The Nelson Winters Family of Texas

I’m a Winters (and Scales) Too…

When I reach out to my Winters family DNA matches, I am sometimes met with a raised eyebrow. The Winters family has been in Texas since 1860, and although they might recognize some last names, the name of Mixon does not have that privilege. So, I must spend time explaining who I am.

I’ll start with my mother, Margaret Ann. She was born in Galveston, Texas in 1942 and was the 2^nd oldest born to my grandmother, Willie Lee in her 1^st marriage. The timeline is a little unclear, but I know she went from Galveston to Alabama, then Florida, before she moved out to start her own life. We eventually ended up in Los Angeles where we remained until her early passing in August of 1996. She didn’t have much, but she raised us, 3 boys, the best that she could.

My mother was the middle child born to my grandmother’s 1st husband, Raphael Spiller. Due to a tragic accident, her older brother passed at a very young age, so she took up the mantle of the oldest child, helping to raise her 8 siblings from my grandmother’s 2nd marriage to Bandy Peoples.. Pictured left to right are Raphael, Edward, and Margaret. I obtained this picture from my Uncle Edward in 2013, and I think it was taken around 1945.

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My Maternal Winters Family Grandmother

My grandmother, Willie Lee Winters was born in Washington, Texas on Oct 26, 1920, and was the youngest of 8 siblings. She passed away a few months shy of her 100th birthday on July 9th, 2020.   I’m sad to say that I really did not know her that well, as my mother moved us to Los Angeles in 1976. I was 9 years old. She was affectionately called “Mother”, and as such, I didn’t even know her real name until much later in my life. Despite what the picture shows she was very fair-skinned; a trait that she had to have inherited from her mother, who was listed in the early US census as “Mullatto”. More on that later. 

If you asked anyone, including her, you’d hear that she was part Indian. Her hair texture seemed as much. However, every African American family appears to have been told the same story. So much so, that in fact, I get asked about her mother, Mama Gurt quite a bit. My research is still ongoing.

What I can tell you about my grandmother is that she resided in Tampa, Florida for over 75 years, yet I never could get a definitive answer as to why she ended up there.  I believe it was because of her husband Bandy Peoples, but I have no proof. I was able to have a brief interview with her and I learned that she had fond memories of growing up in Washington, Texas, and riding horses. She told me that as the youngest child growing up. she may or may not had been spoiled, and unlike her older siblings, she didn’t have to do a “thang”. At the time of her death, she had 46 great-grandchildren; 26 great great-grandchildren; and 19 great great great-grandchildren.

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My Maternal Winters Family Great-Grandparents

In this grainy enlarged photo are Nelson Winters and his wife Gertrude Yarborough. I had never even heard of them until I started researching. Truth be told, the thought of them never even entered my mind, as I barely even knew my grandmother. Most of the family referred to them as Papa Bud and Mama Gurt. Yet, some never even knew their real names. In fact, a favorite cousin of mine, who I won’t mention in this article,  thought her name was “Mama Gate”. Eventually, I discovered that the name “Bud” was a term of endearment of the 1800s given to the youngest boy.

Nelson Winters was born in 1886 in Washington County, Texas, and died in 1972, a year after his wife. He was the youngest of 12 Winters siblings which was an absolute shock to me as I had always believed that our family was small. Nothing is further from the truth as you will learn on this site, TracingLineage. Nelson was named after his maternal Uncle, Nelson Scales. Our Scales Family line is an entirely different subject. We’ll have to get to that another time. 

Nelson and Gertrude had 8 children in total; Virginia, Nelson Jr, Cordelia, Palmon, Johnnie, Andrew, Elvelia, and my grandmother Willie. In the topmost photo on this page, circa 1954, Nelson and Gertrude are seated in the middle surrounded by their children and grandchildren. The picture in this section is from that photo. I had never seen this picture until I met my awesome cousin Cynthia Winters for the 1st time in 2013.  Although we both lived in Seattle, Washington I didn’t know she existed until my grandmother casually mentioned it on a phone call. Cynthia and her sister Brenda are my grandmother’s nieces and they would fly out to Florida and visit her periodically. In truth, they know more about her than me. But, I digress. 

So who’s shown in the picture?

Cynthia is older than me and was able to name just about everyone in the photo. I was absolutely ecstatic.  then, I was shocked to learn that on the top back row, 3rd from left,  is my mother. She is standing next to her brother, Uncle Edward, 2nd from the left. This was my first time ever seeing her as a child. By the way, if you have a clearer picture, please let me know!

Nelsons wife, Gertrude was born in Dec of 1886, in Washington, Texas.  An interesting note is that the 1870 Census lists BOTH of her parents as Mullatto, as so were her grandparents. By the time she passed in Galveston in May of 1971, she had 37 grandchildren, 47 great-grandchildren and 5 great-grandchildren.  Count me in as part of her great grandchildren, but I can assure you that the number has climbed as I have 1st cousins who are only in their 20’s! Then there are her great grand, 2nd great, 3rd great-grandchildren, etc, born after her passing. My goal is to one day list them all. 

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Nelson & Gertrude Winters Family Group Sheet

Here is a snapshot of the Family Group Sheet for Nelson Winters and Gertrude Yarbrough that I have on my Winters Family tree at ancestry.com. It shows their 8 children and vital records. With the help of family, I was able to get a picture of everyone but Andrew Winters.

The graphic also indicates the parents for both of them. Keep in mind that the graphic above is just an ancestry.com summary page. When I go to my actual tree, each person has a full tree with branches indicating spouses, children, etc that can extend down to the newest born.

That can easily be 5 or 6 additional generations.  For instance, I am generation 3 from my grandmother, my son is generation 4 and my grandchildren are generation 5; that is too difficult to show that on a static web page. Remember when I stated that my grandmother had 46 great-grandchildren; 26 great great-grandchildren; and 19 great great great-grandchildren? I think you get the picture. 

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My Maternal Winters Family Great- Great Grandparents

Now, this is where the majority of you come in, even though some of you don’t realize it. If your last name is still Winters, that’s easy!! But if it’s not, and your current name is something like Mixon, you just might be in the dark.   There have been so many times that I’ve contacted DNA matches to inform them that they are descendants of James Winters (born 1840) and they are in disbelief. “Who is James Winters” they’d ask me. This is fine because when I first started out, I had never heard of him either. 

Now with after research, I know that my great-great-grandparents were James Winters and his wife Senora Scales.  However, some of you are from James Winters and Clara Ashbury. 

Now that you know how I fit in, I invite you to explore the rest of the site.