James Winters Descendants from 1845-1954.
Thanks to a document entitled “Warranty Deed: James Winters, ET. AL To Jeff Winters”, I have been able to identify all of his children and the succeeding generations. If you are trying to figure out how and where you fit into the Winters Family, this is the blog to read. It’s all thanks to Louisa Winters, James Winters’ 3rd child.
Born in Jan 1870, Louise Winters passed away on Apr 3, 1954. She was married to John Baber, who had died earlier, and they didn’t have any children.
Per the document “Warranty Deed: James Winters et al. To Jeff Winters,” all of James Winters (1843-1907) and Senora Scales (1845-1918) children were listed as owners, and the intent was to sign everything over to one of their siblings, Jeff Winters (1879-1963). On a side note, in the 1910 census, Jeff lists his full name as Thomas Jeff Winters. Yet, even his direct descendants didn’t know this fact, as he always went by Jeff.
This deed provides vital information as it includes all of James and Senora Winters’ children along with their spouse’s signatures. If a child was deceased, it required their grandchildren’s and their spouse’s signature. Signatures were obtained in person or by a notary. At the end of this blog are the digital copies. You’ll be able to see where your ancestors lived in 1954. This will help you trace your family.
At the time of the deed, in April 1954 Mary, James, Scott, Bettie, Thacker Winters were all deceased. Therefore the grandchildren and spouses’ signatures are included. Lottie was alive but had her children sign instead. There are 64 names in all.
On a side note, you can find us Winters in our family’s private Facebook group, “Descendants and Genealogy of James Winters & Senora Scales.” The group is far-reaching, as I use DNA to connect our family. I’m encouraging everyone to take an AncestryDNA test to help us reach those unknown cousins. You can find our Winters Family tree on Ancestry.com here.
Tracing The Winters Family
If you are tracing the Winters family, then this has to be one of the single most important documents to date. This deed provides the following historical value:
- Lists descendants and Spouses
- Lists grandchildren and their spouses, where applicable
- It gives city where they lived at
- Includes the actual handwriting of our ancestors
- Validates the connections in our family tree
- Provides a summary of US Census records from 1870-1950
- It proves they could read and write.
That last bullet might seem trivial to some, but remember that their parents, James and Senora, born into slavery, could neither read nor write.
A huge question to ask is WHY Louisa purchased the land, as well as why all of the family members signed everything over to Jeff Winters for the gift sum of $10. Jeff Winters’s granddaughter Anita Williams confirmed that his home was right next door to an old Negro School. This is noted in some of the deeds and was known as the Independent School District (colored). Did Louisa and Jeff live on the same property? The 1920 US Census shows Louisa living alone on a farm and her brother James Winters Jr, and Maternal uncle Nelson Scales residing nearby.
The deed is for 4.64 acres of land, part of an original Texas tract of land known as the Andrew Miller League. These tracts are how the land was divided when the US obtained Texas from Mexico. I found two separate deeds for James and Senora Winters for parts of the Andrew Miller League, but the Louisa/Jeff Winters land is not the same parcel. The deed references the “southwest corner of a former Negro school” – as surveyed in Apr 1, 1954.
The Andrew Miller League
James Winters originally purchased 100 acres of the Andrew Miller League on Dec 29, 1882, but without Senora listed on the deed. An incredible feat since this was only 17 years after Juneteenth. He purchased it from Harrison Newton. This caused me to ponder the relationship that James had with Harrison. Was he a relative, a friend, business partner, or part of the Slaveholder’s family? Remember that we need to check every clue, no matter how small. I don’t have an answer to this yet.
The original slaveholder, Arthur Hogan gave his slaves to his children at his death. Two of those children, Amanda and Sarah Hogan moved to Texas around 1860 and purchased land in the Jonathan Newman League and the Mary Anne Early League respectively. A third child William Hogan gave his slaves to Amanda’s children.
After Slavery, James Winters purchased a tract in the adjacent Andrew Miller League on Dec 29, 1882, for $1750. Leagues are about 4300 acres and were originally purchased from the Mexican Government around 1838. So a deed will be called out as “situated” in a particular League. They were measured in Varas, which is a Spanish unit of measurement used in the Spanish and Mexican surveys and land grants in Texas. One vara equals approximately thirty-three and one-third inches; 5,645.4 square varas equal one acre.
