delivery.  The house in the picture is the house where she was born.  Her parents, W.C. and Iva Daniells, were proud of their new glass window that they got before Mary was born.  Her middle name is the name of one of her mother’s closest friends, Deone Oppenlander.

House in Mercedes, Texas, where Mary was born.

When she was about six months old, the Daniells family moved to Chicago and, about 18 months later, to Watertown Township near Wacousta.  Except for her third grade year, Mary and her sisters attended Watertown Center School until she completed eighth grade.  The family spent her third grade year in Tavares, Florida.

This is the school Mary attended. Mary and her two sisters, Dora and Betty, are among the children pictured.

In 1923, the family moved to Eustis, Florida, where Mary graduated from high school.  She enrolled in Florida State College for Woman in Tallahassee.  Money was scarce during the depression, and she worked in the school lunch room and supplemented her income by darning silk stockings.  Her mother assisted by taking in teachers and also repairing stockings.  At the end of her junior year, Mary moved back to Michigan to live with her grandparents and completed her last year at Albion College.

Her first teaching job was at the Everett School in Lansing.  She taught first and second grade.  Then she taught for two years in Grand Ledge, Michigan, where she taught first and second grade music, Jr. High music, and ninth grade grammar and literature.

Donald Winegar and Mary grew up attending the same church in Wacousta and knew each other slightly.  They attended different schools and really had little contact other than at church.  In 1928 the Daniells family visited Michigan during the summer.  She attended the Epworth League at the church.  It was decided that there should be a debate.  Nina Winegar, Don’s older sister, and the minister’s son were the negative side, Mary and Don became the affirmative side.  Mary doesn’t remember what the topic was, but she remembers that she and Don won.  This was the first time that they saw themselves as a couple.  They were married 10 years later.

Bass Lake cottage where Mary and Don honeymooned in 1938.

Don and Mary spent their honeymoon at the lake cottage near Greenville, Michigan, built by Orla and Kate Bailey around 1932.  Kate Bailey was a cousin of Iva Daniells, Mary’s mother.  The Winegar family loved Bass Lake and the cottage so much that 22 years later, Kate insisted that they should have it and arranged an open ended loan that allowed them to pay it off as they were able.  Many years later after the death of Mary, her son Jim bought out his brother and sisters and now owns the cottage.

The Winegar family in 1987: left to right, Mary E., Carl, Mary D., Don, Jim, and Donna. This is one of the last pictures made of the entire family.

After their marriage, Mary worked full time as a minister’s wife and a mother of four.  They had twin daughters and two sons. They were:

• Donna Lorraine, b. 1939
• Mary Elaine, b. 1939
• James Steven, b. 1944
• Carleton David, b. 1952

After Donald’s death, Mary moved to Bishop’s Glen retirement home in Holly Hill, Florida.  She and her sister Eleanor had apartments on the same floor.  As Mary’s health declined, Eleanor played a major role in her care.  Mary passed away in 2003 in Holly Hill, Florida.  Mary and Donald are buried in Wacousta Cemetery.  Eleanor Daniells, the last remaining of the five Daniells sisters, died in 2008 and is also buried in Wacousta Cemetery.

Donald Stephenson Winegar, 1909-1987

 

Donald S. Winegar

The following is an autobiography written in 1972 by Donald Winegar:

I was born in the little town of Wacousta, Clinton County, Michigan, twelve miles northwest of Lansing, in the house which had been built by the great grandfather of the girl who was to become my wife.  N. I. Daniells as he was called built the house to serve as a courtroom for his Justice of the Peace Court.  The living quarters was a twenty-one foot square room with a pantry taken out of the northwest corner next to the kitchen.

  

Wacousta School graduating class of 1926: left to right back row - Larry Arthur, Charles Main, Donald Winegar; seated - Vera Jones.

I attended the public school located two blocks from our farm home.  Farm chores and a paper route kept me busy for a good share of the time.  As my parents were active members of the Wacousta Methodist Community Church, I was brought up in the faith, and in my teens took a very active part in the youth program which was called in those days the Epworth League.  These experiences of Epworth League Institute at Albion College served to turn my attention to the possibility of going into full time religious work.

Upon graduating from the 10^th grade high school in Wacousta, my sister Esther and I attended Central High School in Lansing, Michigan where we graduated in 1928 in a class of 286 students, quite a contrast to the graduating class two years before of four students in the class at Wacousta.

