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Family
Marriage: Children:
  1. Thomas Davenport Winstead: Birth: 06 NOV 1871 in Person Co, North Carolina, USA. Death: 01 JUN 1941 in Person Co, North Carolina, USA

  2. Henry Jackson Winstead: Birth: 04 FEB 1875 in Person Co, North Carolina, USA. Death: 20 JUL 1917 in Olive Hill, Person Co, NC

  3. Benjamin Samuel Winstead: Birth: 29 OCT 1877 in Person Co, North Carolina, USA. Death: 04 AUG 1925 in Person Co, North Carolina, USA

  4. Charles Fletcher Winstead: Birth: 03 JUN 1880 in Person Co, North Carolina, USA. Death: 10 DEC 1951 in Person Co, North Carolina, USA

  5. Hattie Hope Winstead: Birth: 31 JAN 1883 in Person Co, North Carolina, USA. Death: 04 DEC 1964 in Roxboro, NC

  6. Nash Lea Winstead: Birth: 14 FEB 1886 in Person Co, North Carolina, USA. Death: 06 JAN 1965 in Person Co, North Carolina, USA

  7. Harvey Thompson Winstead: Birth: 13 JUN 1888 in Person Co, North Carolina, USA. Death: 27 MAY 1962 in Person Co, North Carolina, USA


Family
Marriage:
Notes
a. Note:   The following was an article in "Heritage of Person County"
  Eunice Bradsher Jacobs Winstead Wagstaff (born February 13, 1854 and died June 18,1945) was the daughter of Benjamin Jacobs (born November 12, 1824) and Martha Bradsher Jacobs (born May 10, 1824 and died June, 1887). Eunice is buried at the old home place. The others are buried elsewhere. Eunice Jacobs lived two miles southeast of Leasburg.
 Lena Garrett, who lived in the same vicinity all her life, was her little handmaid before the slaves were freed. She attended Solomon Lea School at Leasburg; and completed her education at a boarding school in Ruffin, N.C. five days a week. She was carried there and back each week by her stepfather, Thomas Davenport, whom she called "my Dad". It was forty miles by horse and buggy. Her tuition was paid with produce. Her school reports were good.
 She said that she was never called pretty, and was a little too heavy to be considered dainty.
 Very little is known of her husband, James Fletcher Winstead (born Dec 12, 1843 and died Dec 4, 1889). He served in the Civil War, and ate rats while in prison.
 Land was the only thing he would go into debt for. Just before dying, he became conscious and said to his wife: "I've been to Heaven". She asked him what kind of place it was. He replied, "It's a beautiful place, and I didn't come back to stay. I just came back to tell you to get Uncle Charles to help wind up my estate". Their eighteen-month-old baby was in her arms. He patted him and said, "Bless his little heart".
 Their first home had a dirt floor. They used water from a spring for years. She cooked on a fireplace until she won a range from Jerry Dixon's Hardware store in Roxboro. Then they bought a place from a Kendal Vanhook near the Caswell County line, where she lived the rest of her life.
 She was a widow at the age of thirty-five with seven children ranging in ages from eighteen months to sixteen years old. They were: Thomas Davenport, Charles Fletcher, Henry Jackson, Benjamin Samuel, Hattie Hope, Nash Lea and Harvey Thompson. She also helped raise three grandchildren: Lottie May, Frank James and Louis Daniel Winstead, after their parents died. Esther Winstead Thaxton lived with her for a while after her mother's death.
 She was often put to her trumps to hold on to her property. She would send a child to Mr. Obe Fulcher's to borrow money. The child would return with a hundred dollars tied up in a bandana - no security was needed. One year a renter brought her a fourth of corn in a wheelbarrow.
 One day during a snow, she sent Frank and Lewis to cut firewood in the woods. About the time they had the tree cut up into fireplace lengths, a renter drove up in a two-horse wagon and loaded the wood on and carried it to his place. Frank said: "Mammy", as all the relatives called her, "What would you have done if you had been there?" Her reply was: "I'd a hewn him down with the axe".
 Dr.Vickers found her dentures tied together with a string.