The legal description of Louisa’s property is situated in “100.00 Miller A”, the Andrew Miller League. She purchased the property from Walker and Clarence Moore for $650 in Jan 1910, so it’s not the same property as her father but was most likely adjacent to it. Remember, people tended to live near their relatives, which is discussed Community Clustering Blog. She paid $450 down, with the remaining $200 split in two promissory notes, due Jan 1911 and Jan 1911, with the sum of $100 “bearing interest from maturity until paid at the rate of 8% annum, both principal and interest payable at Navasota, Grimes County Texas” where the Clarence and Walker Moore lived.
Cousin Quentin Thomas, also a Jeff Winters descendant has heard stories of how Jeff previously lived in Navasota. It’s interesting that the Moores are shown as living in Navasota at the signing of the deed.
Washington County, Texas 1879 League Maps
This map shows the area in the east of Washington County, Texas where the Winters originally lived after slavery. For a digital version of the map which is easier to read, please check out the original source here.
Where The Slaveholders Lived
The enlarged picture shows the Jonathan Newman League (a portion is damaged and whitewashed) where Amanda Hogan-Swearingen’s tract of land was situated, purchased in 1860, the Mary Anna Early League where Sarah Hogan and husband Thacker Winter’s tract of land was situated, purchased in 1860, and the Andrew Miller League where James Winters land was situated, purchased in 1882. The land purchased by Louisa was also situated in the Andrew Miller League.
I have copies of the slaveholders’ deeds, which are lengthy, so I will reserve them for another blog.
There are two ways to obtain genealogy information. One way is to interview knowledgeable relatives, and the other way is to find the paper records. Census records are outstanding for this purpose IF you know who your relatives are and can locate them in the documents. I couldn’t even find Louisa past the 1930 Census. Therefore, records like this deed are beneficial and constitute the reason why I’ve been able to build my Ancestry tree to well over 5000 people; not all Winters, of course.
As I mentioned before, of James and Senora Winters’ eleven children, only four were alive at the signing of the deed. These were Lottie Winters-Bennett, Jeff, Senora Winters-Hopes, and Nelson Winters. John Alexander Winters is not part of the deed. Lottie Winters Bennett passed in 1956, two years after the signing of the deed. Yet, she had her grandchildren sign for her. Not sure why.
As I was writing this blog, I struggled because I wanted to provide my readers with the property’s address. The problem was, I had no idea what it was. After four days of constantly writing the blog, I woke up on a Friday, then mentioned it to God in prayer. Then entirely out of the blue, who would call me but Jeff Winter’s great-grandson, Quentin Thomas. He told me stories of the land and mentioned how his aunt told him the land was given to Jeff by his sister. He even gave me the address!
Talk about Divine Intervention! Quentin says the property’s address is 15401 Highway 105, Washington County, Texas. A picture of the land is below. Check it out here on Google Maps!
Jeff Winters Land
Of the sixty-four relatives listed on the deed, as of this writing, I still have had no idea who Eddie Andrews, Eugene Winters, William Sweed, and Mrs Willie Winters are. Identifying all of the branches from this document required extensive research on my part. However, I’ve been able to add or update every branch of my ancestry.com tree accordingly. Even so, there might be errors, but I’m hopeful that with your help, we can get them corrected. One of the reasons for this is because there are marriages that occurred before and after this deed was written. I’m sharing my research with you so we can all see how we are connected.
Warranty Deed: James Winters, ET. AL To Jeff Winters
The deed is dated April 3, 1954, after the death of Louisa. I created a spreadsheet with the relatives and their relationship to the 12 original siblings. I am also including the 11 pages of the April 1954 deed so everyone can see their ancestor’s signature, maybe for the 1st time! Can you identify your ancestor on the list? Check out the last names of the ancestors who signed, then match them up to one of James and Senora’s children. Found any surprises?