  

   

Don Winegar on his Harley.

A job of selling bottled milk in the Motor Wheel shop became a stepping stone to getting a more profitable job on the assembly line.  Times were good and the desire to earn money for further education became the main objective.  Then came the “bust “ of 1930 and the depression that followed.  I was laid off at the Motor Wheel and there followed a series of jobs to keep busy: work in a store in Wacousta, a cemetery, work on the road for the township, day labor for farmers during the summer harvest for $1 a day, an 11 month jaunt to the West Coast where I picked apples in Washington, and later a job in a Piggley Wiggley in California where I lived with my cousin, Ellis Wood and his wife.  While living with them, I had my Harley Davidson crated up and sent to me from Wacousta.  The depression hit California in the winter of 1931 and I lost my job again.  In June of that year, I strapped all my worldly goods on my motorcycle and started for Michigan via the southern route.  This 3000 mile trip was accomplished in six sweltering days.

That fall because work was still scarce, I enlisted in the Civilian Conservation Corp and went to Camp No. 689 at Shingleton in the upper peninsula near Munusing and Lake Superior and the pictured rocks.

In March of 1932, George Bateman, a farmer in Watertown Township asked me to work for him by the month.  With the promise of work, I left the C. C. C. and went home again.  My wages were $15 a month, room and board in winter, and $20 a month in summer.

The Herman Bliss farm was located but a half mile from the Bateman farm and their granddaughter Mary Daniells who had then returned to Michigan, attended the Wacousta Methodist Church with her grandparents.  Our friendship was encouraged to grow.

For a number of years, I had had a feeling that I was not yet doing the work which I had been brought into the world to perform.  After consulting with some minister friends, I decided to enter the Christian ministry.  That decision behind me, I had to secure the necessary educational foundation.  A local preacher’s license from my home church at Wacousta was the first step.  Admission year work at the Conference Course of Study was the next step.

Finally, in September, 1936, I was appointed to a three point charge in the Michigan Conference of the Methodist Church.  I served Price, Green Bush and Fowler Methodist Churches for the next nine months, going part time to college at East Lansing.  It was during this nine months that the friendship between Mary Daniells and I began to deepen.

In June of 1937 I was appointed to the single point charge of Howard City, Michigan.  I attended Central Michigan College at Mt. Pleasant during the school year, coming home weekends to do the work of the church.

  

Donald Winegar and Mary Daniells wedding, 1938.

It was in the following year of 1938, that Mary and I were married, August 25 at the Bliss House [Note: the Pivot, JSW] in Watertown Township.

October 18, 1939 twin girls were born in the parsonage at Howard City.  With the husband and father in school during the week and church and family responsibilities on the week end, it was a busy life.  Mary was left alone during the week to cope with the problems of a family and a needy church.

I graduated from college in June of 1942.  Seminary lay ahead.  World War II was going full speed ahead.  Tires were difficult to get as was gasoline which was rationed.  In June, 1942, the Conference appointed me at Centreville and Nottawa Methodist Churches in St. Josephs County, Michigan.

There followed five busy years there.  I entered Garrett Seminary in the winter of 1943, commuting each week end to take up the work of the family and the parish.  A son, James was born March 17, 1944.  Three years in Seminary was at last completed with graduation in the spring of 1947.  Seven Years of higher education had been completed in ten years.

In June, the Conference appointed me to Bellevue and Kalamo Methodist Churches in Eaton County.  Three years later, we were moved to Ithaca, a single church situation.  It was there that Carleton was born October, 23, 1952.  June of 1956 saw us moving again, this time to Eaton Rapids, Michigan.

In June of 1960, the family was extremely busy.  The two daughters Donna and Mary were married — Donna in Eaton Rapids and Mary in Ithaca.  During the same month, we moved to Urbandale Church in Battle Creek, Michigan.

After six very busy years the family moved to Clare to service the Clare United Methodist Church.

 

Donald wrote this autobiography in 1972.  In June of that year he had a heart attack and was unable to continue preaching.  In December, he and Mary moved to Daytona Beach, Florida.  After several years, he recovered so that he was able to be on the staff of the Community United Methodist Church in Daytona Beach.  He did a lot of calling on shut-ins or hospitalized members.  During these years, he devoted a great deal of time to genealogy and family history.  The Stephenson and Winegar records reported in this project are only a small portion of the data he collected.He had open heart surgery in 1984 and died of a stroke April 4, 1987.