 Snooks Fuller, a little black girl, went to the stables to gather eggs. A mule kicked her in the forehead and "Miss Nicy" as outsiders called her, sewed it up with a needle and black thread. The Doctor said it was a good job; but, she should have used white thread.
 She hired Charlotte, a black girl, to cook and paid her two dollars a month. She and Charlotte built the kitchen table that she and Harvey's family used for years.
 Her love for the outdoors diverted her mind from cooking, sewing and housekeeping. She would take the little children and Charlotte, and walk four miles to clean off her mother's grave. They ate lunch, and fished all the way home. Jack often complained about such trips. One time the creek was up and they had to walk a log. She fell in and the dye from her red flannel petticoat dyed everything it touched. She often laughed about how disgusted Jack looked when he saw her.
 She was a lifelong member of Leas Chapel Methodist Church and taught a Sunday school class for years. She instilled in her children honesty and a love for animals. When Tommy and Jack were small she overheard a conversation between them. Some of Tommy's walnuts were missing. He said: "Jack did you eat 'em?" Jack said in an undertone, "Speak the truth and bear the blame." Then he replied, "Yes, Tommy, I 'et `em".
 "Miss Nicy was remarried in 1904 to Clem McGilbert Wagstaff. He was an uncle of her first husband. They did quite a bit of traveling until she was widowed for the second time. He is buried at Concord Church.
 The owners of Watkins and Bullock Lumber Company agreed that she was the most businesslike woman who ever entered their establishment.
 Harvey, the children and I lived with her for twenty five years until her death at the age of ninety-five. She was one of the most remarkable women I have ever known and a benediction to our home.
  - Mary Winstead -
  THE FOLLOWING UNDATED DOCUMENT WAS RECENTLY FOUND IN THE ARCHIVES, RALEIGH, NC:
  "In the Superior Court Person County
 James F. Winstead and wife Nicy Winstead Complaint against J. A. Stanfield, Guardian, B. D. Caylor, Nathan Oakley, and Bluford Cooper, Defendents, the Plaintiff alleges 1) that Nicy Winstead's maiden name was Nicy Jacobs, 2) that she is now the wife of the Plaintiff James F. Winstead, 3) that when she was a minor, to wit, in the month of December A.D. 1862, the Defendant I. A. Stanfield was duly appointed by the late Court of......of Person County her guardian.........That the said conditons have not been performed by the said defendant I. A. Stanfield, and the siad covenant has been broken - first, By the failure of the said J. A. Stanfield faithfully to execute his said guardianship, secondly By failure of the said J. A. Stanfield to secure and improve the estate of the Plaintiff, thirdly By failure of said Stanfield to render a plain and true account of his said guardianship on oath as by conventat he bound himself, fourthly By failure of the said Stanfield to deliver up and pay to the said Plaintiffs all the estate they ought to be [?] off and the profits accruing therefrom......large sum of money to his own use and profit, and has never accounted to the Plaintiffs for the smae, Wherefore the Plaintiff demands judgment againt the said J. A. Stanfield, guardian, and his sureties B. D. Caylor, Nathan Oakley, and Bluford Cooper for the said sum of ten thousand dollars....C. S. Winstead and L. C. Barnett, Attorneys for Plff." Another document refers to spring term 1871 "The defendents do [?] to the complaint in this action for the grounds, that the complaint does not state facts sufficient to constitute a course of action and may demand judgment against the plaintiffs for the costs of this action" dated April 22, 1871 signed by W. A. Graham and G. [or S] Kerr, Attornies." Another 5-page handwritten document is dated April 16, 1872. A report of referee is dated fall term 1872. In the testimony of J. T. Stanfield, he stated: "The bonds turned over to me ($492.65) were given to Bluford Cooper Exr of Elijah Jacobs - some given in the fall of 1861, and the others in 1862 - the larger numbers and amount of the latter date." Another document refers to fall term 1872 [could be a typoI made for 1862]: "The plaintiffs except to the Reprot of the Referee filed in this Action...Exceptions as follows, Viz 1) that he should have charged the defendants with the face value of one half of the notes received of Elijah Jacobs' Executor as cash on the 24th of December 1862, instead of charging them with the value of that amount of Confederate Currency, 2) That the defendants should have been charged with the values of state bank notes at the time they were received in November 1868 and [?] with the value of the Confederate moeny for which they were sold, at the time of this conversion in 1864, 3) That the defentants are liable for and should have been charged with the hire of the plaintiff, Nicey, [?] for the years 1861 and 1862, 4) that the defendants should have been charged with the value of the plaintiff Nicey's distributive share in the gold notes belonging to the Estate of E. Jacobs, decd [?] the value in good money of the Confederate money received therefrom, signed by S. C. Barnett, Watt & Wilkerson, attorn." J. A. Stanfield testified "I also received three negroes as guardian for my [?] 