Nancy Ann Powel, the first wife of Levi Wininger, and the mother of his first seven chldren was born in Hawkin County, Tennessee and died in Salem, Marion County, Illinois. Nancy was, according to family history, heavily Cherokee/Choclaw and the Dawes Rolls support this statement. Nancy died "just after her 31st birthday" in March of 1857. following the birth of John. Levo Wininger would soon marry second, Arabella Gillian, the young daughter of Moses Gillian and Elizabeth Evans., on 25 Oct 1857. She was only three years older than William Powell Wininger, Levi's eldest son by Nancy, William did not get along with his step-mothr Arabel, and set off for Texas on his own at 13. Later, the family reconciled after Levi , Arabel and the family left Arkansas and are shown again living together in Texas. The Levi Wininger family has an interesting history.
Biographical Notes on Levi Wininger, his 18 Children, and Descendants by Susan Moore Teller
Levi Wininger, my 2nd great-grandfather, was born in Hawkins Co., East TN, the second son of a large family. The German language was still used (in this country) and Levi spoke English with a heavy brogue, pronouncing his "W's" like "V's." He always called his son William, "Villiam." He left Tennessee to go west at about eight years of age, with his father Adam, his mother Mary M. (*Some descendants state her middle name was Magdelene, some say Margaret), his brother and sisters settling in Jackson Co. IN in 1831. They traveled along the Wilderness Road, to the Vincennes Trace in Indiana, to Jackson County. The father, Adam, is shown living near sons Kalvin and James in the 1850 Indiana census of Jackson County. Levi's father was Adam, and his grandfather Phillip, whose will refers to son Adam.
Levi had moved on to Salem, Marion Co., IL by 1850 and is shown there. I viewed that census on film of original census, with wife Nancy and their children born before 1850. Levi Wininger left Jackson Co. IN for Salem, Marion County, IL upon reaching the age to marry, to make his own way. At the age of twenty, he married sixteen year old Nancy Ann Powell, the daughter of William Powell and Nancy Porter. Levi and Nancy had seven children, all born in Salem, Marion Co. IL; William Powell, James Narton, Elizabeth Ann, Jacob, Mary Catherine, Porter Kalvin and John M. Nancy died at the birth of her 7th child, John M. Wininger., in 1857, "in the first part of the year, before she was 31 years old." Porter Kalvin, my great-grandfather, was just under two years of age when his mother died in the early part of the year before her 31st birthday in the year 1857.
His father, Levi, married again within the year to another "full-blooded" German girl, Arabella Gillian, who was about the same age as Levi's oldest son, William Powell, by Nancy, his first wife. (Census data consistently over 3 decades says she was born in 1840, thus age 17 upon her marriage in 1857. Still close to William Powell's age, but 3 years younger, not same age). Arabella, according to the book "The Genealogy of the Wininger Family in America" by Mercedes Bowen, was "very heavyset, and not much loved by her stepchildren." Her eldest stepson, William Powell Wininger did not get along with her at all, and left for Texas, 1500 miles away, when he was not quite 14, on foot. He settled in Gainesville, Cooke Co., TX and sent for his two younger brothers, Porter Kalvin and James M. within a year.
By 1860, Levi had sold all his land in Indiana and went by wagon train from Salem, Marion Co., Illinois to Gainesville, Cooke Co., Texas with his second wife, Arabella and the remaining children by Nancy. He is found July 7, 1860 with 2nd wife shown as Anabel, age 20 (this is Arabella Gillian) keeping house, and children William, 17; Jim, 11; Elizabeth, 10; Jacob, 8; Porter, 5; John, 3; and Andrew J. two months, (later renamed Vincent T.) the only child on the census born in Texas. Previously, Arabella lost one child shortly after birth in IL, named Andrew J. Mary Catherine, Nancy's child born two years before Porter Kalvin, has apparently died before 1860 as she is not shown with the family in Texas.