The Bliss – Daniells Wedding, August 14, 1907

The Plowman family members who attended the Bliss-Daniells wedding.

 

Following is the newspaper account of the wedding of Iva Bliss and W.C. Daniells.  Although I have the actual clipping, the name of the newspaper and date of the article is not on the clipping.  Group pictures were taken of the attendees and of the Plowman family by Estee Daniells, brother of the groom.  Both photographs are in the possession of Jim Winegar, the one of all the guests hanging over the mantle in his Michigan lake cottage.

The newspaper account reads:

The event of last week was the Daniells-Bliss wedding, which occurred on Wednesday at noon, every feature of which was the most auspicious possible, not a single occurrence to mar the flow of geniality and good spirits.  One hundred and thirty-five guests were present to witness the ceremony, which was the short ring service, performed most impressively by Rev. Dr. DeLamarter, of Lansing, assisted by the M. E. pastor, Rev. D. A. Rood.  The bridal party consisted of Miss Hazel Field, maid of honor; and Mr. Rex Plowman, best man, both cousins of the bride, the Misses Pearl Benedict, Lora Cooley and Deone Lee, bridesmaids, and Messrs. King Lee and Roy Rice, groomsmen, little Miss Bailey, of Lansing, flower girl, Paul Maier, ring bearer, with Mrs. Cooley at the piano, who rendered Mendelssohn’s wedding march.  They marched from an upper room in the usual manner, the bride coming last, leaning upon the arm of her father, and stood in front of a bank of ferns and water lilies, the bridal couple standing under a beautiful bell composed of sweet peas.  All the decorations were by an uncle of the bride, Mr. George Plowman, a florist of Iron Mountain, Upper Peninsula.  The bride was attired in a dress of lace net, elaborately embroidered with darned work, and made over white silk, all the labor and gift of her mother, and carried a shower bouquet of beautiful pink and white roses.  Congratulations followed the ceremony, and soon after all were summoned to an elaborate six course dinner, the preparation and serving of which would have done honor to a professional caterer.  The dining hall consisted of a large tent spread on the lawn west of the house, and was screened from the sun and street by a woven wire fence set upon the north and west sides, and thatched with wild rice seven feet high, making a decorative as well as effectual screen.  Occasionally during the dinner Rex Plowman entertained the guests by singing the verses of an original poem enlarging upon the “beauties” of the groom’s new farm in the Texas gulf country, in which cotton, cactus, mesquite, Texas rattlers, and other characteristics were touched upon in a manner peculiarly his own.  Later Miss Pearl Benedict sang magnificently several with the bride as accompanist.  Mr. Frank Andrews sang the laughing song so effectually that all his audience joined in the chorus by compulsion.  Rex Plowman recited dramatically several selections, and Mrs. Frank Andrews sang several songs, in one of which her sister, Miss Pearl, joined.  Estee Daniells photographed several groups, one of the families of Daniells’ relatives, one of the Plowman’s and branches, and one of the remainder of the guests.  It was a most genial company, every one seeking the pleasure of the rest, which is the height of entertainment.

Among the guests from out of town were, Mr. and Mrs. George Plowman, of Iron Mountain, U.P., and son Rex; Mrs. Barbara Plowman, of Isabella county; Mr. and Mrs. C.A. Plowman, and Mr. and Mrs. B.B. Smith of Alma; Rev. Dr. and Mrs. DeLamarter, Mr. and Mrs. Del Field, daughter and son; Mr. and Mrs. Bailey and daughter; Mr. and Mrs. W.H. Hodges, Mr. and Mrs. Carl Hodges, Dr. and Mrs. T.M. Sanford, Mrs. Sarah Daniels, Mr. Sidney Bliss, and Mr. and Mrs. Earl Bliss of Lansing; Mr. and Mrs. E. S. Daniells of London, England; Mr. and Mrs. Allan L. Daniells, Chicago; Dr. and Mrs. Ralph P. Daniells, Toledo, O.; Mr. and Mrs. E. B. Escott and Miss Laura Escott, Grand Rapids, Mrs. Mary A. Bearmore and Mrs. Sarah Corey, of Brooklyn, New York; Mr. Knight of Elsie; and Mrs. Josenhans, a friend from Ypsilanti, and the others were from home and near-by towns.

