1905 History of Crawford County Kansas

Admiral N. Winchell, of Sheridan township, is an old-timer of Crawford county, with whose history he has been identified as a factor in its making, as well as a worker for his individual prosperity, for thirty-five years. Stock-raising and general farming have been the pursuits in which he has achieved especial success, and he is recognized as one of the leaders in these basic industries which mean so much for the wealth and permanent welfare of the county. Although his lifetime has witnessed most of the decades of the past century and he is now more than threescore and ten, he yet retains active direction of affairs and the vigor and vitality which upheld him in his strenuous earlier years still remain with him in declining old age.

Mr. Winchell belongs to the Crawford county veterans of the Civil war. He was living in Schuyler county, Illinois, when the war broke out, and in August, 1862, responded to Lincoln's call for more troops, and from that time on until considerably after the war—some of the best years of his life—he was in the service of his country. From the camp at Quincy, Illinois, he was sent to Columbus, Kentucky; was at the Davidson Mills and Holly Springs engagements; at Black River Bridge, and at Jackson; at the siege of Vicksburg and the Meridian raid; went south and took part at Yellow Bayou, Alexandria, Pleasant Hill, in the Red River expedition; after his return to Vicksburg he was sent to Missouri to fight the Confederates under Price; was then at Nashville; took part in the operations at Fort Blakely and Spanish Fort, after which he was sent to Montgomery, Alabama, where he heard of the surrender of Lee and the assassination of Lincoln; was stationed at Mobile, and remained there throughout the days of reconstruction in the Confederacy. Being a vigorous specimen of sturdiest manhood, standing six feet and three inches, and a commanding figure wherever seen, he was selected as flag bearer of his company, and refused a second lieutenacy in order to carry the starry banner at the head of his company.

Mr. Winchell was born in Jennings county, Indiana, July 1, 1827, and when three years old he was left an orphan by the death of his father, Walter Winchell. He was then bound out to Levi Hunter, with whom he remained until he was of age, and during all that time he enjoyed eleven months of schooling. But he waxed strong and large under the invigorating work of the farm, and obtained a training in honest industry and in hardened muscular vigor which have stood him in good stead all his life. At the age of twenty-four, in January, 1851, he married Miss Julia A. Underwood, who was born in Jefferson county, Indiana, a daughter of Zachariah and Sarah (Jones) Underwood, the former a native of Virginia and who died in Indiana at the age of sixty-eight, and the latter a native of Georgia and who died at the age of forty-five.

Mr. and Mrs. Winchell soon after their marriage moved to Schuyler county, Illinois, which remained their home until 1870, which was the date of their arrival in Crawford county. Mr. Winchell is the owner of a fine farm of four hundred and forty acres in Sheridan township, situated in the valley about a mile and a half from Monmouth, and this is recognized as one of the most productive and best managed places in the county. Besides the comfortable country residence, there is a barn fifty by fifty feet, with a rock foundation, and everything is in keeping with modern methods of agriculture. Mr. Winchell has been very successful as a stockman, and still takes much interest in active affairs.

Mr. and Mrs. Winchell had the following children: Joseph Leroy, of Cherokee; Levi Albert, of Greeley Center, Nebraska, a successful business man of that place; Anna Bell, married and living at Mt. Carmel, Kansas; William died at the age of forty-six years; Grant, the youngest, died in March, 1903, at the age of thirty-five. Mr. and Mrs. Winchell have two granddaughters, Orla and Millie, who make their home with them and are popular and successful teachers in this county. For many years Mr. Winchell was a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and he is also a Mason. He is a member and active in the affairs of the Grand Army.