GRAVE IS NO LONGER MARKED BY A STONE! CEMETERY DOES NOT HAVE A MARKED ENTRANCE OF ANY TYPE! CEMETERY IS ON PRIVATE PROPERTY!

William Carvin Winters was born on June 25, 1809, in Giles County, Tennessee. He was the oldest child of James Washington Winters, Sr., and Rhoda Creel Beall Winters. In 1835 William's parents left Tennessee and moved their family--including William, his wife, and two children--to Texas. On October 30, 1835, William received title to one league of land in Vehlein's Colony. Here, William, 26, and Lavina, 30, made their first home for their growing family. They settled on a farm located on Winters Bayou on the San Jacinto River, approximately 12 miles from the present-day Huntsville, Walker County, Texas.

Before leaving Tennessee, William had met and married Levina Bridges (1805-1891). The couple had their first son James M. Winters on June 1, 1830, in Giles County, Tennessee. Their next known child John D. Winters was also born in Giles County on January 30, 1834. In 1835 William and Levina and their children joined the rest of Winters family, headed by William's father James Washington Winters, Sr., as they headed west to Texas. After arriving in Texas, at least four more children were born to William and Levina--Mary in 1835, Nancy in 1839, Willis in 1842, and William in 1846.

In late 1835 James Washington Winters, Sr., and three of his older sons--William Carvin Winters, John Frelan Winters, Sr.; James Washington Winters, Jr.--volunteered to serve in the Texas forces during the revolution against Mexico. By 1836 William was a second sergeant and John and James were privates, serving as independent volunteers in the company of Captain William Ware. In March 1836 Ware's company joined the Second Regiment, Texas Volunteers, under the command of Colonel Sydney Sherman at Dewees Crossing on the Colorado River and built a trench for fortification in anticipation of fighting the forces of Mexican General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna. General Sam Houston, commander of the army of the Republic of Texas, however, made the decision to fall back from the Colorado and slowly retreated toward the Texas-Louisiana border. Santa Anna and his army pursued Houston's army to San Jacinto which is now in the present-day Harris County. There, Houston's army defeated the Mexican army on April 21, 1836. The next day Santa Anna was captured. All three of the Winters brothers took part in the Battle of San Jacinto. Their father James Washington Winters, Sr., hauled supplies for the army at San Jacinto. Although the independence of Texas was secured, the battle had its cost on the Winters family. William Carvin Winters was severely wounded in the knee during the battle.

On February 1, 1838, William was granted land in Montgomery County. On June 28, 1838, he was issued 640 acres of land for having participated in the Battle of San Jacinto. On January 24, 1861, he received additional land for having been wounded at San Jacinto. And for having served in Houston's army from March 12, 1836, to May 3, 1836, he was issued another 320 acres of land.

By 1850 William and his family had moved to Guadalupe County. In 1854 William purchased land in Hays County; and by 1856, 47-year-old William brought his family to a new home--a stone cottage--in Hays County where he and Levina and some of his children and their spouses operated a grist mill, saw mill, and cotton mill. William's brother James Washington Winters, Jr., also lived at Winters's Mill for a short time while he helped his brother with the mill and the building of his home. The community that grew up around the mill became known as Winters's Mill. The family built their home on a slight rise looking down on the mill. (The house has now been restored and is at the intersection of Ranch Road 12 and River Road in Wimberley, Texas.) In addition to working at his mill, William made farming implements and household furniture and utensils. (A bed that he made is part of the collection of pioneer furniture at the Washington-on-the-Brazos Historic Site.)

In the 1860's a series of tragedies occurred in the Winters family. In October 1861 William's son James M. Winters was killed by Indians. In April 1862 his son John D. Winters died. A week later his son William J. Winters died. And his daughter Mary Emeline Winters suffered the deaths of three husbands by the end of the 1860's.

William, still suffering from the effects of his wound suffered at San Jacinto and with the deaths of three of his four sons as well as his daughter Mary's first husband John J. Thomas, died at the age of 55 in 1864 at his home in Winters's Mill. He was buried in the John Wilson Cemetery about a half mile from the mill on Noble Creek as it emptied into the Blanco River. (All gravestones in that cemetery, and perhaps some of the graves, were washed in the creek and then into the Blanco during a flood. Nothing of the cemetery is visible. The grounds are on private property.)

After William's death in 1864, his widow Levina and their son William Elisha Winters moved to Frio County, Texas. They sold their shares of the mill to John M. Cude and his wife Nancy Naomi Winters Cude who was William and Levina's daughter. The Cudes operated the mill until 1874 when they sold it to Pleasant Wimberley.

Biography written by Lynn © All rights reserved. The biography, in part or in whole, may not be modified, copied, distributed, or posted to any other website without contributor's prior, expressed written consent.