About 5 o’clock p.m. a large hayrack well cushioned with hay appeared and was quickly loaded to the edge, a broom from which was suspended old shoes, their ensign, and the march taken up for the village.  At every house greetings and their yells were given – “Married, married, yes, they are; the bride and groom are going afar; hurrah! Hurrah! Hurrah! Boom!” and a song sung which usually brought responses and congratulations.  At Daniells & Cooley’s store a shower of peanuts was rained upon them, and at Douglas’ a shower of candy kisses.

The wedding gifts were many and valuable, beautiful and useful.  The couple left for their Texas home Friday afternoon and were accompanied by several carriage loads of friends to the train at Grand Ledge, where they were sent away amid the usual showers of rice, etc., and many adieus and blessings.

They stopped over a few hours at Grand Rapids, taking supper with Mrs. C.A. Wall, an aunt of the groom, and will stop a few days in Chicago, and few days with the groom’s parents in Fort Worth, Texas.

The Daniells in the 1900s

 

Will Carleton Daniells, 1882-1973

W.C. Daniells

Will Carleton was born in Wacousta in 1882 and graduated from the Wacousta 10^th grade school in 1901 in the same class with Iva Bliss.  The following day, he left for New York where he went to work for Ingersoll Watch, testing 2500 watches per day at $9 per week.  He followed his older brothers Estee and Allan in working for Ingersoll.  In 1902, he went to Fort Worth, Texas, to Draughon’s Business College.  

W.C.'s Diploma from 10th grade in 1901.

He graduated in 1903 and moved to Chicago where he worked for his brother, Estee, as a shipping clerk at Ingersoll.  He held that job until 1906.  He also worked at the Auditorium nights and was head usher for Gonzales Church when he injured his knee in a fall on the stairs.

Graduation of Will Careleton Daniells and Iva Bliss in 1901. W.C. is center back row, Iva is far right, front row.

W.C., as he was often known, purchased 40 acres of the King Ranch, Kingsville, Texas, and went there in the spring of 1906.  After a year there, he returned to Wacousta long enough to marry Iva Bliss at her family’s farm, “the Pivot”.  The wedding was quite a social event in Wacousta, and more will be described about the wedding in the next posting.

The Daniells home in Mercedes, Texas.

 

The couple spent two years at Santa Maria, Texas, two miles from the Rio Grande, growing cabbages, beans and onions and then two years at Mercedes, Texas.  Mary Daniells was born in Mercedes, the only one of the five daughters not born at the Pivot.  By the time of her birth, Will and Iva had prospered enough to be able to purchase a glass window for their house.   During the family’s time in Texas, Iva maintained a regular correspondence with her mother in Michigan.  Those post cards are in the possession of Jim Winegar.

Iva and W.C. in Texas

In 1911, the family moved back to Chicago where Will worked for his brother Allan.  From 1915-1916, he was in Tavares, Florida, developing groves for D.B. and W. at Lake Harris.  He sold watches part time in Florida and South Georgia.  In 1919, he was called to New York by his brother Allan to run the watch service bureau.  He alternated between New York and Florida.  Iva and the four daughters returned to Wacousta during this time, soon to be joined by a fifth daughter in the same year.  In 1923, W.C. purchased a home in Eustis, Florida, and the family rejoined him.

Don't mess with Iva!

Will spent the rest of his career involved with citrus. Working with Frank Savage, he developed the tangelo, a cross between the tangerine and the grapefruit.  He became known as the “Tangelo King of Florida” and, at one time, owned the largest acreage of tangelos in the world.  He was known as a businessman of upmost integrity and honesty. He died in Eustis in 1973. 

 

 

Iva Bliss Daniells, 1884-1946 

Iva was born in Riley Township, Clinton County, Michigan, and later moved with her parents to Watertown Township, near Wacousta.  She was an only child but grew up close to many cousins.  One of her best friends was Deone Oppenlander, for whom she named her daughter Mary Deone.  Iva graduated from the Wacousta School in 1901, along with W.C. Daniells, her future husband.  She attended Michigan State Normal College at Ypsilanti for two years and then taught at the Simmons district school and at New Baltimore.  She was a

Iva Bliss Daniells and her daughters.

very able musician (pianist, accompanist, member of vocal quartet) and a leader in community affairs.  She was president of the Lake County, Florida, PTA, active in church work, and involved in the Eustis, Florida, PEO.  She saw to it that all five daughters got through college during the Great Depression.  After a two-year fight against cancer, she died at the Pivot in 1946.