While Porter Kalvin Wininger, according to Bowen's grandfather, joined his brother William Powell Wininger in Texas as a young boy, he moved with his father and stepmother to Sebastian Co. AR. The 1870 Sebastian Co. AR Federal Census shows, in Sugarloaf Township, house #40, Wininger, L. 48, W,M, Farmer, (given name very hard to read, but does look like census taker wrote "Luther" instead of Levi in error), with Rebella, 30, W, F, keeping house, (this is Arabel/Arabella Gillian, Levi's 2nd wife); Jacob, 19 W, M, at home; Porter, 16, W, M, at home (this is Porter Kalvin Wininger); John, 13, W, M, at home; Vinson, 11, W, M, at home (this child was called Andrew Jackson, same name as the earlier born brother who died, in the 1860 Cooke Co., TX census but by the time of this 1870 census, Levi and Arabella had changed the child's name to Vinson or Vincent, which is on his tombstone in Hartford, AR); Benjamin, 6, W, M, at home; Mary, 5, W, F, at home; and Nicholas, 2, W, M, at home.
Levi, 38 years old at the start of the Civil War, left Gainesville, (known for its confederate sympathies -- which included some hangings of those unsympathetic to the southern cause) because he had northern sympathies, and three of his brothers, Kalvin S., James, and Wesley, were in the Union Army, whom he feared he might be forced to shoot if he were impressed into the CSA. Levi had a son, William P., who joined the CSA Army while still 17, whom he feared might be forced to shoot if he were impressed in the Union forces. He wished to avoid serving in either army for this reason. He left Texas after July of 1860, and moved to Hartford, AR, homesteading land filed on May 20, 1862. Levi lived on Prairie Creek, about five miles north of Hartford, about a mile from Midland and 23 miles southwest of Fort Smith, in the Sugar Loaf Mountain area. He lived in a large log cabin he built that sat near a large cliff of rocks that formed a cave, near the foot of Sugar Loaf Mountain in a narrow valley about five miles across. It was an isolated valley, near caves where he hid when soldiers from either side came near, fed by his wife Arabella until they were gone.
His brother James, 35 years of age at enlistment in Medora IN, mustered in 31 Dec 1863 at Camp Horton, KY, was 6 ft. 1 inch tall, black hair, black eyes, dark complexion, was taken prisioner in Terre Noir, Arkansas on April 2, 1864, and died at the hands of the enemy in Tyler TX. Levi's brother Kalvin, age 38 at enlistment in Medora, IL, as a corporal in the Union Army, mustered in at Camp Horton, KY, was wounded in action on Dec. 31, 1862, left in General Hospital in Jackson, TN, and was never well afterward, and received a govt. pension for his service. Levi's brother Wesley was killed March 24, 1864 while serving with Union forces in Richmond.
Levi's son, William Powell Wininger enlisted at seventeen in Gainesville TX in the CSA as a private and served as a scout and courier for four years in this capacity for Robert E. Lee, at times carrying messages between Robert E. Lee and Union General U.S. Grant, whom he also came to know well. William Powell Wininger was with the same group still guarding General Robert E. Lee at the time of his surrender to U.S. forces. William was captured for a time, but was either released or escaped, as he made his way home after the war. Levi did not wish to join in this fight, and hid his person, as well as food and supplies, in caves near his home in Hartford until the war was over, as he greatly feared killing a son or brother in that conflict.
Levi lived in Arkansas until his death in 1898, and his tombstone can be found in Lot 117, Harford Cemetery, Sebastian County, AR. However, his decendants put up the tombstone in the 1940's and knew his death date, but did not know his correct birthdate, which is grossly in error. Levi and Arabella continued to have children, 11 in number, (Vincent T. listed as Andrew J. in the 1860 census, but who actually died at birth in IL) , Benjamin Franklin, Mary, Nicholas S., Ada, Edgar Levi, Tildon and Hattie B); making Levi the father of 18 children born between 1843 and 1878, by two wives, all told.
Source: Research notes on Levi Wininger/descendants by Sue Moore Teller - posted in Lori Stephenson's Emmons Family Tree - viewed 11 Jul 2010 on http://worldconnect.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=lorias&id=I18358#s1
Biographical Notes on Levi Wininger, his 18 Children, and Descendants by Susan Moore Teller
Levi Wininger, my 2nd great-grandfather, was born in Hawkins Co., East TN, the second son of a large family. The German language was still used (in this country) and Levi spoke English with a heavy brogue, pronouncing his "W's" like "V's." He always called his son William, "Villiam." He left Tennessee to go west at about eight years of age, with his father Adam, his mother Mary M. (*Some descendants state her middle name was Magdelene, some say Margaret), his brother and sisters settling in Jackson Co. IN in 1831. They traveled along the Wilderness Road, to the Vincennes Trace in Indiana, to Jackson County. The father, Adam, is shown living near sons Kalvin and James in the 1850 Indiana census of Jackson County. Levi's father was Adam, and his grandfather Phillip, whose will refers to son Adam.
