Photo Gallery
The Winans Farm on the corner of River Heights and North Main Street in Shawano in April 1901. In the photo are, Hattie Brooks, Frank Brooks, Grandma Winans, Mary Brooks, Neva Lutsey, Great Grandmother Murray, Grandfather Winans, Maria McCord, Walter Schneider, Jenny Schneider, Agnes Schneider, Kathryn Schneider, and Martha B. (hired girl).
Children of John A. Winans and Mary Murry; Maggie Winans Fowler, Effie Winans Lindig, Mary Winans Brooks, John F. Winans, Jennie Winans Schneider.
The Winans home in 1910.
The Winans family: Maggie Fowler, Neva Lutsey, Grandma Winans, Grandpa Winans, Milo Buckstaff, Floice Winans, Mrs. Buckstaffand Effie DeFrance.
The Winans farm about 1922. Seated front: Orin Winans, Milo Winans, Eldine , Wayne Winans. The three young boys were sons of John F. Winans and Florence Buckstaff. John F. Winans was the youngest son of John A Winans and Mary Murray. Back row: John A. Winans, Maggie Fowler, Mary Winans.
The Winans farm.
The Winans farm in 1907.
The Winans home today, on the corner of River Heights and North Main Street in Shawano.
Notes
The Winans Family and Farm
River Heights and North Main Street
Shawano, Wisconsin
The photos are of the Winans family and farm on the SW corner of River Heights and North Main Street in Shawano. The last photo is of the house today.
The Winans family in Shawano County is significant because John W. Winans and his wife Mary Murray are counted in the first pioneer families in the county and prominence in the early development of the city. For example, the Winans family rented part of their farm to host the first Shawano County Fair held in the Shawano County in the City of Shawano in 1874. The Fair Association approached Shawano County for assistance in locating fairgrounds in Shawano. 15 acres of John A. Winans’ farm (which is now River Heights) were leased at $50 per year. Fences, sheds, and a trotting course were erected.
John F. Winans was the son of Mary Murray and John A. Winans, two of Shawano’s first pioneers. Mary arrived here with her parents in 1853; John came in 1855. They married in 1857 and had five children. John W. was their only son and was Neva Meggitt’s uncle. Neva was the daughter of John’s sister Margaret.
Mary Murray was Shawano’s first school teacher. Begun in 1855, her school was located on the south side of the Wolf at the end of Main Street. The school was built over a big pine stump which served as a desk. She died in 1939, seven weeks before her 100th birthday. She was considered an authority on early Shawano history and certainly must have provided much of the material for her son’s writings. She also maintained a diary for most of her life which is in the possession of the County Historical Society. Both Mary’s father, Julius, and brother, Lucius, served in the Civil War. John F. Winans’ wrote of the early history of Shawano which was found in the Neva Meggitt home on Main Street before it was demolished in the early 1980’s.
The John F. Winans was born in 1880 in the family home across the pond bridge. The home still exists today at the corner of River Heights and North Main Street. He attended the Ainsworth School, then called the Magee School, until 1889. The family lived in Keshena until 1893, but returned to Shawano where John attended grade and high school until 1898.
Winans worked in Washington and Nebraska for some years before he married in 1913 and returned to Wisconsin. His wife bore four children, three of whom died tragically. Mary died of influenza in 1920, two days after giving birth to her fourth son, Lowell. This fourth son was adopted by Mrs. Winans’ favorite brother, Harry Doupe. He is still living in the Western United States.
After the death of his wife, Winans was appointed special officer in the Indian Service at Keshena. He was later transferred to the Prohibition Service and served that agency until Prohibition’s repeal in 1933. Until his retirement in 1950, he served in several different capacities with the Alcohol Tax Bureau of the Internal Revenue Service.
He remarried in 1931 and he and his wife moved to Florida upon his retirement. He returned to Shawano when his wife died and lived here until his own death in 1972. His obituary said, “In his passing, the area will lose an authentic source of early Shawano history.” Fortunately, he left much behind. Winans history is quite lengthy and in the possession of the Shawano County Historical Society.