  

The five daughters of W.C. and Iva Daniells were:

• Dora Katherine
• Mary Deone
• Estella Elizabeth (Betty)
• Eleanor Grace
• Iva Georgean (Jean)

 

 

The Daniells home in Eustis, Florida.

Family Weddings in the 1900s

 

In the post “Coming to Wacousta,” I set out to trace the path of the families of my grandparents from Europe to Wacousta, Michigan.  By the time of the Civil War, all four families — the Blisses, the Daniells, the Stephensons, and the Winegars — were situated in Clinton County, Michigan.  In the 1900s, the families merge.  Following are pictures from the weddings.

Edd Ashbel Winegar marries Myrtie Stephenson in 1900 at the Stephenson home.

W.C. Daniells and Iva Bliss marry in 1907 at the Bliss house, the Pivot.

Donald Stephenson Winegar marries Mary Deone Daniells in 1937 at the Pivot.

Other Daniells Weddings

Iva Georgene "Jean" Daniells marries Don Lowell in 1942 at the Pivot.

Dora Katherine Daniells marries John Panchik in 1950 at the Pivot.

Other Winegar Weddings

Esther Alta Winegar marries Clarence Kirkpatrick in 1941 in Eagle Twp, Michigan.

Paul Ray Winegar marries Mary Margaret Biergans in 1947 in Grand Ledge, Michigan.

 

Bill and Ruth Winegar married in 1942.

A fire destroyed the original Pivot in 1911 after W.C. Daniells and Iva Bliss married.  Subsequent Pivot weddings were at the home that was rebuilt by Herman Sidney Bliss.  A description of the fire, written by Bel Gensterblum, will be in the next post. The rebuilt Pivot is currently owned by Tom Lowell, a Bliss-Daniells descendant.

Daniells in the 1800s

 

Nathaniel Irish Daniells, 1832-1899

Nathaniel Irish Daniells

Nathaniel was born in Scipio, Cayuga County, New York.  He married Lucinda Reed in February, 1832, and in May of that year, they left for West Bloomfield, Michigan, where two years earlier he had purchased land and had hired 10 acres to be cleared and sowed to wheat.  They went by Erie Canal and Lake Erie steamer.  In six years he had 140 of his 240 acres cleared.  He taught school three winters.  He was a gifted penman and made quill pens for his students.

In about 1835, he and Joshua Coonley started a general store, but they were soon ruined in the “Wild Cat Panic.”  [Note: This may have referred to the banks with their free lending policies and their issue of paper currency (called specie) that were not backed up by gold or silver. Bank after bank closed its doors, causing a financial panic in 1837.] 

Lucinda Reed Daniells

In 1848, he moved to Wacousta and started a long round of legal battles with Benjamin Silsbee who tried to keep him off the land he had bought.  The problems lasted until 1854 when Nathaniel finally gained clear title.  Several of his brothers, Elias, Nelson and David, also located in Wacousta and built a saw mill and grist mill.  

From the History of Shiawassee and Clinton Counties Michigan 1880, page 527:

N.I. and Nelson Daniells arrived in 1848 (having been former residents of Cayuga County, New York), and at once repaired the mill property.  The grist mill which was in a condition unfit for service, was at once remodeled, and the saw mill thoroughly rebuilt.  A store was opened by them and in 1855 the old grist mill was replaced by a new one, which is now owned by Nelson Daniells.  This mill has three run of stones, and is devoted to both custom and merchant-work.  It is located upon the Looking Glass River, from whence its power is derived, and has a capacity of four hundred bushels per day.  Much patronage is enjoyed from the adjacent country, though Lansing and the East furnish a market for its merchant-work.

The saw mill, which is also owned by Mr. Daniells, embraces planing machinery, and has a capacity of two thousand feet per day.  It does custom-work exclusively.

Nelson’s oldest daughter, Cornelia Hazard writes:

The Daniells brothers were all men to take an active interest in public affairs, and though somewhat aggressive in their views, yet were all of uncompromising integrity, upholding and maintaining the rights of others in all respects, and so made themselves a force in the community.

