Wednesday's Child - Elmer Lee Winders

A child of my third great uncle, Charles Henry Winders, is this week's Wednesday's Child. His name was Elmer Lee Winders. It's one of my favorite old photos of babies in my family collection.

Is This Andrew Jackson Winders

Following up on my previous post about my 3rd great grandfather, Andrew Jackson Winders, I want to share some photos that I received over the summer. Before I do that, let me give you some background information on how I acquired them.

I received a message through my Ancestry account from a very kind lady named Carlene, who works at the Elkhart County Genealogical Society in Indiana. She told me that they had a box of items (letters, photos, research, dog tags, etc.) relating to the Winders family. Since I have many Winders ancestors, I asked for the name of the owner of the dog tags, and it was Charles Garrison Winders. Immediately I knew the name. Charles was my 1st cousin, 3x removed. Our shared ancestor is Andrew Jackson Winders--my 3rd great grandfather, and Charles' grandfather! So, Carlene had this box of Winders items that she wanted to send to family of the Winders. I explained my connection, and she sent me that wonderful box of genealogical treasures. 

I'm hoping to share several of those treasures over time on the blog. There were many photos of Charles, his father, and their family, along with lots of wonderful research by Charles' daughter. It's been so wonderful to have it all. I've gone through most of it, but hope to dig deeper into the research there once I'm on my summer break again. But for now, I want share two photos that were in that box.

The first photo is of a man and woman and is one of very few photos that has no information written on it. I'm not even sure of when it was taken, but from the looks of the woman's dress, I'd guess early 1900's. 

Andrew Jackson Winders and His Parentage

My maternal 3rd great grandfather, Andrew Jackson Winders, is kind of a mystery. And he has inspired me to create a new blog feature: Monday Mysteries. There is a lot of misinformation and many factual errors about Andrew on Ancestry and Family Search. I focus a lot of my research on him simply because I hate the not knowing. And since there is so much misinformation, I'm hoping this post will serve as a helpful reference for future researchers of Andrew Jackson Winders. So, let me start with some simple facts about Andrew that I know to be true.

Forget Me Not Friday - Kephart Grandmothers

This week, for Forget Me Not Friday, I'm featuring two generations of my maternal ancestors: my great grandmother, Della Mae (Swinford) Kephart, and her mother, my great, great grandmother, Lavina Elizabeth (Winders) Swinford.

Lavina Winders was born in Illinois on May 21, 1852 to Andrew Jackson Winders. Her mother is unknown, and is one of the biggest brick walls in my family tree. Andrew was likely married and perhaps his first wife died. He would later marry Delila Nestleroad, who is quite often mistaken for Lavina's mother in many family trees. However, Andrew and Delila didn't marry until 1854, and Delila would only have been 14 at the time of Lavina's birth. Delila was also born in Ohio and living there when she married Andrew. So it doesn't quite add up for her to be Lavina's mother. The search for Lavina's mother's identity continues. 

Lavina would later marry Jonathan J Swinford in 1875 in Missouri. Together they would have eight children by the time they moved into the Oklahoma Territory in 1889 and become what is known as '89ers. One of those children was Della Mae, my great grandmother. You see both of these ladies in the photo. The other woman in the photo is likely one of Lavina's other daughters, either Ethel or Grace. I haven't yet figured out which one.

Jonathan and Lavina would have 2 more children, and the couple would live most of the rest of their lives in Wellston, Lincoln County, Oklahoma. Lavina died on June 6, 1915 in Wellston. Della would marry my great grandfather, John Arthur Kephart, and they too would live out their lives and die in Wellston. Della died on April 7, 1976. I still remember the day we got the news. My mom had been very close to her. It was so hard to watch her and my grandmother grieve this loss.

I love the photo of these two grandmothers of mine. And I love being able to help preserve their memory by keeping their history alive here on the blog, and in my heart.