Keep in mind that if a relative could not show up in person for signing, a notarized signature was required. These are shown on the supplemental pages which contain signatures, a notary seal, and the city where they resided at the signature.
| Signature Name | Descendant | Relationship to James & Senora Winters |
| HOPES, ED | Direct Descendant (husband) | Daughter’s husband (Senora Winters) |
| HOPES, SENORA WINTERS | Direct Descendant | Daughter |
| WINTERS, JEFF | Direct Descendant | Son (deed Recipient) |
| WINTERS, NELSON SR | Direct Descendant | Son |
| WINTERS, LOUISA | Direct Descendant | Daughter (deceased) |
| BREEDLOVE, EDDIE | MARY WINTERS-HAYES | Great-Grandson |
| DAVIS, MARY | MARY WINTERS-HAYES | Granddaughter |
| DIMES, WILLIE LEE | MARY WINTERS-HAYES | Great-Grandson |
| HAYES, CARNOVIA | MARY WINTERS-HAYES | Grandson |
| HAYES, LETTIE | MARY WINTERS-HAYES | Granddaughter |
| HAYES, LYMUS JR | MARY WINTERS-HAYES | Grandson |
| HAYES, PRUDIE S | MARY WINTERS-HAYES | Grandson’s wife (Lymus Hayes Jr.) |
| LOVE, MARY ELLA | MARY WINTERS-HAYES | Granddaughter |
| POTTERS, LOUISE HAYES | MARY WINTERS-HAYES | Granddaughter |
| RILEY, BERNICE | MARY WINTERS-HAYES | Great- Granddaughter |
| RILEY, MAJOR | MARY WINTERS-HAYES | Great- Granddaughter’s husband (Bernice Love) |
| SANDERS, BESSIE | MARY WINTERS-HAYES | Great- Granddaughter |
| SANDERS, WOODROW | MARY WINTERS-HAYES | Great- Granddaughter’s husband (Bessie Sanders |
| SCURRY, ERNEST SR | MARY WINTERS-HAYES | Granddaughter’s husband (Mary Hayes) |
| SCURRY, MARY HAYES | MARY WINTERS-HAYES | Granddaughter |
| WASHINGTON, EDDIE MAE LOVE | MARY WINTERS-HAYES | Great- Granddaughter |
| WASHINGTON, ROBERT | MARY WINTERS-HAYES | Great- Granddaughter Eddie Mae Love |
| FELDER, JAMES | JAMES A WINTERS JR | Granddaughter’s husband (Martha Winters) |
| FELDER, MARTHA WINTERS | JAMES A WINTERS JR | Granddaughter |
| GIBSON, LUCILE | JAMES A WINTERS JR | Granddaughter |
| WINTERS, IDELL (Holsten) | JAMES A WINTERS JR | Grandson’s wife (James A Winters) |
| WINTERS, JAMES A | JAMES A WINTERS JR | Grandson |
| WINTERS, ROBERT JAMES | JAMES A WINTERS JR | Grandson |
| WINTERS, FRANKIE L | SCOTT WINTERS | Granddaughter |
| WINTERS, LESTER | SCOTT WINTERS | Grandson |
| BENNETT, LAURIE | LOTTIE WINTERS | Unknown |
| BENNETT, ROOSEVELT | LOTTIE WINTERS | Grandson |
| BENNETT, ALBERTA | LOTTIE WINTERS | Granddaughter |
| BENNETT, SAMMIE | LOTTIE WINTERS | Grandson (No signature on deed) |
| HIGHT, WALTER | BETTY WINTERS-LATHAN | Granddaughter’s husband (Rosa Lathan) |
| HIGHT, ROSA LATHAN | BETTY WINTERS-LATHAN | Granddaughter |
| JAMESON, OSCAR | BETTY WINTERS-LATHAN | Granddaughter’s husband (Ruby Lathan) |
| JAMESON, RUBIE LATHAN | BETTY WINTERS-LATHAN | Granddaughter |
| LATHAN, JAMES E | BETTY WINTERS-LATHAN | Grandson |
| LATHAN, RAS JR | BETTY WINTERS-LATHAN | Grandson |
| LATHAN, ARAMANDA SWEED | BETTY WINTERS-LATHAN | Granddaughter |
| MILLS, LOUIS | BETTY WINTERS-LATHAN | Granddaughter’s husband (Mary Lathan) |
| MILLS, MARY LATHAN | BETTY WINTERS-LATHAN | Granddaughter |
| SIMS, DELMUS | BETTY WINTERS-LATHAN | Granddaughter’s husband (Ella Mae Lathan) |
| SIMS, EDDIE MAE LATHAN | BETTY WINTERS-LATHAN | Granddaughter |
| SWEED, ED | BETTY WINTERS-LATHAN | Granddaughter’s husband (Aramanda Lathan) |
| WHITFIELD, BERTHA MAE LATHAN | BETTY WINTERS-LATHAN | Granddaughter |
| WHITFIELD, PAUL JR | BETTY WINTERS-LATHAN | Granddaughter’s husband (Bertha Mae Lathan) |
| WILLIAMS, SENORA LATHAN | BETTY WINTERS-LATHAN | Granddaughter |