In the spring of 1852, Nathaniel was elected Justice of the Peace and served for 17 years.  It was often asserted that he did more business than all the other Justices within the reach of his jurisdiction and paid more fees into the county treasury.  He built his home and conducted his business in the rear of the home.

In 1850, Nathaniel was Census Enumerator for Clinton, Gratiot, Isabella, and Clare Counties.  That same year he was appointed Deputy Marshall to go to Lake Michigan and to prosecute trespassers who were logging off public lands.  In 1867, he was elected to the Constitutional Convention for the State of Michigan.  [Note: family tradition holds that the Constitution was prepared in his handwriting.]  In 1870, he was again Census Enumerator for the east half of Clinton County.

50 years before the Daniells and Bliss families merged, N.I. Daniells recorded the Blisses in the 1850 census.

Nathaniel and Lucinda had seven children.  Our ancestor is Carey Reed Daniells.  Lucinda died in1885, and Nathaniel married Susan Stansell.  He died in 1899, and both Nathaniel and Lucinda are buried in Wacousta Cemetery.  His brothers Nelson and David, and sister Cornelia are also buried in Wacousta Cemetery. 

 

 

 

 

 

The William Daniells Family. Front row from left to right: John Graham, Nathaniel Irish Daniells, Elias Daniells, David Daniells, Nelson Daniells. Back row: Matilda Daniells Graham, Lucinda Reed Daniells, Almeda Daniells Davis, Sarah Harris Daniells, Laura Philips Daniells, and Olive Boorn Daniells.

 

 

 

Wacousta Mill

The Daniells Family in the 1800s

 

William Daniells, 1775-1866

William Daniells

From notes of Betty Daniells and The Daniels/Daniells Family, vol. 2, pages 236, 251:

William was born in 1775 in Worthington, Massachusetts.  He moved to Scipio, New York, in 1798, and settled in what came to be called “Daniel’s Settlement.”  He married Mary Irish in 1799.  He was a farmer; taught the first year he was in Scipio, but no more, as he was not qualified. 

He was for many years a deacon in the Baptist Church. 

He and Mary spent their declining years with their son Benjamin in Michigan.  He died in 1866 at Birmingham, Michigan, and is buried in the Crooks Cemetery. 

He passed through Wacousta on the way to Grand Rapids in the spring of 1836 and admired that section, so may have been partly responsible for so many of his sons settling there.

Winegars in the 1800s

 

Edwin Ashbel Winegar,  1873-1946

Edwin "Edd" Ashbel Winegar, age 18 or 19

Edwin Ashbel was born in Vergennes Township, near Lowell, Michigan.  In 1879, his father, Ashbel, died leaving his mother, Mary Rease Roberts, with four young sons and no one to help raise them. In 1883, she moved back to New York to live with her sister. She died in 1889.

 The next record we have of Edwin and his younger brother Ira, at ages 16 and 14 respectively, is of them living in Clinton County, Michigan with a Howe family.  According to Howe records, the boys were orphaned and found shelter in an unused shack.  Fred Howe felt this was not a proper place for the young boys and took Edd in.  Ira went to live with Fred’s brother Rozelle.  Edd worked for room, board and school and became a member of the family.  A young son of the Howe’s reports how he cried when he learned that Edd was not his brother.  Edd stayed with the Howe family until he was ready to attend Michigan Agricultural College and learn the dairy business.

Myrtie Louisa Stephenson Winegar, age 18

The Howe home was not far from the Edward W. Stephenson farm and he became acquainted with the Stephenson sisters, Bertha and Myrtie. At first, he courted Bertha until Myrtie was old enough to be courted.  Edd and Myrtie were married in 1900 at the bride’s home.  More about Edd and Myrtie will be covered in the 1900s section.

 

Other Winegars 

William Wirt Winegar

William Wirt Winegar, a second cousin to Edwin Ashbel, fought in the Civil War and was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor.  Apparently a huge number of these awards were granted, many of which were rescinded.  We do not know if his was or not.  An account of his award can be found on the Internet.

 Dr. Ira Winegar, possibly a cousin to Ashbel, served as a surgeon during the Civil War.  He was commissioned in 1861 and mustered out with a disability in 1865.