Levi had moved on to Salem, Marion Co., IL by 1850 and is shown there. I viewed that census on film of original census, with wife Nancy and their children born before 1850. Levi Wininger left Jackson Co. IN for Salem, Marion County, IL upon reaching the age to marry, to make his own way. At the age of twenty, he married sixteen year old Nancy Ann Powell, the daughter of William Powell and Nancy Porter. Levi and Nancy had seven children, all born in Salem, Marion Co. IL; William Powell, James Narton, Elizabeth Ann, Jacob, Mary Catherine, Porter Kalvin and John M. Nancy died at the birth of her 7th child, John M. Wininger., in 1857, "in the first part of the year, before she was 31 years old." Porter Kalvin, my great-grandfather, was just under two years of age when his mother died in the early part of the year before her 31st birthday in the year 1857.
His father, Levi, married again within the year to another "full-blooded" German girl, Arabella Gillian, who was about the same age as Levi's oldest son, William Powell, by Nancy, his first wife. (Census data consistently over 3 decades says she was born in 1840, thus age 17 upon her marriage in 1857. Still close to William Powell's age, but 3 years younger, not same age). Arabella, according to the book "The Genealogy of the Wininger Family in America" by Mercedes Bowen, was "very heavyset, and not much loved by her stepchildren." Her eldest stepson, William Powell Wininger did not get along with her at all, and left for Texas, 1500 miles away, when he was not quite 14, on foot. He settled in Gainesville, Cooke Co., TX and sent for his two younger brothers, Porter Kalvin and James M. within a year.
By 1860, Levi had sold all his land in Indiana and went by wagon train from Salem, Marion Co., Illinois to Gainesville, Cooke Co., Texas with his second wife, Arabella and the remaining children by Nancy. He is found July 7, 1860 with 2nd wife shown as Anabel, age 20 (this is Arabella Gillian) keeping house, and children William, 17; Jim, 11; Elizabeth, 10; Jacob, 8; Porter, 5; John, 3; and Andrew J. two months, (later renamed Vincent T.) the only child on the census born in Texas. Previously, Arabella lost one child shortly after birth in IL, named Andrew J. Mary Catherine, Nancy's child born two years before Porter Kalvin, has apparently died before 1860 as she is not shown with the family in Texas.
While Porter Kalvin Wininger, according to Bowen's grandfather, joined his brother William Powell Wininger in Texas as a young boy, he moved with his father and stepmother to Sebastian Co. AR. The 1870 Sebastian Co. AR Federal Census shows, in Sugarloaf Township, house #40, Wininger, L. 48, W,M, Farmer, (given name very hard to read, but does look like census taker wrote "Luther" instead of Levi in error), with Rebella, 30, W, F, keeping house, (this is Arabel/Arabella Gillian, Levi's 2nd wife); Jacob, 19 W, M, at home; Porter, 16, W, M, at home (this is Porter Kalvin Wininger); John, 13, W, M, at home; Vinson, 11, W, M, at home (this child was called Andrew Jackson, same name as the earlier born brother who died, in the 1860 Cooke Co., TX census but by the time of this 1870 census, Levi and Arabella had changed the child's name to Vinson or Vincent, which is on his tombstone in Hartford, AR); Benjamin, 6, W, M, at home; Mary, 5, W, F, at home; and Nicholas, 2, W, M, at home.
Levi, 38 years old at the start of the Civil War, left Gainesville, (known for its confederate sympathies -- which included some hangings of those unsympathetic to the southern cause) because he had northern sympathies, and three of his brothers, Kalvin S., James, and Wesley, were in the Union Army, whom he feared he might be forced to shoot if he were impressed into the CSA. Levi had a son, William P., who joined the CSA Army while still 17, whom he feared might be forced to shoot if he were impressed in the Union forces. He wished to avoid serving in either army for this reason. He left Texas after July of 1860, and moved to Hartford, AR, homesteading land filed on May 20, 1862. Levi lived on Prairie Creek, about five miles north of Hartford, about a mile from Midland and 23 miles southwest of Fort Smith, in the Sugar Loaf Mountain area. He lived in a large log cabin he built that sat near a large cliff of rocks that formed a cave, near the foot of Sugar Loaf Mountain in a narrow valley about five miles across. It was an isolated valley, near caves where he hid when soldiers from either side came near, fed by his wife Arabella until they were gone.