1st January 1863 - On the 1st of January 1864 I received as said guardian $446.30 mostly for which said negroes hired in 1863. On the ________ I received $300 to make Nicy equal in division of negroes. In Jan. 1864, I sold the $120 in bank notes belonging to the Plaintiff Nicy for $412.50 in Confederate money, because I could get more interest on that amount of Confederate money than I could on he Bank money....Bonds were taken by me for the hire of said negroes in 1863 payable 1st Jan. 1864--I consideredsaid bonds good at the time - The negroes hired in 1863 would have hired for [50 pounds?, looks like $ then L50.00] in good money. There were gold notes in the hands of Elijah Jacobs Exr in which my [?] together with other were [?]. The widow received the small note by [allotment?]. The balance of said notes could not be divided and the [Cumminpiones??] settled it by aloowing the parties in interest to draw lots--others [?] the said bonds and my [war.8] received the difference in Confederate money,which said money is rendered in my accounts. Some of the gold notes have been paid to holders in Greenbacks the ballance not being collected. The maker having become insolvent. some of the negroes belonging to plaintiff, Nicy, died and others were liberated before said Nicy became 21 years of age. I hereby certify that the foregoing is a true copy of the deposition of J. A. Stanfield, in the above entitled cause, on file in this office - Wm. H. Bagley, [?] by C. Roy G. Bagley, Dept."
  ----------
  Elmwood
 Circa 1840
  Elmwood is a country estate located a mile off Highway 158 about ten miles from Roxboro, N.C. and about two miles from historic Leasburg, N.C. Situated in a serene pastoral landscape, it can be reached via a one-hour drive from the Raleigh-Durham International Airport and about a half-hour drive from the Virginia state line. The mid-nineteenth century farmhouse, recently restored and renovated, has a fully equipped modern kitchen, two modern bathrooms, three bedrooms, and verandas on both levels overlooking the natural landscape. The house is fully furnished with antiques, oriental carpets, and a grand piano. Other structures on the property include an old well-house dating back to 1800 and an early twentieth century corncrib, presently used for storage. A private airstrip and hangar provide access for small planes. Two ponds on the property attract Canada geese throughout the year, and the setting provides an idyllic place of refuge from the hustle and bustle of conventional urban life.
  This place has been home to many people from many places. Long before there were
 Van Hooks or Winsteads here Indians left their mark on the land. Every person since
 who wanders the surrounding fields and woods or digs a hole here sees evidence of their
 tenure in arrowheads, stone tools and scrapers and charcoal from fires long gone out.
 The first people to have a deed to this property were the Van Houks or as the name
 became a little more anglicanized, the Van Hooks. This family of Dutch descent,
 migrated from New York to North Carolina in the mid 1700s. They owned well over
 1600 acres of what was then Caswell County, but later became Person County. This
 story concerns a 231 acre tract about 3 miles from Leasburg, NC. The first buildings on the
 property were constructed in the late 18th or early 19th century. What our family
 remembers as the kitchen, was probably the first building on the property and was
 constructed of logs and sided with beaded clapboard secured with hand cut nails. The
 small building now being used as a wellhouse was similarly constructed and was
 probably erected at the same time.
 By 1810 the Van Hook family was operating an "ordinary" or inn on this site,
 probably in this 25' X 40' building which had one large room below stairs and two small
 rooms above. While this spot may today seem rather isolated for an inn, the road to
 Roxboro once ran a few feet to the west of the house. This structure also served as the
 first home of Kendall Van Hook (born about 1800) when he inherited the property a few
 years later. About 1840 Kendall, in anticipation of his marriage to Bettie Johnston,
 decided to build a two story, four room house a few feet north of the tavern structure.