 
Another group of Winegar moved to Michigan by the Erie Canal in 1864.  At Detroit, they purchased a ticket on the train to “as far as the track is built.”  On August 19, 1844, they were a few miles out of Marshall, and the conductor told them that he was going to run into Marshall on the wooden framework even though the iron rails were not laid.  The conductor said that anyone so inclined might take the chance and ride in too.  Isaac and Jacob Winegar were on the first train to reach Marshall.  The trip from Albion was made in 40 minutes compared to the stagecoach time of two hours. The distance was twelve miles.

Winegars in the 1800s

 

 Ulrich⁽⁵⁾  1783-1864

  Ulrich was born in Amenia in 1783 and Married Elizabeth Winans. Elizabeth Winans Winegar is a direct descendant of one of the passengers on the Mayflower.  Consequently, all her descendants can trace their ancestry back to the Mayflower. 

Ulrich and Elizabeth had five boys and eight girls. Our ancestor is Ashbel⁽⁶⁾.   At some point, the family moved to South Butler, Wayne County, New York. Ulrich died there in 1864.

Ashbel⁽⁶⁾  1823-1879

Ashbel was born in South Butler, Wayne County, New York. We have no information on his early childhood.  He worked on the Erie Canal for several years before going to Michigan. There he  worked in the retail clothing business for a time and then bought a farm in Vergennes Township near Lowell.

He was married twice, first to Eleanor Slaght, the second time to Mary Reese Roberts who was the mother of Edwin Ashbel our ancestor.  He and Eleanor had three children and she died in childbirth with the third.  He gave the infant up for adoption.  While visiting Eleanor’s parents he met Mary Reese Roberts who was teaching piano lessons to Eleanor’s sister.  Although Mary was 15 years younger than Ashbel, they were married about two months after Eleanor’s death, and over the next 11 years had four more sons.

The land on the farm that he bought was very poor and was mostly sand.  Don Winegar wrote, “This was a case of trying to farm woodland that should have never been lumbered off.  Once the top humus was gone from the soil it could not sustain crops.”  In spite of the poor land, Ashbel continued to farm the land until his death in 1879.

Donald Winegar also reports having a picture on the back of which was written, “He was a good farmer, a first class shot, and a number one hunter. It was a poor winter which didn’t furnish him with at least ten fox skins.”

With the death of Ashbel, his wife was left to care for four sons 11 and under and found this very difficult.  In 1883, she took the sons including Edwin Ashbel and returned to New York where her sister lived.  According to a letter from one of her sons, she met someone on the train that she later married.  She died in 1889.

Ashbel Winegar

Mary Reese Roberts Winegar

 

 

The Bliss Family in the 1800s: Herman Sidney Bliss

 

 Herman Sidney Bliss, 1861-1946

(From the Notes of Betty Daniells) Herman was born in Riley Township in 1861 either in the D.P. Bliss place or in the home of P.P. Peck.  He grew up in both places.  In 1883, he married Dora Plowman.  Dora and her twin sister Nora were the youngest of 11 children of William Tuthill Plowman.  W.T. Plowman had three children by his first wife, Mary Ann Potts, and the other eight with Emily Crane, our ancestor. 

 

William Tuthill Plowman

Emily Crane Plowman

The 11 Plowman brothers and sisters. Dora is 2nd from left, back row.

 The couple moved to Watertown Township to a farm they called Bunker Hill.  Their only child was a daughter named Iva.  Later they lived in Lansing for a year or two, where, as an excellent carpenter, he helped build many of the old houses.  Then, on the illness and death of John Benedict, husband of his wife’s eldest sister Eliza (Lide), he took over the operation and half ownership of the Benedict farm, The Pivot, 80 acres ¾ mile west of Watertown center.  The old house burned to the ground in 1911 and Herman built the house that now stands there.  It is now owned by Tom Lowell, Herman’s great-grandson.  The story of the fire, as related by Bel Gensterblum Maier, will be in the next posting on this blog.

Original Benedict-Bliss House: The Pivot

Herman was much loved and respected in the community.  He was on the Board of Trustees of the Methodist Episcopal Church and served a term as Watertown Township treasurer.  He played fiddle, sang tenor, and whistled at his work.  He had the sweetest of tempers and a delightful sense of humor, which was at its best when the joke was on himself.  He loved a good argument and would talk either side.  He died at the Pivot in 1945 and is buried at the Wacousta Cemetery.

Herman Sidney Bliss

Dora Plowman Bliss