His brother James, 35 years of age at enlistment in Medora IN, mustered in 31 Dec 1863 at Camp Horton, KY, was 6 ft. 1 inch tall, black hair, black eyes, dark complexion, was taken prisioner in Terre Noir, Arkansas on April 2, 1864, and died at the hands of the enemy in Tyler TX. Levi's brother Kalvin, age 38 at enlistment in Medora, IL, as a corporal in the Union Army, mustered in at Camp Horton, KY, was wounded in action on Dec. 31, 1862, left in General Hospital in Jackson, TN, and was never well afterward, and received a govt. pension for his service. Levi's brother Wesley was killed March 24, 1864 while serving with Union forces in Richmond.
Levi's son, William Powell Wininger enlisted at seventeen in Gainesville TX in the CSA as a private and served as a scout and courier for four years in this capacity for Robert E. Lee, at times carrying messages between Robert E. Lee and Union General U.S. Grant, whom he also came to know well. William Powell Wininger was with the same group still guarding General Robert E. Lee at the time of his surrender to U.S. forces. William was captured for a time, but was either released or escaped, as he made his way home after the war. Levi did not wish to join in this fight, and hid his person, as well as food and supplies, in caves near his home in Hartford until the war was over, as he greatly feared killing a son or brother in that conflict.
Levi lived in Arkansas until his death in 1898, and his tombstone can be found in Lot 117, Harford Cemetery, Sebastian County, AR. However, his decendants put up the tombstone in the 1940's and knew his death date, but did not know his correct birthdate, which is grossly in error. Levi and Arabella continued to have children, 11 in number, (Vincent T. listed as Andrew J. in the 1860 census, but who actually died at birth in IL) , Benjamin Franklin, Mary, Nicholas S., Ada, Edgar Levi, Tildon and Hattie B); making Levi the father of 18 children born between 1843 and 1878, by two wives, all told.
Source: Research notes on Levi Wininger/descendants by Sue Moore Teller - posted in Lori Stephenson's Emmons Family Tree - viewed 11 Jul 2010 on http://worldconnect.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=lorias&id=I18358#s1
Nancy Ann Powel, the first wife of Levi Wininger, and the mother of his first seven chldren was born in Hawkin County, Tennessee and died in Salem, Marion County, Illinois. Nancy was, according to family history, heavily Cherokee/Choclaw and the Dawes Rolls support this statement. Nancy died "just after her 31st birthday" in March of 1857. following the birth of John. Levo Wininger would soon marry second, Arabella Gillian, the young daughter of Moses Gillian and Elizabeth Evans., on 25 Oct 1857. She was only three years older than William Powell Wininger, Levi's eldest son by Nancy, William did not get along with his step-mothr Arabel, and set off for Texas on his own at 13. Later, the family reconciled after Levi , Arabel and the family left Arkansas and are shown again living together in Texas. The Levi Wininger family has an interesting history.
Biographical Notes on Levi Wininger, his 18 Children, and Descendants by Susan Moore Teller
Levi Wininger, my 2nd great-grandfather, was born in Hawkins Co., East TN, the second son of a large family. The German language was still used (in this country) and Levi spoke English with a heavy brogue, pronouncing his "W's" like "V's." He always called his son William, "Villiam." He left Tennessee to go west at about eight years of age, with his father Adam, his mother Mary M. (*Some descendants state her middle name was Magdelene, some say Margaret), his brother and sisters settling in Jackson Co. IN in 1831. They traveled along the Wilderness Road, to the Vincennes Trace in Indiana, to Jackson County. The father, Adam, is shown living near sons Kalvin and James in the 1850 Indiana census of Jackson County. Levi's father was Adam, and his grandfather Phillip, whose will refers to son Adam.
Levi had moved on to Salem, Marion Co., IL by 1850 and is shown there. I viewed that census on film of original census, with wife Nancy and their children born before 1850. Levi Wininger left Jackson Co. IN for Salem, Marion County, IL upon reaching the age to marry, to make his own way. At the age of twenty, he married sixteen year old Nancy Ann Powell, the daughter of William Powell and Nancy Porter. Levi and Nancy had seven children, all born in Salem, Marion Co. IL; William Powell, James Narton, Elizabeth Ann, Jacob, Mary Catherine, Porter Kalvin and John M. Nancy died at the birth of her 7th child, John M. Wininger., in 1857, "in the first part of the year, before she was 31 years old." Porter Kalvin, my great-grandfather, was just under two years of age when his mother died in the early part of the year before her 31st birthday in the year 1857.