 Probably around this same time a separate kitchen structure was erected on the west side
 of the wellhouse. Mr. Van Hook probably should have consulted Miss Johnston before
 beginning construction as she turned him down in favor of George Thompson. Kendall
 Van Hook died a bachelor, leaving no legitimate offspring and the property was inherited
 by Stephen Morton.
 In April of 1879 James and Eunice Winstead purchased the house and 231 acres for
 $1,800.00 and took up residence there with their three young sons. James and Eunice
 raised corn, tobacco, and wheat as well as vegetables and animals for food. Eunice was
 especially fond of asparagus and had a nice, carefully tended patch. Asparagus now
 grows wild all over the farm.
 Three more sons and a daughter were born to the family and in time Eunice's mother
 came to live with them until her death. By the 1880's more living space was needed.
 The tavern structure, or as Eunice called it the boys' "office", was moved closer to the
 1840 house and the space between the two buildings was closed in. On the north side of
 the main house another addition was made. It was always thought that this two story
 addition was built on the property but during the recent (2004) renovations this proved to
 be inaccurate. When Contractor, Herbert Moore removed interior wall coverings he
 found that this too, was an older structure that had been moved from somewhere else.
 Again the space between the house and the addition was closed in and the upper and
 lower spaces became hallways. Originally the stairs were inside the downstairs room in
 this addition. Harvey Winstead remembered Sundays as a child when he would sit on
 these stairs and watch the visiting preachers eating fried chicken in the parlor below. He
 prayed that there would be some left for him when it was the children's turn to eat. The
 stairs would eventually be placed in the hall area so that there was more living space
 inside the rooms. There are repairs to the floors above and below mat show the
 placement of these stairs. Around this same time, the kitchen, built around 1840 was
 either dismantled or burned.
 In 1890, when Harvey, the youngest child was 18 months old, James died of
 pneumonia leaving Eunice & 7 children and much land but little money. She was
 determined and thrifty and with the help of Colonel Charles Winstead, her husband's
 brother she managed to hang on to the property she and her husband had acquired.
 Over the years improvements and changes were made to the house. The west
 downstairs room of the 1840's house had no window when Eunice moved there. She had
 the fireplace moved to the southwest comer of the room and a window installed on the
 western wall. In this room Martha Banks Bradsher Jacobs Davenport died and all eight
 of Harvey's and Mary's children were born. There may have been an existing well on
 the property when James and Eunice purchased it, but for years they also used water from a spring to the southwest of the house. Eventually a new well was dug and this well was used until the 1960's. In the 1890's carbide lights were installed. Electricity was added
 in the early 20th century, as were a sink to wash dishes and one to wash hands.
 When Harvey was 12 years old, Eunice married Clem McGilbert Wagstaff, an
 uncle of James Winstead. Mr. Clem was only two years older than James and they had
 served together during the civil war. Mr. Clem and Eunice were able to do some
 traveling, which they very much enjoyed, before his death in the 1920's. Even if she had
 been so inclined Eunice had little time for self pity as two other daughters-in- law died
 young, leaving small children to care for. Eunice took them to her home and saw that
 they had what they needed.
 In 1925, Harvey brought his bride, Mary Emma Watts here to live. All of James and
 Eunice's children inherited a farm of 140 acres or more and the Van Hook place was the
 one designated for Harvey. He was the one who finally gave this home a name besides
 "the Van Hook place. He chose "Elmwood" because of all the huge old elm trees on the
 property.
 Mary was a little overwhelmed by the decorating style or lack thereof in her new
 home. She took one look at the "boys' office" and decided it needed more than a little
 tidying up. She once said of her mother-in-law, "I loved her like my own mother, but she
 was no housekeeper.'' There were harnesses hanging on the unfinished log walls and
 more than a few cracks between logs which let in far too much fresh air. There was only
 one window in the room which made it look even darker and dingier. She didn't really
 know where to start. There wasn't much money to work with and the other residents
 really didn't seem to notice or care. One Sunday she went to church at Leasburg
 Methodist where Miss Bessie Thompson taught her Sunday school lesson. Mary didn't
 remember everything that was said that day, but one phrase stuck with her, "Start where
 you are and use what you've got." From that day on she quoted this phrase to others and
 lived by it herself. She went home and went to work on the drafty, unattractive walls of
 her kitchen. The harnesses were relented to the porches or stables and she found some
 old dresses to stuff in the cracks. Later Harvey sealed the walls and more windows were
 added. Mary's touch spread throughout the house, seeing that repairs were made and
 generally making the place as attractive as her boundless creativity and her limited
 budget would allow. When her Uncle Will gave her a five dollar gold piece she bought a
 pecan tree with the money and planted it in the pasture to the west of the house. It lives
 on 80 years later. Over the years she lived through a few more decorating crises, usually
 involving Harvey's eccentric color choices, for example a mustard colored kitchen and a
 royal blue outhouse. "Oh, Harvey" she said in dismay.