| WILLIAMS, J D | BETTY WINTERS-LATHAN | Granddaughter’s husband (Senora Lathan) |
| CHARLES, MELVIN T | THACKER WINTERS | Granddaughter’s husband (Bertha Lee) |
| SWEED, RUTH ELLA | THACKER WINTERS | Granddaughter |
| SWEED, MATTHEW | THACKER WINTERS | Granddaughter’s husband (Ruth Ella) |
| WINTERS, ALBERTA | THACKER WINTERS | Grandson’s wife (Thacker Winters Jr.) |
| WINTERS, BERTHA LEE | THACKER WINTERS | Granddaughter |
| WINTERS, JAMES | THACKER WINTERS | Grandson |
| WINTERS, ROSE ELLA | THACKER WINTERS | Grandson’s wife |
| WINTERS, THACKER JR | THACKER WINTERS | Grandson |
| WINTERS, VIOLA | THACKER WINTERS | Grandson’s Wife (Esque Winters) |
| Winters, ESQUE | THACKER WINTERS | Grandson |
| WINTERS, EUGENE | Unknown | Unknown |
| ANDREWS, EDDIE | Unknown | Unknown |
| SWEED, WILLIAM | Unknown | Unknown |
| WINTERS, WILLIE MRS | Unknown | Unknown |
Original Pages of Warranty Deed: James Winters, ET. AL To Jeff Winters
5 thoughts on “James Winters Descendants from 1845-1954”
This is amazing!! Thank you for your diligence and hard work. I remember my father, Johnnie Winters mentioning some of the listed names. I was too young to understand he was trying to tell me about my family history and lineage.
As for the Negro school, I am sure it was only one. My maternal great grandmother had a or the school house on her property. Her name was Prudie Johnson. All of her children moved away from Washington, Texas and she took in a child named Hattie Mae. The property was lost and the whereabouts of Hattie Mae is unknown.
My plan in about a year is to purchase some of the property our ancestors worked so hard to own and develop our own family reunion resort.
There is even a city in Texas named Winters, Texas.
Keep up the good work!
Thank you so much, Cynthia, I can’t tell you how much I appreciate all of your support to help me on this Journey.
There is more info that I will be sharing. I started drafting related blogs, but as I write them, I realize that they should be separated for clarity. One blog became two, then five. However, after chatting with Mattie Hayes yesterday, I decided to strip this down so that I could publish it. I will publish the rest later. LOL
What can you tell me of Hattie Mae? Lots of time, the children they took in were related, such as Papa Bud and Mama Gurt taking in Uncle Edward Spiller.
Also, Winters Texas was named after John Winters. James Winters, John Winters, and William Winters all lived in Washington, Texas for one year in 1837, then moved. I wonder if they, and the slaveholder Thacker Winter were related. Please send this writing to other family members!
I’m grand father name was Curtis Winters….married to Idella Sullivan/Winters…14545 Hwy 105 … two children live (Curtis Ervin Winters….aka Er B & John Wayne Winters
Hi Tiffini, thanks for the response!
I’m loving the participation (Smile)
Your grandfather, Curtis Winters is the son of Jeff Winters, the deed recipient. In the case of this deed, none of Jeff Winters’ children’s signatures were required. The signature captured above was from Idell Holston (1906-1985). She was the wife of James A Winters (1894-1986) and per the notary, they lived in Dallas when they signed on July 16, 1954. Curtis Winters’s wife was Idella Ethel Sullivan (1933-2005).
Hi there, I remember every Labor Day weekend spent there for the Winters Family Reunion. I’m the daughter of Loyd Winters aka Brother. Between Aunt Della, Aunt Rosie and Aunt Lottie’s houses with that southern country cooking, it brings back wonderful memories.
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