His father, Levi, married again within the year to another "full-blooded" German girl, Arabella Gillian, who was about the same age as Levi's oldest son, William Powell, by Nancy, his first wife. (Census data consistently over 3 decades says she was born in 1840, thus age 17 upon her marriage in 1857. Still close to William Powell's age, but 3 years younger, not same age). Arabella, according to the book "The Genealogy of the Wininger Family in America" by Mercedes Bowen, was "very heavyset, and not much loved by her stepchildren." Her eldest stepson, William Powell Wininger did not get along with her at all, and left for Texas, 1500 miles away, when he was not quite 14, on foot. He settled in Gainesville, Cooke Co., TX and sent for his two younger brothers, Porter Kalvin and James M. within a year.
By 1860, Levi had sold all his land in Indiana and went by wagon train from Salem, Marion Co., Illinois to Gainesville, Cooke Co., Texas with his second wife, Arabella and the remaining children by Nancy. He is found July 7, 1860 with 2nd wife shown as Anabel, age 20 (this is Arabella Gillian) keeping house, and children William, 17; Jim, 11; Elizabeth, 10; Jacob, 8; Porter, 5; John, 3; and Andrew J. two months, (later renamed Vincent T.) the only child on the census born in Texas. Previously, Arabella lost one child shortly after birth in IL, named Andrew J. Mary Catherine, Nancy's child born two years before Porter Kalvin, has apparently died before 1860 as she is not shown with the family in Texas.
While Porter Kalvin Wininger, according to Bowen's grandfather, joined his brother William Powell Wininger in Texas as a young boy, he moved with his father and stepmother to Sebastian Co. AR. The 1870 Sebastian Co. AR Federal Census shows, in Sugarloaf Township, house #40, Wininger, L. 48, W,M, Farmer, (given name very hard to read, but does look like census taker wrote "Luther" instead of Levi in error), with Rebella, 30, W, F, keeping house, (this is Arabel/Arabella Gillian, Levi's 2nd wife); Jacob, 19 W, M, at home; Porter, 16, W, M, at home (this is Porter Kalvin Wininger); John, 13, W, M, at home; Vinson, 11, W, M, at home (this child was called Andrew Jackson, same name as the earlier born brother who died, in the 1860 Cooke Co., TX census but by the time of this 1870 census, Levi and Arabella had changed the child's name to Vinson or Vincent, which is on his tombstone in Hartford, AR); Benjamin, 6, W, M, at home; Mary, 5, W, F, at home; and Nicholas, 2, W, M, at home.
Levi, 38 years old at the start of the Civil War, left Gainesville, (known for its confederate sympathies -- which included some hangings of those unsympathetic to the southern cause) because he had northern sympathies, and three of his brothers, Kalvin S., James, and Wesley, were in the Union Army, whom he feared he might be forced to shoot if he were impressed into the CSA. Levi had a son, William P., who joined the CSA Army while still 17, whom he feared might be forced to shoot if he were impressed in the Union forces. He wished to avoid serving in either army for this reason. He left Texas after July of 1860, and moved to Hartford, AR, homesteading land filed on May 20, 1862. Levi lived on Prairie Creek, about five miles north of Hartford, about a mile from Midland and 23 miles southwest of Fort Smith, in the Sugar Loaf Mountain area. He lived in a large log cabin he built that sat near a large cliff of rocks that formed a cave, near the foot of Sugar Loaf Mountain in a narrow valley about five miles across. It was an isolated valley, near caves where he hid when soldiers from either side came near, fed by his wife Arabella until they were gone.
His brother James, 35 years of age at enlistment in Medora IN, mustered in 31 Dec 1863 at Camp Horton, KY, was 6 ft. 1 inch tall, black hair, black eyes, dark complexion, was taken prisioner in Terre Noir, Arkansas on April 2, 1864, and died at the hands of the enemy in Tyler TX. Levi's brother Kalvin, age 38 at enlistment in Medora, IL, as a corporal in the Union Army, mustered in at Camp Horton, KY, was wounded in action on Dec. 31, 1862, left in General Hospital in Jackson, TN, and was never well afterward, and received a govt. pension for his service. Levi's brother Wesley was killed March 24, 1864 while serving with Union forces in Richmond.
