CAPTAIN WILLIAM H.
WINN, general
manager of the Western Abstract Company of El
Paso, has been a resident
of this city since 1881, and has been identified
with various business
enterprises that have contributed to general
progress and prosperity as
well as individual success, making him a citizen
of worth and value,
honored and respected throughout the community
and most of all where he
is best known.
He was born in Sumner
County,
Tennessee, April 20, 1838, his parents being
William J. and Tabitha
(Wilkes) Winn. His parents were natives of
Tennessee and spent their
entire lives in this state, both passing away in
Robertson County. The
Winns were of an old Virginia family, the
paternal grandfather of the
Captain having removed from the Old Dominion to
Tennessee.
Captain Winn was reared
upon the
farm, and at the time of the Civil War enlisted
for one year’s service
with the Tennessee State Troops, being in hearty
sympathy with the
Confederate cause. He became a member of Company
F, Eleventh Tennessee
Infantry, under Colonel James T. Raines, and was
made second lieutenant
of his company. On the expiration of one year’s
service with the state
troops, he went home and attempted to raise a
troop of cavalry. After
enrolling thirty-one men, he was obliged to flee
from that district
because of the approach of the Federal army and
proceeded as far as
Gallatin, when he joined John Morgan’s noted
organization of raiders
and was with that commander in his operations
all through Tennessee and
Kentucky, being one of Morgan’s scouts. He was
with a party of ten
picked scouts sent on ahead to make preparations
for the raid into
Ohio, and while returning to Morgan’s
headquarters to report the
position of the Federal troops, he was captured
within seven miles of
the Confederate camp. All the party escaped,
however, with the
exception of Captain Winn and one other comrade,
who were taken by
Woolford’s Battalion of Kentucky Federals to
Jimtown, Kentucky. After
remaining for a time at Camp Dick Robinson,
Captain Winn was removed to
Lexington, thence to Cincinnati, afterward to
Camp Douglas, Chicago.
There he was imprisoned until February 1864,
when, by a clever ruse, he
escaped to Carbondale in southern Illinois,
intending to return to
southern lands, but finding this practically
impossible he remained at
Carbondale, where he found some sympathizing
southern friends and
finally became connected with the business
interests of that town.
Following the close of
the war,
Captain Winn went in 1867, locating at Baxter
Springs, Cherokee County,
in southeastern Kansas, near the border of the
Indian Nation, living
there at a time when the country was a scene of
many sensational events
of typical western life. He resided there until
1870, when he engaged
in merchandising in connection with the building
of the Missouri,
Kansas & Texas Railway to the southwest
through the Indian
Nation.
In October 1872, he
landed at
Denison, Texas, before the road had reached that
town and remained a
citizen of Denison until 1881. When the railroad
extended that far, it
became a typical “boom” town, and within a few
months its population
had increased to several thousand. It enjoyed
such lively growth that
for years it was called the “little wonder.” It
was the headquarters of
many of the big cattle outfits of the earlier
days and was a typical
western city. Captain Winn there engaged
successfully in business and
was closely associated with its public
interests, acting as its mayor
in 1875-76.
Again he became a
pioneer, when, in
1881, he took up his abode in El Paso, turning
his attention to mining
operations in this vicinity. In 1884 he sold his
mining interests and
invested his money in livestock in this county,
giving his attention to
the cattle industry for some time, with
gratifying success. In 1892 he
was elected county assessor and served for six
years, or until 1898. He
then sold out his cattle interests and, when his
term of office
expired, he purchased stock in the Western
Abstract Company of El Paso,
Incorporated, of which he became general
manager, and [he] is now in
charge of the office and all the details of the
business.
Captain Winn’s life has
been filled
with interest and romance peculiar to life on
the frontier. In
connection with Captain Day, now of Fort Worth,
he organized the first
Masonic lodge in southeastern Kansas, at Baxter
Springs. He is
financially identified with the upbuilding of
this city and vicinity,
and he is familiar with the life of the old-time
cattle man and cowboy
and was for years on the buffalo range. He is
also acquainted with
experiences of western mining life, and his
memory presents a clear
picture of the events that have marked the
settlement of various
western sections and which have led to the
establishment of a modern
civilization with all of its improvements and
advantages. The founders
of the state are not merely the men who handle
the reins of government
and control the public policy, but are also
those who carry
civilization into hitherto wild regions and
develop the natural
resources of the state. Such a one is Captain
Winn, who came to western
Texas in its pioneer epoch and has done much to
prove the value of this
part of the state as a splendid residence
district, giving excellent
business opportunities to its citizens. Captain
Winn has one son, C. E.
Winn, a prominent business man of Temple, Texas.
[Source:
B. B. Paddock, History
and Biographical Record of North and West
Texas (Chicago:
Lewis Publishing Co., 1906), Vol. II, pp.
634-636.]
