William H. Winters

WILLIAM H. WINTERS. - The present incumbent of the office of finance clerk, or cashier of the Kansas City post office, has been a resident of the Sunflower state since his boyhood days and is one of the sterling citizens contributed to this commonwealth by the fine old Buckeye state. He was born at Warren, the judicial center of Trumbull county, Ohio, in the historic old Western Reserve, and the date of his nativity was July 5, 1863. He is a son of John G. and Jane (Urmson) Winters, the former of whom was likewise born in Ohio, a representative of a pioneer family of German extraction, and the latter of whom was born near Sharon, Pennsylvania, of English lineage. They now maintain their home in Kansas City, Kansas, where the father is living virtually retired, after long years of earnest and effective endeavor in connection with the productive activities of life. He is seventy-one years of age and his wife sixty-seven at the time of this writing, in 1911. The marriage of the parents was solemnized at Hubbard, Trumbull county, Ohio, and in that state the father continued to follow his trade, as an expert blacksmith, until June, 1878, when he removed with his family to Kansas, having been promoted to this action on account of his impaired health. For the first two years he was engaged in farming in the vicinity of Solomon City, Dickinson county, and he then removed to Strong City, Chase county, where he established himself in the general merchandise business. He built up a prosperous enterprise and continued to be identified with the same for a period of about twenty years, after which he resided on a farm in that county about three years. By reason of his advanced age he finally disposed of his farm and in 1904 he established his home in Kansas City, where he has since lived retired, in the enjoyment of the rewards of former years of toil and endeavor. He is a man of sterling character and both he and his wife hold the unqualified esteem of all who know them. He is a stanch supporter of the cause of the Republican party and has been identified with both the Masonic fraternity and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows for more than forty years. Of the ten children, seven sons and two daughters are now living.

William H. Winters is indebted to the public schools of his native state for his early educational training and he was fifteen years of age at the time of the family removal to Kansas, where he continued to attend School at intervals for a few years thereafter. He here assisted in the work of the home farm and later in the mercantile establishment conducted by his father at Strong City. In that village he thereafter served for three years as clerk in the depot of the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad, and, coming to Kansas City, he was employed for three years as a street car conductor. He was then appointed deputy city clerk, and in this position he served efficiently for a term of three years. On the 1st of July, 1902, he was appointed to his present office, that of cashier or finance clerk in the Kansas City post office, and that he has ably handled the work assigned to him needs no further assurance than that afforded in his continued tenure of the position, which is one of distinctive trust and responsibility. He has gained a wide acquaintanceship in the metropolis of Wyandotte county, and here it may well be said that his circle of friends is limited only by that of those who know him.

In politics Mr. Winters gives an unqualified allegiance to the Republican party, and he has been affiliated with the time honored Masonic fraternity for more than a quarter of a century. He is identified with the various York Rite bodies in his home city and has also received eighteen degrees in the Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite.

The year 1886 gave record of the marriage of Mr. Winters to Miss Ella Henry, who was born in Pennsylvania, and who was a child at the time of the family removal to Kansas. At the time of her marriage she was a resident of Springhill, Johnson county. Mr. and Mrs. Winters have two daughters: Ada and Grace.