Levi's son, William Powell Wininger enlisted at seventeen in Gainesville TX in the CSA as a private and served as a scout and courier for four years in this capacity for Robert E. Lee, at times carrying messages between Robert E. Lee and Union General U.S. Grant, whom he also came to know well. William Powell Wininger was with the same group still guarding General Robert E. Lee at the time of his surrender to U.S. forces. William was captured for a time, but was either released or escaped, as he made his way home after the war. Levi did not wish to join in this fight, and hid his person, as well as food and supplies, in caves near his home in Hartford until the war was over, as he greatly feared killing a son or brother in that conflict.
Levi lived in Arkansas until his death in 1898, and his tombstone can be found in Lot 117, Harford Cemetery, Sebastian County, AR. However, his decendants put up the tombstone in the 1940's and knew his death date, but did not know his correct birthdate, which is grossly in error. Levi and Arabella continued to have children, 11 in number, (Vincent T. listed as Andrew J. in the 1860 census, but who actually died at birth in IL) , Benjamin Franklin, Mary, Nicholas S., Ada, Edgar Levi, Tildon and Hattie B); making Levi the father of 18 children born between 1843 and 1878, by two wives, all told.
Source: Research notes on Levi Wininger/descendants by Sue Moore Teller - posted in Lori Stephenson's Emmons Family Tree - viewed 11 Jul 2010 on http://worldconnect.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=lorias&id=I18358#s1
Biographical Notes on Levi Wininger, his 18 Children, and Descendants by Susan Moore Teller
Levi Wininger, my 2nd great-grandfather, was born in Hawkins Co., East TN, the second son of a large family. The German language was still used (in this country) and Levi spoke English with a heavy brogue, pronouncing his "W's" like "V's." He always called his son William, "Villiam." He left Tennessee to go west at about eight years of age, with his father Adam, his mother Mary M. (*Some descendants state her middle name was Magdelene, some say Margaret), his brother and sisters settling in Jackson Co. IN in 1831. They traveled along the Wilderness Road, to the Vincennes Trace in Indiana, to Jackson County. The father, Adam, is shown living near sons Kalvin and James in the 1850 Indiana census of Jackson County. Levi's father was Adam, and his grandfather Phillip, whose will refers to son Adam.
Levi had moved on to Salem, Marion Co., IL by 1850 and is shown there. I viewed that census on film of original census, with wife Nancy and their children born before 1850. Levi Wininger left Jackson Co. IN for Salem, Marion County, IL upon reaching the age to marry, to make his own way. At the age of twenty, he married sixteen year old Nancy Ann Powell, the daughter of William Powell and Nancy Porter. Levi and Nancy had seven children, all born in Salem, Marion Co. IL; William Powell, James Narton, Elizabeth Ann, Jacob, Mary Catherine, Porter Kalvin and John M. Nancy died at the birth of her 7th child, John M. Wininger., in 1857, "in the first part of the year, before she was 31 years old." Porter Kalvin, my great-grandfather, was just under two years of age when his mother died in the early part of the year before her 31st birthday in the year 1857.
His father, Levi, married again within the year to another "full-blooded" German girl, Arabella Gillian, who was about the same age as Levi's oldest son, William Powell, by Nancy, his first wife. (Census data consistently over 3 decades says she was born in 1840, thus age 17 upon her marriage in 1857. Still close to William Powell's age, but 3 years younger, not same age). Arabella, according to the book "The Genealogy of the Wininger Family in America" by Mercedes Bowen, was "very heavyset, and not much loved by her stepchildren." Her eldest stepson, William Powell Wininger did not get along with her at all, and left for Texas, 1500 miles away, when he was not quite 14, on foot. He settled in Gainesville, Cooke Co., TX and sent for his two younger brothers, Porter Kalvin and James M. within a year.
By 1860, Levi had sold all his land in Indiana and went by wagon train from Salem, Marion Co., Illinois to Gainesville, Cooke Co., Texas with his second wife, Arabella and the remaining children by Nancy. He is found July 7, 1860 with 2nd wife shown as Anabel, age 20 (this is Arabella Gillian) keeping house, and children William, 17; Jim, 11; Elizabeth, 10; Jacob, 8; Porter, 5; John, 3; and Andrew J. two months, (later renamed Vincent T.) the only child on the census born in Texas. Previously, Arabella lost one child shortly after birth in IL, named Andrew J. Mary Catherine, Nancy's child born two years before Porter Kalvin, has apparently died before 1860 as she is not shown with the family in Texas.