 Eunice died in this house in 1949 at the age of 95. Her family sorely missed her
 comforting, everyday presence. Mary, Harvey, their children, and sometimes their
 grandchildren and friends lived on here. The 1950's and 1960's saw the installation of indoor plumbing, a carport on the east side and a telephone. In 1962 Harvey died in the east room of the 1840 house. Mary continued to live here, marveling when Therit built an airstrip to the north of the house. She never got over the wonder of watching an airplane land or take off and as soon as she heard one, would run outside and watch. In the early 1980's she decided the place was just too much for her to care for alone and she moved closer to her daughter in Providence. Daughter, Laura then took over the upkeep of the house, keeping it in good repair so that her mother and the rest of the family could visit there whenever they chose.
 Sadly, by the late 1980's the old inn structure was in such an advanced state of
 deterioration that the decision was made to demolish it. A porch was added to the house in its place. After Mary's death in 1991 Laura sold the house to her nephew, Michael Rudder. Michael rented it to others for a few years and then embarked on a very ambitious renovation project. He started by raising the whole remaining structure, replacing all the rotted sills and joists and putting it on a higher foundation. Then he stripped the inside walls of old sheetrock and plaster, rcfinished the floors and ceilings, changed the facade, and added new rooms and wide porches. Every owner has made changes to this wonderful place to suit their means and their needs. Michael is no exception. He has preserved this place for all those he loves, past and present. Mammy,
 Grandpa Jimmy, Granddaddy Harvey and Grandma Mary must be so proud. I can just
 hear Grandma now exclaiming, "Harvey! Did you ever?"
  Mary Linda Winstead Janke
 December 18, 2004
  -----
  This little Booklet is Dedicated To My Great Grandmother,
  Eunice Jacobs Winstead, whom the Family called "Mammy"
  by Carolyn Winstead Bagley
  In order to take care of Mammy, my grandfather Harvey, raised his family at the Homeplace. It was where my father and his seven brothers and sisters were raised, and many family members and friends came for meals, hunting and overnight visits. The spring and summer found the family working long days in the tobacco. The animals always had to be cared for and there were gardens to raise and vegetables to can. My grandmother, Mary cooked for the large family and all of the cousins and family in every direction. They loved to stop and share an afternoon or a day of hunting with Granddaddy and the boys.
  In her later years, Mammy's job was to churn the butter and "bump" the babies. She always had something to do, because the family ate a lot of homemade butter, and there were plenty of babies to care for. When the electric churn was developed, the family eagerly bought one, thinking that Mammy could be relieved of that task. Instead, she complained relentlessly about the new contraption. Why? Because it took away her job: her feeling of purpose and tangible contribution to the family she had raised.
  My father, Therit Winstead has told me with pride and a tear in his eyes about the strength and character of his grandmother. Probably sometime in the early 1940's, Mammy was concerned about a situation in her son, Jack's family. He had two boys and a girl, Frank, Louis, and Lottie, and Mammy knew that the stepmother Jack had married, was not good to them. When she had heard enough, Mammy had the grandsons hitch up her carriage and she drove over to Jack's farm to get the children. They were outside playing, and when Frank saw Mammy's carriage in the distance he shouted, "Look aï·“yonder! Mammy is coming to get us!"
 Mammy drove up into the yard and told Jack she was taking the children. She didn't ask him. She just did it, and they joyfully went with her to be raised in that big old farmhouse with my father's family.
  This year, the little four-year-old girl who was left by her father back in 1858, had that last child brought home.



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