Winn, Charles W.

WINN, VIRDEN, HEWETT, THOMAS, LAIRD

Posted By: Volunteer Transcriber
Date: 10/24/2009 at 11:10:31

Winn, Charles W.

There are few people in Newton or in Jasper County who do not know Charles W. Winn, a progressive merchant and representative citizen. The chief reason why this is true is that he possesses a never failing fund of humor and is a man blessed with that wealth of human sympathy, which always endears one so favored to his fellow men. No gathering of a social nature but receives an added spice if he be present, for he can always be relied upon to make a happy little speech or tell a quaint and funny story. This genial, obliging and popular gentleman was born in Muskingum County, Ohio, March 5, 1844, and he is the son of J. W. and Harriet (Virden) Winn, both natives of Ohio. His father was a merchant and came to Mt. Pleasant, Iowa, in 1854. The trip was made in an old fashioned prairie schooner, through a country more or less wild, over unbridged streams, rough roads, and filled with all kinds of wild game. The father purchased one hundred and sixty acres in Henry County, Iowa, but the hardships and loneliness of pioneer life caused him to turn his attention away from home building in a new country in less than a year and he went back to Ohio, his son returning with him.

In 1863 Charles W. Winn again left Ohio and went to Memphis, Tennessee, where he worked at different things for two years. He then returned to Ohio and on May1, 1866, was united in marriage with Eunice Thomas, daughter of David and _____ (Hewett) Thomas, natives of Pennsylvania. Both these parents are now deceased, as are those of Mr. Winn also.

To Mr. and Mrs. Winn five children have been born, namely: Orlando, who has remained unmarried, resides in Newton; Estella Laird, wife of J. L. Laird, lives in Minneapolis, Minnesota; Harvey W. who is married, is a prominent business man in Ft. Worth, Texas; Frank D. who is yet single, lives in Des Moines; Blanch, who is a successful teacher, has remained single and is living at home.

In 1866 Mr. Winn again moved from Ohio to Mt. Pleasant, Iowa, where he bought and improved a farm, living on it for several years. Later, in 1878, he came to Newton, Jasper County, and in this vicinity again engaged in farming pursuits with his usual success. He then turned his attention to the shoe business, which he has followed ever since, having been in his present location in Newton, either as clerk or proprietor, for a period of twenty-three years. He has one of the neatest, best arranged and best known stores in the county, which is always carefully stocked with an up-to-date and attractive line of footwear of every description, and his trade has constantly grown, now extending to all parts of the locality. A criterion of his honesty and courtesy to patrons is seen in the fact that many of his best customers are often or twenty years' standing.

Mr. Winn is one of eight brothers and sisters, three of whom are still living, namely: Isaac makes his home in Ohio; Frank D. lives in Idaho; and himself. Mr. Winn and his family are members of the Presbyterian Church of Newton, of which he is an elder. In politics he is a Democrat and, fraternally, belongs to the Brotherhood of American Yeomen. He has always manifested an abiding interest in the growth of Jasper County and has always readily supported every movement calculated to augment the same. Past and Present of Jasper County Iowa B. F. Bowden & Company, Indianapolis, IN, 1912 Page 507.