While Porter Kalvin Wininger, according to Bowen's grandfather, joined his brother William Powell Wininger in Texas as a young boy, he moved with his father and stepmother to Sebastian Co. AR. The 1870 Sebastian Co. AR Federal Census shows, in Sugarloaf Township, house #40, Wininger, L. 48, W,M, Farmer, (given name very hard to read, but does look like census taker wrote "Luther" instead of Levi in error), with Rebella, 30, W, F, keeping house, (this is Arabel/Arabella Gillian, Levi's 2nd wife); Jacob, 19 W, M, at home; Porter, 16, W, M, at home (this is Porter Kalvin Wininger); John, 13, W, M, at home; Vinson, 11, W, M, at home (this child was called Andrew Jackson, same name as the earlier born brother who died, in the 1860 Cooke Co., TX census but by the time of this 1870 census, Levi and Arabella had changed the child's name to Vinson or Vincent, which is on his tombstone in Hartford, AR); Benjamin, 6, W, M, at home; Mary, 5, W, F, at home; and Nicholas, 2, W, M, at home.
Levi, 38 years old at the start of the Civil War, left Gainesville, (known for its confederate sympathies -- which included some hangings of those unsympathetic to the southern cause) because he had northern sympathies, and three of his brothers, Kalvin S., James, and Wesley, were in the Union Army, whom he feared he might be forced to shoot if he were impressed into the CSA. Levi had a son, William P., who joined the CSA Army while still 17, whom he feared might be forced to shoot if he were impressed in the Union forces. He wished to avoid serving in either army for this reason. He left Texas after July of 1860, and moved to Hartford, AR, homesteading land filed on May 20, 1862. Levi lived on Prairie Creek, about five miles north of Hartford, about a mile from Midland and 23 miles southwest of Fort Smith, in the Sugar Loaf Mountain area. He lived in a large log cabin he built that sat near a large cliff of rocks that formed a cave, near the foot of Sugar Loaf Mountain in a narrow valley about five miles across. It was an isolated valley, near caves where he hid when soldiers from either side came near, fed by his wife Arabella until they were gone.
His brother James, 35 years of age at enlistment in Medora IN, mustered in 31 Dec 1863 at Camp Horton, KY, was 6 ft. 1 inch tall, black hair, black eyes, dark complexion, was taken prisioner in Terre Noir, Arkansas on April 2, 1864, and died at the hands of the enemy in Tyler TX. Levi's brother Kalvin, age 38 at enlistment in Medora, IL, as a corporal in the Union Army, mustered in at Camp Horton, KY, was wounded in action on Dec. 31, 1862, left in General Hospital in Jackson, TN, and was never well afterward, and received a govt. pension for his service. Levi's brother Wesley was killed March 24, 1864 while serving with Union forces in Richmond.
Levi's son, William Powell Wininger enlisted at seventeen in Gainesville TX in the CSA as a private and served as a scout and courier for four years in this capacity for Robert E. Lee, at times carrying messages between Robert E. Lee and Union General U.S. Grant, whom he also came to know well. William Powell Wininger was with the same group still guarding General Robert E. Lee at the time of his surrender to U.S. forces. William was captured for a time, but was either released or escaped, as he made his way home after the war. Levi did not wish to join in this fight, and hid his person, as well as food and supplies, in caves near his home in Hartford until the war was over, as he greatly feared killing a son or brother in that conflict.
Levi lived in Arkansas until his death in 1898, and his tombstone can be found in Lot 117, Harford Cemetery, Sebastian County, AR. However, his decendants put up the tombstone in the 1940's and knew his death date, but did not know his correct birthdate, which is grossly in error. Levi and Arabella continued to have children, 11 in number, (Vincent T. listed as Andrew J. in the 1860 census, but who actually died at birth in IL) , Benjamin Franklin, Mary, Nicholas S., Ada, Edgar Levi, Tildon and Hattie B); making Levi the father of 18 children born between 1843 and 1878, by two wives, all told.
Source: Research notes on Levi Wininger/descendants by Sue Moore Teller - posted in Lori Stephenson's Emmons Family Tree - viewed 11 Jul 2010 on http://worldconnect.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=lorias&id=I18358#s1
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